DateAn8

This guy at work has kleen wheels installed on his Mazda Tribute and can't stop talking about how he's so happy not to have to clean the break dust off his wheels as much. I'm so sick of it myself that I'm thinking of giving it a try. They don't have it available yet for the 8 so I wrote them a letter and this is the response they sent:
we are waiting for the wheel we ordered. it should be here next week and we will have a custom part for it within 30 days. we ordered the 18" wheel. we were told that there were two mfgs. of the wheel. we ordered one of them and we hope to find out that it fits both mfgs.'s wheels. if you get a chance look inside your wheel and tell us who the mfg. is. one of them is hitachi i believe. you might be able to help us if you have the other mfg. i won't know which wheel i have till i get it. we will be also looking to test the 16" wheel. the only wheels i have seen except for one car are the 18" wheels. thank you

I've got Hitachi but does anyone have something different that will answer their question? I'm a little skeptical about how it will look with the open face spokes, but it only cost him $39 and to me it's worth a try. Let me know if you guys have the different wheel.

Thanks

Fanman

Also be careful, I have read on other sites where even though there are cooling holes in the unit it still wound up damaging the car's brake rotors because it trapped excessive heat. The open design of out wheels might be restricted by having these on the car.

robertdot

I would think about it if they were clear. Colored is a hands down "no." You might as well get hubs.

Splan8

I used to have a nice set of rims on my revious car that collected break dust particles and began to show a rusting effect in the alloy rims. I decided to fight that this time and waxed my wheels with NXT and bought a calif car duster just for the wheels. Do this each day, wash once a week or so and good as new so far.

It only takes about 90 to 120 seconds in the morning to get the brake dust off. Small effort. I never use my brake dust california duster on any other part of my car and I never scrub hard.

-T

bgreene

do those things cause any fade issues? They look like they could get in the way of airflow over the rotors/calipers, and reduce cooling of the brakes.

DateAn8

The feather duster is a good idea... I've "waxed" them before with Rejex. I may give that a try. If you check out the kleenwheels.com website they seem to give you the impression that it's OEM safe. But I definitely see the point of the brakes not getting cool air. That was my first reaction when I saw them. I doubt clear would help because it's building up break dust. For the money, as long as it doesn't ruin anything, it may be worth to take a look at what it looks like installed. If I do, I'll take pictures.

arexeight

iTrader: (1)

I just ordered a set today, from:
http://www.autobarn.net/rodi/xxkleen.html
$82.85 complete for (4) wheels. I have the 18" (MT) wheels.

DateAn8

Sweet! Pls let us know when you get them on with pics. I am hopeful they will be cover up the rusted rotors too. Can't wait to check them out!

arexeight

iTrader: (1)

My Kleen Wheels arrived. They were delayed by the four hurricanes in Florida, where they're made. I went with them because of the horrible brake dust and the fact that with a black car they might not look quite as contrasting as other body color cars.

http://www.kleenwheels.com/

and now, in color apparently:
http://kleenwheelsincolor.com/kwic.htm

The rears:

arexeight

iTrader: (1)

Sorry -
(ahem) the rears:

arexeight

iTrader: (1)

The front wheel:

arexeight

iTrader: (1)

I'll try to get better photos in the daylight. The car's dirty now, so I'm embarassed to zoom out any further for a big-picture view anyway until I tidy up a bit.