How to Clean Brake Dust Off of a Color Wheel

Colored car wheels can be cleaned and polished to look new.

Regardless of the kind of vehicle you drive, and how much you drive it, a buildup of brake dust on your wheels is inevitable. When you apply the brakes, tiny grains of your brake pads are burned off and released into the air. Many of these grains fall to the road, but others stick to the wheels of the vehicle. If you have brightly colored stock or aftermarket wheels, the brake dust will be even more noticeable. Fortunately, you can clean your wheels in a matter of minutes.

Things You'll Need

• Water hose
• Automotive shampoo
• Bucket
• Sponge
• Brush
• Microfiber towel
• Rim polish

Instructions

1. Spray one wheel of your car liberally with water from a hose, ensuring the entire wheel is covered in water. As is the case with rinsing your car before washing it, this step will prevent your rims from being scratched as you clean them.

2. Pour automotive shampoo into a bucket and fill it with hot water. Automotive shampoo is available at many automotive supply stores.

3. Dip a sponge in the soapy water and rub every surface of the wheel. Rinse off the sponge periodically with the hose if it is getting saturated with brake dust.

4. Rub any tough-to-clean areas of the rim vigorously with a tire brush or nail brush.

5. Spray the soap residue off the wheel with the hose, then dry the wheel thoroughly with a microfiber towel. Examine the wheel carefully to ensure you have removed all the brake dust buildup.

6. Spray the wheel with rim polish, which is available at automotive supply stores. Some rim polish is wax-based and requires buffing. Other varieties can simply be sprayed on. If your product requires buffing, buff every surface of the wheel with a microfiber cloth until the wheel shines.

7. Repeat this process on each of the other three wheels.

Tips & Warnings

• Ceramic brake pads create white-colored dust as they wear down, which is less visible on wheels.

• Spray the tire walls with a tire cleaner to have them shined up at the same time as your wheels.

• Spraying your wheels with a pressure washer will remove brake dust quicker, and thus speed up the entire task.

• Gentle braking will avoid a fast buildup of brake dust on your wheels.

References

• Polished Bliss: Caring for Wheels and Tyres
• Auto Education: Wheel Care
• Autopia: Removing Brake Dust from Alloy Wheels
• YouTube: Cleaning Wheels & Tyres - Car Care Products