How To Clean Pitted Aluminum Wheels

Removing Additional Grease, Grime, And Wax coatings

You can't scrub too hard on clear-coated wheels, even with soft brushes. If you're fighting some tough contamination and embedded particles, you need to use detailing clay.

Wheel detailing clay usually comes bundled with a detailing solution, but if you don't have any, a regular wheel cleaner will do.

You need to keep the wheel wet as you work, then work the clay into the correct shape and rub it onto the wheels with light to medium pressure.

The clay will do an awesome job of pulling any stuck debris, dirt, and brake dust without hurting the surface. When it gets tarnished, just fold it over and continue until you can no longer feel or see dirt on your wheels.

The clay is reusable to a certain point. Just remember to never use your wheel clay for your car paint and vice versa. Keep them in separate, labeled containers, or you will inevitably forget and cross-contaminate.

To remove grease and any traces of old/bad wax coating, use a car soap product. If you don't have any available, you can use regular dish soap. However, make sure this contains no bleach, chlorine, perfumes, or other additives that may react to the clear coat.

Mix your soap in a bucket of water and clean your wheels with a microfiber mitt or just a clean rag. The grease and extra wax should wash off in a couple of passes. Rinse quickly after to protect the clear coat from any harsh detergents.

Tips For Cleaning Off Brake Dust

The black residue on your aluminum wheels is brake dust.

Don't worry, your brakes are fine. Intense rubbing and heat are what stops your car. The brake pads and cast iron rotors literally eat each other away, and the shed material is the dust you see.

Brake dust is actually mostly iron shavings from your rotors. Mixed in there are also metallic fibers, carbon, and resins from your brake pad, as well as road debris, dirt, and grime.

Brake dust is propelled red hot at high velocity directly at the wheel - mostly the inner barrel. The iron makes it highly corrosive to both the clear coat and aluminum underneath.

If you regularly clean your wheels, most of the brake dust should go away with just regular wheel cleaner, light scrubbing, and sufficient water pressure.

However, if you've never taken your wheels off, chances are the inner barrels are loaded with a thick layer of brake dust. In this case, you may want to look for a special iron remover product, which has the proper chemistry to pull the iron out of the surface and into the soap.

Degreaser can also help, but make sure you keep the wheel wet, do quick work with the brush, and rinse off immediately. Degreasers will eat away at the clear coat if left for too long.

Fix Peeling Clear Coat / Pitted / Corroded / Oxidized / Aluminum Wheels

Above: A video from the YouTube Channel, 4DIYers. He goes over a common way to fix peeling clear coat on aluminium wheels.

Depending on the condition, you may be able to remedy slight pitting by polishing the clear coat. If it hasn't penetrated through to the aluminum, you might be able to save it.

If you see signs of corrosion or oxidation on the aluminum, it's a sign the clear coat has failed, at least locally.

If your clear coat is peeling, it's done. You cannot save it. The best thing you can do is remove it, polish the wheel, and reapply the clear coat.

To remove a clear coat, you need a paint stripper product. Sprays work best for wheels, since the awkward shapes of some spokes make it a nightmare to get a brush in.

After you clean the wheel thoroughly, polish the aluminum and reapply the clear coat. Apply three coats of this 10 minutes apart. Keep the spray can 10 inches away from the surface and try to move it smoothly and get full coverage. Leave the wheel to dry and cure for at least one day.

Then, you want to polish the clear coat again with the proper compound and seal the surface with a wax or sealant.

Bonus: 3 DIY Aluminum Polish Recipes Using Household Products

Don't have any special auto detailing products? No worries, there's tons of stuff at home that can do a fair job.

Baking soda and lemon juice wheel cleaner

Mix a cup of warm water with half a cup of baking soda. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice and put it in a spray bottle. Spray the wheel generously and scrub with a soft bristle brush.

Baking soda is an alkali (a base), which helps dissolve grease and dirt into the water.
Lemon juice contains citric acid, which further helps break down grease and deposits.
Finally, mixing a base with acid causes them to neutralize, releasing high amounts of carbon dioxide. This fizzing actually agitates deposits mechanically and loosens them up.

Vinegar and water all-purpose cleaner

Vinegar contains a mild acid that will break down most mineral deposits, oils and grease stains, mud, and so on.

Mix equal parts warm water and white vinegar in a spray bottle. Spray generously on the wheel and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Use a soft bristle brush to scrub the wheel and rinse off thoroughly.

Coca-Cola rust buster

If you have any corrosion spots, rusted lug nuts, or embedded brake dust, Coke can save the day - or at least your wheel.

Spray or pour some cola on the troubled spot and rub it in with a soft brush. Properly wash the wheel with a vinegar solution to remove the syrup deposits and sticky stains.

Coca-Cola contains phosphoric acid, which reacts with the iron and dissolves rust. There's also citric acid, which helps break down any dirt and grime. Finally, the drink is carbonated. Carbon dioxide loves to react with iron oxide (rust), making Coca-Cola the perfect home rust-busting solution.

If your brake calipers are visible through your wheel, it would be a good idea to detail those as well.

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