Simply put, my alloy wheels were getting into quite an almost impossible dirty state.

 

Had them refurbished about three years ago with the stove enamel job, the full works..

Started to get black specs stuck to inner edges and a power wash would just bounce off, no effect/ or very little.

Using 'T' cut was useless, even tried cutting compound which did very little or nothing to clean them.

 

So I thought I would use paint stripper, and redo them myself, thats when the stuff hit the fan.

Tried various paint strippers all to no avail, then one Briskoda member said: it would have to go to a proper registered paint stripping company.

The chemical/s that were used in the past have been withdrawn, so companies now have to be properly registered to use them.

 

That's when I tried cleaning them little black specs using celloluse paint thinners.

 

WOW!! an immediate effect was seen, the wheels came up like new.

When cleaned, washed off with soapy water, and waited till almost dry, and then gave a good polish, and buffed them up.

 

Wheels look almost like the day they were refurbished..

 

Message for the day, if paint stripper don't work, try celloluse paint thinners..LOL

Makes sense, but I'd want to get the tyres off first, and leave the wheels a day or 3 after washing to let the paint re-harden.

A couple of questions:

Did you try Tar Remover at any stage?

Which sealant did you use on them?

How often do you clean your wheels?

ChrisRs: Tar Remover) Little effect.

              Sealant) None..Turtle wax polish

              Cleaned 2 to 3 month periods

 

Black bits embedded into lacquer coat, not just on surface.

Even with my drastic latest cleaning doesn't totally displace black bits..

 

Tempted to use a fine scourer pad, but refrained so far..

 

Did wonder if refurbishment left crap on wheel and painted over, and 6 months later paint fell off and left black bits?

No way I could prove it !!

You need to clean your wheels weekly/bi weekly.....or it will happen again I'm afraid

TW Polish is crap..I would get some wheel sealant or wheel wax applied

/\ clean my car once a week including alloys

I use G101 on the wheels which is strong. And even i cannot keep brake dust spots off them

I have given up now

I've been using Autoglym 'Wheel Seal' seems to protect them reasonably well, certainly the bike wheels cleaned up fairly easily after 1000 mile road trip. I've yet to clean the BM wheels since putting it on but they're well over due a clean so hopefully give it a wash tomorrow and see how they've held up. 

 

The thing is you need something between the wheels and dirt as a barrier to stop the brake dust eating into the wheels which is where the seal comes in, protects the wheels finish. That said, it wont last forever and frequent rinses to keep the worst off will be needed to help, not all the time but certainly more often than 4 times a year At least this is my very basic understanding of it, I'm far from a 'detailer' but am getting more and more sucked into the OCD cleaning thing I'm sure Chris will correct me if I'm wrong. 

Would you say it's the brake dust burning itself into the paint ??

Or the wheels not cleaned thoroughly before painting etc, at the wheel refurbishment company?

Most likely the Brake dust

The cleaner you keep them, the less chance any brake dust will build up

OK..Thanks to everyone for their valued input.

What about iron remover like Iron X?

Seems like a less dramatic solution.

This also swells the pores of the paint to allow release.

Vigorous driving will cause the brakes to heat up and if we are talking track driving will cause the brakes to spit off little pieces which will embed themselves in the lacquer and paint. Even good ceramic sealants can only do so much against this.

Got to admit that the paint and lacquer used during refurbishment is indestructible...LOL

You can put anything on them with no or very,very little effect, I've tried..

But doesn't stop them getting dirty..LOL