I just had two new rear tires installed and the dealer left the adhesive on the wheels from the old weights. Will mineral spirits take this off safely? I have not messed with it yet. I was dissapointed they did not clean it up since I had it detailed at the same time....

 

Try some goo gone soaked in a soft bristle toothbrush. If no luck, try some wheel cleaner.

 

3M Adhesive and Tar Remover works. Also useful for those pesky pylon marks!

 

If GooGone or citrus based solvents don't work, this should do the trick:
http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?SKUupsell=15900

 

I used acetone which is a very strong solvent. I expected it to take the paint off, but it did not.

 

DO NOT EVER USE ACETONE NEAR PAINTED SURFACES. To admit you were expecting the paint to come off is to admit you were playing Russian roulette with your car, which is an embarrassing admission. You were expecting the gun to go off, but it didn't, and so now you feel it's worth mentioning to someone else to give it a whirl and see how their luck pans out.

Sorry, but I need to debunk this bad advice right here and now before someone else decides to give it a try. My wife uses acetone in diluted form to remove the paint off her nails, and if I needed to remove paint of any kind I would probably try acetone myself.

I use and highly recommend 3M's General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner, as Pete suggested above. This product is tailor made for these applications.

 

WD40.

 

i second the WD40. You don't need much and it works great.

 

Just be sure to clean up the excess WD40; otherwise your wheel weights will be subject to Sir Isaac Newton the next time you mount/balance

 

The factory wheels are not painted with nail polish, or latex house paint. Have you tried acetone before your message? Try in on a spot of the inside of the wheel that you cannot see. Then take a picture.

 

Use mineral spirits. It will remove the glue perfectly without ruining the finish.

 

The general rule of thumb in smart paint care is to use the least aggressive product that will do the job, whether it's a solvent for removing adhesive residue or a polish for removing scratches. Sure, it takes more time and effort and some patience to take it up gradually one notch at a time. But like a haircut, you can always take a little more off, but you can't ever put it back on.

For more professional car care advice see here.

 

I agree with this rule of thumb.

I started with simple green, then a citrus based tar and bug remover, then a petroleum based bug and tar remover that has xylene in it, then mineral spirits/paint thinner. They did some good but the wheels were not clean and it was very, very slow going.

I had 4 wheels to make spotless before my new tires were put on, inside and out. Back then my Boxster was about 5 years old. 5 years of leftover wheel weight adhesive, baked on cosmoline, road tar, and other junk.

Then I tried pure xylene, then lacquer thinner, and finally acetone. The acetone did the trick in a few minutes and I made 4 wheels look like new and kept my appointment to have new tires put on. My wheels had the factory coating. If the wheels had been repainted I might have had to do it differently.

I have a spare Boxster wheel with the original factory coating. Since it is cold and raining today I thought I would do the experiment. I put about 1/4 of a shot glass of acetone on the wheel to create a puddle. Due to the weather the acetone is not evaporating quickly so the puddle just sits on the wheel. I will top up the puddle from time to time over the next 24 hours.

Kids, do not try this at home.

 

I recommend that you also keep the INSIDE of the wheels clean as well,--wax won't hurt there. If you do that the surface to which they mount the adhesive weights will work a lot better. Many years ago I started the practice of cleaning the insides of my wheels for that purpose, and then going so far as to put silver duct tape over the weights to make sure they don't fling off at speed. As worked very effectively for me for a long time. Rated to 162!

Dan

997 S Cab 6-speed
Paint to Sample, Black Top,Hard Top, Nat Lthr Brn, Brn Mats, Delete Model Desig, Painted Model Desig Rear, Adap Spts Sts Lthr Int, Spt Seat Backs in Lthr, Heated Seats, 19"Classic, PCCB, 5mm Spacers, Spt Shift, Spt Exh Sys, Self Dim Mir, TPMS, Spt Chrono, Ext Nav Module, Bose, remote CD, Makassar Str Whl Multifctn, Package, Rear Ctr. Console, Zuff. Del

 

24 hours later the Russian Roulette experiment is over. But I did this in real life a few years ago with 4 wheels The 24 hour acetone experiment did nothing to the coating except to clean it.

The original question and my response was directed to wheel weight adhesive. Acetone on the inside of a wheel to remove an adhesive. Not the coatings on your body panels, brake calipers, or fingernail polish. I also had years of grunge on the inside of the wheels to remove cleanly in a short time, after the other attempts.

For Edgy01, the reason I even bothered to clean the wheels was because I was going to get new rubber. I have sort of been around for a few decades and have watched wheels being balanced on the Hunter style spin machine. When the person sticks on new weights the spot is not always cleaned enough and the weight can fly off. Plus they do not usually remove the old adhesive. So I removed the weights and cleaned 100% of the wheel since you do not know where the new weights will be placed.

The shop I used is Wheel Tech. They also refinish damaged wheels and put on a tech session for us. The guy (Tom) who put on the new rubber asked me if the wheels had been refinished/repainted because they we so clean.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=3904