This is a wheel I bought off a NAM member awhile back and the Alcantara was never perfect. I think a lot of potential JCW wheel owners stay away from this wheel out of fear that Alcantara means it's hard to maintain. So I wanted to see what could be done to improve it.

Here is how we begin.





Using an off the shelf product..Turtle Wax Oxy Upholstery Cleaner


Although the wheel isn't dry yet, look at the improvement after sudsing it up and brushing lightly.








In a side by side comparison with an almost new JCW wheel, you cannot tell the difference by feel and almost by looks as well. I'd say it was restored 100%

 

Nice! what brush did you use?

 

Just the built in plastic brush on the cap! I tried a nylon brush first but it was too aggressive. The one on the cap was milder and didn't scuff the Alcantara.

Just sprayed the foam on liberally, gently scrubbed, and sprayed more foam, repeated a few times, then wiped it dry. Pretty simple.

 

Just completed this; talk about night and day difference in person.
The wheel I snagged had a lot of matted grime and had a brown hue to it from all the dirt and oil.
It cleaned up extremely well with some upholstery cleaner (Turtle Wax with build-in brush) and brought back the original black color.
Thanks Richard for the details; I'm excited to get this on.



- Erik

 

Congrats Erik and great side by side pix! Glad you had good results as well!

Richard

 

Richard, fantastic work, as always.

Definitely helps assuage some of my fears with the Alcantara.

 

Thanks! Just trying to help my fellow MINI owners as always!

Richard

 

Any recommendations on cleaning a grimy and shiny leather wheel in 2009 GTI?

 

Any good leather cleaner would be fine. I like Leatherique's Prestine Clean.

Richard

 

Awesome work Richard. Your work inspires me.

 

Glad to hear it and thanks for the kind words!