For those of you who might be thinking about purchasing Kleen Wheels, don't waste your time. I was getting tired of cleaning brake dust of my wife's 530xi wheels and my M3's wheels; so I decided to invest in the Kleen Wheels. Pulled a 530xi 5 spoke wheel off; cleaned it inside and out and proceeded to put a Kleen Wheel disc inside the wheel. So far so good, I thought. Turned the wheel around and what a disappointment. The "inside wheel cover" concept make the wheel look ugly and like it was a wheel with a crappy wheel cover instead of an alloy wheel. Needless to say Bavarian Auto will be geeting a return of merchandise on their satisfaction guaranteed pledge. I still have to box them up and ship them out - what a PITA. Again, Brother Beemers - keep cleaning the wheels and don't waste your efforts with the wheel discs (IMHO they are butt ugly).
Of course. I saw the pics for it and immediately thought "steelies with hubcaps!". Too bad that it would save lots of time. But, I did find a really good spray-like substance that you spray on the wheel, and it foams up, just like in the car wash. Yes, I gave in and took the car to a car wash this week and was mesmerized how easily that foam stuff got the brake dust off my sandblasted wheel. It was impossible to take off with elbow grease and Simple Green, but this foam stuff made it come off as though it was a fresh layer (and it's been baked on for months). I went out and bought it, sprayed it on, let it "foam" for a little bit, hosed it off, and voila! B-e-a-utiful, clean wheels, with just a very quick wipe with my wheel-cleaning cloth. This makes cleaning the 15" BBS wheels a breeze. Your 5er being a 530, it probably doesn't have many spokes, so it should be a problem at all to clean your wheels even with just the rag.
az3579 - Could you share the name of this magic foam cleaner with us? I have Kleen wheels on the '85 Mercedes 380SE with the ":Bundt" wheels and they do a good job and aren't noticeable as the wheels are somewhat closed compared to the large open-spoked wheels on today's cars. I have not encountered any brake fade or overheating problems, but drive the car like a gran'pa!
There are actually a lot of products like this at the local Advance Auto. The one I bought is called "Rim Clean" by Turtle Wax, but there is also a similar product from Meguiar's and some other companies I can't remember. It must be a new thing because I didn't see anything like it the last time I bought a wheel cleaning spray (which was rubbish).
I don't believe that any cleaners are better than others with the exception of checking whether the chemicals attack the metal/paint in your wheel in an adverse way. The sprays lossen the brake dust, but to get them clean , you must use a brush or a soapy sponge to clean it completely.
The Brake Dust Gods must have been smiling on me when I bought my BBS CH wheels in that I am now able to put a wash mit between the spokes and clean them. I have been using just car wash on them since then and just use a separate bucket of wash water when I wash my car just for the wheels.
