carmudgeons.com  

Go Back   carmudgeons.com > Automotive Forums > Technical Superiority > Spit Shined

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-10-2016, 04:51 PM   #1
equ
Alphanumeric
 
equ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: 981S, 340i
Posts: 9,580
Wheel cleaner...

Waking up this dormant forum...

Made a relatively huge mistake when washing the m3 today. Was out of bmw wheel cleaner (the nasty smelling stuff that turns red) and too lazy to go to a dealer 15-20mi away, went for Mother's wheel foam.

What I normally do is spray a minute or two before the car goes into a car wash.

Holy crap... Wheels have cloudy marks on them that don't come off. This s**t hurt the clearcoat in minutes. Ugh. Lesson learned.

Now it is possible that OEM clearcoat would have survived it. I had the wheels done last year.
equ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2016, 05:05 PM   #2
kognito
older fart than ZBB
 
kognito's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: On the road again
Posts: 8,887
Wheels were cold? haven't read label on Mothers, but some cleaners don't like warm/hot metal. Or maybe that is the other way around, some hot metals don't like cleaner applied to them
__________________
2017 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE
2020 Fusion Titanium
kognito is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2016, 05:15 PM   #3
equ
Alphanumeric
 
equ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: 981S, 340i
Posts: 9,580
I don't know if they were hot or cold. I'd driven 2 miles to autozone and another 1.5 miles to the wash on a sunny 70F day. I guess warm?

Oh well, learned something. If you don't know what you're doing, stick to OEM. Even if it is branded nonsense. I'd been using bmw cleaner with no issues for over a decade. I'm thinking of returning the bug spray as well (not yet used).
equ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2016, 05:23 PM   #4
Nick M3
Relic
 
Nick M3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Bethesda, MD
Posts: 12,438
Sonax Wheel Cleaner kicks ass.

But in a pinch, Spray Nine is great.

In an emergency (when it's a matter of sand blasting, or giving up), I've had great luck with muriatic acid. It saved my OZs.
__________________
2011 M3
2006 Sierra 2500HD 4WD LBZ/Allison
2004 X5 3.0i 6MT
1995 M3 S50B32
1990 325is
1989 M3 S54B32

Hers:
1989 325iX
1996 911 Turbo


Nick M3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2016, 06:35 PM   #5
Josh (PA)
Hello.
 
Josh (PA)'s Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Carmudgeonly Ride: '09 X3, '11 328xiT, '11 135i C, '17 c2, '19 X5
Location: Downingtown, PA
Posts: 5,514
Quote:
Originally Posted by equ View Post
I don't know if they were hot or cold. I'd driven 2 miles to autozone and another 1.5 miles to the wash on a sunny 70F day. I guess warm?

Oh well, learned something. If you don't know what you're doing, stick to OEM. Even if it is branded nonsense. I'd been using bmw cleaner with no issues for over a decade. I'm thinking of returning the bug spray as well (not yet used).
No clue how I posted in here. I do like Sonax, but it doesn't seem to touch the burned on stuff. Nick, are you saying Spray Nine is more agressive? I have some stains on my 1 series wheels that seem to be really embedded (or overheated) clearcoat.
__________________
Josh (PA) -
'19 X5
'17 991.2 C2 Cab
'11 135i Convertible
'11 328xiT
'09 X3

Last edited by Josh (PA); 06-10-2016 at 10:27 PM. Reason: I'm a dumb ass
Josh (PA) is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2016, 07:28 PM   #6
FC
Solving problems
 
FC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Carmudgeonly Ride: M5 / 718 GTS / Cooper S / GTI / LR4
Location: Metro Boston
Posts: 25,215
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick M3 View Post
Sonax Wheel Cleaner kicks ass.
FC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2016, 08:06 PM   #7
Nick M3
Relic
 
Nick M3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Bethesda, MD
Posts: 12,438
Hmm. Come to think of it, if it's foul smelling and turns red, it's either Sonax or Iron-X or a similar formulation.

(Iron-X is brilliant on regular paint.)
__________________
2011 M3
2006 Sierra 2500HD 4WD LBZ/Allison
2004 X5 3.0i 6MT
1995 M3 S50B32
1990 325is
1989 M3 S54B32

Hers:
1989 325iX
1996 911 Turbo


Nick M3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2016, 10:16 PM   #8
clyde
Chief title editor
 
clyde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 26,599
I used Sonax for the first time a few weeks ago. O.M.G. I finally understood Wonger's Facebook photo love album for it.

OTOH, I was a little disappointed that it didn't do anything about some cone juice and leftover adhesive from tape that was on the wheels for way too long.
__________________
OH NOES!!!!!1 MY CAR HAS T3H UND3R5T33R5555!!!!!!1oneone!!!!11

Team WTF?!
What are you gonna do?
clyde is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2016, 09:35 AM   #9
blee
Doctor Mudgeon
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 6,433
+5 on Sonax. It actually does what it says it does, and what I want it to do.
blee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-11-2016, 05:59 PM   #10
Alan
Carmudgeon
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 4,646
Which sonax are you guys using ...there seems to be a few choices, wheel plus, full effect, etc. I'd like to give it a try.

I just use dish soap or regular car wash soap though I have used Meguers hot wheels on the cars I usually never wash by hand to get the baked in brake dust off of.
Alan is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
wheel well cleaner? dan Spit Shined 18 12-30-2004 12:04 AM
Q on Griot's interior cleaner Pike Spit Shined 3 12-14-2003 08:19 PM
Griots wheel cleaner rocks! RKT BMR Spit Shined 15 11-03-2003 09:24 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:23 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Forums © 2003-2008, 'Mudgeon Enterprises - Site hosting by AYN & Associates, LLC