how do you clean behind the rims?

P

PDoyle

New member
I'm the guy who gets under the vehicle and (while cramping in shoulders) trying to clean the inside of a rim.

You might get 1/2 of it doing this.

Then you place vehicle in neutral and move it a little at a time not rolling over your self hopefully.:werd::twisted:

I really want to pull the rims off the axle and do them right but...

What do you guys do?
 
When I have to do wheels to that level, I take them off the car. For normal car washes I reach through with a wheel brush or if the wheel has been cleaned properly before I use a microfiber duster in place of the wheel brush.



Tip for the day: When doing cars with sensitive braking systems - carbon fiber, etc. - I use a microfiber duster and air and just dust the brake dust off the COLD WHEELS rather than getting them wet. Dry brake dust comes off a lot easier than you might think. Wear a dust mask and use low pressure air - hold the air back from the wheel.



Robert
 
Wheel Woolies or a long spoke wheel brush works for me. I have 2 long spoke wheel brushes, one with horse hair and the other with tampico bristles. They work great for getting into those tight areas w/o taking the wheel off.
 
Yeah, the Wheel Woolies are very good, though only the smallest one will fit in there on many of my wheels. There are large swabs that work well for tight spots, and for wheels where there's a bit of room I like the small sheepskin wheel-cleaning mitt that Griot's sells. It's getting the back sides of the spokes that takes me the longest, easy to miss a little area if I'm not careful; the barrels are pretty easy.



OK, BBS-style wheels are simply a huge pain, just gotta spend a lot of time on 'em. And I almost always jack up the cars (no need on the SUV) anyhow to better facilitate doing the wells and undercarriage, so I can spin the wheel instead of moving the car so much.



The test is when I do take the wheels off; if the back sides have any heavily soiled areas (indicating that I repeatedly missed those spots) I know I have to rethink my approach. I have zero intention of ever having to do "the big cleanup" on the back side of another set of wheels :grinno:
 
WhyteWizard said:
Wear a dust mask
Click to expand...



Just be aware that those white disposable masks are not sufficient protection against suspended brake dust. If you want to ensure you're protected (from an occupational health & safety perspective), you should be using a respirator with the appropriate cartridge. (just an FYI)
 
Inzane said:
Just be aware that those white disposable masks are not sufficient protection against suspended brake dust. If you want to ensure you're protected (from an occupational health & safety perspective), you should be using a respirator with the appropriate cartridge. (just an FYI)
Click to expand...

My neighbors would get a kick out of me blowing off brake dust with that on my face....
 
PDoyle said:
My neighbors would get a kick out of me blowing off brake dust with that on my face....
Click to expand...



Some brake pad compounds are probably not much to be concerned about, but the thought of the possibility of asbestos in some scares the crap out of me.
 
I've never had much luck with Wheel Woolies, as they size never seems just right. I mainly really on the flexible Daytona and Daytona Jr bendable brushes from Auto Geek. They allow you access to pretty much anywhere behind the spokes.



I bend them in an "L" shape to get behind the spokes and to get the rotor hats. Then, I keep them strait to clean the rest of the barrels.



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(Picture taken from Google)
 
I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't like the Daytona-type brushes at all. I'll sometimes used them to clean things like coilsprings, but they don't work well for me on wheels and they're a lot coarser than I want to use on many surfaces.
 
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