I bought a beat up set of BBS RZ's from an old Corrado to put on my Scirocco a couple of years ago. We have an old BBS wheel guru who owns a wheel repair shop close by and I went to him to see about getting them refurbished. He told me that he wanted me to clean them up first and that the best way to do it would be to soak them down with WD40, let them sit overnight, and then clean them up with soap and water. I was a little skeptical, but he assured me that the WD40 was safe and would not damage anything and that he had been doing it for years. I did as he said and the results were amazing. The wheels on the Rocco hadn't been washed in months and were looking pretty bad, so I decided to clean them up and show you the result using the WD40. Here is one after being sprayed and soaking overnight: To clean wheels thoroughly, I like to use a microfiber car wax applicator with regular car wash soap and water. The great thing about the WD40 is the crusty brake dust will just wipe off. Here is the same wheel after the wash: Too easy and it looks great.
makes sense. WD is for water displacement, so it will penetrate and cling to dirt, and hose off as oil and water don't mix.
Wow they look great! When you say 'soaking overnight' are you referring to simply spraying and leaving it on the rims or are you referring to some liberal amount of WD40 in some sort of bucket with the rim face down in it overnight?
No the wheels shown are painted OEM BBS silver and I even spray it on the yellow powder coated brakes to clean them up. The wheel guru even claimed that it pulled the metal flake in the paint closer to the surface making them look even better. Yes I just spray them down and let them sit overnight
The solvent in WD40 is basically kerosene. It will do a very nice job of cleaning stuff, but it will leave an oily residue, that is it's job. Displace the water and leave a bit of oil behind. I have been using it (and brake cleaner) for years instead of a parts cleaner for that very reason.
You should try to mask off the tire as much as possible because WD-40 destroys rubber. Do you know the red straw that comes taped to the can? I had the bright idea to store the straw using a rubber band around the can, and wondered why they didn't do that. Tried it a few times and the rubber band always disintegrated. The new style cans of WD-40 now have a flip-up "smart straw" that are part of the nozzle and not a separate straw that you can lose.
Rubber bands are latex rubber, everything dissolves latex. WD-40 won't affect tire rubber at all. Dave
What about the Rotors???? When you spray the wheels you are bound to get some WD-40 on the Disc Brake Rotors. I would think it would have to be removed from the Rotors before driving the car. Oil & Brake pads just do not get along together very well.:confused5:
Not only does it get on there, but I spray it all over the calipers to clean them too. I have had no problems from doing this. I thought I would have to be careful the first few times I hit the brakes after cleaning, but I didn't notice any difference and I was also assured by the wheel guy who has been doing this for years that it wouldn't hurt the brakes either.
I don't know, I just can't see putting any type of oil on my brake pads. Not even WD-40. If I was going to clean my wheels with WD-40 I would take them off of the car and spray them. But then, If they are off the car I could use soap and water like I usually do. They do make a spray cleaner that will not hurt the brake pads. Eagle-1, Mcguires, among others. A lot safer then oiling the brake rotors & pads. Google "Putting WD-40 on brake pads" and see what other people say.
WD-40 on brake components seems like a damn terrible idea. Sure it may clean it and make it look shiney. There is a VERY good reason why you shouldnt even touch the brake surface of the rotors OR the pads during install, unless you have gloves of some form on. As far as it "moving the flake closer to the surface"...yeah that is not physically happening either. The oily residue left behind gives the part a 'wet' look much like a very good wax does. (a good wax lasts longer then a day though) B/C of that, the flake with-in the paint sparkles more and looks to be closer to the surface. Cleaning wheels w/ wd-40 has a lot of merit, but you need to be careful in how you do it. Hell ive been told by a lot of 'ole-timers' that WD-40 used to be used as a one-step clean/wax...lol
Being an "old timer" myself, I'm going to follow you advice and give it a try. thanks for passing this along. Jim