I'm not in the market for aftermarket wheels any time soon. (Go before show) But i was curious how to bring back the luster to them. I have the standard grey 6 spoke 03' wheels. Can i simply wax them? Are they painted or powder coated? I always wash them inside and out when i was the car, but they always seem so blah compared to how the car looks when i'm done. Thanks!

 

Yes they are painted. Yes, you can and should wash and wax them just like you do your car. If need be, they can also be polished to bring back the shine they originally had.

One note - wash them last or wash them first then rinse everything out good before washing the car. You don't want brake dust transferred from the wheels onto the car as that will scratch the paint.

 

great thanks!!

 

waxing will also help keep the dust off a little better, and will make them easier to clean.

if you havent already, next pad change switch to a lower dust pad like Hawks...the stock pads are terrible

 

Yeah i'm @ 39000 mis, and coming up on time for new pads. I was looking at hawks 'cause i'm so tired of washing the car, then 20mis down the road having dark grey wheels in front already!

 

39K miles and you're still on the original brakes!!!! That might be a record. Either that or you never use them

 

I'm assuming they are the origional. It was a lease turn in before i bought it, and had a whole stack of service records from the dealer since day one. And no where does it show a brake pad change. But there is every other maintnence known to man in there. The person before me took really good care of it, and did everything at the dealer. (he was an older guy in his late 50s) This being said, based on the decent lip on my front rotors, they appear to be origional too. And also i only drive her on the weekends, and not very hard at that.

 

I'm at about 24K and have a definite ridge on the rotors. I've checked rotor thickness and am still in the middle of the allowable rotor thickness. I changed out pads at around 18K miles and will probably do it again this summer prior to some track events. I've seen people post here who have changed them out with as little as 12K miles.

 

The OEM wheels are painted and clear coated. Care for them as you would the exterior of the car.

 

I replaced my OEM front brakes at 48,000 miles.