Be careful of many of the wheel cleaners available as quite a few have acid in them that etches the wheel surface and makes brake dust stick even more than before they were cleaned/etched. Acid can cause a lot of damage if not completely flushed from all metallic surfaces. P21S has been very good for years. I did not find the Griots, BMW OE or Simple Green to be as good as the P21S. Recently I tried a new wheel cleaner from Germany sold by Sonax. This stuff is amazing and it will take all of the brake dust off the wheels including brake dust that is etched into the wheel surface. It is pH balanced and contains no acid. It actually reacts with the iron in the brake dusts and converts it. I've seen pics on several BMW forums of this stuff in action and my results were very similar. For baked on brake dust you do need to use a brush but it will remove all of the brake dust, which P21S never did for me. I've used Wheelwax, Ultima Tire & Wheel dressing and I'm currently testing RejeX. It looks like all of these wheel polymer sealants are removed faster with wheel cleaners than with car soap. Depending on the brake pads you use, driving habits, etc. you can probably use car wash soap for a few months then remove the wheels and use wheel cleaner to get all the brake dust off on the back side of the wheel and re-apply your favorite wheel sealant.
Baked on brake dust Well I'm having a heck of a time getting my right front rim cleaned off. As you can see by this photo (click to enlarge), the brake dust is BAKED on and no amount of scrubbing, elbow grease is helping. I spent 1 hour on this area with very little result. This thread has talked a lot about wheel cleaners - any suggestions on how to get this layering of brake dust off? I did use a Drummel tool with a Scotch bright (lightly!) attachment but I don't want to damage the finish so I stopped.
From the picture it looks to me like you stopped too late, and scoured through the clear-coat and scratched the painted finish. http://www.wheelcollision.com/bmw.htm
Agreed, from the looks of it that's not baked-on brake dust, it's metal. The finish appears to be gone. If this isn't your only car or you're comfortable using your spare for a few weeks, Wheel Collision Center can refinish your wheel for considerably less than the cost of a new one. The results are indistinguishable in appearance and durability.
Well I have to disagree with both of you - respectfully of course Some of the other fins looks like this too and with some scrubbing the brake dust came off and there's pretty, shiny rims underneath it. I'm convinced this IS caked on brake dust and not the finish giving way.
Well that's certainly good news. The photo sure looks worse. Give the prior owner an F+ grade for wheel detailing.
You should never use Scotchbrite type abrasives on wheels or painted surfaces. They are way too course. You should try a couple bottles of Sonax and a scrub brush. It will desolve all of the brake dust. I had baked on brake dust and sintered dust on my wheels and the Sonax removed it when the P21S, Griots, BMW wheel cleaners would not. The Sonax is safe and effective. I and others have been deeply impressed with it's performance. I think you will be too when you see the results.
Well I bought a bottle of the Sonax...as soon as it comes I'll give you an update on how well it worked. Wish me luck!
Well if your wheels are as bad as mine were you'll be spending some time with them but I think you'll like the end result. Allow the cleaner to sit for awhile to do most of the work, then use the brush and allow the cleaner to soak some more before hosing off or pressure washing if you have one.
Well I did get my Sonax cleaner yesterday and I don't think it works any better than the Eagle 1 cleaner that I bought. I did of several rounds with it and used a scrub brush and the result isn't really that great. I don't have access to a power washer so maybe that's next. My rear wheels look spectacular and the postings about Wheel Wax are well founded - the stuff is really impressive. I'm not sure where I'm going to go from here to get them clean.
Really dirty wheels take several coats of wheel cleaner and brushing. A power washer is nice but not necessary. Anything that will remove caked on brake dust in one application (acid) will also damage your wheels. There is no silver bullet including Wheelwax. Regular cleaning is the best option but when the brake dust builds up it sinters into the wheel surface and this requires effort to remove. The Sonax product actually dissolves the brake dust instead of trying to just float it off. This is why it is more effective but takes several coats for really dirty wheels. You also need to allow it 5-10 minutes time to for the Sonax to dissolve the brake dust.
I think you're right - this is a battle that is going to be fought over months and not days. When I was putting the wheel wax on yesterday I noticed a small amount of black on the rags as I was applying it so it's coming off - just really, really, really, really slow.
Not sure if you mean Sonus or Sonax - two different clearners? What I learned today cleaning my Winter tires/wheels... The Ultima Tire and Wheel dressing that I used last Fall to coat the wheel did in fact help with the removal of the brake dust on the back side of the wheel. The use of a power washer for both the P21S and Sonax made the cleaning easier, but still required some hand washing with a terry cloth. With the Ultima sealant and pressure washer the wheel I cleaned with Sonax came almost completely clean before touch up with the terry cloth and car wash soap. The P21S wheel needed more hand washing even with the pressure wash than the Sonax coated wheel. No brushing at all was required on these wheels after four months of Winter weather though the outside was cleaned every few weeks with P21S. So the lessons learned today are: 1. Wheel sealants work for awhile but are likely to wash off after several wheel cleanings 2. Sonax is still superior to P21S though P21S is good 3. Pressure washing if available reduces the need for most brushing in many cases but some hand wash is still required I'm also testing RejeX on another set of wheels so we'll see if that works as well or better as the Ultima Tire and Wheel which in my experience was much better than Wheelwax. These "sealants" may all be silicon based and eventually just wash/wear off???
Yeah, I somehow changed horses midstream, confusing the two. I've not tried Sonus Rim Bright or Sonax, but plan to track down the Sonax Full Effect, as apparently it is "more effective" than their R2000 Rim Cleaner.
I've used the "regular" P21S and the P21S Gel for several years. I like the Gel formulation best, as it stays on the wheels longer. Especially nice when I wait too long to clean or I end up with a monster cleaning job like my recent E46 convertible purchase. The previous owner had brake dust shields on all 4 wheels. What a mess that left. Dust was coming off in chunks after I had those removed. (The tire shop commented that they'd never seen anyone put those on a BMW before.) I left my bottle of P21S Gel with my mechanic to spray down the wheels when performing an inspection 2 service and a couple other items. Not sure if they did much more than spray and hose off later, but they were much cleaner when the car came back (no longer rinsing black when I clean them). I'll have to look for Sonax and see how it does for me. Now that I've actually got the brake dust off the wheels, I can try that new "Wheel Wax" stuff that I picked up at the parts counter last time I was at the dealership. ----- ...gotta work on a snazzy sig file soon... E28 - Running, but not rolling. E46 - Running and rolling on sunny days only
