what is the best way to clean the t-type wheels without having them blasted. Just want to clean them up while on the car,i tried a couple things ,but they didn't do anything. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Some pics of their current condition? Is the clearcoat peeling? Some spots of corrosion from uncoated lead wheel weights? If they do have some heavy oxidation what I use is Eagle one Chrome and Wire Wheel cleaner. Do it out of the sun with cold water. You can use it on a rim that warm or hot but it will foam/sizzle especially on the heavy corrosion. It definitely takes off encrusted brake dust. Don't expect it to work without a little elbow grease, it will but if you got some nasty caked on grime use a scotchbrite pad.
x2 I used Eagle One etched wheel cleaner. It worked great for the rough surface. The edges and ribs can be polished out.
Eagle one etching MAG cleaner is the bomb for t wheels that the coating is gone from. Spray on COOL, DRY wheel in the shade use a brass bristle small wire brush for the tough stuff in the rough cast areas (dont use the brush on the smooth spokes) in conjuct with red scotch brite. Keep the areas wet with the cleaner while working and then after all is scrubbed the reapply the cleaner and let it sit for a bit the blast it off with HIGH psi stream of H2O. Elbow grease on the spokes and rim edges with mothers polish or equiv will polish em right out. Wear some PPE for your hands and eyes
Not quite sure of the condition, i will take some pics in a little while,i meant to do it earlier but was in a hurry. I'm thinking it's the rough part that mostly needs cleaning. I tried some polishing compound on the rough part a while back,but it didn't do anything,actually made it worse.
I dont know if you have it but I can send you some if you want but its called reves tire acid. It works you just spray it on and power wash it off in a couple min, it works wonders man. If you want some email me at williambavila@yahoo.com I will send you a little free I use it at work.
it is for rims but you cant leave it on longer than 2-3 min. then power wash off. Its a clear liquid in a 1 gallon clear jug. Like I said I can send you enough to do the wheels. you will be amazed.
Questions: Is the coating just on the spokes + rim edges,+ not on the rougher surface in between. Is mothers polish,a polishing compound ,like turtle wax polishing compound for painted surfaces ,or is it a metal polish? I tried the polishing compound on the spokes + edges of the rim,+ it seems to take off some surface dirt but it almost seems like the metal is stained or something,it is a couple diff shades + nothing seems to touch that.i havn't tried the rough surface yet other then with that same polishing compound that did nothing on it. i'm heading to auto zone now to check out some of the things suggested,i will post results later. Thanks for the help.
I used eagle mag wheel cleaner, (not for polished wheels) and alot of elbow grease, with bristle brush, (not metal) another one I used was super purple,and a brush, but do not let it sit very long! you WILL need to polish the lips and rim edge! now a simple wheel cleaner is all I use to maintain them.
wheel update I used the eagle 1 mag cleaner for rough cast wheels + it worked great. Replaced some lug nuts,+ cleaned up the center caps,what a difference. have to polish up the wheel weight spots some more but they look great.
Went to auto zone to get stock length studs for the rear wheels,because they are too long to put the factory style chrome lug nuts on,(previous owner put aftermarket wheels + needed longer studs) The new studs are 2.50 each + the lugnuts are 2.00 each,X10 equals almost $50 with tax + they had to order them any way so i figured i would look for a better way,see if maybe junkyards would have them or a local tr owner etc. Any suggestions,on someplace that sells them cheaper? They don't look terrible without the chrome nuts but it would definetly look better with them. I even thought about just taking a sawzall to the studs to shorten them,are they hardened? anybody know?It just kills me to pay $50 to put stock nuts on 2 wheels. Anyone want to trade some stock ones for these longer ones? With the post office's, "if it fits, it ships" deal,it would only cost $5.00 (I think) to ship them.so for $5.00 i could get my stock ones + someone could get their longer ones, Actually i would pay the shipping for both if it was only the $5.00 each way or close to it. Or if you have some to sell let me know,how much shipped to ma. Thanks for any help in advance.
I hate bumping old threads but I'm still having a hell of a time getting my rims clean. I've scrubbed them twice with a hard bristle toothbrush and eagle 1 mag wheel cleaner and they still look mediocre at best. I haven't even got to the point to polishing the spokes yet because the rest of it isn't satisfactory. I haven't even got serious on the backside yet and they are completely black. Any suggestions? I'm putting new tires on this week so I'm gonna be stuck with these for quite a while. I like the stock T wheels but when they don't look good they make the rest of the car look like crap.
I have a acid that I got a place that sells supplies to truckers and it works fantastic. I have had wheels as black as the tires they are on them . I put some of this acid in a hand spray bottle that I bought from Walmart and I spray the acid on straight no diluting and I use a old tooth brush and they look fantastic when done. I usually pull the wheels from the car and I always push the center caps off from the back side with a hammer handle since the plastic tabs are now pretty fragile and break easily if not pushed straight off