OK, so I was washing my car this morning and noticed that there w.ere marks on my new GTC's. I used chrome polish, WENOL and some other polishes that I thought may take it out. It looks like acid was poureed over my rims. It is only on 2 of the rims and is on the polished lip section. It definetly looks like there is some sort of clearcoat on the lip and somthing has taken it off. At first it just looked like a water mark - but it isn't. Do any of you have suggestions as to what I can do?? I use Eagle One wheel cleaner but I really rinse off the wheels after I am done. Help........

 

Your going to have have to sand them out. Start with 300 and go up from there. I'm doing the same process to my 19" Maya STM's got one done and it looks brand new. Make sure you finish them off with some Mother's aluminum polish

 

Mark

Sorry to hear about your rims!
That sucks man. I had that happend to me years ago, with some wheel cleaner, didn't realize it had acid in it.

Don't mean to high jack your thread, but this might be a good place to talk about what wheel cleaners are safe.

I just ordered a detailing kit from Autopia and it had a bottle of SONAX Rim Cleaner that was with it.
When I emailed and asked if it was safe for stock and aftermarket wheels, the reply I got was
"I have used it on everything from factory to custom polished. It's pretty gentle. No acid. Detergent based cleaner. The foaming sprayer is really nice. "

Anyone ever try it ? What do you guys use on your Volks.
I just use soap and water now, and keep them waxed with Zaino, but I would like to find a safe wheel cleaner to use..

 

I am very glad I clicked on this thread and read it. I used that Eagle One Rim Cleaner on my Base model 17" stock rims weekly. Stuff worked miracles with all the brake dust. But I just got a set of Volk GT-7's and I was probably going to use the Eagle One Rim Cleaner on them too, not thinking that it had acid in it and might harm the polish or clear coat on the rim. Yes, this is a good chance for some rim cleaner experts to give some insight on some safe brake dust remover/rim cleaner to use on Volk Rims.

 

Oh and sorry about you guys rims, that does suck. Volk and other brand rims should maybe warn customers about being extremely careful when choosing rim cleaner products and using it on there rims.

 

If they're too dirty for just soap and water, I use simple green.

 

P21S wheel cleaner is in my opinion the best, and it is safe for all finishes... I won't use anything else (except soap and water as well of course).

 

You just need to read the labels. Eagle One has about 3 or4 different formulations of wheel cleaner. They are very specific about the type of cleaner that should be used on the various types of wheels. The cleaner with the acid is for unpainted aluminum wheels.

Les

 

I don't understand why people even use wheel cleaner... If the wheels aren't polished they'll come clean with something much more gentle, and if they're polished, you just clean and use a polish/sealer. Why risk ruining your wheels because you're too lazy to scrub them for 5 minutes?

 

Ive never had dust I couldnt get off with soapy water on a rag... lay down a coat of wax and itll come off easier. or try washing them more often so I doesnt get all caked on.

 

For the record I didn't ruin mine. I got these already messed up and I'm fixing them. I'd never spray anything on any of my rims.

 

Well, i hate to dig up an old thread but i remembered reading about this so i thought i'd just post here.

I droped the car off for the axle clicking noise (and they insist its the volks that did it, but thats a whole other post). They decided to wash it and let me take it home while they find a set of stock wheels to put on it to test with on another day. I thought "sweet, i wont have to leave my baby with her nice SHINY Volk GT-C's that i love so so much at some dealer over night." Well, i get to the dealer and the service manager is standing in the garage next to my baby with a worried look on his face. I figured he had just had a bad day like I had. He just points to the wheels and prepairs for me to go all out. I take a look and sure enought, they had used some sort of cleaner with an acidic base and it completely distroyed all four wheels. He says he's going to have his body shop try to fix it. Now this is where i'm kinda worried. Volk had such a nice polish and clearcoat job i dont think they will ever be able to match it. Now I hate to be a dick, i want to give him a chance to fix it. But damn, i dont want my wheels to look any less magnificant than they did the day i pulled them out of the box. What should i do here? I more or less in a state of shock and awe that i cant even be flaming mad about this. Oh well, i guess sh*t happens...

 

ouch!!

 

ouch, sorry man
yea, everytime you wax your car, wax your wheels. makes brake dust comeoff much easier.

as for the chrome part, use mother's chrome polish and pray.

 

I'd make them buy me some new wheels.

 

What he said

 

give em a shot to fix em if they want, but let them know right up if they arent perfect you will be asking for new ones.

if they dont want to take the chance of fixing them and they dont come out good, they can just replace them.

those are aweful tho.

 

i spoke with MOTHERS , and the Volk's are clear coated. They told me to use Mother's clear coat rim polish. I think you have to order the product over the web.. www.mothers.com