As predicted, cleaning turbine wheels is proving to be quite a chore. I would be interested in any combination of soap, cleaner or brush which anyone has tried and found effective for this purpose.

My experience is that a large soft brush won't reach more than an inch or so inside the spokes, thus leaving a grimey residue readily visible on the rim at the outer end of the spokes. And long, thin toilet brushes and the like don't appear suitable for the job either - the bristles are not dense enough, and they are so stiff they may scratch the finish on the wheel.

Has anyone found a solution (pun intended)?

 

You might try using a long neck wine decanter brush. They're long, flexible, and soft. Just got my vehicle yesterday with the turbines so I'll be interested in what works too.

Breeze

 

White knight, I also plan to become a lawyer soon, and I like airplanes, What are you into commercial or defence craft?

 

Euerope is full of wash it yourself booths were a nozzle with a warm water jet is provided. It works perfectly and does not damage the rims.

 

Breeze -

I'm not sure where you would find a "long neck decanter brush", although it sounds ideal. Any suggestions?

BTW, where in SoCal are you? I'm in Palm Springs until tomorrow (when I drive back to SFO).

Bilal-

I flew a Beechcraft Duke until a few years ago. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a pressurized all-weather twin which is a little smaller than a Kingair and a little bigger than a Baron. It was the SL55 of the airways - a very distictive sound, powerful, beautiful, comfortable and very well-made. Beech made 598 of them (mine was number 550) before stopping production in 1981.

You can find more information on Dukes at http://www.beechcraft-duke.net/Page1.html

or by searching "Beechcraft Duke" using Google.

Davidegai-

I've used a high pressure stream of cold water, but it is ineffective in removing the combination of grease, brake dust and road dirt that accumulates between the spokes. Maybe a stream of hot water would help, but that's not easy to do at home.

In the US, we used to be able to buy various wheel cleaners which contained solvents which would carry away this mess with little or no scrubbing, but all the manufacturers have switched their formulas to something that is pure soap, and purely useless. I suspect that whatever comes out of the nozzle in a European car wash booth has such a solvent.

I understand that the US manufacturers made the switch away from stronger chemicals because of complaints about damage to the wheel's finish, although I never had this problem, even after extensive use on quite a few different wheels.

 

No No, i am familiar with it, I flew some flights in a cessna a year ago, very nice airplane, a little on the jittery side and very responsive in terms of controls.

Its good to have some peoepl who share similar interests here.



ps, you wouldn't mind If I requested some pictures of your car woudl you? I think its a great combo and would love to see it.:p

 

A photo of my car

 

Other side of the car

 

Amazing!!!


Beautiful car or should I say cars?


Thanks!

 

Interior

 

Thanks you so much!!!

VERY nice combo!!!

 

Get a lug nut brush, it's about 6# long and oval shaped. It has bristles on all sides. The bristles are soft.

 

Any idea who would carry a "lug nut brush"? Kragen? Ace Hardware? Home Depot?

 

I had four very dirty turbine wheels to experiment with yesterday and I tried different techniques. Previously, my wheels had never been very dirty, so it wasn't a big job, this time they were much worse.

There are so many surfaces that hand brushing each one is out of the question, even if you have a brush which fits into the slot ends. I'm also increasingly reluctant to use alloy wheel cleaners any more because they are highly alkaline and wreak havoc with the aluminium if they get under the lacquer.

I found that pressure washing the wheels first with the washer feeding a non-foaming detergent, then rinsing with clear water works well and a regular vacuum cleaner on "blow" to blow dry the wheels beats hand wiping each spoke with a chamois to get rid of drying marks. Others have suggested a leaf blower for drying the whole car, but a vacuum cleaner is easy to control. It goes without saying that you do not want to overdo the pressure from the washer, the intention is to remove the dirt, not sand-blast the surface and of course, pressure washing the car itself on anything other than the lowest pressure is not a good idea - I use it more for wetting and rinsing than washing.

WKII's suggestion of using hot water would be even better, and I think feeding the jet washer from a domestic hot water supply (mixed with cold using maybe a shower thermostatic valve) would work well. I don't think you'd want to get too hot - handhot (40 - 45 degrees C, 100 - 110 defrees F) would be plenty. My plumber is really going to think I've lost it this time...

About the only downside is that there are lots of reflective surface so that if you do the job properly, you get soaked.

For those of us who live in wet climates, the new SL gets far dirtier in wet weather than my other cars - in the R230, the dirt has a knack of accumulating above the rear licence plate around the trunk opening lever. Don't know why, I assume it's the different aerodynamics.

 

Pep Boys, Autozone, Probably even Target in the car washing section. It is made to clean the holes in wheels where lug nuts go, so it will definitely fit.

 

I use a Swifter "sheet" to clean the spokes. Takes my about 5-8 mins. a wheel This is what i do:

1) Clean outer rims/Lip
2) Use two fingers to get both side of spokes
3)Clean the outer part of spoke(facing you)
4)Clean gap between spokes

 

Has anyonne tried Mercedes Wheel Care spray? It says to spray on and hose off...anyone know if it works...possibly saving the "hand massaging" of each spoke on each wheel!!???

 

You guys have convinced me to go with the 5-spoke wheels.

 

Nice pics great color enjoy

 

Jack Straw

I am with you, I pined over the multispoke versus the five spokers, then my wife reminded me how much time I would spend cleaning the multispokes. I actually visited the parts department to see if I could fit my fingers at the base of the spokes at the hub, I couldn't and figured I could never really get them clean the way I like them. I can clean all four of my AMG 5 spokes in about 5-8 minutes!

 

Jack Straw and carcrazy-

Don't give up on the turbine wheels yet. Yesterday I tried cleaning them with the business end of a janitor's broom (handle removed) and it worked quite well. (I just dipped the brush regularly into the soapy water left after I washed the car.) The problem is that this kind of brush has bristles which are a little too stiff for repeated use. My guess is that I can find something at the local hardware store with softer bristles which will work quite well.

The technique is to align the longer dimension of a rectangular brush with the spokes, then brush outward from the hub toward the rim with a full load of soapy water in the brush. Done this way, the inside of the spokes gets cleaned as well as the rim itself. And the bristles reach well into the wheel, cleaning the rim as far in as you can see. It takes two or three minutes a wheel.

This weekend I'll post some pictures of the brush I get together with the wheel after it has been cleaned. But based on my experience with the janitor's broom, this should work quite well. Certainly if you like the appearance of the turbine wheels (and I like them very much), you shouldn't throw in the towel just yet.

 

Ted, have Remotec (knock off of BBS) honey comb wheels on my 500SL which are equally difficult to clean. Have tried all different kinds of brushes. Main thing is to use ones in which the tip is coated so as not to scatch the wheels if you "miss". Found one at Pep Boys and works pretty well.