Whats the best way to clean chrome rims?

L

lilbraze87

New member
Hey! What is the best way to clean chrome rims? Right now i just use soap and water and between washes i just use glass cleaner but i wanna find a better way to clean the rims and keep the brake dust off them. Ive put new brakes on my truck and they are suppose to be low dust or no dust at all. If you have any suggestions please let me know
 
Sonax Full Effect and a Daytona Speed Brush to clean them. There are some wheel sealants and waxes out for wheels that are suppose to help prevent brake dust from sticking to the wheels, but from own experience none really work that well. I would just try and coat them with one of the many coatings that available like opti-coat.
 
Assuming it is mostly maintaining, I will use Mothers Chrome Polish 1-2x per year and soap / water and spray wax to maintain.
 
Chrome is easy IMO, any good car wash soap to maintain the metal stays clean and free of brake dust build up. Then I use Poorboys PP2 metal polish and follow that with PB Wheel sealant...can't think of one more thing that chrome requires to keep it in good shape. Any good metal polish and wheel type of sealant will work just fine, as long as it's used regularly
 
If maintaining them is your biggest concern, Id consider Opti Coating them. Polish them to the standard your looking for, then apply Opti Coat. Maintenance would be a breese afterward.
 
As you can imagine, there are quite a few different opinions regarding the "best" way to clean chrome wheels. If you go too long, though, pitting can ruin the wheels, so it's always best to keep on a good maintenance schedule.

A solid wheel cleaner, such as SONAX Full Effect, 1Z Colourtec, and even wheel cleaning acids, would all be solid choices. Thankfully, chrome is very strong, and you don't have to worry as much about dulling or hazing the wheels, like with uncoated aluminum.

After a solid cleaning, you should use a chrome cleaner to get the wheels to a high shine. If your wheels are in good or better condition, then using a product such as P21S Polishing Soap is a great choice; in fact, it's the one that I personally use for well kept chrome. I have also heard great things about P21S Multi-Finish Restorer. I think Swanic has a review on this product, which he speaks highly of.

Now, there is another product called Quick-Glo. I found it while I was watching Jay Leno's Garage on YouTube. Here is the video:
Get Rid of Your Rust! - Jay Leno's Garage - YouTube


The nice thing about this is it leaves behind protection, in the form of a wax. This is really a moot point for me, and I would venture to say most of us, because we would seal with a long-term sealant, or, even better, coat with a product such as Opti-Coat, GTechniq C5, or the DP or Pinnacle Black Label products. That being said, it did seem to work well when I tested it. I haven't broken it out in a while, but I have found that I use it more around the house rather than on the car (such as on the grill, etc.)

Make sure to have a good variety of tools, such as Wheel Woolies, Daytona Speed Master brushes, and wheel face brushes. Make sure you get into the barrel when you clean, and ideally remove the wheel to be able to properly clean, decontaminate, and then coat. Sometimes, this is not possible, so having the tools to reach in the barrel is very important. Remember, the brake dust can get into the chrome and ruin it. If this happens, it becomes very hard to salvage and most of the time must be re-chromed - a very expensive proposition.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Good luck and happy detailing! :rockon
 
can i get most of these products from a local car shop or do i have to order them off the internet? it think i want to go with the Opi Coating
 
i just watched a video on youtube of a guy using Mother Chrome Polish, is that product a good polish to use?? I looked like he got the rim polished really good. It looked great
 
A chrome finish is a very very very thin coating. As long as it is cleaned well and protected it will look awesome.

Chrome is fairly chemical resistant and can be cleaned by just about any wheel cleaner on the market. I personally love BLACKFIRE Total Eclipse Wheel & Tire Cleaner on chrome.

After it is cleaned, the next step is to protect it. If you are looking for the best sealant for metal, I would go with BLACKFIRE Wet Diamond All Metal Sealant (with acrylic).

Once they are cleaned and protected, regular car soap should be all you need to clean them. But here is the thing, chrome, like paint, will show micro scratches and swirl marks. Unfortunately, the chrome plating is SO thin that you cannot remove scratches by polishing... When you wash your wheel make sure to use soft paint-friendly wash materials like boar's hair wheel brushes or soft mitts.
 
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