Removing rust and brake dust on my alloy wheels

Hey y'all,

Give me some ideas how to do this without a lot of work???

 

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In all seriousness - sometimes brake dust can come off with the right solvents/pressure washer, but rust is going to need some real elbow grease. The best way to go is sand blasting and then painting. Really, whatever you do, if there is rust, you'll need to paint when you're done so that you prevent it from coming back. At that point, you're looking at something like this: Wheel Makeover – Extreme Labor for a Totally Non-Functional Mod.

You'll note - even in my title, I've acknowledged the amount of work this was (for me) since I opted to skip the middle of the diagram. I have to say though, it turned out great.

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steel wool and WD-40 worked for me

 

I like how your rims came out. I went ahead and bought some degreaser at Wallyworld and just spent about 2hrs pressure washing and using a soft brush to remove most of the crud.

Still has some dark rust stains but I plan on sanding with 600-2000 grit then painting.

 

Try armor all wheel cleaner. I used and it really did a number on the brake dust and now it’s easy to keep the wheels clean.

 

Kevins60

Will it remove rust as well?

 

If you do end up painting them you really don't want to go too fine on the sandpaper, either 600 grit or a red Scotch-Brite pad will get it smooth as it needs to be. The paint will fill the scratches and it needs a slightly rough surface to give it more bite, otherwise it may flake and peel off prematurely. Plus it's just adding more work for you that isn't going to provide any benefit. Always a good idea to wipe it really well with wax and grease remover or alcohol before painting and give it a coat of etching primer on any exposed metal as well.

 

Rust on aluminum wheels? Or rust from embedded brake dust.

But that Armorall works great. Best stuff I’ve used.

 

Literally just polished some chrome wheels today. Chemical guys "light metal polish" worked amazing. Highly recommend. Did it by hand, recommend a power tool because it sucks to do by hand.

B4:

After:

 

No. Unless you are trying to clean steelies I doubt you have rust. I wish I had a before picture but here’s an after shot of my rig. The wheels were a little dull and I could not believe the amount of crud that came off and the difference after using the armor all.

 

Best send them out to be bead blasted then paint that is the least amount of work.

 

$17 Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect (230200) | Non-Acid Rim Cleaner | Color Changing Wheel Cleaner | Brake Dust Cleaner | Non-Acid Iron Remover | (500 ml or 16.9 fl. oz.)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UT3S6..._10&amp=&crid=2JDICNQ1GVB3&sprefix=wheel+clea

Sonax...spray it on, relax for a few minutes, hose it off