Wheel Wells/Arches

[Turbofree]

Firstly let me say this site is full of really great information and the level of detail simply excellent!



I am looking for some advice. I have a 911 Turbo and although you cannot really see the wheel wells I know they really need a good clean. A few weeks back I took of one of the wheels, covered up the discs and went to work. A lot of the loose dirt came off easily but some of it seems to be really baked on and would not come off. So, I borrowed a pressure washer and tried to âہ“blastâ€Â� of the dirt. Now some of it did come of but it appeared to be eating into the coating that was protecting the metal so I stopped.



Does anyone have any idea on what I should clean the wells with?



Thanks

[Lemonxxs]

do you have a pic of area and stuff on there?



I use tire cleaner and a scrub brush....then coat with cheap plastic protectant like armor all

[98stang04]

I use some deluted Simple Green with a scrub brush, then some kind of tire cleaner.

[Alfisti]

Can you get Eagle One A2Z? Very strong alkaline wheel cleaner!



Spray and scrub a few times...it should clean it up nicely...don`t forget to wear rubber gloves and goggles.

[pcar 930]

Since you mentioned you have a 911 turbo (what year?), you should check out this thread (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=101326) . It may not be truly autopian in some of the methods used, but there are some great pics and advice.

[Accumulator]

Turbofree- You`ve got the right idea with pulling the wheels to do the initial, big cleanup. For regular upkeep, just jacking it up should suffice. When I wash the S8 (sorta low car) I jack it up every time to let me get in there. When I had sportscars I had to do the same thing.



I would not use Simple Green as it can permanently discolor many metal surfaces.



But as to the portection/cosmoline, yeah, there`s a trade off. If you clean it off you lose the protection. If you drive it in winter, you might not want to do that.



You can often clean the protection *VERY* gently, and just take off a little bit of it- most of what you clean off will be the dirt. Use a solvent (PrepSol, Wurth Cleans-All, 3M Adhesive Remover). But you`ll still take off more than you intend in some areas, just the nature of the process.



Or just clean all the protection off and replace it with some Wurth brand wax-based protection. Don`t clean it off *too* well, leave it undisturbed in nooks and crannies where it`ll be hard to uniformly replace.



The Wurth stuff is "Body Protection" and the pn is Art-no. 0893081-U . Not sure where you`d get it; I get mine through my mechanic.

[Turbofree]

Guys,



Thanks for taking the time to reply.



Guess My Name: Sorry I donâ€â„¢t have any pictures. Itâ€â„¢s too dark when I get home from work at this time of the year but I will try and take some at the weekend.



Alfisti: I am not too sure but I will take a look around the suppliers we have in the UK



Pcar930: Thanks for the link. The car is a 1996 993 Twin Turbo with the factory 430bhp upgrade so itâ€â„¢s not exactly slow!



Accumulator: Thanks for the advice. The protective coating is kind of strange, it sort of fibrous and permanently bonded to the car (not sure if this makes sense!). The problem I was experiencing was the pressure washer was kind of cutting the coating and making slight cut marks in it but not down to the bare metal. The dirty was coming off in very small pieces as the dirty was kind of flaking off in brittle pieces. Any thoughts?



Thanks

[Accumulator]

Originally posted by Turbofree

The protective coating is kind of strange, it sort of fibrous and permanently bonded to the car (not sure if this makes sense!). The problem I was experiencing was the pressure washer was kind of cutting the coating and making slight cut marks in it but not down to the bare metal. The dirty was coming off in very small pieces as the dirty was kind of flaking off in brittle pieces. Any thoughts?





Sorry, but the only thing that comes to mind at this point is.. to ask somebody who knows more about Porsches than I do ;)



I`d be gentle (as in, no more with the pressure washer). Products like P21s Total Auto Wash would be a pretty safe way to go.

[Turbofree]

Accumulator, thanks I will be giving the pressure washer a miss, I only borrowed it to try and clear the dirty off.



I am sure you are correct, the coating would appear to be cosmoline. What do you think about using a critus deagreaser?

[gnahc79]

Originally posted by Turbofree



I am sure you are correct, the coating would appear to be cosmoline. What do you think about using a critus deagreaser?



Keep the Orange Blast/citrus degreaser away from your wheels. It`s very very strong at 100% and definitely stronger than Simple Green. You could dilute it, but I wouldn`t risk it.



Eagle One A2Z may be too strong, test it out first before going nuts with the stuff :). EO`s mildest wheel cleaner is the Aluminum Wash. Never used it, but worth a try.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, the only citrus degreaser I use regularly is the TAW.



And often *any* degreaser will clean off cosmoline. But you can usually get away with using it as long as you aren`t too aggressive.



A very mild approach is to use a wheel cleaner from Griot`s or P21S. Both are pretty mild, and you can dilute them to render them even milder. EFHI works well too, I usually dilute it about 1:3 (EFHI:water) or so. Even used undiluted, I`ve never had EFHI damage anything.