Brad4rdHay

Wheels and Tires

Purpose: To deep clean extra dirty tires and wheels
Pro: Keeps wheels looking great and tires in healthy shape.
Con: If you use the wrong cleaner, it can be harmful to the Z’s painted wheels.
Frequency: Depends on how clean you keep them…every 4 weeks.

Products needed:
1-Soft brush or sponge, I prefer a small sponge for wheels, especially Griotsgarage.com 3-finger detail mitts.
1-tire brush.. should be firm but soft enough to scrub the palm of you hand.
1-Wheel/Tire Cleaner (sometimes they are separate) Should NOT be acidic, but most over the counter ones are. All cleaners at Properautocare.com are safe to use. I like Eiman Fabrik Hi-Intensity.

Procedure: As I mentioned in the “washing” segment, if your wheels are fairly clean, you can just wash them with an old rag and some car wash suds at the end of your wash. But wheels and tires can get very dirty (BMW anyone?) and require special strong cleaner to keep them in good shape. If I notice that the wheels are just too dirty to clean regularly, then I like to clean them first (before washing the car) to get them out of the way.

Wheels: Hose down the wheel with cold water. Mist the wheel with the cleaner let it sit if needed (for no longer than a minute though). Then use a wet sponge to clean out all of the grime and brake dust, getting in all of the crevices. If you’re a perfectionist, use q-tips to get into the nut areas. Spray off with a strong stream of water.

Tires: Tires get very dirty. Between the oxidized rubber, road grime and brake dust, they are easily the dirtiest part of the car…that’s why the need a good scrubbing once in a while. Wet the tire, mist it with the cleaner, and use the brush to vigorously scrub the tire. Hose off the suds/dirt. Repeat until the resulting suds are fairly white and clean. If your tires are brown, that is called “blooming” and is the tires natural waxes, trying to protect itself from the sun, and from those shiny silicon based tire dressings such as Armor All. When tires have bloomed, they may need an extra scrubbing or two to get them back to their dark gray color again. Don’t wory that the tires after cleaning are a gray color, that’s normal, and need a protective Tire Dressing (non-silicon based of course) to make them look deep and black… but I will cover that in depth in the “Finishing Touches”

Wheel wells: Spray down the wheel wells with the cleaner and use an old rag to reach in and clean all the dirt out. Rinse with hose.

Any questions just ask...
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