Re: My first venture to the Q-net

[joff <jjr21@hermes.cam.ac.uk>]

On 16 Mar 1995, Randall Paquette wrote:

> How about the painted (off white) alloy wheels on my 5000, slightly corroded and
> covered with brake dust - I can't find any product to remove all the crap - any
> suggestions.

Welcome to the list.

After not cleaning the ten spoke alloys on my Audi for about three 
months, I tried using a cutting polish on them. It's a real bore, wears 
holes in about ten duster cloths, ruins a toothbrush and generally takes 
hours and hours. However, if you really work in the cutting polish 
(Autoglym is what I always use) and rub like crazy, the wheels come up 
pretty perfect - i.e., like new. Then you need to rub all the dry polish 
off, wax the wheels twice with a hard wax (Autoglym super-resin polish), 
leave for an hour or two, then coat with a sealant (Autoglym Extra Gloss 
Protection). You need to do all this because the cutting polish actually 
lifts a tiny fraction of the paint's surface, but if you don't do it too 
often, you'll never have much trouble. The wheels are restored to that 
new glossy shine look, which they never had since the car was 5,000 miles 
old. The sealant also makes them easier to clean in future.

Regards,

Joff