Today is the first chance I've had to rotate/clean my wheels. Well, I was planning to do this today...before my little road trip to Tulsa (about 450 mile round trip) It's too dang cold to though. The wind is blowing like crazy too...I'm a wimp I guess. Last time I washed the car I washed the wheels, but I couldn't get the road grime/tar off. I was going to try a little Simple Green today, then I was going to wax them with some Zaino. I'm just wondering if it's possible to leave crap on your wheels long enough that you do permanent damage? Has that ever happened to anyone on here? Thank you.

-Seth

 

I think we've seen some extreme cases where there was some light staining left behind...but for the most part, Simple Green seems to be the miracle cure for baked on stuff.

 

Thank you. I did my first post-winter wash a couple of weeks ago, and when I did I noticed what looked like tar on the wheels. I've hardly driven the MINI since then, and I've used QD a couple of times since. So, the car is clean, it's just the wheels. They're driving me crazy. I was planning to rotate and clean them after the wash...but I ran out of daylight. Hopefully, it won't be too bad. I'm not sure how much time I need to set aside in order to take off all the wheels and clean them, but I'm assuming it's going to be pretty involved. If there are stains, (which I think there are some some rust stains anyway) I'll most likely have to pull out the ScratchX. At least we have four torture devices to use on OctaneGuy if we need them. Hopefully, they'll be like new in a week or so though. ...when I can walk outside and not have to knock icicles off my eyebrows.

 

Do a search here for Simple Green and wheels...there was someone who did it, I think they let it soak though, I can't remember for how long.

 

I agree on the search.....because I seem to recall folks having big trouble long-term with Simple Green. Too aggressive. I can't speak from experience because when I read that I swore I'd never use the stuff on my wheels....and haven't.

 

You want to know the best detailing product for white MINI wheels?
New brake pads!
I put new ones on a few months after getting my mini, soley for less brake dust. The stock pads dirty the wheels in just two days!
Mintex Red Box pads cost me only $75 for all four wheels and now they go WEEKS before getting dirty.

And of course to clean them, I recommend P21S or other quality clearcoat-safe wheel cleaner.

 

OUCH! What did I do???

 

Sorry OctaneGuy. I think some of us like to give you a hard time, but it's only because you're awesome. Our MINIs all dream of a day when they can have one of your detail jobs. Sometimes, I look out at my MINI before I go to bed, and I swear I think I can hear him mumbling "OctaneGuy" under his breath as he sleeps.