Last Sunday I bought my first MCS, a '04' in British Racing Green, tan and grey leather, 6 speed,and pretty well loaded. It has only 15,000 miles on it with original window sticker, 1 owner. Car looks incredible, but after detailing it all week long, I notice that the factory 8 spoke 17" wheels (crown spoke?), have almost no clear coat left on them, my quess being that the person who owned it never cleaned the brake dust on the wheels and it ate away the clearcoat. The texture is now satin and when I wipe away the brake dust from the wheel, it makes a black smudge mess that is not easy to remove. I have tried to wax them, and also used a PowerBall buffer hooked up to my drill motor...no shine, dust still gets imbedded in the satin finish...Is this normal? Do you guys still have a good clear coat? Car has never left the Los Angeles area.Thanks!!

 

I've wondered this too. My stock s-lites lost all of their shine a while ago, and I cleaned those regularly. The same is true of my steel rims, but steels look better with a mat finish.

I think that the best solution would be to get them repainted and have them use clear coat on it. Unless for some odd safety reason, clear is never used on wheels.

 

i still had clear coat on mine and as a matter of fact JUST had a guy out last week to my house to refinish them. i'm in the L.A. area. he repaired all the curb rash and reshot them in OEM silver and did a clear coat or 2. real cheap too for the job he did and he came to me. like $125 i think. there are some pics and his number in the socal NAM forum. the guy does amazing work.

what i do and it helps is wash them with my leftover wash water and a bone shaped sponge. then, every few months when i do a real detail, i polish them with klasse AIO and do a coat of klasse SG. shines up real nice and helps keep them protected and keeps them cleaner.

i NEVER use a brush or any of the "rim cleaners" i think they eat the clearcoat away over time.

 

my dumb **** hit a curb the other day, and I knew it was there, just a touch but it put a finger print sized gouge in the rim, I just can't have anything new for any length of time.

peter