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      06-12-2019, 01:45 PM   #1
rhyary
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I am not the most diligent guy about cleaning up my E92 M3. It is mostly a track car that I also drive on the road.

After doing few track days and not cleaning my wheels, the wheels developed dreadful crust that was a combination of road dirt, brake dust and melted rubber.

I spent days cleaning the wheels. I tried any chemical I can find in my house. Finally I settled on WD-40. I soaked the wheels in WD-40, scrape what ever thin layer that got soft and rinse and repeat. It was hard work and took many hours over many days. Nothing I would want to repeat again. Ever if I can help it.

The question was what do I do now. I have about 25 track days this season. After researching the Internet, Youtube and Amazon I settled on Migliore Ceramic Coating. I like it because it did not seemed to be a diluted product, made in the USA and it was available on Amazon to everyone, not just professional detailers.

My goal was NOT to see water bid on my wheels. My goal was to finish a track day and stop at a manual car wash and using pressure washer have the trackday crap, defined above, fly off my wheels.

I applied Migliore Strata Coating in a very thin layer, let it dry out over 8 hours, then applied another thin layer. The goal was to build a multi layer ceramic coat that would fill all the small pits and scratches. Over all I did 5 layers and used a whole bottle on 4 wheels.

So what are the results?
I finished a trackday at Lime Rock Park for a total of 97 laps in 4 hours. The day started wet and it rained on the way to the track. That added a layer of road grime. Then the track dried up and brake dust and melted rubber was accumulated. A perfect test situation.

Got back home and headed over to the manual car wash. Nope the crap did NOT fly off the wheels. I can see water beading on the surface, but I don't care about that.

Got home, and mounted the road set on the car and went to wash the wheels by hand. This is where I saw a remarkable improvement. I used a sponge and wheel cleaning and garden hose.

I was able to EASILY clean the wheel. All the dirt was simply wiped off with minimal effort.

So, I think the Migliore did the job. The key thing is that although I had to use a sponge, none of the crap was really stuck that hard. Making it easy to clean also means that layers will not accumulate from one track day to the next.

So, success, yes. It was easy enough that even I am going to clean the wheels.

Unfortunty, I did not do it when the wheels were new. I wish I knew about this earlier. I also coated my road wheels but only three layers.

I hope this helps for someone with a new set of wheels. The best time for this process is when the wheels are still new.

Long term
I hope that this can be done once a year before the track season starts. I will update the thread over the long run to see if Migliore will last a whole year. For the price, it better be good for once a year.
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      06-12-2019, 09:24 PM   #2
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You are also comparing cleaning caked on brake dust to just after a track day. Imo if you clean them after a track day it will always be easier, but the ceramic costing does help. Hopefully he holds up with all the heat the brakes will generate.
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      06-26-2019, 12:02 AM   #3
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yikes dude. wd-40 on your wheels? migliore? your research led you on a poor path.

no hate but your entire post is a massive mess and i can't imagine your prep process was accurate. migliore isn't necessarily a bad brand, but strange that after your search you came up with that brand over the other more reputable ones.
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      06-26-2019, 01:18 AM   #4
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I personally use GTechniq G5 Wheel Armour coating on all of my wheels (street and track). It's made in the UK and you can buy from GTechniq USA in Alpharetta, GA (in person or online). Goes on easy and definitely helps with brake pad dust. Wheels are always clean no matter what the situation is.
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      06-26-2019, 02:48 AM   #5
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Second track day:
Still easy to clean.
So far so good.
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      06-26-2019, 03:19 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rjd598 View Post
yikes dude. wd-40 on your wheels? migliore? your research led you on a poor path.

no hate but your entire post is a massive mess and i can't imagine your prep process was accurate. migliore isn't necessarily a bad brand, but strange that after your search you came up with that brand over the other more reputable ones.
"yikes dude. wd-40 on your wheels? migliore? your research led you on a poor path."

We shell see by the end of the season. Too early to tell
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      06-26-2019, 09:44 AM   #7
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I coated both my street and track wheels with Adam's Ceramic Wheel Coat. One blast from a pressure washer and everything comes off. Still gotta clean them by hand for a perfect final clean but track pad dust and debri come right off. Even had melted rubber stuck in the barrels and it came right off.
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      06-26-2019, 09:49 AM   #8
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You just need sonax wheel cleaner and some wheel Woolies. Don't waste time with other gimmicks.
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      06-26-2019, 04:53 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roastbeef View Post
You just need sonax wheel cleaner and some wheel Woolies. Don't waste time with other gimmicks.
sonax is not meant to be used every time you clean your wheels. you're throwing money away at that point.
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      06-27-2019, 02:14 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rjd598 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by roastbeef View Post
You just need sonax wheel cleaner and some wheel Woolies. Don't waste time with other gimmicks.
sonax is not meant to be used every time you clean your wheels. you're throwing money away at that point.
Well it's the easiest way to do it. Oh well.
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      06-27-2019, 03:09 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roastbeef View Post
Well it's the easiest way to do it. Oh well.
easiest way is to do the proper prep work, get a good ceramic coating on there, and just use soap and water from there on out. it's really not that hard and is definitely not a gimmick if done right, but to each their own!
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      06-30-2019, 08:00 PM   #12
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Track day crap.
Still coming off easy.
.
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      07-19-2019, 02:41 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rjd598 View Post
easiest way is to do the proper prep work, get a good ceramic coating on there, and just use soap and water from there on out. it's really not that hard and is definitely not a gimmick if done right, but to each their own!
Dawn dish soap is an excellent emulsifier, which is important because tires will lose about a liter of oil during their lives and rims will pick up a lot of oil from roads. Ceramic coating wheels makes a lot of sense because wheels get too hot for waxes.

In my experience, the most effective wheel cleaner I've used is a mix of rubbing alcohol, distilled water to preference (I don't use a lot), and dawn dish soap. I mixed it up in a pinch when I ran out of wheel cleaner. It works incredibly well, better than commercial products, and I've used it for wheels-off cleanings in preparation for coatings. Give it a try if you get the chance, you'll be surprised, I haven't purchased wheel cleaner since.

For the body of the car, I've only used dawn or rubbing alcohol in preparation for paint correction, applying sealant / waxes, or wrapping the car.
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      07-20-2019, 04:15 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chocstraw View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjd598 View Post
easiest way is to do the proper prep work, get a good ceramic coating on there, and just use soap and water from there on out. it's really not that hard and is definitely not a gimmick if done right, but to each their own!
Dawn dish soap is an excellent emulsifier, which is important because tires will lose about a liter of oil during their lives and rims will pick up a lot of oil from roads. Ceramic coating wheels makes a lot of sense because wheels get too hot for waxes.

In my experience, the most effective wheel cleaner I've used is a mix of rubbing alcohol, distilled water to preference (I don't use a lot), and dawn dish soap. I mixed it up in a pinch when I ran out of wheel cleaner. It works incredibly well, better than commercial products, and I've used it for wheels-off cleanings in preparation for coatings. Give it a try if you get the chance, you'll be surprised, I haven't purchased wheel cleaner since.

For the body of the car, I've only used dawn or rubbing alcohol in preparation for paint correction, applying sealant / waxes, or wrapping the car.
I will be happy to try it, but at the moment I have a gallon of Maguire wheel cleaner so will stay with that. So far wheels are easy to clean.
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