Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi Guys,

I am trying to clean up my wheels. The middle part of the wheel cleans up nice with some wheel cleaner. However the dish remains stained. I have tried different wheel cleaners but it seems to be within the metal now. I also tried quickly some metal polish but no luck either.

Any ideas?

Here is a pic, needs to be closer but you get the idea.

post-29432-1276648538_thumb.jpg

Tried "Upper Engine Cleaner" from Subaru?

It could remove all the sh/t that was on my OEM wheels from Japan.

It works if Zymol wheel cleaner doesn't.

When it's all off, you may need to respray the wheels with 'clear'.

Ah ok yup thats the next step if I cant do it pretty easily myself.

After some google searching I found two products, ALUPLUS and ALUBRITE. It is an acid that is supposed to clean aluminium and then polish it really well.

Think I will try that and then resort to a rim repair shop if it doesnt work.

That ALUBRITE is a pretty harsh acid, Ive used it to clean the outside of the head, the cross over pipe and stuff like that.

ALUBRITE will burn your hands if you dont wear gloves its that strong, it will eat the duco as well and anything else that gets in its way... Ive used it in conjunction with a toothbrush to clean all sorts of things... it'll clean brake dust build up off rims, but it will also scar the paint and leave shiny alloy dull, I havnt tried it on powdercoat...

But it should work on the aluminium dish of my rims as long as I dont get it anywhere else?

I will just try a very small part of the dish with a toothbrush to start off with.

Edited by Harey

As mentioned alloy brightener can make shiny alloy dull but if you then polish it you should be ok...

Be careful with the stuff. Wear a mask or don't breathe, & wear gloves. I use it at work to clean transmission cases & it's strong stuff!

You'll know when you breathe it in...

Edited by wlspn

hey... okay here's what you do.

first of all.. this method sounds strange and it will be MOST noticable with bad rims (i mean RIM rims... not "wheels")

go to bunnings

get a very fine steel wool.

no. not that dishwashing crap that you use to get black stuff off pots. this is steel. wool. SIFA make it.

2175040__32055_thumb.jpg

looks like that.

rip a chunk off. big chunk. the bigger the chunk, the more surface area you have to scrub with. the more surface area. the less pressure. less pressure, less chance of scratching. get it?

use either water - or olive oil as a lubricant... i suggest olive oil as it won't ake the steel wool RUST. use a lot of it.

gently rub the steel wool on the wheel. if the stains won't come out, apply a little bit more pressure etc

the basic premise of this is... steel wool is soft as butter. but it is still a METAL. your aluminium / steel rims are a harder metal, and will not "give in" to the steel wool easilly

the steel wool sacrifices itself to clean the metal.

give it a go if you so wish - i imagine that there is a certain element of risk doing this method... but i've done it plenty of times on my wheels which - at one stage were VERY badly corroded.

steel wool is about 8/9 bucks

everyone else take note.

oh and wash the olive oil off the rim using a soap / detergent / shampoo (dah)

  • 1 month later...
i think you need to determine if the dish area is clearcoated from factory - if it is, you will most likely need to remove that before being able to polish it.

Your right on the money here, the dish does have a clear coat.

I started with the steel wool and it wasnt doing much, so I went a bit harder and I could see it take the clear coat off and go down to metal. I have only done this in one small area.

What issues does removing the clear coat raise? Should I remove it or just leave it there and give up.

These guys seem use aircraft stripper to remove the clear coat:

http://forums.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=763405

They just say it takes a bit more effort to keep em clean. Its only the dish of my wheels so dont have little nooks and crannys that would be tricky to keep clean.

Would love the rims to have a super shiny dish :happy:

I am leaning towards removing the clear coat.

Edited by Harey

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I'll just reiterate that it's best to do all the wiring diagnostics, before even thinking about buying replacement solenoids ~ that is, be absolutely sure the solenoid is bad.....ie; bad connector(s), rodents chewed through a wire, etc etc. If you don't so this, you can fork out all the money for solenoids, only to find something else is wrong (this'll make you cry if you pull the valvebody only to find a broken wire is at fault... ...some more glue on the solenoid packs -- this is the RE5R01A shift solenoid assembly.... ...these are all shift solenoids ~ ostensibly they're the same as the shift solenoids from the 4-speed auto.... ...this is the RE4R01A solenoid set... ...with these, you have 3 shift solenoids attached to the plate, and the separate solenoid is the EPC solenoid (line pressure control) -- with both designs, the TC lockup clutch solenoid (also PWM so they could slide the clutch shut), is located on the lower valvebody half.... ...(story time)...back in the 90's, it was a common fault that the EPC solenoid (or TC-lock solenoid) would fail, but Nissan only sold them as part of the assembly (think ~$350 at the time) ~ thing was, Isuzu also used these boxes in light commercials, and you could buy the PWM solenoid as a separate part, so it was possible to buy/use that solenoid (around $65), and make it fit (remove the circlip, fit to old plate and deal with wiring)...making it a more cost effective repair. I've not seen the RE5R01A shift solenoid assembly, but with the 4-speed RE4R01A it was possible to hack/fit a single shift solenoid onto an other working set, using a donor solenoid from another set with failed EPC....(by rights the whole set should be replaced), but it ends up being a question of how much life is left in the box itself ; sometimes it's a viable repair to fix one solenoid, just to get another 100k of road miles out of it before it needs first overhaul...other times the box is that old/worn, you're as well doing first overhaul and replacing the solenoids and starting fresh... What Nissan did here with the 5-speed, was relocate the EPC solenoid to the lower valvebody (next to the TC lockup solenoid), and stuck the direct-drive clutch solenoid (for the extra gear) where the EPC solenoid used to be on the 4-speed....I can only imagine they did this for serviceability ; the PWM solenoids are most likely to fail, and it's a doddle to drop the pan and change these out (as opposed to dropping the valvebody itself to get at a top mounted EPC)... ...also keep in mind, that some BMW 3/5 series & Mazda (and maybe some Ford/Mazda rebadges, not sure), also used the RE5R01A box under a different name/part number...not saying parts availability is any better, but sometimes it helps to know this when it comes to NOS floating about in the EU.... HTH  
    • FWIW, air jacks are actually pretty light and simple to add, they are just 4 hydraulic cylinders (often at the main cage A and C pillar points) and an externally accessible airline  - they make quick work a breeze
    • Maximum Attack has entered the chat
    • That is porn and I wish I could do it easily on my streeter.
    • Yes there is a front and back insertion point on each side, each point is tubed with supports into the car and tied to the cage/ floor mount point
×
×
  • Create New...