Wheel Cleaning Warning to all

[DarenB68]

Well ....... the previous owner had my 99 X1 for 13 years without inflicting any pain on it whatsoever. I took delivery of it today, and within 30 minutes basically ruined it by using Mothers foaming wheel and tire cleaner, mainly because I didnt read the fine print. Wheels, swingarm, calipers and disks hubs all etched by this "acid free" spray. I am frikkin gutted. A warning to all....read the small print.

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz179/Darenb68/IMAG0446.jpg
http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz179/Darenb68/IMAG0445.jpg

 

[ali]

For people who dont want to click on the link...

But that sucks I'm sorry

 

[coolhandgarreth]

I feel your pain

 

[snrusnak]

Damn that sucks man.

That's why all I use is water, dish soap, and oil soap. Can't cause any harm there, bought as mild as it gets and does a great job cleaning and protecting.

Don't be hard on yourself, we all do stupid **** from time to time...

 

[oldblue]

dang man, but yea it happens. Like when i put goo gone on my windscreen... it etched the whole screen and looked terrible

 

[netty2424]

That sucks man sorry to hear it! Well off to powder coater! Silver lining, you can now have wheels in any color you'd like! There are plenty ofl threads on here about pc'ing the wheels. Just google them.

And there was a thread that someone did and they painted their calipers red. Turned out really nice. I think his screen name may have been TXGold. Yep, found it.
Link

 

[Luc R]

Why would you put oil on your tire...? [confused]

 

[DarenB68]

Thanks guys. Biggest bummer of all is that its an original 7k mile bike. Oh well, off to the polished.

 

[freak2180]

Just think of it as a bonding experiance with your bike.

 

[thewanmanrules]

Dude, I am sorry that happened. Good with picking colors if you decide to powder coat them.

 

[Radiati0n]

I just spray on some simple green, let it sit for a few minutes and scrub with whats left. Sucks to see that happen though..I'd be extremely pissed.

 

[GAXB9R]

Did it peel the clear coat or only stain it? I used WD40 and scotch Brite to clean mine. You just have to go with the grain of the metal. But this was just for the lip of the Xb wheels. Sorry to see this.

 

[okey]

sorry mate . I would be gutted . You are taking it well indeed. Good luck getting it sorted

 

[wack01]

Your going to have to soda blast them to remove the rest of the clear or send them to get re polished. My friend did that for his aluminium rims, but mothers aluminium cleaner is for bare rims not clear coat. It works by removing a thin layer of aluminium hence the etch

 

[DietSlinger]

I did this on my exhaust on my cruiser about two months ago. I had some tar on it and thought high strength wheel cleaner would work. Now it looks like a can of paint dropped on it.

 

[noone1569]

Sucks. I always use Amsoil Miracle Wash, great for powder coated surfaces and plastics.

BTW, I can get it to you pretty cheap, too.

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/amw.aspx

 

[Baal]

Thanks for the warning. Don't think I'll use that on the car, either!

 

[aaronbuell]

My cousin did the same thing to his sportsters wheels and motor. Took a lot of work polishing everything out. But to be honest when everything was done it looked better.

 

[DarenB68]

I actually ended up getting them polished again locally for $180 for the pair so that was a nice surprise. Also, I might be wrong but these pm wheels are not clear coated, just machines raw polished aluminum which is exactly why the Mothers ate em!!!!!

 

[03Firebolt9R]

Glad you got them looking good again. Welcome to the forum.