Clearcoated Rims

M

msmcdon

New member
Weird thing happened the other day that has forced me to think about the clearcoated rims on my 1994 Ranger. I went through my local brushless car wash (I know, I know) and got the "deluxe" wash... which included some product called "wheel brite"



:mad: Well.... I drove the few blocks home and parked it... .and noticed this nasty white haze all over the two front rims.... looked like someone smeared Elmer's Glue over them! Augh! I got out the Meguiar's Cleaner, Polish and Gold Class Wax and polished them up.... the cleaner took a bit of elbow grease, but it got almost all of this haze off. The rear two wheels weren't affected at all.



My question is this: What can I put on these rims to protect them better? I must point out that they are the origninal rims and years of winter salt, and a nasty broken brake line (hence fluid all over them) has etched the clearcoat farily badly. The aluminum seems undamaged and they polish up nicely, though the damage is still aparent when viewing from a few feet away.



I posted a question in June and the response was Klasse All in One.... will this help the clearcoat damage, or do I need some sort of scratch remover, or are they too far gone to help? I had one person (not on this board) tell me to get Aircraft Paint remover and strip the rims of the clearcoat and: 1) either keep them protected VERY well, or 2) have them re-clearcoated.



Any opinions on what I should do and what good products to buy? Sorry for the long post, and appreciate your help!



:D
 
I use Clear Coat Wheel Polish, a product made for clear coated wheels by Mothers. Others use Zaino, or Klasse, or one of the other synthetic products.



Gold Class has very fine cleaners in it, which might explain the effort involved in your clean up.



The front wheels generate lots of heat during braking, which would explain why they were more effected than the rears. Wheel cleners should only be applied to cool wheels.
 
can you tell me more about mothers clear coat wheel polish? DOes it offer any protection or just a product to clean and maintain shine (abrasive). Thanks!
 
DK,

I have tried the Mother's Clear Coat Wheel Polish and still have some left in the garage. According to the bottle it polishes, waxes and cleans. The one thing that always confused me about this product is that the directions tell you to "clean wheel first with correct wheel cleaner". Imo Klasse and Zaino are better options.
 
I have a small bottle of Clear Coat Wheel polish and had excellent results from it.



The reason why it says to clean with the wheel cleaner first because wheel cleaner removes brake dust and fresh contaminates. (Think of the washing process for paint) The wheel polish then removed embedded contaminates, shined up the wheel, and the brake dust didn't seem to adhere as quickly. (Think of it as Klasse AIO)



Btw, I recently detailed an old set of wheels. I first throughly washed with Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash and Meguiar's Hi-Tech Wheel cleaner. Then I clay barred it, until the aluminum felt perfectly smooth and the surface looked clean through a magnifying glass. Then I applied and removed the Clear Coat Wheel polish with a soft T-shirt. It took 45-75 min. depending on the wheel.



Laters,

~bw
 
Clear Coat Wheel Polish is used to polish up the soft coating on cc'd wheels. We recommend cleaning them first to remove surface dirt, road grime, etc, to prevent further scratching of the wheel.



The label indicates it "Cleans, Polishes and Protects".



Coated wheels get lots of light scratches from road debris, which can be polished out with this, a light cleaner and a synthetic coating for protection. They also get brake dust embedded in the clear coat. It will also remove the oxidation which occurs on the coating, which is really noticable on cars like a Maxima, where the wheels often turn yellow. It also provides a surface slicker than normal, to cut down on brake dust adherence.



It can also help polish out where improper products have been inadvertently applied to wheels, like the OE Ranger wheels mentioned above. It's not a cure-all, but can help in wheel care.



I don't recommend using a paint type product on the wheels since the wheel clear coat is different than the paint type (softer).
 
I like Rain-X wheel Protectant.



It creates an adhesion barrier between your clean wheel and brake dust / dirt.



Easily spray on a layer and let dry (I prefer overnight). Then just leave be. It keeps the brake dust from sticking to a Klassed wheel. The best part is that you only need to use your regular car wash (wheel cleaner strips wax) and the dust along with the Rain-X layer (keeping the Klasse in tact) comes right off. Then you just spray another layer and let be until next washing.



It works well if you neglect your wheels or need that little extra barrier besides wax between brake dust and your clearcoated (or not) wheel. Try it you might like it.
 
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