Are DeLorean rims the WORST rims on the planet to clean?!

[dtavres]

UGH! I'm Plasti Dipping my rims to see how well they stand up, how they look, etc., and you have to make sure that the surface is CLEAN!

Well... the front rim was... okay. Not too hard. But the back rim. AWFUL! With a 1700PSI pressure washer, Eagle Wheel & Tire Cleaner (3 times!) and multiple sprays (focused between each fin!) - I just could not get the inside corners clean!

I had to use a cloth and my pinky finger to dig down to each corner to get it clean. UGH!

I really do love to look/design of the rims on the car... but WHAT A PAIN TO CLEAN!!

I don't suppose someone has figured out, or found a product or tool that makes it any easier to clean the rims perfectly other than dipping the whole rim in acid! lol)

[DMC-81]

I found in order to deep clean, a microfiber cloth wrapped around a wooden paint stirrer (with a squarish end) and your favorite/appropriate wheel cleaner provided enough leverage to scrub the build up of grime off the fins, especially in those corners.

After they are clean, you can use a nylon brush like the one that DMC franchises carry to keep them that way.

[WHO1DMC]

Go to autozone get a lug nut brush 5 or 6 bucks. It has 3 little brushes on it you gust pull one back and go to town, works great. Picked up break dust shealds from deloreango 103 bucks. They look and work great.

Dave B.

[DavidProehl]

Once clean, dust shields will help keep them that way. I haven't bought a set yet, but they are on my list for the near future:
https://www.deloreango.com/us/brake-dust-wheel-shields.html

[mluder]

In the 1990s my dad had a Chrysler Lebaron - I hated cleaning those wheels.
53461

Cheers
Steve

[Flicky]

If you are going to coat them why not take them to get media (soda) blasted? Heck, a shop could also powder-coat them too. Last thing I had done was a manifold and I think it was like $40. $200 for new looking wheels might not be too bad. I know you most likely desire some exotic pinkish color. Maybe a tie-die hydro-grafic or zebra stripes. Then get one of them zebra head costumes to wear with some 80's Zubaz pants. That would be totally RAD man.

[cybercusp]

I had mine ceramic coated after they were powder coated. Ceramic coating makes clean up a breeze. Brake dust just washes off with a garden hose.

[Shep]

With a 1700PSI pressure washer, Eagle Wheel & Tire Cleaner (3 times!) and multiple sprays (focused between each fin!) - I just could not get the inside corners clean!Well no shit, you forced the dirt into every tiny pore and crevice with the insane amount of pressure you used on it. It's like throwing Niagara Falls at a rubber ducky and complaining when you can't remove it from the 50-foot crater in your yard you just created with it. Pressure washers are best kept for materials that require it, like concrete, brick, etc. I'd be very surprised if you didn't need to repaint your rims as a whole after that amount of pressure.

(I'm not mocking you here by the way, re-reading that part it came across harshly, more or less using a descriptive metaphor to illustrate the problem in the approach, my apologies if that was insulting!)

BTW, YouTube is an excellent resource for this kind of thing. ChrisFix has lots of cleaning tips, and while he doesn't strictly cover wheels, much of what he goes over can be applied to it. The engine bay video especially. It doesn't take much to properly clean a car, so if you're putting a lot of effort and it isn't coming clean, rethink the approach. Dirt didn't take that much effort to get on the car, why should it take magnitudes more to remove it?

[DMC-Ron]

Interesting. ChrisFix uses a pressure washer in his cleaning video. However, he does mention specific precautions as he's demonstrating the pressure washer.

[Shep]

"If it hurts your hand, it's too high pressure" is what ChrisFix uses as a metric. 1700 PSI is well beyond that threshold, and I strongly suspect a nozzle was used that increased pressure even further. My Karcher pressure washer is in the 500 PSI range, and I can get it to sting easily.

Pressure washers can be used, but it's important to alleviate the pressure with a proper nozzle. Flat-style guys are great at this, and adjustable too.

[Shep]

I will note that I was having a conversation with DPI Josh (Or DI Josh now? He dropped "performance" a while back) on the rims already. They're aluminum, but painted. Why? To avoid corrosion. ChrisFix has a video on redoing the wheels to fix imperfections and clear coat the bare aluminum.

Our cars are bare stainless, I can't imagine it would look anything short of amazing. Worth a try at this point.

[louielouie2000]

I will note that I was having a conversation with DPI Josh on the rims already. They're aluminum, but painted. Why? To avoid corrosion. ChrisFix has a video on redoing the wheels to fix imperfections and clear coat the bare aluminum.

Our cars are bare stainless, I can't imagine it would look anything short of amazing. Worth a try at this point.

These have been available from the vendors for probably 15 years, though I'm not sure any currently offer them. They are called machine finish or lathe finish wheels. Some shops make them look more polished & shiny, others have a more matte look. I go back and forth on what I think of these. The main issue is that they don't match the color & sheen of the stainless. I suspect that's why the factory painted the wheels & more or less matched them to the fascias (the early cars had dark fascias & wheels, and the later cars had lighter fascias and wheels). After all, they couldn't get the fascias to match the stainless either, which is why I suspect they more or less color keyed the fascias and wheels to match each other.

[Shep]

That's true, I had forgotten about that. Although it's far easier to color match metal than plastic. Might be a perfectionist type of thing, but I'm not sure aluminum unpainted wheels were common until at least the turn of the century if memory serves, which might explain why.

DeLorean stainless is just an oddly colored metal to begin with. I think Rich W had issues when doing the limo and needing to color match new metal to the original metal, if I read right on PJ Grady UK. Wonder if Chris Nicholson would know more about how color matching would even work...

[mr_maxime]

I've wondered what the rim would look like and if itd be easier to clean with every other fin was machined off, but I just tried photoshopping it and it looks like there are an odd amount of fins making my idea impossible.