All I can recommend is regular washing. Maybe steel wheels for the winter?
I have a seperate set of alloys for the winter. If and when they get chewed up enough I will just have them sandblasted and powder coated.
I coated my winter wheels with a couple of coats of Mguires nxt wax.
Didnt do much to repel brake dust, but maybe it will fend of the winter slime?

 

replace em with 17" steelies?

The logic is simply this: 17" winter tires cost less than 18" summer tires. After a couple of years, the cost of the steelies (or cheap alloys) would pay for themselves in the lower cost of the wheels. You now have the benefit of proper tires all year round, no problems with salt and in the long run if you keep the car, cheaper tire replacement costs.

 

Mic already has a seperat set of winter wheels and wanted to know how to protect them

 

silicone is the only thing I can think of other than maybe lots of wax....forget the vaseline- it will collect the dirt and look like crap in no time flat...

 

I wouldn't use vaseline personally.
My Nissan pickup had alloy wheels that wre driven all year round. 6 years later they didnt look too too bad.
Just enoy your winter rims/tires. If and when they look all chewed up then have em blasted and re coated.

 

Just wax them . . . but picking the right alloys is also important. Painted alloys are best, followed by polished clear coated, followed by raw metal . . . Painted ones will look fine for years, the others aren't so good. Also picking patterns with wide open spaces or flat faces is important so you don't pick up frozen crud in them. You won't believe the amount of high speed vibration you can pick up with just a small block of ice frozen in a wheel. What you don't see is the worst problem though, you get corrosion in the bead area that will result in slow leaks. I have four slow leaks right now on my winter car where I have been running winter tires on dedicated alloys for years. I need to get the valves replaced and the beads redone on all of them. I have been there before, it usually take 3-4 years to get to that point . . . Steel winter wheels seem to be less prone to this in my experience but then there is the ugly and application factors, i.e. you can't supposedly find them for the 8 . . .

 

Supposedly there are steel wheels available that will fit the 8. For some reason he will not share cost, make, etc.
They are ugly anyway. I would rather put up with re coating my alloys every few years than drive a nice car with ugly wheels.

 

Wax twice before the snow time, power wash occassionally, use brake dust cleaner (McGuires works well), pray like SOB that they don't pit! That's as good as it gets. Vaseline is a petroleom product and will eat away at your finish eventually, in addition to collecting and holding in place all the dirt.

 

Mic, brake dust cleaner is basically an aluminum wheel cleaner that you squirt on, wipe off and it removes break dust and other junk. Pick up a bottle at Canadian tire if you want your rims to stay looking good!

 

You don't need brake dust cleaner, just wax the wheels well and clean them often with a bit of water and a terrycloth towel. The dust comes off very easily then, don't use soap either as that eats away at the wax you put on . . . If you leave the dust on there it will eat its way into the finish and then you will need the cleaner to get it off. If you wait, the combination of the corrosive brake dust and chemicals used to remove it will eventually destroy the finish on the wheels.

 

I waxed my winter wheels before I put them on the car. I still have to manually agitate yje dust and then rinse it off.
Wheel cleaners don't seem to work too well.
I think I saw a product that was actually called "wheel wax". Tirerack might sell it if memory serves me correctly.

 

There's not a hell of a lot you can do... Wax them with a good carnuba paste wax. That'll create a protection layer. Other than that, take them off or better yet, don't drive your car through the winter.