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KADVR6

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Would just like to point out that I currently work in the car valeting business and every one of the alloy wheel cleaners and traffic film removers that our company uses contains either Hydrochloric acid or Sodium hydroxide.

 

As long as it is correctly diluted as described in manufacturers guidelines, they are no problems using these on any surfaces, apart from chrome (which may mark). Every commercially available wheel cleaner or traffic-film remover, including those available from Halfords etc. (for example, take a look at the contents of Wonder Wheels Alloy Wheel Cleaner made by Turtle Wax, contains Hydrochloric acid soultion!) will contain either of these two chemicals as they are very effective at cleaning as long as used correctly as per manufacturers instruction.

 

Cheers,

 

BigEastSideVWG60

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Would just like to point out that I currently work in the car valeting business and every one of the alloy wheel cleaners and traffic film removers that our company uses contains either Hydrochloric acid or Sodium hydroxide.

 

As long as it is correctly diluted as described in manufacturers guidelines, they are no problems using these on any surfaces, apart from chrome (which may mark). Every commercially available wheel cleaner or traffic-film remover, including those available from Halfords etc. (for example, take a look at the contents of Wonder Wheels Alloy Wheel Cleaner made by Turtle Wax, contains Hydrochloric acid soultion!) will contain either of these two chemicals as they are very effective at cleaning as long as used correctly as per manufacturers instruction.

 

Cheers,

 

BigEastSideVWG60

 

 

Sorry struan i care to differ on that opinion.

These product DO work very well at removing dirt form alloys....but..

If you speak to any wheel refurbisher, they can tell if any acid wheel cleaners have been used on the wheels as this distroys the surface paint/coating and pre ages the finish and once an open edge is found between the finish and alloy it works its way inbetween them which leads to inperfections and flaking eventually.

Regular cleaning and a coating of wax is all that is required to keep the brake acid from also doing its worse.

A none acidic cleaner like swissols MC2 dilute cleaner will remove any hard to clean brake dust.

 

I must apologise for bumping this thread from the original question.

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Non-caustic traffic film remover should be used on all delicate finished wheels, most chemicals are okay if used correctly and not left on wheels more than 1min prior to being rinsed with plenty, plenty and plenty of pressured water.

Acid should only be used on extremeley dirty and heavily break dusted wheels as TFR gets most wheels clean enough- its all common sense really.

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Just to clear this up,

 

I work for a car rental company and most of the cars we have on rent from our fleet come back filthy with bad brake dust caked on the wheels. Plus we are so busy that our valeter has about 10 minutes to be able to clean cars exterior and interior then it is ready to be rented again. So the cleaning agents are on the surfaces for no more than a few minutes at most. We keep our vehicles for no more than 10,000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first, and none of the sales cars ever have problems with damaged finish either on paint, plastics or alloy surfaces.

 

Cheers,

 

BigEastSideVWG60

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I used Turtle Wax wheel cleaner (spray on leave for a minute spray off etc) on my old OZ Super T's and they dulled the finish slightly. I had to take them off, T-Cut then and then polish them. It took about 4 hours in total due to the design of the wheels! I was quite careful to only leave the stuff on for a minute but it did take the sheen off them? Is this a bad product?

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I give the inside and outside of my BBS rims a good scrub down and a coat of Mcguirs every 4 months.

In between times dirt just flies off them as soon as the hose hits them.

 

If they're really bad I use MC2 but it's hard to beat soap, water and an old sponge.

 

Now, what about valeters in Birmingham for this man! :D

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PM John Wintle for details, maybe even a GB. It's not a Swissol product per se.

One of the guys that develops their products used to be Wax Wizard and he still does MC2 as a side line.

 

Valeters in Birmingham?? :D

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thanks for the advice guys, just got over man flu so will look into getting it done this week, stevemac im based in sutton coldfield mate :D

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stevemac im based in sutton coldfield mate :D
Ahh - I'm just down the road from you, just off the A38 near spaghetti junction.

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