Do you take wheels off to clean the rims?

toml · 07-01-05, 03:40

I've accumulated 5000 miles of brake dust on the inside of my rims. They do get hit every week with QEW and the new Megs spoke brush, but they are by no means clean. I've thought about spending the money for an aluminum floor jack (3000 lb. Craftsman for $120) and some stands and take the wheels off to clean, polish, and seal the rims, but $120+ seems like a lot of money just to hit the inside of the rims. I could go for a steel floor jack for less money, but I don't want to lug 90-100 lbs. of jack from my apartment on the second floor to my car on the street ... hence looking at the Sears 60 lb. steel/aluminum jack. I already have a good torque wrench.

Another option is a pair of ramps ($20-30) so I can get behind the tire and clean the inside of the rims.

I will try to detail a rim with it on the car first (4* wheel cleaner, brushes, WalMart MF followed by AIO and UPP) and see how hard it is to do. The hardest part will probably be where the caliper assembly is on the front tires as there's not much clearance on my Accord.

However, I'd like to know how many of you remove your wheels to clean, polish, and seal them ... whether every detail, occasionally, or never. It'll help me decide whether to spend the $ for a floor jack or go another route. If you have any comments, they'd be appreciated too

Intercooled · 07-01-05, 03:59

I feel I get the wheels pretty clean with out removing them. Realisticly who is ever really going to notice. For car shows, sure remove them and clean them up good. For everyday driver, I woud just do the best you can do.
If you have custom wheels that show the insides then maybe remove them. Or do a once a year removal cleaning.

themightytimmah · 07-01-05, 04:31

I just spray acid liberally and undiluted behind of my polished fronts, pressure wash it and try to keep it off the polished section. Gets em pretty clean, you can only notice the dust inside from ground level.

rjstaaf · 07-01-05, 06:21

Do you rotate your tires every 5K miles? If not, you should and that is the perfect time to clean the rims and tires while they are off the car. This may not be often enough for everyone as I do 5K in about 3 months.

Scottwax · 07-01-05, 06:47

I do every once in a while. Not a real priority for me on my 626 though, it is a daily driver.

tailwind · 07-01-05, 11:37

I have two different sets of wheels. Some 17" C5 replicas for the summer with expensive street tires, and 16" stockers with cheaper all-seasons for the winter.

When I swap the sets, I do a hardcore cleaning of the ones that have just got taken off. I don't bother when they're on the car, too much of a pain on a daily driver.

Richt · 07-02-05, 01:13

All the time when I used to do Concours, not as much now its just a play thing.

Totoland Mach · 07-02-05, 04:27

I take my wheels off monthly to polish the inner rim. I use the same Craftsman alum jack + stands and it works well for that job. Keep in mind, my Mach 1 is not a daily driver and I don't know what your car use is.

Once cleaned and maintained, it's pretty easy to keep the appearance.

http://autopia.org/gallery/data/500/...lusoutside.jpg

MorBid · 07-02-05, 05:22

My I have two tire setup's (16's for the Winter w/Snow tires and 18's for the rest of the year w/Performance tires).

When I swap sets is an excellent time to polish and wax them. Otherwise once they are on the car I tend to leave them on to clean them

norahcrv · 07-02-05, 07:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by toml

. . . I've thought about spending the money for an aluminum floor jack (3000 lb. Craftsman for $120) and some stands and take the wheels off to clean, polish, and seal the rims, but $120+ seems like a lot of money just to hit the inside of the rims. . .

Too bad you're not closer

I just bought that set up this spring to do the inside of the wheels on my CR-V. It really made it easy, but now it's sitting in the garage asking me when I'm going to do it again. Since the dealer does my tire rotations, I'm thinking the cleaning might be an annual event.

lbls1 · 07-02-05, 07:52

A good long wheel brush can do wonders for your inner rims (as well as having paint on them!).

Accumulator · 07-02-05, 10:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by toml

The hardest part will probably be where the caliper assembly is on the front tires as there's not much clearance on my Accord....

On vehicles where clearance is tight, I just move them forward/back after cleaning what I *can* get to. This exposes the area previously obscured by the caliper.

I put about 4-6 layers of KSG on the back sides when I have them off (I voted "occasionally"). I clean them (front and back every time if there's access) with car wash solution and even on the daily drivers, when I pull them off the backs are still nice and clean.

The only time I *don't* clean the backs is on wheels where I truly can't access that side, namely the Jag's wheels, the steel wheels on the 9C1, and the steel winter wheels on the MPV (all have only tiny slots that don't allow for effective cleaning). Even those will clean up OK with all the KSG on them if I don't let it go *too* long. If you rotate regularly it's not a big deal to keep up with it. And there's no reason why you *have* to have the dealer do the rotations if you have the floorjack

I like knowing that *I* was the guy with the torque wrench.