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So I got my car back from my detailer after full paint correction, full front ppf, and ceramic coating.
I also asked them to coat the wheels as well. The wheels off treatment. Well they decided they didnt want to take the risk of removing the centerlock wheels until their new wheel guy got trained by porsche, something that would happen in a few weeks.
So they charged me half of the total wheel coating price, and coated the visible, external areas of the wheels without removing them.
I just went to clean the rims to see how easy the new coating holds up to brake dust, routine cleaning.
Well I found the center lock hub/nutt to have this splatter pattern on it. Pics shown.
I tried cleaning with wheel cleaner. Alcohol. Iron X. Nothing changed.
I emailed the detailer to ask about it. What gives? Pretty damn sure they didn’t look like this before dropping it off.
Wanted to see what everyone else thought about this? Is this common?
I hypothosized it was partially coated with the ceramic product as part of the wheels-on treatment. Almost seems like the pattern could be consistent with that. But the detailer seemed to think there was no way it could be applied like that as it was applied by hand.
Yipes! I would also like to know what's up with that.. Mines going in for the wheels off CC treatment in a week.. Not the first time ive seen a post about the CL's getting washed out.
There is another thread on this. I think the gist of it was certain acidic wheel cleaners affect the finish on those nuts. I know mine look a little "bleached" out although not that bad.
Totally normal if it came in contact with acidic cleaners.
A bit of olive oil and water and it'll come right off.
Olive oil and water?
Cool.
Can someone explain to me the chemical reason behind why this works?
And for refernce, I searched those old threads now. Thanks for letting me know they existed.
General consensus was that wheel cleaners can be blamed for a lot of them.
Also there were some thoughts about hard water as the culprit.
My detailer stated the wheel cleaner they used was safe for wheels.
He used TUGA Devil Special Wheel Cleaner. The Green stuff.
He claims its safe on wheels, but perhaps the Centerlock issue isnt know very well. However, he does a lot of Porsche cars. Had a GT3 RS in the shop when I picked it up, and just finished another Miami Blue GTS.
The only other cleaner that I know was used was nextzett colortech wheel cleaner, which I know people use without issue. Matt from OG recommends it and hasn't had any complaints as far as I am aware.
Anyone have any experience with this Alu-Devil wheel cleaner and can confirm its safe for the Centerlock hubs?
Otherwise, any other suggestions for cleaning them up would be appreciated. I'm going to try the olive oil thing in the morning, but any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Yipes! I would also like to know what's up with that.. Mines going in for the wheels off CC treatment in a week.. Not the first time ive seen a post about the CL's getting washed out.
If it was my car I’d cover the centerlock nuts with blue painters tape before I took it in..
My centre locks are showing a little bit of this, I am sure they were better 4 months ago when I pick the the car up and looked after my first wash. I haven't used anything other than neutral PH snow foam and car shampoo. I wonder if it's sunlight/UV as well playing a part ?
They do look much better if they are covered in a little old or similar I have no doubt. Perhaps just car wax ?
The simple fact that the centerlocks are trashed while the Porsche crest and everything else is fine shows the problem is the centerlock coating not the cleaner.
I've got a sneaky feeling that this is a "marterials" problem with the coating selected by the supplier to Porsche of the centerlocks. I had CL's on my 997 GTS for three years, used P21S gel on every wash, and never had this problem. I dont ever recall it being reported as a problem with the 997 models during the time I was following them. Could Porsche or its supplier have made a runnning change in from the 997 timeframe to that of the recent 991s?
The nuts are anodized and can be attached by both acidic and caustic chemicals. Dwell time and surface temperature also come into play. The photos show a classic spray pattern of one of these chemicals left on long enough to run down the outer diameter and pool at the bottom. This attacks the sealed surface and begins to remove the organic dyes in the affected areas. Hence the two tone effect. This is permanant damage. No oil will repair this. Vasiline or pure silicone is the preferred top coat for anodized surfaces. Vaseline was specified by Porsche for the Fuchs alloys back in the day. The parts could be stripped , re-finished and re-anodized.
I agree...did this myself on my 997 GTS....wheels cleaner are a big no no with the aluminum center lock wheels. I'd say the dealer owes you a set of new center locks.
This is such a disappointing issue.
You would think that for the cost of these cars, that something like this wouldnt really have to be an issue.
Wash your car once with whats considered industry safe cleaning products, and boom. Gross splatter.
I called my detailer and he said he talked to his Porsche contacts directly. He was informed that a lot of their customers cars all look the same. He told me they could possible try to refinish them or polish them, but that wouldnt be for a few weeks due to availbility.
Any thoughts to having these hubs coated with anything to help protect? Ceramic coating products?
If they can be resfinished, is there anything we can apply to prevent this from happening again?
Yes it is very frustrating. Mine have some of this as well and it has only been hand washed by myself. Buttomline is that the material used is **** and gets destroyed if you look at it the wrong way. Why would they use such a sensitive material on wheels, who knows. Having said that, you don't need any wheel protection with PCCB, there is practically no brake dust.
While that is true, I dont have PCCBs despite the color matched calipers.
Had the dealer powdercoat them yellow.
Wanted a Miami Blue GTS with the PCCBs. Love the Miami Blue/Yellow combo. Just couldnt find one, and couldng get an allocation.
So I found a used GTS miami blue with regular brakes and had them painted. Looks amazing, but brake dust is still a very real issue.
So I am definitely wondering if coating the centerlock hubs will help.
03-18-2018, 11:53 PM
GTS centerlock stain
