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Taking care of Tires/Wheels |
Cleaning: I suggest removing your wheels and tires for the main cleaning since nothing makes your car stand out more than people being able to look "through" the spokes/slots to see a nice clean area behind the front surface! My old standby, Simple Green is good to get the back of most wheels. While there, inspect for leaks. Your wheels can tell you a lot about your car! Torn outer CV boots on FWD cars/trucks/vans will put a lot of grease inside the wheel. Leaking brake systems will coat the tire in brake fluid and strip the paint from the inside of your rims. Leaking seals in solid rear axles are also easy to spot. Also look over your brake pads/shoes. Wash the entire tire/wheel while you have it off the car, you can use a variety of paint brushes to clean in the crevasses, but be careful with brushes on painted or clear coated wheels on the front side. Sometimes this coating can be ruined by scratches from brushes at automatic drive-through car washes or even mild brushing at home! If in doubt, use an old wash mitt (not the same one you will use on the paint of your car...buy a second one if necessary, and keep it separate from the stuff you use on the body of your vehicle.) You might need to use something more aggressive to get stuck on road tar, there are a variety of tar removers, and of course the old standby....gas! Just be careful when using anything flammable! Any good wax will help keep your wheels looking good assuming you have a slick shiny finish. the wheels on my Z-28 above had a rough sand-like painted finish to simulate the "mag" wheels from early hot rods. These wheels should be washed with a detergent like Ivory and rubbed very lightly. Use a lint-free cloth to dab them dry. The less you disturb the finish here, the better. Use a very mild metal polish on plain non-clear-coated trim rings like on many muscle cars. and stainless hubcaps. Use a clear-coat safe polish or wax (depending on if you need to bring back the shine or just protect) on painted surfaces. For tires, our Vinylex spray is excellent to give your tires a healthy natural finish. Spray it on a lint-free rag and wipe on the tire. A product I don't sell, but like a lot for quick fixes for my tires is No-Touch spray. This is great stuff! I spray it on wet tires after a wash when the car is dry, but I am not done waxing. This gives the tires time to dry without moving them. I also go around and wipe down the rims/hubcaps with a clean soft cloth after spraying the tires. The spray won't hurt most wheels/caps, but I find there is less spotting or dust on the rims if I wipe them down. Meguiars has a new heavily advertised product called Endurance, that I have tried, and like, but it does give a more shiny appearance than some people may want. I prefer natural looking tires, but if you like a high polish on your tires as well as paint, then try it! The foam applicator pad included with this product also looks neat, but it falls apart easily. I found that Eagle One sells a two-pack of foam applicators that work better and don't cost much. An old washcloth of cotton athletic sock is still what I use most of the time to apply tire dressings. One caution: many people use products like Vinylex on the TREAD of their tires at car shows. I hope everyone realizes that those tires will be VERY slippery for the first mile or so till that coating wears off! Especially in the rain. SUPER TIP: Get your hands on a Fuller Brush catalog and look over the variety of brushes that you can get for your car. We don't carry brushes yet, and might in the future, but my mother was a "Fullerette" for several years and proud of it. I still have a catalog handy and it contains several useful things for cars. Not only for tires, but to clean crevices in the dash. Fuller also has a neat plume style feather duster (not real feathers, kind of a synthetic fluff) that I have been using for years. I find it better than the "California" style dusters. It's intended for blinds and hard-to reach places. It has a long thin handle. Once you dust your car, you spin the handle between your hands like you were trying to start a fire in scout training! This flings the dust off and fluffs up the plume. You can wash this thing with your garden hose and some Ivory Liquid. (gosh that is useful stuff!) :) Then spin it and hang it up to dry. Ready to go for another month! |
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