Best wheel cleaner? (Cupra 290)

[DrEv1l]

I have the same wheels as OP, there is some corrosion in every "spoke" on the black surface in the corners. I'll try and get some photos, but any idea how I can get that off? It looks a bit like brake dust but it's very hard and baked on.

I use an EZ detail brush, a mitt, some light citrus degreaser, followed by regular shampoo for the wheels.

I have those wheels and my detailer hates them! They are so difficult to get into the nooks and clean. Mine have also got some defects on them as well as a little curbing so I'm going to have to just get them refurbished.

The bilberry wash is very good and does not smell too evil.

 

[SRGTD]

I have those wheels and my detailer hates them! They are so difficult to get into the nooks and clean. Mine have also got some defects on them as well as a little curbing so I'm going to have to just get them refurbished.

The bilberry wash is very good and does not smell too evil.

I had a Vauxhall in the early / mid 1990’s that had quite an intricate design of wheel - from memory, each wheel had 32 small holes in it and it took me as long to clean the wheels as it did to clean the rest of the car. I vowed to always avoid intricate wheel designs from then on, and I think I’ve managed to.

Valet Pro Bilberry is good, although a friend of mine used it on his wheels and left it on to long - it stained the wheels and he had pink / purple tinted wheels for quite a while after that. He didn’t make the same mistake again!

 

[rcwsr]

Yep they're a right pain to get in the nooks and crannies! Other than cleaner, what equipment go you use for cleaning these wheels?

 

[mitchybenny]

I have the same wheels as OP, there is some corrosion in every "spoke" on the black surface in the corners. I'll try and get some photos, but any idea how I can get that off? It looks a bit like brake dust but it's very hard and baked on.

I use an EZ detail brush, a mitt, some light citrus degreaser, followed by regular shampoo for the wheels.

Haha, I think I need to find myself some time. Think I’ve stumbled upon some time consuming cleaning lol

 

[ChrisM75]

Normally I say Bilt Hamber auto wheels is the best one, but with Diamond cut wheels you have to be very careful not to encourage the white worm.

Bilt Hamber Atom-Mac is a corrosion inhibitor and does foam up (at 5% dilution), so im using that to clean the wheels. Its good enough to clean well protected wheels (waxed or nano coated) and adds corrosion resistance.

 

[SRGTD]

Yep they're a right pain to get in the nooks and crannies! Other than cleaner, what equipment go you use for cleaning these wheels?

I don’t have a Cupra with multi spoke diamond cut alloys, but I use the following on my wheels as part of my wash routine;

I clean the face and between the spokes on my wheels with one of these;
https://wo-wo.co.uk/collections/wo-wo-car-detailing-products/products/microfibre-wheel-wash-mitt

I use a small, soft bristled detailing brush to clean around the wheel bolt covers, valve stems and any other intricate parts;
https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/valet-pro-inch-round-wheel-brush

I have a set of these to clean the barrel of the wheels, and brake calipers (they’re good for many other parts of the car too, like grilles, exhaust tailpipes, underside of sills etc);
https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/wheel-woolies-wheel-brush-kit

And I dry the wheels with one of these;
https://wo-wo.co.uk/collections/wo-wo-car-detailing-products/products/alloy-wheel-drying-towel

 

[Cuprobbie]

I have the multispoke diamond cut wheels on my 2016 Black Edition. These are the features I hate about my Cupra. Otherwise I love everything else as it’s a brilliant car. The gloss black parts of the wheels are easily scratched and almost every spoke has corrosion under the lacquer. My neighbour’s RS3’s wheels look much better and they are ‘normal’ alloys, not diamond cut.

 

[SRGTD]

I have the multispoke diamond cut wheels on my 2016 Black Edition. These are the features I hate about my Cupra. Otherwise I love everything else as it’s a brilliant car. The gloss black parts of the wheels are easily scratched and almost every spoke has corrosion under the lacquer. My neighbour’s RS3’s wheels look much better and they are ‘normal’ alloys, not diamond cut.

I’ve voiced my opinion on what I think of diamond cut alloys many times on the forum - I dislike them with a passion! If manufacturers offered a painted / powder coated alloy as an alternative to diamond cut, I’d have the painted / powder coated version every time.

 

[ChrisM75]

The black part very easily swirls up. Ive been using CarPro Essence plus to deal with this. Its basically a ceramic filler that hides swirls. It works well and should help with corrosion on the diamond cut part.

Being a lease car Im being very careful with the wheels.

 

[Dannnnn]

Bilt Hamber auto wheels is my go to.
Tried loads and always go back to the BH stuff. It just works.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[GordonMcC]

Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel or Turtle Wax Redline. still needs a wipe down afterwards. i find black wheels a pain in the a**e.

 

[sidy64]

Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel or Turtle Wax Redline. still needs a wipe down afterwards. i find black wheels a pain in the a**e.

hi mate, is it the grey colour screws?

 

[Jay280]

I've always used Valet pro bilberry with good results, but just bought autoglym acid free wheel cleaner from the rep that comes into my work. Has anybody tried it? Hope it's good as it's a concrete so there's 10 litres of the stuff

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[Brimfull]

Check out power maxed range of cleaning products, fantastic quality and very reasonably priced.

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[rcwsr]

If it is corrosion, then no wheel cleaner will remove it; the wheels will need to be refurbished. However, if it’s baked on grime and brake dust that’s giving the appearance of corrosion

Sorry for crap photo. I've wiped some dust away and you can see the problem area right in the corner.

 

[SRGTD]

Sorry for crap photo. I've wiped some dust away and you can see the problem area right in the corner.View attachment 10743

I don’t think it’s corrosion. If it was corrosion, then I’d expect the black paint / powder coating to show signs of blistering, and I don’t think aluminium alloy corrosion would be reddish brown in colour.

I think it’s brake dust build up that’s baked on the surface. Brake dust build up can have a brownish colouration to it.

 

[rcwsr]

Thanks, that's a relief, hopefully I can get it off - gonna be a long job, there's about 100 of these little corners .

I do have one small patch of blistering on the machined surface, I expect there's not much I can do other than not make it worse!

 

[S4BiT]

That is a build-up from the brakes and shows that your alloys are not cleaned properly for some time. It can also show a issue with the brakes, as the cars with worn brake pads and/or other problems with the brakes can be having this kind of metal build-up in a very hard way. For cleaning it easily you have to use some wheel cleaner with the ph1 to ph5, that is acidic and removes this kind of “dirt”. All the neutral wheel cleaners can be nice to look when they are going purple, but i would use them more to clean the bodywork if needed.
As im doing it every day as a work, I know what im talking about.