A little winter wheel prep
 

Today I prepared my winter wheels for use. They are wicked shiny now! What I did:

• Cleaned wheels (1:45hrs)
  • Inside cleaned with Mother's FX Wheel Cleaner (seems good, FWIW)
  • Outside/face washed with car soap (Poorboy's Super Slick & Suds)
  • Outside/face clayed
• Waxed wheels (2:15hrs)
  • Zaino Z6 wipedown
  • Zaino Z2-Pro sealant
  • Repeat above two steps for a total of 3 times on the outside/face. One time on the inside.

Random pics:

Dirty from the last winter:
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...ning.sized.jpg

A little brush agitatin' action:
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...rush.sized.jpg

And it's clean on the inside! (mostly)
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...aner.sized.jpg

8 clean wheels:
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...fter.sized.jpg

Before waxing, but some Zaino Z2-Pro is left over from over a year ago (last winter)... so pretty shiny just after cleaning:
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...lose.sized.jpg

1000W halogens FTW!
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...etup.sized.jpg

Applying Zaino Z6 wipedown:
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...noz6.sized.jpg

Zaino Z2-Pro application. I dabbed some wax on between each spoke and on each spoke(half of the wheel already had the wax applied in the photo).
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...2pro.sized.jpg

Waxed! (again :) )
http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...fter.sized.jpg

http://ilp303.com/albums/winterwheel...ter2.sized.jpg

No daytime waxed pics yet.

Wow!

They look brand new after all that crud that was on them. :icon_tup:

That's very impressive—you'll have clean (or, at least, easy-to-clean) wheels all winter. I've had good luck with Wheel Wax, though it probably isn't as effective as what you did.

Wheels look nice. What wil you do about getting all that salt and grime on the rest of the car driving it in winter?

Hand-wash using ProtectAll Quick and Easy Wash like I did last winter. 3-4 gals of warm water is all it takes. For example, here's my car mid-wash in Feb 2006 and here's the final result. That was in 34 degree weather. I have a garage now, so I can wash it no matter what temperature it is outside, as long as it's not freezing inside the garage (and it sure as heck isn't after the hot-running 8 sits in it for a while).

Astral you suck.. lol should of made a mention in the regional forums 'bout this.. I was bored all day today!! I could of helped ya out haha.. they look damn good man. Gonna have a guy that lives localy to me I found on Autopia possibly detail my car she needs a good waxing.
Great job man.

Clavius, I did the washing yesterday, I just put the wheels on today! Torqued to 90ft/lbs with my shiny new split-beam type torque wrench. Inflated tires to 35.5 psi.

Good luck with the local Autopian detailer!

I see BBS. Do you own an STI? I hope so....

My roommate does. We had a winter wheel cleaning day. Those BBS wheels were filthy.. I have some nasty before photos, and they still probably could've used 1hr of elbow grease per wheel to make 'em squeaky clean.

2 winters of not touching the inside:
http://ilp303.com/temp/nastybbs.jpg

A lot less nasty, but still lots of work to do:
http://ilp303.com/temp/nastynomorebbs.jpg

I lied, it probably would take me 2 hours and one claybar to make that wheel properly clean.

WAYYYYYYYYYY yoo much time on your hands... Wanna do mine? ;)

DAMN!!! that's some extensive wheel cleaning

hmmm, gives me an idea....

I have a set of silver 2004 Sti BBS with RE070's sitting in my garage ready for sale. Wish they fit the RX8 as they would be great lightweight forged 17" wheels for track use, and the RE070's although noisy grip like no tomorrow.