Do you clean & polish your alloys

[Lobbers]

I'm 'slightly' un-usually in that there's nothing I prefer to do than spend hours washing & cleaning my P&J. Not only body panel BUT its alloys too.

Are you this obsessive ???

[BrianS]

Hi Lobbers,

While I don't like to spend too long on my wheels & tyres, I like to have them spotless. No use having a clean suit and dirty shoes.

It sounds like you spend a lot of time taking care of your motor. Do you have any tips / tricks on what you find best? I'm always interested in what other people are doing.

Take Care Out There,
Brian.

[Lobbers]

the wheel is constantly bombarded by heated dust particles from the brake pad - aka brake dust

This is my favourite part of this topic of all!!!!

In fact I usually wash my car/alloys once a week, therefore brake
dust build up is not too much. Also I don't do too much city driving
so this helps too!

When I'm SERIOUS about giving my car's alloys a proper cleaning I take each wheel off one at a time. I wet each wheel with cold water from a hose, use a detergent to soften anything on the rims. This removes all the "heavy" build up of dirt. I then spray Holt Tar Remover on both inside & outside of the rim, leave for 2 minutes & wipe off any tar thats on them. Again I wash the alloy & polish it with Blue Coral liquid polish... repeated for each alloy... takes about 2 hours :)

[BrianS]

Lobbers, that sounds like serious hard labour. Did you win the Lotto? I don't think I could afford that much time to cleaning the car without giving up my "real" job !! However, a wise man once said, never love anything that can't love you back. This includes both cars & sheep!! heh heh.......:eek:

If I can give my opinion, I wouldn't use Tar & Spot Remover on my wheels. They contain solvents that will remove the Tar, etc, but these aren't too good for Tyres - they eat rubber on contact. A good wheel cleaner will be gelatinous and give a thick foam on contact. It should have a good vertical cling to minimise contact with the rest of the vehicle - tyres or otherwise. Also remember that you are working with chemicals. It can be bit of a nuisance, but I've seen some ingredients that go into Auto care products (esp. solvents) and they aren't nice. So I recommend a pair of rubber gloves when using solvents & cleaners. You'll be fine with wax and that side of the range though.

Blue Coral polish - I haven't used it but hear its pretty good. Maybe I'll invest next time

Take Care Out There.
Brian