Wheel Cleaning

You have washed the car. The paint is clean, the glass is clear, and yet the car does not quite look washed. The reason sits at the bottom of each corner: four wheels with a brownish, sticky coating that did not come off with the soap, and a grey band along the tyre sidewall. The eye reads the whole car from that.

Wheel cleaning is the smallest job we do, and the one that gives the greatest visible difference per krone.

What we actually do

It looks simple. It is chemistry and timing.

1. Cold wheels, always. We never clean a hot wheel. Warm metal makes the chemistry dry in before it has time to dissolve anything, and on polished or painted wheels this can leave permanent marks. If you have just been driving, we wait.
2. Chemical cleaner with dwell time. The product is applied and left to work. A good wheel cleaner reacts with the iron particles from the brakes and dissolves them — you see it as purple streaks running down the wheel. It is the reaction, not the scrubbing, that does the job.
3. Soft brushes. We brush the visible surfaces, around bolt holes, valve and wheel rim. Never steel wool, never a scouring pad — a wheel is painted, and paint can be scratched.
4. The lower edge of the wheel arch is rinsed, since that is where the grime otherwise runs back from.
5. The tyre sidewall. Old tyre shine that has turned brown is removed, not just covered over.
6. New tyre shine in a matte finish, which does not spray up onto the paint on the first drive, and the wheel rims are wiped dry so no lime spots form after the water.

Why it pays off

Brake dust is not dust. It is small iron particles worn off the brake pad, made glowing hot by friction, that strike the wheel with enough energy to embed themselves in the surface. That is why they do not come off with water and soap — they sit mechanically fast, and they begin to corrode where they sit.

Left for a season, the wheel turns brown instead of grey, and the coating must then be dissolved with stronger chemistry or polished off. Left for several years, they attack the clear coat on the wheel, and that is damage that cannot be cleaned away. Kr 500 every other month is cheaper than rescuing a wheel that has been left too long.

How often should you have it done?

Every other month is a sensible interval. In winter, when road salt and brake dust arrive together, every month may be right. If the wheels are already brown and have been so for a while, wheel deep clean at kr 599 is the right starting point — after that, regular wheel cleaning keeps them in check.

How long does it take?

Around 45 minutes for all four. It is often booked together with a wash, since we are on site anyway.

See available times and book wheel cleaning — or add it to a larger treatment.