Donr something stupid - can anyone help me fix it.

Pennysmakepounds

Afternoon all,

I've done a stupid thing.

Over the weekend I decided to clean my car . It's a rare thing to be honest.

Anyway the alloy wheels were very very dirty from years of break dust and road rubbish.

Used a jet wash to no awail, so I had a brilliant idea. Well so I thought.

I took a old sponge with rough green back and cleaned the wheels. The dirt is all gone but now I have very fine scrub marks on the alloy wheels from the rough cleaning with the back of the sponge.

They are not obviois - unless you go up close and look at the alloys Thankfully.

Has anyone got any idea how I buff these out.

Tried looking on-line but can't find anything that fits the bill.

All the remedies seen to be about repairing curb damage.

Can any one help??

Many thanks.

neilmcl

You'll need a polish, something like Autoglym Super Resin polish or Gtechniq P1 might do if the scratches are light/fine enough. If that doesn't do it then maybe something harsher like T-cut.

Always treat alloy wheels like any other painted surface of your car. Do a small bit of the wheel at a time, it may be easier to work on if you remove the wheel.

Pennysmakepounds

neilmcl wrote: »

You'll need a polish, something like Autoglym Super Resin polish or Gtechniq P1 might do if the scratches are light/fine enough. If that doesn't do it then maybe something harsher like T-cut.

Always treat alloy wheels like any other painted surface of your car. Do a small bit of the wheel at a time, it may be easier to work on if you remove the wheel.

Thank You will give that a go. Many Thanks

Minrich

My mum used one of those things to clean bird poo off her nearly new car ! It was about 3 months old and dark green there were about twenty circular scratches on it , fortunately the garage sorted it before my dad saw it !

Pennysmakepounds

Minrich wrote: »

My mum used one of those things to clean bird poo off her nearly new car ! It was about 3 months old and dark green there were about twenty circular scratches on it , fortunately the garage sorted it before my dad saw it !

Thankfully its not that bad, hardly notice them unless you look really closely.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Its amazing how many people do things like this, someone i know used to leave the car till its covered in ingrained filth then clean the embedded flies and muck from the front of the bonnet with Vim, they never could fathom why the tiny bit of paint that was left was a matt finish that never recovered.

Pennysmakepounds

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Its amazing how many people do things like this, someone i know used to leave the car till its covered in ingrained filth then clean the embedded flies and muck from the front of the bonnet with Vim, they never could fathom why the tiny bit of paint that was left was a matt finish that never recovered.

lol..

The truth is - the car for me is a means to end. I need it for my job. So i have never really been fanatical about it.

Its simply a tool like a hoover/kettle or toaster. Admittedly an expensive tool but still a tool none the less.

Therefore, i don't normally lavish love on it .

I was at a loose end over the weekend so decided to keep myself busy.

Won;t be making that mistake again :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

bigjl

Pennysmakepounds wrote: »

lol..

The truth is - the car for me is a means to end. I need it for my job. So i have never really been fanatical about it.

Its simply a tool like a hoover/kettle or toaster. Admittedly an expensive tool but still a tool none the less.

Therefore, i don't normally lavish love on it .

I was at a loose end over the weekend so decided to keep myself busy.

Won;t be making that mistake again :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Getting into the habit of giving it a clean now and again will make it easier to spot things such as fluid leaks or indeed tyre wear.

You are certainly not alone in treating your car as nothing more than a tool.

I always prefer to keep my tools clean as they are more pleasant to use and tend to last longer.

Biketrials08

Wax/polish will hide to a degree, if you want to lessen the optical impact of the scratch edges then a cutting compound can be applied with a cloth (normally a machine polisher would be used but likely to be too awkward on wheels). Something with a bit of bite like 3M perfect it Fast Cut
http://www.3mdirect.co.uk/3m-perfect-it-iii-fast-cut-compound-50417-1kg-bottle.html

Contrary to popular belief you'll have to rub very hard and long to risk taking the paint of with this stuff so don't worry about it. It's also good for getting bird mess stains out on paint work but is best followed up with one of the finer compounds like ultrafina. I've used these products for years.

If they are to deep, then go in with 3500 grit wet and dry (lightly!) and then with Fast cut.

force_ten

Pennysmakepounds wrote: »

Anyway the alloy wheels were very very dirty from years of break dust and road rubbish.

Used a jet wash to no awail, so I had a brilliant idea. Well so I thought.

I took a old sponge with rough green back and cleaned the wheels. The dirt is all gone but now I have very fine scrub marks on the alloy wheels from the rough cleaning with the back of the sponge.

They are not obviois - unless you go up close and look at the alloys Thankfully.

Has anyone got any idea how I buff these out.

Tried looking on-line but can't find anything that fits the bill.

All the remedies seen to be about repairing curb damage.

Can any one help??

Many thanks.

this may sound a bit harsh but if you were happy to drive around with very dirty wheels covered in years of break dust and road rubbish then why are worried about surface scratches that you have to go up close to see?

to keep wheels looking good is a lot of hard work and brake dust and fall out from the brake discs will ruin the look of wheels so you really need to keep on top of them

i would not recommend an acid wheel cleaner like wonder wheels original unless it is a one off on really dirty wheels with no damage to the clearcoat, i would recommend using an caustic wheel cleaner like autosmart smart wheels over one of the acid cleaners

to cure your issue with surface scratches to the clearcoat then the only way to get them out is to polish them out with a compound polish, i have meguiars 105 and 205 for this sort of thing but to do it by hand is a lot of very hard work and bruised knuckles

the suggestion to use autoglym SRP may cover the scratches but wont remove them and unless you seal the wheels afterwards then it will wash all the polish off the next time you wash the wheels

Strider590

Personally I would either polish them up with G3 and a polishing mop attachment on my angle grinder OR take it back a bit with some 1200 grit wet/dry and then clearcoat them.