well, i finally did it....waited to long to wash my car and now i can't for the life of me get the brake dust off my stock rims. for years, i've used armor all's wheel cleaner and it's always taken it right off...just like it was never there, but this time, the brake dust has been caked on for quite some time...especially on the front and after like 8 seperate applications of the tire cleaner tonight (waiting 5 minutes and then scrubbing each time), it still won't take it all off and it looks crappy.

anybody ever been able to overcome this or am i stuck with it now ? =/

robert

 

Once I got into my mother in law's garage and got some "mean green" worked great on my wheels and tires. Its a multi purpose cleaner for the house. Just dont get none on your paint

 

i will try anything at this point, mean green is next on my list. i'm assuming it won't harm the stock wheel, clear coat, etc. ?

 

Mean Green or Simple Green should do the trick. I think the salad shooters are powder coated. I dont think you are going to hurt it with that cleaner.

 

i bought some simple green, bot it home and was just about to spray it when i read on the instructions to not use it on aluminum wheels....so i haven't yet. but i'm so tired of looking at the nasty wheels, i might have to try it anyway and risk it!

thanks for the replies...i thought this thread was dead long ago

 

you can use it with water to delute it a bit ,i prefer purple power,water and a sponge use on cold rims!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i use simple green with plenty of water...hasnt hurt my rims yet, both on salad shooters and the Zr1's.

 

just wanted to report that i picked up some simple green at lowe's today and sprayed it straight on my warm rims (full strength)...let it sit about 2 minutes and then wiped w/ sponge and rinsed. there isn't a trace of any of the old brake dust that wouldn't budge before!! after reading some of the other posts here, i probably was pushing it spraying it on full strength and probably won't do that again. hopefully i didnt damage them (appears to be fine). in any event, just wanted to thank u guys for the advice. i'm so jacked to have clean rims again!

robert

 

Jus thought I would throw my 2 cents in here.I work at a body shop and after the cars are finished and get detailed they spray Meratic acid on the rims with a spray bottle and by the time you spray the last rim and rinse the first one off,doesn't matter how much junk was on them they are spotless.You would think it would hurt the rims but it doesn't.(Just your lungs.lol)

 

Surprised armor all couldnt fix it. It cleaned up mine which was years of caked on dust with just one application.

 

You lucked out, I did that to mine and it damaged the finish on one of my wheels.

 

I was going to say simple green or some Eagle all wheel and tire cleaner and a wire brush.

 

A wire brush? Wouldn't that scratch the hell out of the wheel?