Ruined powdercoated Wheels?

[julietvictor]

I have used Westleys Bleche-White wheel cleaner on many cars for many years. Yesterday is probably the last time I will ever use it. I had my stock wheels powdercoated (Grey Metallic) a year and a half ago and have used the cleaner on the wheels pretty religiously every two weeks to a month (sometimes a little more) when I wash my car. I have had absolutely no adverse effects on them until yesterday. Now I have white streaking (staining) that I cannot get off. I have tried all my standard car wash products to help restore the color and shine, to no avail. Any suggestions?

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[kevinD1226]

that sucks strong wheel cleaners will sometimes do it, seems like its time to re-powdercoat, try a claybar first and polish it off and go from there, if it dont come off it most likely wont

[julietvictor]

The claybar helped a little. I think I need to get a little more aggressive with the clay, and really spend some quality time with each wheel. I will keep you all updated.

[Outkast187]

I have some powdercoated 13's, and I use bleache white on em everytime on the whitewalls...zero streaks. Did you let it sit for a long time or something?

[9krpmrx8]

I never understood using wheel cleaner. My wheels clean up just fine with good old fashioned car wash. Even with previous show cars I never used wheel cleaner. I hope the clay works.

[Outkast187]

x2 on wheel cleaners.....If soap wont clean it, you shouldnt have let it get so dirty.

[NgoRX8]

if you have a clear coat, you shouldn't wash it with wheel cleaner.

wbw is like bleach...

[julietvictor]

Latest update- I took each wheel off of the car and cleaned and scrubbed them really well. Wetsanded them down with 2000 grit, hit'em with the Porter Cable DA polisher w/ Sonus pads, Meguiars fine-cut cleaner, swirl remover, and a nice coat of NXT paste wax. Look better than when I first had them powdercoated, and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders- it sucked rolling around with ugly wheels.

[RotaryResurrection]

Just for those who don't know, powdercoat can be quite sensitive to various chemicals. I powdercoat parts on the side and have a fair amount of experience with it. Never use anything other than soap and water on powdercoated parts. It's not even a real good idea to be wetsanding and buffing on it like you might a conventional clearcoat paint.

[YaXMaNGTO]

Holy crap. Westleys? People still use that stuff? Why not use swimming pool chemicals?

It sucks to make a mistake like that. We've all had our share. Glad you got your wheels fixed up.