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Meguiar's Hot Rims Chrome Wheel Cleaner
Short story behind it:
I took my stock chrome salad shooters off of my 96 Camaro in May when I put the C5's on. The chrome on the stock wheels was peeling on two of the rims, and all of the rims were brown and black inside. The car was pretty much neglected before I owned it and so it's pretty much 7 years worth of brake dust, tar, road grime, etc. on the rims. When I took the wheels off in May I tried 3 different wheel cleaners and 2 different tar removers and I scrubbed hard with both a towel and brush. Nothing worked. I could get some of the surface crud off but not much other than that.
Now that summers over I took the C5's off and put the stock wheels back on until next summer. I tried one last time to clean the stock rims before putting then back on. I used the Meguiar's Hot Rims Chrome Wheel Cleaner that I bought when I put the C5's on. Since the C5's are new there wasn't much to see when I would clean them, but when I used it on the stock wheels I was amazed. I still had to scrub really hard with a towel, but I could see this stuff coming off as I scrubed.
How I cleaned them:
I sprayed (very liberally) inside each wheel. With a towel I started scrubbing inside the wheel that was in best shape first, letting the wheel cleaner soak on the other wheels. I started scrubbing hard, and then I began to notice how much better the inside of the wheel looked. I then scrubbed a section that was pretty brown, and it was no longer brown. I finished cleaning the wheel, hosed it down, dried it, and moved onto the next wheel. There are some really bad spots that still did not come clean (pictures below). There are some pits in the wheel that are just black that won't come clean, but 90% of this crud came off. The areas where that didn't come clean are areas that are horrible: the chrome is chipped, peeled, or pitted and the crud is kind of sunken in from the layer of chrome, I wouldn't expect anything to be able to get rid of those spots.
If you use this stuff put a towel or blanket under the wheels, this wheel cleaner is very strong and it will kill the grass. I also wore gloves because I had a small cut in my finger and it stung when it got on my finger.
Before Pictures: (The wheel closest had already been cleaned before I took the picture and all of the wheels where already sprayed with the wheel cleaner)
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/Before_1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/Before_2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/Before_3.jpg
During: (cleaned section right next to an uncleaned section)
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/During_1.jpg (The pit in the cleaned section on the right and along the top of the picture are the spots that stayed black)
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/During_2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/During_3.jpg
After:
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/After_2.jpg (Black spots are pits)
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/After_3.jpg (That brown spot on the first wheel is not dirty, the chrome peeled away there)
Short story behind it:
I took my stock chrome salad shooters off of my 96 Camaro in May when I put the C5's on. The chrome on the stock wheels was peeling on two of the rims, and all of the rims were brown and black inside. The car was pretty much neglected before I owned it and so it's pretty much 7 years worth of brake dust, tar, road grime, etc. on the rims. When I took the wheels off in May I tried 3 different wheel cleaners and 2 different tar removers and I scrubbed hard with both a towel and brush. Nothing worked. I could get some of the surface crud off but not much other than that.
Now that summers over I took the C5's off and put the stock wheels back on until next summer. I tried one last time to clean the stock rims before putting then back on. I used the Meguiar's Hot Rims Chrome Wheel Cleaner that I bought when I put the C5's on. Since the C5's are new there wasn't much to see when I would clean them, but when I used it on the stock wheels I was amazed. I still had to scrub really hard with a towel, but I could see this stuff coming off as I scrubed.
How I cleaned them:
I sprayed (very liberally) inside each wheel. With a towel I started scrubbing inside the wheel that was in best shape first, letting the wheel cleaner soak on the other wheels. I started scrubbing hard, and then I began to notice how much better the inside of the wheel looked. I then scrubbed a section that was pretty brown, and it was no longer brown. I finished cleaning the wheel, hosed it down, dried it, and moved onto the next wheel. There are some really bad spots that still did not come clean (pictures below). There are some pits in the wheel that are just black that won't come clean, but 90% of this crud came off. The areas where that didn't come clean are areas that are horrible: the chrome is chipped, peeled, or pitted and the crud is kind of sunken in from the layer of chrome, I wouldn't expect anything to be able to get rid of those spots.
If you use this stuff put a towel or blanket under the wheels, this wheel cleaner is very strong and it will kill the grass. I also wore gloves because I had a small cut in my finger and it stung when it got on my finger.
Before Pictures: (The wheel closest had already been cleaned before I took the picture and all of the wheels where already sprayed with the wheel cleaner)
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/Before_1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/Before_2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/Before_3.jpg
During: (cleaned section right next to an uncleaned section)
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/During_1.jpg (The pit in the cleaned section on the right and along the top of the picture are the spots that stayed black)
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/During_2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/During_3.jpg
After:
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/After_2.jpg (Black spots are pits)
http://www.geocities.com/jaymatic/After_3.jpg (That brown spot on the first wheel is not dirty, the chrome peeled away there)
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