Recently picked up a black C2S with Carrera Sport Design Wheels. As I have never had a car with calipers that I have been concerned with keeping clean, I am wondering what steps you guys take to get your "big reds" clean.

I hear a 50/50 water/simple green mixture is good for wheel cleaning, should I just use that and a rag?

I think the calipers are a big part of the look of the car, so I'm hoping to clean them every time the car gets washed.

Thanks,

Kevin

Hey Kevin,

It's kinda hard to get in there with the wheels on - especially the Sport Designs.

When I switched from my "lobster fork" winter wheels to the Sport design summers, I cleaned the calipers manually and put two coats of Rejex stainblocker on the calipers. The brake dust just rinses off.

I've been reluctant to use wheel cleaner, especially around the pads/calipers. I also have two coats of Rejex on the wheels - they clean up well with soap and water.

I think a jack and a torque wrench is in order to do the job well. Just MHO....

Good luck!

-don

I regularly wipe down my calipers after hand-washing my sport design wheels. I first hose off the wheels and then clean both wheels and calipers with a damp rag with simple green-type product sprayed on followed immediately by cold rinse. I complete the process by drying wheels/calipers with a MF towel.

I detail the calipers about once a month...similar process but spend about 10 minutes per caliper...use q-tips and MF towels with elbow grease to get all the nooks and crannies.

10K miles and a year later the calipers look showroom new.

Here are my thoughts:

1. As far as cleaning the calipers are concerned, I have had red calipers on my past 4 Porsches, and didn't use anything to clean them other than rinsing with plain water. On my current Porsche (06 Club Coupe/997 S) it's pretty much impossible to get to the calipers any way, due to the rims. I've never seen them be dirty enough to urge me to do anything further regarding cleaning.

2. Wheel cleaners--your car, but I would either use only car wash soap and water to clean them or P21 S wheel cleaner--I know P21 S will not harm your wheel or affect your caliper paint. Do yourself a favor and just say no to simple green, diluted or not.

You may need to remove the wheels to get the calipers real clean the first time.
I wash the wheels with palmolive dishwash each time I wash the car. I have lobster fork 19's on the 997 C4S and turbolook 18's on the 1999 coupe. I had my wife sew a small towel together to form a washmitt that I use just for the wheels. I actually wash out the inside of the rims each time with this washmitt, too.
I use a 2" paint brush with palmolive dishwash soap to get the crevices where the fork meets the rim, the lug bolts, the tire stem and so on. Once you get them clean you can keep them clean this way.
The sport design wheels look great on the Club Coupe but the number of crevices makes for a longer detail job.

Try this it's unbelivable - it cleans even in the narrowest places.http://classic-motoring.stores.yahoo...tailbrush.html

Regular car wash soap/shampoo cleans my calipers and wheels very well.

Some of you guys make more work out of this than necessary.

Just spray with P21S, let soak a minute, and rinse - that's all I do and mine come out perfectly clean each time. I wipe dry to keep the waterspots from forming and my calipers look as new as the day I brought her home. Fast and simple and effortless.

Oh, and keep harsh detergents such as dishwashing soaps as far away from your car as possible. Detergents will prematurely dry rubber seals as the oils in them get dissolved by the detergent chemicals, leading to premature drying and cracking of rubber seals and components.

Clean with- Car shampoo/old but clean wool mitt/rinse

Dry with- Leaf blower/dry cloth/quick detailer spray

Very important to allow the rotor's to completely dry before moving the P-car to avoid a mess (water/brake dust) inside the wheels.