Rim cleaner – be careful with slippery soap and aggressive acids

car Care
Rim cleaner – be careful with slippery soap and aggressive acids

No shine without diligence – wheel care costs time and effort.

© MarkHatfield / Gettyimages

The actual use of noble aluminum rims is limited, but the visual effect is enormous. It’s only annoying when the expensive extra instead of glamor and glory only radiates dirt and shame.

Light alloy rims originally come from racing. They have now also conquered the streets. The proper cleaning of dirty rims is unfortunately not easy. Salt, road dirt and brake dust expose car rims to real hardship. A visit to the car wash is often not enough, despite special rim cleaning. If you want to rework this manually, you have to expect soiling on your hands and clothes, even if you work with suitable cleaners. So in a suit you are out of place, old clothes or work clothes are strongly recommended.

Clean, don’t peel!

First, thorough pre-cleaning with a high-pressure cleaner is recommended. You have to be careful about this. First of all, the actual tire and the transition to the rim must remain taboo for the hard beam. Under no circumstances should the inner workings of the brake and the connections for the brake hoses be damaged. What many do not know: aluminum rims are painted! So you don’t see the actual material, but a layer of paint. If the rim already shows minor damage in the paint, you should do without the high-pressure cleaner. A research approach can quickly lead to large-area “blasting” of the paint. Then the rim looks like a peeled egg. Damage that can no longer be repaired.

Caution acid

A special rim cleaner should be applied after the blast. It is better to use a slightly more expensive branded product, because then you can be sure that the cleaner does not have any life-threatening side effects. Some wheel cleaners contain surfactants. If these lubricants settle between the brake disc and the brake pad, braking performance can be reduced by up to 25 percent. Cleaning agents that are too aggressive also pose a risk. They contain corrosive components such as hydrofluoric acid, which attack the metallic parts of the brake system and the brake discs.

Wheel cleaners are either sprayed on or applied with a sponge. They can be wiped off after a short exposure time. A roll of household towels is ideal for this. Nice side effect of the “SONAX Xtreme rim cleaner full effect”: after the exposure time, the active foam turns red. However, cleaning the rims is not effortless. The best sequence: first pre-clean at the car wash with a steam jet, without directing the jet at the tires, and then spray with rim cleaner. Then clean by hand, for example with a brush, rinse with the steam jet and finally let the wheels dry.

The more filigree, the more laborious

Especially elegant rims are not flat discs, but rather complex constructions with hard-to-reach places. Bolted rims are even more filigree. They should be cleaned regularly to avoid stubborn dirt. For a comprehensive complete cleaning, it is advisable to change tires in winter or spring. Then even hard-to-reach areas are easier to clean. Who would want to polish every single screw on their knees?

Oh yes, if you have shaved your rim on the curb, cleaning will of course not help. Material damage is unfortunately – yet – not washed off.

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