Like most Bentley owners around the world who clean their own vehicles, I've lost a lot of sleep over how to clean the inside of our wheels. There's a lot of real estate there to cover, and after weeks of banging my wrists and forearms trying to get in there with a cloth, I found a better way.

I use an old California duster and poke it briskly inside between each spoke. By angling it acutely both sides of the spoke, I can get 98% of all brake dust off and the inside gets its nice shine back.

The good thing with the California Duster is that it absorbs a lot of gunk and is still perfectly usable again and again. I've used my one for the best part of three months and still cleans perfectly. I'm just off to the shop to get a new one, probably the smaller version which might be easier to use. I'll follow up with a further comment.

(I am not affiliated with the California Duster company, but if you want to pay me anyhow, that will offset my R&D costs! )

 

Ken, I've used a duster, too. Not sure if it's a California Duster but it's made of lamb's wool and I use it with car wash and it rinses clean and dries well. I've learned the hard way not to use a duster on the car's paint because it causes tiny scratches in the clear coat so if I want to dust my car I use a leaf blower. Makita makes a nice battery-powered one.

I also highly recommend to DIY-ers to invest in a water conditioner. Once you wash and rinse your car in softened water there won't be any mineral residue (water spots). This is especially useful in places that have very hard water.

Jeff

 

i use a wheel brush that is long to clean the barrel

for the spokes and out rim, i use a sponge and tooth brush

 

I just spent the entire day getting my FS prepped to get some Opti-Coat 2.0. Since its a permanent coating essentially like another layer of clear coat, you want to get the paint perfect before applying, I just got my car two weeks ago and spent a lot of time of the prof. auto detail forums trying to figure out which products are best to use with all the new paint nano sealants and coatings replacing traditional wax.

I had my HRE mono lock aluminum rims painted, so I looked for a good wheel cleaner safe for painted surfaces and really happy with SONAX WHEEL CLEANER FULL EFFECTS. It goes on green and turns red as it chemically reacts with iron in brake dust. I also see detailers say they use it on lower body panels to get any brake dust iron off paint. I found a short video on so,some reviewing it on their car. The product says it just sprays on and washes off as long as you don't have baked on dust which then requires a little brushing, the guy in video brushes his quickly, although not so necessary. The nice thing about Sonax is that it also cleans rotors and calipers



http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=jl4Cujf5kRs&feature=fvwrel

Also wanted to mention that many people are now using the new paint sealants such as OptiCoat on rims which makes dirt and brake dust come off extremely easy since it barely sticks!i plan on doing my car and wheels tomorrow with OptiCoat and will post some pics and give feedback. I also purchased another top end coating called Gtechniq EXO Hybrid Coating that is supposed to last 3 years and can easily be reapplied at any time.it actually works on paint, glass, fiberglass. Stone, plastic, and many other surfaces. I used it to do my windows last might and they came out great. Takes 24 hours to fully cure so waiting to try out with water and wipers.


CLEANING WHEEL COATED WITH OPTI-COAT 2.0

 

Thoroughly polish and wax the insides of your wheels. Then use this with a pressure washer (or something like it - there are several):

 

The debate over what works best for removing dirt and brake dust from wheel rims has been debated ad nauseam starting right after the wheel was invented thousands of years ago. This debate came to a head, in Roman days, at the 303 C.E. Chariot Concours Show at Rubble Beach when the Christians (backed by Constantine) proved to be the best authorities. This was due to their vast experience obtained at the Roman Coliseum where they were able to observe, first hand, the various chariot wheel rim conditions which ranged from "pristine" to "not so much". Since then, there have been many, many options promoted which cater to these "Rim Groupies", each promising the ultimate in clean rim utopia. With the danger of arousing the anger of the "my way is the best way to clean rims" crowd, I submit that a simple and effective way is to polish and wax your rims. Then use a pressure washer (at low PSI) to whisk off the dirt and brake dust during your detailing process. Autoglym products are recommended and sold by your Bentley dealer and IMHO are as good as your are going to find for this purpose and for the exterior paint of your car.

 

Funny post! You're right though, they are many cleaners and processes used even by the professional detailers, I was just trying to name two of the most popular ones I saw mentioned repeatedly and have used myself. If you watch the review on Sonax above, at end of video guy says he loves Autoglym and will keep using it but also likes Sonax. Some other tops choices were the Meguiars wheel bright, Iron X, and P21s wheel cleaner. I'm going to put Opti-Coat on my rims today so I can post back results.

 

Hey Jeff, I agree, but for the past little while I've used one of those 'dust magnet' nylon dusters to dust both my cars down each morning. I can see no swirling or scratching because it is an extremely light duster that just glides over the surface.

Then again, if my cars got really dirty, such as when I drive them then any duster would be a no-no. I would go to a detailing spray with a microfiber.

As a last resort, if they ever get dirty from rain etc (which is rare - I only washed my last CGT twice in 2 years!), then it's a full wash. Your water tip is a good one!

 

I never wash my show cars GR. They rarely get dirty enough. The California duster is enough to get all the dust off the wheel interior.

 

This is the ionizer I use which softens my hard Florida water so that there are no mineral spots left:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...w#.URhTt1p2HWg

 

I must need a deionizer. After I rinse i always have water spots that I need a detailer to get off. That is one of the main reasons i hate to do0a full wash.

As to the wheels I take the completely different approach than ya'll. I NEVER was the interior of the wheels. I find that if i high clean and polish the chrome the interiors seems to disappear. I havea also determined that the wheel will have visible brake dust on the chrome after a short ride so I dust my wheels after every trip. I'll be rooted if I'm going to clean the interior of the wheels after every ride.

 

A deionizer is a wonderful piece of equipment. Here is mine (CRSpotless) mounted on a cart along with my other detailing stuff (complete with 2 cup holders - a must in Texas):

 

Good Lord GR that's a big piece of stuff. I'd have to sell a Harley to make room for all that.

 

It fits very nicely between the SL and the GTC toward the back of the garage with a golf cart behind it. The cart is 24 inches wide and 18 inches deep.

 

You have a whole new world to explore there doc.

Quite frankly I don't know anyone who does the interior of their wheels except me. Or anyone who changes their pillow cases daily, except me. It's all overcompensation for having to live under a bridge for part of my life when I was broke.