Picked up a car to be detailed. Toyota Avalon. Drives like a boat.
Just a few teaser pics for now. I wanted to figure out my process, so I just washed the car, cleaned tires and wheels (more on this later...) dried, clayed the hood, then performed a test spot.
*None of the before pictures came out very good. My low res camera was being really really tempermental, so sorry for the hi res shots.

Before swirls:



After swirls (or lack there of )



So here is where it gets interesting. I was cleaning the wheels and tires with Meg's WB, and the clearcoat started to flake off! What is happening. I figured the wheels were corroded (check the pic) but why would the ClearCoat become so brittle?

Wheel disintigration:


Products used:
Prima Clay with Meg's QD (half water, half QD)
Swirl with LC Orange pad
Meg's Gold Class with LC Black Pad (will used Epic for final, but couldn't wait for cure time)

 

I would assume that the reason that the clear coat failed on the wheels are most likely because a cleaner was too strong was used on them and it created a clear coat failure.

 

Someone used an alkaline based cleaner on the wheels which was not clear coat safe. Once the clear coat starts lifting, it will continue until it is completely gone. Or, the clear coat was not properly cured when it was applied.

It is due to the wheel oxidizing. The clear coat cannot hang on to oxidized metal. The lifted portion actually traps moisture and serves to accelerate the oxidiation process.

There is no way to repair this without stripping the wheel and recoating it. Some places will do a repair, but it is only temporary. No matter what they tell you, it is temporary.

 

That pic of the wheels - was that before or after you put on the wheel brightener? Is the customer going to be mad?

They would be better off going after market wheels. It would actually be cheaper than getting the OE wheels repaired probably.

 

The wheels were after WB, but no damage was caused by the WB itself. The clearcoat was lifting in my first inspection, before any chemicals were used. I have used WB before and am confident that it is not it. I use a dulution of about 7:1 Water:WB, and a OXO tire brush, so I am positive that the WB didn't do damage. THe customer won't be mad, as they were aware of the damage when I picked the car up. I was just wondering if extensive claying or anything like that should be done.

The water was sheeting off of the car really really well, but was full of swirls. I got the feeling that it had been detailed by someone else before, and there was some wax on the rubber around the windshield. I think someone else used acid and left it on too long (I don't even think your supposed to use acid on chrome wheels???)

So the next step. Should I get rid of the large flakes of clearcoat and Epic the wheels to give them some form of protection?

 

Removing the clear coat which has floated off the surface will help to slow oxidation a bit. Just have to be careful when you remove the coating.

After you get the coating off, you will need to remove the surface oxidation, before applying any type of sealer to the wheel.

The proper method of fixing this is to remove the wheel. Take it to a plating shop to have the wheel stripped of its clear coat, polished, anodized, then clear coat.

Anodizing helps to prevent any oxidation from starting. Or you can have the wheel chromed.

 

[quote=Skuzzy;1437605]

The proper method of fixing this is to remove the wheel. Take it to a plating shop to have the wheel stripped of its clear coat, polished, anodized, then clear coat.

This is correct. I had the same problem on Jaguar wheels, even though they were refinished, the ugliness came back. The only way to fix is to refinish...costly. Probably the best and perhaps the least costly remedy is after-market wheels.

 

^ +1. that wheel needs to be repaired.

 

It's on all of the wheels, not just one. I have cleaned them up as much as possible without messing with the clearcoat, but I will tell the customer there is nothing I can do. Final pics late tonight or tomorrow, claying took forever... 3 bars of clay used.