How do you best protect brushed wheels?

[Reg_Dunlop]

Hello Autopia. I`m a new member to the board, but have been lurking for some time now. I have a question concerning how best to protect high-end wheels with "brushed" finishes. Same question for wheels with anodized finishes. I`ve always protected my wheels with AIO + SG, but my wheels have always had painted finishes. I`ve never detailed brushed or anodized wheels before. Just curious if such finishes require different approaches (either in product or in process). Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Accumulator]

Welcome to Autopia!



The "machined look" wheels on my wife`s A8 are like that- I just treat them like any other wheels. Unless the texture is *very* coarse, I`d just use the Klasse twins on them. And even if it *is* really textured, I`d probably just do the same thing, applying very thin and using w-o-w-o so you don`t get a build up of excess product in the texture.



I never had any problem treating my anodized HREs that way, just be gentle with stuff like AIO as some anodizing is pretty fragile. I kept them very well sealed and washed them gently with car wash shampoo. Worked fine and that car (Mallett C5) made a lot of brake dust. I used soft BHBs to clean them but you might try sheepskins. Just watch that they don`t trap some abrasive grit.

[DETAILKING]

Don`t be afraid to use an abrasive wheel polish on these wheels. More than likely you will see a TON of black crap (oxidation) come off them when you polish them. WENOL makes a great wheel polish for this application.



Use a sealant as a final step after you get them looking great for protection.

[Accumulator]

Just make sure they aren`t coated with something before using those abrasives ;) Some wheels that *look* like bare aluminum aren`t.