I took my car(97 z28 30th anv - 17x11 and 17x9.5 Chrome ZR1's)to a car wash place today(hand wash, not drive through). Everythign was totally fine, looked great, and then I got out of my car and looked at my front left rim..... this is when the hell starts....its completely awful looking, big splotches and drips of tarnished color on the chrome, some splotches inches wide, anyways, I think "maybe they just forgot to wash off the wheel cleaner", so I drive on, when I get home I try rubbing them with a towel, nothing changes, like polished tarnish...I try using my rim cleaner(Meguiar's) and this changes NOTHING.....I try using mother's chrome polish..... nothing....looks EXACTLY the same...I cant get this **** off, has my chrome been burnt? could this have been an intentional thing? It's only on my left front rim as far as I can tell....please help,
thanks,
Alex

 

Assuming you paid someone to wash your car? or was it a wand wash you did yourself?

These car wash places use acid based cleaners that can screw up chrome or alum. wheels big time, looks like that is what happened (this is why I do not use wheel cleaners, just soap and water for me)

All I know to do is keep buffing them with the chrome polish, be better if you could use some sort of electric wheel and a more aggresive polishing compound.

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96 Black Impala SS
Authorized Zaino Showcar Polish Distributor
www.zainobros.com
Remember #3

 

Yes, I paid someone to wash my car, normally, I wash it myself.
When I have washed it myself, I have used meguiars chrome wheel cleaner with no problems, I have also had the car washed at this same place before, also with no problems. It also seems strange to me that this would be just one wheel,
any firther advice would be helpful... Kevin, would the 30 dollar cheap rotary buffers at kragen and some mother's chrome polish be worth trying?
Thanks,
Alex

 

An orbital buffer would not do that much to a wheel, before spending any money, take it back to the clean up place, they probably let the acid DRY on the wheel and did not get it washed off in time or they sprayed the wheel while it was still hot from driving.



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96 Black Impala SS
Authorized Zaino Showcar Polish Distributor
www.zainobros.com
Remember #3

 

Ok, thanks Kevin,
another question, do you think(if you have any experience with this sort of thing) that a car wash would be liable for this kind of damage, because by what I can put together, any which way you look at it its their fault right?
hehe, this isnt so much car advice but I thought maybe you or someone else would have some useful advice...
thanks,
Alex

 

could it be some road tar or something that you could use a bug/ tar remover on? Have you driven over roads that've been paved lately? Just a thought. That really sucks though.

 

Nope,
I am pretty damn sure its from the wheel cleaner
Anyways, I called the guy at the car wash and he told me to bring it in today and he would try to polish it,
so I brought it in and he polished it. When I looked at it it looked fine, so I thanked him and went home, he second I stepped out of my car I looked at it again and realized it was still all ****ed up....
so I called him and said it was still messed up, he keeps trying to bull**** me saying that its a problem with my rim, not with how they washed it, etc...then claiming it was the glue inside my centercap, which I explained to him doesnt exist(my center caps just pop in) anyways, he kept saying one thing after the next about how it was my fault not his, finally he agreed to try to polish it again, so I am bringing it in in the morning, if he doesnt get it back to normal, I might have to sue him, because I can tell for DAMn sure right now, that he is a jerk off ad there is no way he will pay for my 400 dollar rim.