Wheel Well Proccedure

B

Buick_guy

New member
OK, I had a customer stay that he wants his wheel wells done. I said sure, I do them anyways. He then proceeded to say, " but I don't want you to remove the wheel's or jack up the car. Since its a 1999 SS Camaro, it would be very hard to get into the wheelwells with a brush and stuff. This also doesn't allow me to clean the rims like I usually do.



WHat should I tell him?
 
Maybe if you have a power washer, spray as much degreaser as you can get in there, let it dwell several minutes, then power wash it off, you may have to repeat this several times since you can't agitate it with a brush.



As for dressing, my favorite product, Engine Kote, will be discontinued soon. :( But thanks to HRP's suggestion, I will be trying Mop n Glo floor shine, of all things, as I remember now it is a similar substance to EK



For the wheels, it's going to be very tough especially to clean the insides, I would just spray wheel cleaner, let it dwell, rinse off, repeat and let the customer know in advance the insides may not come out totally prestine.
 
Hmmm, not to thread jack, but when will Engine Kote be discontinued?



But, I think that Bill's suggestion is pretty good. If he won't let you jack the car, then there is only so much you can do. I'd let him know up front that while you prefer, at the least, to jack up the car, that you will do what you can.
 
Buick_guy- Maybe talk with him about how you could jack up the car *with his approval*. It's not like the car will *never* get jacked up for servicing....and *any* car can be raised up safely if you do it right. e.g., towel over rubber block on the floor jack, jack positioned under rear diff/front subframe. Maybe he'll go for it if you convince him you won't hurt anything.



Look in the sponge/dishwashing dept. of local drugstores, see if you can find a "Quickee Sponge Mop". It's a sponge head on a plastic stick that's used to clean the inside of glasses. You gotta watch the steel loop core that holds the sponge, but it works well for this application. I use that and the smaller BHBs from Griot's (pn 15520), which are worth their weight in gold, IMO. I treat wheelwells with Griot's Undercarriage Spray and clean the insides/backs of wheels with their (large) foam swabs (pn 10226).
 
Or explain your jacking procedure.



First I loosten the lug nuts, just enough to break them, then I jack the vehicle with a crafstman model 65 floor jack that has a pad under it to prevent scrapping or damage to the under carriage, I then finish removing the lugs with care. I then place the wheel on a towel and clean it, then I get in the wheel well and coat XXXXX



Once done I then place the wheel on and finger tighten the lugs, I then lower the car enough to catch the ground and torque the lugs with a craftsman torque wrench to the manfacutres specs.
 
If he wont allow you to remove the wheels to detail the wheel wells,you are going to use a lot more of your chosen cleaning product to get no where near as good results,if he instists on you not removing the wheels to detail you can turn the front wheels on full lock to get right into the wells,do BOTH sides with the wheels locked left and then right.
 
I agree. It would take alot of my products!!!! I guess I'll try and convince him that I need to jack it for both our and his sake.
 
FWIW, I have never removed my wheels to detail wells and insides of wheels. Unless I ever get one of those heavy duty scissor lifts I'm way too uncomfortable doing so, my driveway has a pitch. Yep, I've turned the wheels in both directions to reach the rears and the rest of the wells. I need to contort myself a bit sometimes especially when working on the backs of the rear wheels and tires but I do get all the spots. I've done this on my cars in addition to Corvettes and SLs with good results and most importantly, nice and safely
 
I have a very flat garage, with jack stands, and 2 jacks. I think it should work good. I did it on my parents blazer, and Buick last weekend.



For some reason, the unibody lip on the Buick was collapsed. So I had to go and bent it back, and it looked pretty sad. The guy at the dealer must have done that, dumbass!
 
I spray the wheelhouses with Simple Green and gently go over that will a longer handled brush. After they dry...I spray a dusting of Sprayway non-silicone tire shine on the plastic liners. They look new and they're 10 years old. This also helps keep them cleaner as dirt and mud don;t stick as well.
 
i don't take the wheels off of mine. I cut the wheels all the way to one side then the other.

I use a long handles brush to clean the inside and i apply dressing with a fish tank cleaner( nothing more than a sponge on a handle)
 
take off my wheels... If you do jack up that Camaro Be verrrrry Careful when doing the front. One wrong jack point and Boiooong,,,,, gos the fender... it will pop out or out if you jack in the wrong spot...



Make sure you use a tar remover, and scrub scrub scrub… Don’t try to just cover it up with dressing.. that looks like crap. If the guy really wants them clean he will be looking over them and you don’t want to look like a hack job.. Also look in to a few plastic scrapers and brushes..



To get them real clean, this could take some time.. Get a seat, you may be there a while..



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