Did a total bone-headed move today. Used Adams Deep Wheel Cleaner on my Fuchs wheels. Usually I wash with just water or some mild soap from Porsche, but they had a lot of grime from driving and local road construction. I've used the Adams product previously on 3 other cars without issue - including a Porsche GTS with the center lock wheels.

Anyways - sprayed it on, washed off with clean water. Now they are discolored per the photo.

Tried to re-wash numerous times with clean water/microfiber towel, clean water + Porsche car shampoo to no avail. When they are wet, they look normal (can't see the stains). Every time they dry, they have the spray stains from when I applied the wheel cleaner.

I've heard about using Vaseline (per this forum), but before I screw anything else up - thought I'd check in here.

Any suggestions on how to remove the stains and get them back to the jet black beauties they were before?

 

See if you can polish it off. I have a DA polisher and it saves a lot of elbow grease. I think the cleaner is not compatible to the wheels' coating. It is etched into the paint. Wet sanding and polishing might help.

 

My advice: You should contact the company that makes the cleaner. I suspect that you are not the first to do this with their wheel cleaner.

 

Vasaline or WD40 is worth a try

 

Did it discolor the paint only or anodizing too?

try a mild polish or wax

if that doesn’t do it youll
have to touch up the black

these Fuchs are strictly mild soap and water only

 

After 2 applications of Vaseline and a lot of elbow grease buffing the spokes, I've managed to get them to an acceptable level. The attached picture is after 1 application. I reapplied and let it sit overnight and then spent another hour on them this morning. I'll have to get them into the sunlight to really see if they're in good shape.

The center caps are a lost cause and are a couple of shades lighter, but I can live with that for now. I may replace them.

The black painted portion of the wheel was impacted. The rims already had some issues (this wheel in particular - the others are in much better shape), but likely benefited from the Vaseline too.

Won't use a cleaner in the future. Now I'm paranoid about my car wash liquid (which is also Adam's product). A number of people have recommended Griot's, highly diluted. I also have the Porsche Car Wash and Convertible Top Cleaner, which I think is mild.

 

I might do that. I have an old e-mail thread from when I got my 2015 GTS before I applied it to the center lock wheels and they claimed it was mild enough for them. I have not had any issues with it in the past - but I won't be using it any longer on any car.

 

Easy enough to satin black spray paint the caps

 

Yeah - good point. Painting is the first option.

Can the caps be pulled with wheels on? I thought I read somewhere here that was typically done when wheels are off.

 

I AGREE rub them down with Vaseline and let sit over night, do that several times and see what happens

 

i had this happen many years ago .. if you cant polish it out you need a repaint. the paint is etched and damaged,, the only recourse is to take the paint down a few microns ( polish ) . The Vaseline will work but is only a cosmetic solution. It will eventually wash off and you will be back where you started.

my eventual solution....

 

I have always washed my cars with just water. Rarely use soap. This was advice given to me many years ago. Well, except for my daily driver which I run through a car wash.

 

Yes, see the 2 holes in the cap? Use 2 small allen keys to pull them off

 

I just use a ph neutral soap with water. I have the Adams wheel cleaner but never used it since the smell alone made me feel like it was too harsh. When I bought my ‘87, the dealer said not to use wheel cleaner because he sees lots of damaged rims. When I got my ‘19 GTS, that dealer said not to use wheel cleaner since they often see damage to the center locks. They also said not to coat the tires on the GTS with armor all. Not sure why though.

 

Armour all is the wort stuff on the planet.
it looks nice but pulls out the " tireblack" that is purposely put in there to fight UV and protect against sidewall cracking. Anybody who has a car from the 80s/90s when armour all were in there heyday can probably tell you about cracked dashes and the like.

if any substance you put on your tires come off jet black when used with a rag than stop and rethink.