[The_Tok'Ra]

Hey guys,

I have Cerium grey wheels on my car, I'd like to keep them in the great condition they came in. What would you recomend to clean these wheels? Are these "bleeding" wheel cleaners safe to use on my wheels? I'm not sure if all of them, or just some of them are acidic?

I intend to use a cirtus pre wash, then rinse before applying anything else, maybe a snow foam wash too, and then use a wheel brush / wheel woolies to agitate whatever product I use, get them nice and clean, and then wipe on and rinse of the Gyeon Q2M WET coat to try and protect them a little bit, but I'm just not sure what to clean them with that will work well in winter, but not do them any harm.

Thanks!!

[Beemer5to3]

How often do you wash your car? I wash mine every couple of weeks, and use Garage Therapy wheel shampoo. Once every couple of months I’ll give them a deeper clean and use Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel (fallout remover based) and they’re immaculate.

[Martyn86]

Get your wheels ceramic coated, then just simply use snow foam and pressure washer followed by a wash with a good car shampoo

[SonD]

Be very, very careful with the citrus pre wash, if not diluted correctly, they can be too strong for some coats. Much better using something like carpro lift as a pre wash. Plenty of alternatives to Lift out there.
Citrus solvents are used in a great many places other than car prep, and need to be used with care.
I know what happens when it goes wrong from experience.
Wheel cleaner. As above, take them off, clean and prep thoroughly and ceramic them.
They clean real,easy after that.
The best by far is Sonax.
It is super spendy though.
Valet pro Dragons Breath and most others use the same chemical, just vary in strength and price. They ALL stink! Then they all turn plum red/purple as they work.
Only needed on very dirty wheels.

[bmnut]

Had my wheels coated along with the full ceramic coating treatment and then finished with an 'Exo' water repellant and they are super easy to clean with just simple car shampoo and always come up looking like factory fresh.
I think it helps that the cerium grey wheels are a 'semi gloss/matt finish' as well.
Having said that my wife's 220i's wheels are diamond cut and high gloss black, they have been similarly coated as mine and they come up just the same after washing and hers get a lot scruffier than mine due to regular visits to horse stables...(you don't want to know what the boot on her car looks like!)

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by Beemer5to3

How often do you wash your car? I wash mine every couple of weeks, and use Garage Therapy wheel shampoo. Once every couple of months I’ll give them a deeper clean and use Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel (fallout remover based) and they’re immaculate.

Originally Posted by Martyn86

Get your wheels ceramic coated, then just simply use snow foam and pressure washer followed by a wash with a good car shampoo

Originally Posted by SonD

Be very, very careful with the citrus pre wash, if not diluted correctly, they can be too strong for some coats. Much better using something like carpro lift as a pre wash. Plenty of alternatives to Lift out there.
Citrus solvents are used in a great many places other than car prep, and need to be used with care.
I know what happens when it goes wrong from experience.
Wheel cleaner. As above, take them off, clean and prep thoroughly and ceramic them.
They clean real,easy after that.
The best by far is Sonax.
It is super spendy though.
Valet pro Dragons Breath and most others use the same chemical, just vary in strength and price. They ALL stink! Then they all turn plum red/purple as they work.
Only needed on very dirty wheels.

Originally Posted by bmnut

Had my wheels coated along with the full ceramic coating treatment and then finished with an 'Exo' water repellant and they are super easy to clean with just simple car shampoo and always come up looking like factory fresh.
I think it helps that the cerium grey wheels are a 'semi gloss/matt finish' as well.
Having said that my wife's 220i's wheels are diamond cut and high gloss black, they have been similarly coated as mine and they come up just the same after washing and hers get a lot scruffier than mine due to regular visits to horse stables...(you don't want to know what the boot on her car looks like!)

Thanks for the tips guys! TG wheel shampoo ordered. TG websdite states only 10ml (20ml for really dirty wheels) into a 4-5 gallon bucket. Is this stuff highly concentrated? That would be like 20 ltrs or around that I think?

I'm not sure I can afford to have my wheels ceramic coated at the moment TBH, just forked out a small fortutne on a pressure washer and other cleaning products. But...

Anybody willing to say what I should expect to be paying to have my wheels ceramic coated with the likes of Sonax?

Cheers!!

[SonD]

Sonax is a wheel cleaner :-)

Not sure on costs, but easy DIY, one wheel at a time off car.
Loads of product available from £ tp ££ to £££
just follow the instructions and allow to cure for the alloted time before putting back on car.
Thats if you want to do it rather cheaper than having it done in shop.
My problem is that the rims are so easy to curb / mark and need re finishing with diamond turning, run flats or standard. Im on my third re finish now, which is very annoying.
They obviously need re coating after each re cut.

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by SonD

Sonax is a wheel cleaner :-)

Not sure on costs, but easy DIY, one wheel at a time off car.
Loads of product available from £ tp ££ to £££
just follow the instructions and allow to cure for the alloted time before putting back on car.
Thats if you want to do it rather cheaper than having it done in shop.
My problem is that the rims are so easy to curb / mark and need re finishing with diamond turning, run flats or standard. Im on my third re finish now, which is very annoying.
They obviously need re coating after each re cut.

RE Sonax, Ooops! Missread your post LOL!! Thanks for the suggestion, I could ceramic coat them myself I guess. I'll look into that. I assumed it was applied with an spray gun like paint though?

From what I've seen, there seems to be a million ceramic coating products out there too. More research required I think!

[SonD]

Ceramic is not sprayed on, but an ultra thin layer spread over the paintwork with a suede type applicator, usually stretched over a sponge type pad. Not difficult, but practice helps. 50ml goes a very, very long way. Usually 4-8 drops on an applicator.
Plenty on you tube, if anything, too many.

A few products here - I went Qjutsu, but then - I would..
I found it very easy to use, apply and buff up.
As you can see - plenty more to play with.

As stressed before, get yourself some good mirofibre towels for buffing up - 2 minimum.

This does become addictive, and seeing your car dirty does become stressful!

Then you can begin on the ceramic topping coats for when you have washed it a few times to keep up it's amazing shine and hydrophobia :-)

https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/exter...wheel-sealants

[bmnut]

My ceramic coating is GTechniq and the guy who did it who's local to me re-coated the wheels on my wife's 220i after we had them totally refurbished after three years. The re-furb she wanted was original factory spec so diamond cut on high gloss black shadow line finish, he charged me £150 for all four alloys.

[The_Tok'Ra]

Originally Posted by SonD

Ceramic is not sprayed on, but an ultra thin layer spread over the paintwork with a suede type applicator, usually stretched over a sponge type pad. Not difficult, but practice helps. 50ml goes a very, very long way. Usually 4-8 drops on an applicator.
Plenty on you tube, if anything, too many.

A few products here - I went Qjutsu, but then - I would..
I found it very easy to use, apply and buff up.
As you can see - plenty more to play with.

As stressed before, get yourself some good mirofibre towels for buffing up - 2 minimum.

This does become addictive, and seeing your car dirty does become stressful!

Then you can begin on the ceramic topping coats for when you have washed it a few times to keep up it's amazing shine and hydrophobia :-)

https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/exter...wheel-sealants

Originally Posted by bmnut

My ceramic coating is GTechniq and the guy who did it who's local to me re-coated the wheels on my wife's 220i after we had them totally refurbished after three years. The re-furb she wanted was original factory spec so diamond cut on high gloss black shadow line finish, he charged me £150 for all four alloys.

Thanks Guys!! I might have a go myself, but actually, £150 it's too bad.

After that dust storm rolled in last Friday and covered my car in a layer of dust and then the sun came out and dried it on, I was like NOOOO!!

I don't have the correct facilities to make the job easy for me to do, The only thing I do have is a jack to lift the car to get the wheels off.

I have not even checked if there is even a T-Bar in the boot somewhere. I don't think there is! With run flats, I guess BMW think the average Joe Bloggs doesn't need one.

[Torqueman]

I have the same wheels. I put gtechniq on each year. The wheels only then need washing with mit and shampoo. 90% of the brake dust actually comes off with jet wash - quite easily- without too much pressure

[bmnut]

Originally Posted by Torqueman

I have the same wheels. I put gtechniq on each year. The wheels only then need washing with mit and shampoo. 90% of the brake dust actually comes off with jet wash - quite easily- without too much pressure

I've got the same coatings as you and find exactly the same....best thing I ever did because I'm old and cleaning cars which I used to love doing is now a bit of a chore!

[peelerec]

Brake buster
Iron remover
Wheel mitt lamb skin from OG or Adams
Boars hair brush for lug nuts and calipers
Detail factory tire brush
EZ detail wheel brush for barrel and fender liners
IK Foam Pump
Once cleaned, protect wheels via ceramic coating.
Maintenance washing via above steps plus a maintenance sealant such as Gyeon wet coat or P&S bead maker.
Hyde’s serum rustopper
EGO leaf blower for quick drying