HOW TO WASH YOUR WHEELS

The most effective way to stop brake dust sticking to your wheels is to convert your car to a parachute-braking system. Of course this is not entirely practical!

Disc-braked cars will always have pad dust on the wheels, period. In order to keep them looking at their best, we have to do what we can to make sure that unsightly dust doesn't stick. I painted my Pantera wheels a slightly lighter shade of silver than I actually wanted. That way, with the inevitable coat of brake dust, they look just the right colour!

If your wheels have a baked-on coat of brake dust, they can be very difficult to get clean. Many people use strong acidic wheels cleaners. this type of product works well, but also etches the surface of the paint and creates a perfect key for the next coat of brake dust to bond too. So it is imperative to seal the paint on your wheels after you have got them clean. I only ever clean my Pantera wheels with cheap liquid wax. I find this is a great barrier between the brake dust and my paint. With a good coat of wax, the brake dust does not stick, and comes off with ease.
A preferred alternative to acidic wheel cleaners is an abrasive cutting compound for paintwork. But this is only really possible on 'easy to clean wheels'. Don't use a high quality carnauba wax on your wheels, because it will not clean them. I rely on chemical cleaning agents and the slightly abrasive tendencies of cheap liquid wax to keep my wheels clean.

If your car has polished aluminium wheels, you must keep on top of them - this is especially true in the winter months when there is salt on the roads. Once you let them get too dull, you will not be able to bring them back to their former glory with metal polish alone.

If your car has anodised wheels like the early Porsche 911 Fuchs wheels, these cannot be polished. Just treat them like paint. Anodising is an electroplating process and cannot be stripped with any chemical that I know of.

If you're not sure if your wheels are panted or anodised touch your tongue on the surface in question - if they are painted it will taste of nothing. If they are anodised, it will taste of metal.
If you do try to polish an anodised surface with an abrasive metal polish, you will eventually go through to the bare aluminium and then you will have to strip all 4 wheels to match. (see my section on how to restore wheels).