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Originally Posted by tux2005
Last weekend I took a few photos of the cleaning process on my wheels after a track day. The track day ended up putting quite a thick layer of brake dust over the wheels.
My wheels are coated with DP Wheel Coating, I applied it when I changed my wheels over for the summer. I've mostly cleaned them with the Meguiars soap and CC Mr Pink. Before my track day I did use Sonax to make sure they were thoroughly clean.
I cleaned the passenger-side front wheel with Sonax first and then compared it with using my normal soap approach on the driver-side. I then Sonax'ed the driver-side afterwards to see how much colour change would still occur.
The one problem with my testing was it was done around dusk so the lighting doesn't highlight things as well.
Passenger-side Dirty:
Attachment 1463210
Passenger-side after rinse + Sonax:
Attachment 1463211
Passenger-side close-up:
Attachment 1463212
Drivers-side Dirty:
Attachment 1463213
After cleaning with soap & brushes:
Attachment 1463214
Sonax to see the colour change after:
Attachment 1463215
Attachment 1463216
The Sonax approach definitely got the wheels cleaner but for most maintenance washes I will still stick with just soap & brushes. If I had been a little more thorough with the brushes I probably could have gotten the wheels cleaner before Sonaxing.
I really highly recommend applying a coating to wheels though, it makes the washing process so simple. I had left the brake dust on for 5 days after the track day and it came off very easily. I've battled many times trying to get brake dust off some unsealed & uncoated wheels and it much more work. I use a cheap synthetic wool mitt for the face and spokes and wheel woolies for the barrel and they do a great job. |
Thanks for the comparison. I've since switched to a hybrid wheel cleaner plus soap/wash approach. The biggest difference though is that I now wipe my wheels dry afterwards as well. I noticed that my wheels look cleaner for longer now. I've been using power lock on my wheels once a month. That seems to help a lot as well.