NEED help - Cayenne brake dust caked

[BrownBarbie]

I bought a 2020 Cayenne and it`s obvious the previous owner had it cleaned a local car wash and never really got into the 21" RS wheels (pics attached). The brake dust is literally caked into every corner, nook and cranny. In the close up pic you can see the "little dots" and caked corners. The dealer, of course, sprayed the whole car down with its detailing jizz that took an entire bottle of Dawn to remove from all four wheels, tires, rockers... I tried Plum Ammo, then Chemical Guys Diablo, then Dawn PowerWash all with an electric toothbrush. Even tried Menzerna 2500.
The only thing that fully gets it to go away is a clay bar. However, each wheel has 20 sections and I`ll be eligible for Medicare by the time I get done with that. I`m planning to pull the wheels off and do a full wheel, suspension and caliper clean before I ceramic coat the calipers and wheels.

Any suggestions on ways/products where this doesn`t take me 12 hours? Yes, I know I can have them refinished but I don`t want to.
.Cayenne wheel close.jpg Cayenne wheel.jpg

[Setec Astronomy]

Well, you can try one of the iron-eating wheel cleaners, Sonax, Optimum FerreX, most companies have them. I don`t find them to be that effective for the kind of etched-in stuff you have. So the other alternative is an acid, there are some mild acids but they are hard to get these days, so that leaves you with the HF wheel cleaners, like Meguiar`s Wheel Brightener. For me personally, the HF risks are not worth the reward.

[Lonnie]

By the way, HF means Hydrofluoric Acid-based cleaners. These brake-dust rim (AKA, wheel) cleaners can cause more rim material damage IF not used properly.
Personally, I would try Sonax Full Effects Plus on your Porsche rims. Strong chemical cleaner without the acid and the risk of the fore-mentioned rim (wheel) damage, but,again, only if the Full Effects Plus is used properly.
Please do not laugh at this suggestion: try Easy-Off Oven Cleaner on a test spot. Yes it is strong; strong enough to etch or lighten the finish on the rim. Hence my suggestion for using it on a small test spot first. If it gives a good and acceptable cleaning result, try it on another rim test spot. You can decide from there whether this is a half-baked idea (pun intended) or an inexpensive detailing "hack" that may actually work!

[Setec Astronomy]

For what it`s worth, I was just using some McKee`s 37 Foaming Wheel Cleaner Gel that I bought when ACC or AG was blowing it out, it worked really well, I think better than the Griot`s Heavy Duty I was using alongside it. It`s more expensive than the Griot`s, but it uses a different iron-eating ingredient, so it turns red instead of purple and it doesn`t smell bad.

[Sizzle Chest]

Steam if available to you may assist after a deep clean

[Dan]

Brown Royal is my go to on neglected wheels. In one pass it does what 3-4 passes of Wheel Brightener does. It`s crazy good.

Also Megs Chrome wheel cleaner is a diluted version of wheel brightener perfect for on time use so you don`t have to buy a gallon of WB.

[BrownBarbie]

Thank you everyone for your input. I purchased Megs Wheel Brightener a few days ago and will be diluting 5 to 1, rinsing every 30 seconds and wearing full PPE.

[PoisonTheWell]

Please do not laugh at this suggestion: try Easy-Off Oven Cleaner on a test spot. Yes it is strong; strong enough to etch or lighten the finish on the rim. Hence my suggestion for using it on a small test spot first. If it gives a good and acceptable cleaning result, try it on another rim test spot. You can decide from there whether this is a half-baked idea (pun intended) or an inexpensive detailing "hack" that may actually work!

AMMO just released a video where they tried this on an Audi where the brake locked and dust was caked to a point where not much effected it. They ended up heating the wheel up and using a screw driver to chip away at it because it was that bad. I guess the theory was with the wheel heating and cooling over and over againt, it opens up the pores of the clearcoat and then when it cools it embeds. Heat gun or hair dryer maybe?

[Setec Astronomy]

Thank you everyone for your input. I purchased Megs Wheel Brightener a few days ago and will be diluting 5 to 1, rinsing every 30 seconds and wearing full PPE.

Please be careful and be careful with the runoff, HF is really a no-fooling-around chemical, which can`t be easily neutralized like other acids, it requires calcium for neutralization.

[Desertnate]

I would also HIGHLY suggest using it outdoors if possible. I`ve only used the less potent Meguiars Chrome Wheel cleaner a couple of time, but I made sure to do my work outdoors. Even then, the vapors coming off that stuff in an outdoor environment were pretty powerful and it`s the OTC version of the product. I`d imagine the full strength pro version is far worse.

[Lonnie]

Please be careful and be careful with the runoff, HF is really a no-fooling-around chemical, which can`t be easily neutralized like other acids, it requires calcium for neutralization.

Good to know about the neutralization of Hydrofluoric Acid with calcium. This may explain why my concrete driveway gets "lightened" AKA, bleached or more correctly, etched because of the run-off.

[Lonnie]

Oh, yes, if you do use an Acid-based wheel (rim) cleaner, make sure you have an acid-resistant spray nozzle or at least a chemical-resistant nozzle.
And be sure to rinse it out after using it with any stronger Acid-based cleaners.
If you do not, I can almost guarantee it will not work the next time you come to use it, as the acid will eat/degrade the nozzle seals used in the pump piston for developing pressure to move the liquid mixture through the nozzle orifice.

[BrownBarbie]

wheel stand.jpgI`m going to do this work wheels off in my backyard over gravel using a trashed table and a wheel stand while wearing full PPE (respirator included). Built the wheel stand yesterday.

[Oneheadlite]

wheel stand.jpgI`m going to do this work wheels off in my backyard over gravel using a trashed table and a wheel stand while wearing full PPE (respirator included). Built the wheel stand yesterday.

Nice. What did you use for rollers?

[BrownBarbie]

Those are 10" metal conveyor rollers off Amazon for $25. I had all the other metal and just did a quick fab.