Volvo RWD 200 Forum

What is the best stuff for removing caked -on brake dust on a wheel?I was thinking of maybe trying Naval jelly.

I use the Meguiars wheel cleaner (for painted wheels) on my Coronas. I use a bottle brush from which I have removed the handle, and I chuck it into my cordless drill, and now the 25 seperate slots are quick and easy to clean. Just spray the cleaner on, insert the brush, pull the trigger, and rinse. No sweat.

I use a bucket of automobile car wash soap, a tooth brush and some Soft Scrub. I gently use a circular motion and clean the tooth brush often.

Never had any damage to my finish.
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If it needs to be maintained, repaired or replaced on a 1990 240, I've probably done it. '90 240DL, 262K looking forward to 300K badge (or sticker??). >>You haven't really worked on a car until you draw blood<< :-}

I've had pretty good results with wheel cleaners from Super Clean, Mothers and Meguiars. I've used them on polished wheels and painted (clear coated) wheels with no finish problems.

I have a selection of stiff nylon brushes and some of those sponge type paint brushes that I use on those hard to reach nooks and crannies.

The first set of Coronas I had were so crusty I had to use a Dremel to clean them!



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Don - '89 744ti, '85 Alfa GTV6

They make rim cleaner for alloy and painted rims which works pretty well (not to be confused with the generic tire and wheel cleaners).
Volvos painted and alloys rims react very badly to the wrong stuff and worst case they will destroy the finish.

...and worst case they will destroy the finish.

Naval jelly most certainly would destroy the finish.

Purpose made wheel cleaner clearly marked as safe for painted and clear finishes, stiff nylon brushes of various sizes, copious amounts of water, and lots of elbow grease.

There are some "miracle" cleaners on the market that promise to make the job easy. I won't use them for fear of destroying the finish and I am lazy. ;-)

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Mr. Shannon DeWolfe -- I've taken to using mister because my name misleads folks on the WWW. I am a 53 year old fat man. ;-)

Thanks for the input.I guess there is no substitute for hard work.

As if you didn't get enough response, I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I've had good luck with the wheel cleaner from Griot's Garage. It won't harm clearcoat or paint, and is one of the few wheel cleaners approved for use on BBS wheels, if you happen to step up to the plate and buy a set of those ($$$).
In addition, if you end up polishing up your raw alumunum wheels and want to keep a semi-permanent shine on them, I've used a product called Zoopseal (of all names) and have had good luck with it for over a year at a time.