While cleaning the car today (brrrrrrr) I noticed that once I'd wshed all the brake dust off the alloys they've still got little black spots on them. It appeared to be on the the rear alloys only.

I tried rubbing them off but they seemed pretty stubborn. Any ideas what they are, and how to get rid of them? The car hasn't been washed for a while

Also, any advice on alloy wheel cleaning stuff? I've almost bought some before, but been put off by the warnings about getting the stuff anywhere but the wheels.

Cheers!

Yeah I had this, seems to be baked on brake dust.

I think the wheel cleaner I use is by Carplan, foam kind of thing.

To remove the spots try Autosol metal polish, I found its quite good on the alloys when used in small amounts occassionally.

The black spots could be tar or diesel. Try Autoglym Tar remover then polish and wax the wheels. This makes future cleaning much easier.

Try usin a baby bottle brush as well. The bristles are stiff but soft enough not to scratch and it helps get in those hard to reach areas.

Steve

Mark Underwood (aka the Wax Wizard) - he of Swissol fame - informed me that these were tar spots. Err, should I mention that Multiclean MC2 takes them off?? OK, I'll get my coat!

I've got some tar spots on my rear wheels as well.

I'm kind of ignoring them at the moment, but my farmer mate's just put a four post lift into one of his barns, so I'm going to stick the Skoda on it, and get under and clean the alloys from the inside, using whatever chemicals I can find in his shed! - I can also clean the underside of the car, if anywhere looks like it needs doing.

I remember finding a lump on the alloy once, so big I actually managed to pull it right off the wheel and hold it in my hand. It was huge and if it had got much bigger I think it would been like one of those balancing weights! :eek:

Rag and hosepipe normally works fine for the front wheels though.

Just had all 4 wheels off the Octy today for a good clean and coating with wheel protector

Both the rears were seized on, as no-one seems to bother putting CopperSlip on at the factory or the dealers (surely this should be part of the PDI ?)

A couple of sharp knocks from the old size 12 got them off ok, but if any of you haven't done it yet, i strongly suggest you use whatever decent weather we have left to get the wheels of and copperslip the hub faces, it could save you a load of grief if you get a flat tyre on a winter's day......

This has been mentioned by Denis before. I took the opportunity to put some copper grease on the other week while I was having a tyre changed. It's certainly a must as far as I'm concerned. Imagine getting a flat in the middle of the night, it's ****ing down with rain, you haven't got a coat and you can't even get the bloody wheel off. Not good.