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?

 

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

 

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.

 

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?

 

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.

 

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

 

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

wbw is like bleach...

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.