Yes, I did spend considerable time searching the archives in both modern and
concours. but , I did not find anything that is specific on wire wheel
cleaning techniques. I know now how difficult they are to keep clean, how
they are difficult to keep true, at proper air pressure , spokes tight, etc,
etc.but… wow! when they are clean they make it all worth while (at
least for me ) Any wire wheel enthusiasts out there who have developed any
cleaning tricks ?
Wayne, 92 XJS V-12 Con’t Diamond Blue
Wayne;
We use wheel acid and a pressure washer, wipe dry and paste wax.
Skip
58 XK150DHC
Wayne Deswert wrote:> Yes, I did spend considerable time searching the archives in both modern and
concours. but , I did not find anything that is specific on wire wheel
cleaning techniques. I know now how difficult they are to keep clean, how
they are difficult to keep true, at proper air pressure , spokes tight, etc,
etc.but… wow! when they are clean they make it all worth while (at
least for me ) Any wire wheel enthusiasts out there who have developed any
cleaning tricks ?
Wayne, 92 XJS V-12 Con’t Diamond Blue
Assuming they aren’t totally trashed, spray them down with Simple Green, let it
sit a couple of minutes, use a six inch painters brush to knock the dirt off,
hose them off, and use compressed air to blow them dry.
SK
62 OTS
Wayne Deswert wrote:> Yes, I did spend considerable time searching the archives in both modern and
concours. but , I did not find anything that is specific on wire wheel
cleaning techniques. I know now how difficult they are to keep clean, how
they are difficult to keep true, at proper air pressure , spokes tight, etc,
etc.but… wow! when they are clean they make it all worth while (at
least for me ) Any wire wheel enthusiasts out there who have developed any
cleaning tricks ?
Wayne, 92 XJS V-12 Con’t Diamond Blue
Wayne wrote: “Any wire wheel enthusiasts out there who have developed any
cleaning tricks ?”++++++++++++++++
When I bought my car my wheels were pretty grungy. Lots of caked brake
dust, road grime and grease. I pulled the wheels and sprayed them down with
engine cleaner, scrubbed them with a brush and used a pressure washer. Be
sure to clean the splines of all old grease. I then used the commercially
available wire wheel cleaner, it is mildly acidic, don’t spray it in your
eyes, you might want to use rubber gloves, and tooth brushes to get into
every nock and cranny. Followed that with another session with the pressure
washer. Then I used Turtle Wax Chrome polish and the aforementioned tooth
brushes to scrub, clean and polish the wheels. Some spokes were rusted and
I used a scotchbrite pad with the chrome polish, 90-95% of the rust was
removed leaving slightly pitted chrome. Again used the pressure washer to
remove the wax residue. Unfortunately this process will not restore lost
chrome. This took about 6 hours (I said they were pretty grungy) but was
worth it.
If the spokes have totally missing chrome you can do some touchup with
“chrome silver” model car paint, It doesn’t look like exactly like chrome,
but from a few feet it is virtually unnoticeable. Looks a lot better than
bare metal.
Before reinstallation clean all of the old grease from the matching splines
on the car and apply fresh grease. Wheel bearing grease works just fine.
Reinstall the wheels.
To keep them clean all I do is spray with the wire wheel cleaner (Westley’s,
if it matters), quickly scrub with a long bristle (3") brush and give it a
shot with the pressure washer. Takes about 3-5 minutes a wheel.
There are probably other ways to clean the wheels, but this worked for me.
Got me through 2 concours in D3 without a hit.
Regards, John Walker
69 2+2
Wayne: I forgot to mention that after washing I dry my wheels with the
output from an air compressor. Blows off all the water droplets and leaves
no water spots. If you don’t have a compressor I suppose a leaf blower
would work, although the neighbors might question what you are doing. 
Regards, John Walker
69 2+2
In a message dated 3/13/00 2:25:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
deswertw@n-jcenter.com writes:
<< Any wire wheel enthusiasts out there who have developed any
cleaning tricks ? >>
Blech White (pepboys and others), rinse well and use and air hose to dry
thoroughly.
If you’ve got grease on them, use Simple Green before the Blech White.
Bob Hotaling
69 OTS