Customers that get my premium service all get the wheels taken off. Wheel wells and brake calipers need cleaning.
I know you Mini guys dont see much of your wheel wells, but you have to get those clean like new also...nothing looks worse than a freshly detailed car with DIRTY wheel wells.

 

oh ya, how about freshly detailed wheel wells with DIRTY car?

 

If you get a set of jack stands (about $25) and a 2-ton hydraulic jack (about $30-$35) you can get one entire side off the ground - take off both wheels on that side after the car's up on jacks. Washing the wheels will take about 10 minutes (if you don't have to clay) off the car, applying the wax will take another 10-15 and curing is an hour or so, so you can use that time to (carefully) wash the car as well as inside the now-exposed wheel wells. All-in-all you should be able to do it in a few hours of leisurely work - most of the time is waiting for the wax to cure actually, so you can go to lunch, watch TV whatever. Just do it in the Spring and Fall and you should be good to go!

 

Disclaimer: Don't go take the MINI to go get lunch without wheels on the car, your brake rotors will not be happy!!!!!

(Sorry but I could just imagine someone coming back in march and complaining about that) ImagoX thats about what I do, I just grab all 4 at once, and keep them separated so they're rotated when they bo back on.

 

You put the car on 4 stands when you do this?

 

You might as well rotate the tires while you're at it. Killing two birds with one stone.

 

Yes, that's totally true - I forgot to mention that I note the position of each tire when I swap my winter/summer rubber, and rotate them when I reinstall the new set. Excellent point!

 

I use these brushes from Griot's for cleaning the wheels whenever the car is washed. They are a stiff, sponge like material and have a plastic handle so you don't have to worry about scratches.

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog....1002&SKU=15220

I use these to clean around the lug nuts and the small holes I have in my wheels.

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?SKUupsell=10226

Every once in a while (every few weeks in the summer) I'll jack up the car and clean the inside of the wheels. I just spray the wheel with Zaino Z6 and wipe off whatever is there.

While the wheels are off, I'll clean the fender wells with a general purpose cleaner (Simple Green) as well as all the suspension parts.

I will also polish the mufflers (JCW) and the pan under the battery with metal polish from Griot's.

Three times last year I spent a few hours under the car and cleaned the whole under carriage with Simple Green.

A couple weeks ago, I bought some polishing pads (like Scotch Brite) to see how they will clean up/polish the exhaust pipes from the manifold back to the mufflers. I haven't had a chance to try them yet.

I think I have to much free time.

 

that's true. i used this on my daily driver (wells filled with salt) and it
looks pretty good. especially on the Legacy i can fit my wheel brush
where you can see the well.

 

WOW, awesome responses! Thanks so much! The long, sturdy brush is what I think i'm after because I'll be able to apply pressure. I feel with a drill attachment, the motion won't go deep down into the grit/dirt to get it out of there. I like it that I can apply a lot more pressure to get the dirt off.

Thanks again

 

I love that stuff. Use it on the Jeep to prevent mudd from sticking to stuff on the underside. One word of caution, do not spray on in the garage! It makes things VERY slick.

 

I just use WD40 in my wheel wells (a local detailing guru I trust recommended this). So far we've not had any snow. though, so I can't comment on how well it works. Remember to COVER YOUR BRAKES with a towel before applting anything slick in your wheel wells!!!

 

You guys have a sickness ...

Some ppl take off their wheels to get the dirt off the inside

Uhmm, I dont think anyone ever sees that even in a Concours.

Polishing the muffler? OMG

Morris ... WOW!

 

I thought the same thing until I helped judge a car show. The places they look for dirt. I felt like I was violating someones car!

 

yah, i hold an old newspaper or flyer or something under the wells when
i spray so it doesn't drip onto the driveway.

im not too sure if i want fine mists of WD40 floating around my panels.
maybe if you spray into a cup and brush it on or something.

the Griot's sprayhead is not a fine mist spray... more like a blob sprayer
so product doesn't fly all over the place which is a good thing, some times.

 

yah, i will remove the wheels in the Spring and wash them along
with the wells.

i do polish my exhaust tips now and then with Wenol.

 

Actually, he means the muffler TIPS... since they're chrome, why not have them looking as good as the rest of the car?

As for cleaning out the inside of the wheel wells and treating them - it not only prevents corrosion (which can lead to expensive repairs), but WD40 or pther treatments help prevent the formation of "snow bunnies" in the wells... In some extreme cases, the blobs can freeze and cause damage in there. I actually hosed a suspension coupling on an old VW once when a rubber boot was scraped off by a frozen snow bunny (a $300 repair), so I like it if they don't form in the first place.

All this qualifies as "An ounce of prevention" in my book, especially since I don't mind taking the extra few minutes to do a bit more work as a trade-off for potentially expensive repair work...

 

Actually, I mean the mufflers themselves, although I do polish the tips as well.

The JCW mufflers are polished stainless steel. The metal polish I use just keeps them that way.

The pan under the battery I removed and polished for fun one day. Fun? Yeah, it was fun for me. It took me a couple hours and looked pretty nice when finished. Since the initial polish, maintaining it hasn't been that bad at all.

Should I mention that I put Z6 on the mufflers and battery pan when I do the car? And yes, I do them last with a separate cloth.

I do this mostly for fun and you can see them from the rear of the car.

Seeing a perfectly polished car and then seeing mud and other things under the car kind of takes away from the image, at least for me.

Besides, it keeps me out of trouble.

 

when i had my earlier modded cars with stainless steel canisters
i wenol'ed the entire muffler and the piping that you can see from
the rear.

 

This is just normal behavior if you like a nicely detailed car and/or show your vehicle.

Concours competition is a totally different level above what is being discussed here.

 

Ah, I see... I didn't realize that you had stainless mufflers... Yeah, I think I'd polish those, too... You never know who might look, after all.

 

griot's makes the most excellent and long term solution to this with their boar's bristle brushes. im sure a synthetic one works just as well, but it's a touch of class for me. They get behind just about anything when you jam it around. You need wheel cleaner though to make the job quicker. I tried regular car soap and it wasnt as effective. I suggest like octaneguy told me to use quick detailer after you clean you wheels or like between washes as it pulls off the dust easily as well as makes a coating to resist more dust later. it works well.

 

El-jefe - boars hair is the way to go for me also. I really never let my wheels get that dirty.

Ill be in Merrick tonight visiting a friend from work. Amazing thing to me, you are the first guy from the Long Island section of NY that listed his town istead of listing Long Island. You may also be the only one without a Corvette......

 

Yeah, the JCW cans hang VERY low ... very visible ..

Hmm.

 

since i took my rear wheels off my G35C (due to a loose valve core which
i ended up fixing thanks to BlimeyCabrio...) i washed behind the spokes and
rim today.

it was FILTHY dirty with brake dust. then i used my shopvac
to blow all the water off, Slick'ed and Hydro'ed.