Alloy wheel stains - how to remove?

Trying to get the alloys on my new car looking as good as I can but struggling to remove some brown stains where the spokes meet the rim. This is probably the worst one, but there are a few others:



Any ideas how to shift this, it surely can't be permanent?

So far I have tried:

• Iron-X
• Bilt Hamber
• Ultimate Compound

Nothing really seems to touch them and I have used as much abrasive force as I dare.

Any ideas welcome!

 

Have you tried either:
AG Intensive Tar Remover or
A clay bar?

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

Not got any AG Tar Remover, but Googled it and it sounds like a good shout. Found some for £8 on eBay so now ordered....
I'll give the clay bar a try too, but less sure that will work.

 

If it wasn’t for loading up in products, I’d suggest Dragons breath alloy wheel cleaner used with a bristle brush and rinse
The plus side, it’s easily removed and non abrasive

It’s likely Iron fallout from brake pads and left to corrode and stain,
Easiest long term solution, is to remove wheels and deep clean the barrels and behind the spokes, otherwise it shall come back
Though your barrels look relatively clean (until you zoom in the picture, there you see tar & iron on both barrel and behind spokes)

A squirt & Agitate with dragons breathe, rinse, a squirt of iron x & soak whilst a coffee is had then repeat with Tar remover
A shampoo rinse and then repeat on the face of wheel…

Labour intensive, but so worth it for my OCD

Thereafter, once a month clean the barrels during normal wash with a long noodle

 

+1 on Dragons breath good stuff.
Sean got your old pic back car gone ??.

 

Hi Alan, hope your keeping well
Yip! empty bricks on the drive, I’m gonna car share with the wife until something tickles my fancy

 

l would try Bilt Hamber Auto Wheels that is my go to Wheel Cleaner

and anythng that was left just run over with a soft clay bar

 

Thanks for all the suggestions chaps.

I'll be trying the AG intensive Tar remover when it arrives and also giving the clay bar a wizz, hopefully one of those will work.

I also plan to have the wheels off and give them a full clean as @snrbrtsn suggests, but that will have to wait until Spring arrives, which I dare say will be a few weeks yet in the Highlands.

I'm just a bit unnerved that a light abrasive (ultimate compound) didn't seem to have much impact, so @Spuffington might be right about it getting under the lacquer. If so I am probably stuck with it as I'm not inclined to spend £400 or so on a full efurb when there is no other kerbing or marks.

I'll let you know how I get on.

 

As @Spuffington says this is likely to be contamination of the lacquer, we have something similar on the wife's Skoda and I have tried most things above to no avail...

 

Well had a go with the Clay Bar - no effect

Fairly sure as has been suggested that this is a lacquer issue and the wheels need a refurb. I might just be tempted to do so as it's the only blemish on what is otherwise an immaculate car.

 

l would say that should Definitely clean off and l am not convinced it is under the lacquer



my reasoning for that is look at the zoomed in image and there is a hard cleaned line in the corner where the spoke meets the barrel and the leading edge of the spoke is also cleaner than the back of the spoke so l would say that is ingrained surface fall out

 

also l would say it is an iron fallout rather than tar due to the colour

here are a couple of shots of an alloy off my old 5 series and they are covered in tar spots





l cleaned that off with tar remover and then went around the whole rim with a clay bar

for that fallout on your wheel if all else failed l would try spot cleaning with a wheel acid l still have a bottle of good old Wonder wheels in the arsenal and would try that on the spoke staying away from the diamond cut face

 

What about one of the fallout removers i.e. Bilt Hamber Korrosol - https://bilthamber.com/product/korrosol/

 

I think you could realistically go through all manner of brands and get all manner of Yip best product! Review
Any ph neutral cleaner should lift the fall out, I’d suggest, staying away from brick acids (wonder wheels) though the next person will suggest tried and tested, there’s few miracle cures

Gyeon do excellent fall out and tar removers it’s worth researching from sofa before purchase and then having a treatment plan post clean…
Bilt hamber products, whilst good, I’ve always found relative tame
Treatment is better than cure and sealing the wheels after is equally important to prevent issue.
I use both gyeon and dragons breath though only once/twice a year & ceramic coat wheels with some funky German stuff that was recommended years back likely out of date now & separated due to frost

 

l did suggest selective use of a wheel acid. as highlander says he has tried carpro Iron-X, Bilt Hamber, and Ultimate Compound they also tried a clay bar and seem to be struggling to shift the staining

now whilst l would never suggest weekly maintenance washes where you drench your alloys in acid but a a selective one off use to get rid of very stubborn fallout should not melt your alloys

My 6GT only had 2900 miles on the clock but had sat for around 9 months during Covid there was some stubborn stains on the alloys and we tried the usual selection of PH neutral wheel cleaners to no effect so we tried autosmart smart wheels which is a high alkaline wheel cleaner to no effect

the product that did the trick was KKD Devils juice acidic wheel cleaner that is a product that you dilute with water and it thickens to a gel and we used it to spot clean the alloys where the brown stains would not come off. KKD says " the product removes baked on brake dust deposits and those brownish films that normal wheel cleaners find hard to remove."

and the brownish film is what we have here so it may need somthing with a bit more bite as a one off to remove it and then good protection and regular cleaning means that you never have to use the dreaded wheel acid ever again

 

I think it's time for some old fashioned acidic alloy wheel cleaner. It's still safe for the paint/lacquer as long as there are no defects. It will dissolve the rust eventually with soaking and agitation. I find with really dirty wheels it's the only option.

 

Thanks for all the input everyone.

I tried AG intensive tar remover and I think it helped a little, but the marks are still very much there. Based on the suggestions above I've ordered some Devils Juice and that will be the last resort as I have now spent £40 on various products. It's going to be a few days till it arrives but I will post the results after use.

I had a good look at the wheels yesterday and it is only really the back right that is badly marked, so if push comes to shove I can probably just get that one refurbed and leave the rest.

 

lets hope that it works for you and if it does then £40.00 worth of product is a lot better than refurbing the wheels at about £125.00 a corner

https://fb.watch/jaJSwJh5N9/

the KKD devils juice is a very strong cleaner and l would recommend you glove up with marigolds and use it sparingly on the worst affected areas l would spray onto a wheel brush and then apply to the spots that need attention rinse it off very well and then treat again if required

 

Thanks for the advice, will do as you suggest!