Jump to content

Cleaning :the Bhr Legacy


///BHRpowered
 Share

Recommended Posts

Alittle knowledge is a dangerous thing...

So is alot.

Albert Einstein

 

Part 2 – Proper Rim cleaning and tire shine application

 

What you will need.

 

1 RAG terry cloth

1 RAG bathroom towel

Bucket

Car wash soap

Sponge

Meguiers hot rims wheel cleaner

Meguiers tire shine

Bristled brush (neglected rims ONLY)

 

First off, this should probably be step 2 as you must clean your rims BEFORE washing the car, and apply tire shine AFTER the car is washed and dried.

 

PLEASE NOTE this guide does not apply to chrome rims, nor do any of the products described as above, I take no responsibility for your failure to listen and comprehend a simply warning

 

To begin pour some soap into your bucket and fill with water like any joe would, dump in sponge and let sit. Now with the car in the same spot you plan on washing it in, use the nozzle from step 1 and adjust to a “mist setting” this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. Unless your car has basically been sitting out all night the rotors will be bitch ass hot, and at most, warm from the sun, applying a large amount of cool water to them can cause them to wrap, in which case you WILL need new rotors. After this is done and the rotors are cool to the touch move to “jet” and began to rinse down wheels/calipers etc. After this is completed spray on the rim cleaner, make sure to cover the entire rim with a decent coating, including the polished lip. Also make sure to spray down the tire with the cleaner as well as a little inside the wheel well. I recommend doing only 1 side of the car at time

 

If, and only if you have neglected rims (i.e. they brown or black and you can’t remember there actually color) get the bristled brush and without removing the wheel cleaning scrub down the rims.

 

For everyone that cares about their car, simply rinse down everything covered with the “flat” setting” some will remain on the rims, this is fine. Now take the sponge out of the car wash solution and begin to wash your rims, make sure you get every inch and clean it well. Now take your rag terry cloth and soak in the water. This is part that makes the difference, on all wheels there is a small lip that goes around where the tire wall meets the rims, this is where the little weights are attached in order to properly balance the rim. With the terry cloth, jam your finger in the outer lip and wipe it down, about half way around you will need to turn the cloth over.

 

On the inside lip, do the same, jam your fingers in there, and go about a quarter of the way around then flip the cloth, this will make an extreme difference in the overall appearance of your rims and make them look brand new. All to often when you look at a car you can see a fresh tire, and a clean rim, but there always seems to be a shadow effect when moving in-between, this will give clearly defined lines and add to the overall appearance of the wheel you have chosen. After you have completed the lip cleaning make 1 quick pass around each 1 just for good luck, then take the cloth and make sure you get around the lug nuts, the valve steam, and of course, the brake caliper itself (for open wheels) Once this is done rinse down the entire wheel, now go back to the sponge and proceed to scrub the tires. This is key to the perfect tire shining, without this you will be applying tire shine to a dirty tire and the dirt will just fall off. You wouldn’t wax a dirty car would you?

 

Now that you have done all this, wet down the rims for some standing water and rinse as much of the rinse cleaner on the pavement into the grass, curb wherever or else you’ll be sorry, and now you may begin washing the car…*see guide #1*…now that the car is washed and dried its time to put the finishing touches on, take your bathroom rag towel and dry the rims, once these are dry provide to dry the tires, make sure to dry the tires with a good bit of pressure as well making sure to get any water that pools around the lug nut holes, n the lips or around the valve steam.

 

The best part, tire shine, once the tire is dry break out the meguiers tire shine, I use only the aerosol, although some prefer the gel it requires a tire brush to make it look perfect and is extremely hard to layer. I also recommend ONLY meguiers for tire shine as it is so far the only product I have found to be truly silicone based, what this means is that it simply won’t dissolve when a drop of water hits it, and should you go extended period, it will never cause a tire to become brown.

 

This is where art and skill come into play, most people will tell you do 2 circle passes and your good, yeah maybe for a Honda, but your not Honda people, so why would you do everything half ass. When applying tire shine set the nozzle to which ever tire profile you have i.e “M” for 225/45/17, then in a clockwise motion make 2 passes at about 6 inches, then make 2 more passes counterclockwise at 2-3 inches, once that is completed make a staggered run (up and down in about 10” intervals) after this is complete make a single pass going along the thread pattern, this way you will have a perfect line of where the shine meets the pavement and won’t be some idiot running around with interrupted shine.

 

The reason you do this is to layer and push in the product, what’s going to happen when you start driving is that the wheel will always be trying to throw the substance off, this is why you see idiots running around with tires where they just applied shine, yet its flat black. By using this shining method you have not only have a very very deep black, but when the sun hits the tires just right the little indentions where logos etc are will actually appear to light up as well as allowing it all to last longer.

 

Once finished you need to let the car sit for around 15-20 mins just to let everything set in place. For anyone with cross-drilled and or slotted rotors, when you start to drive the rust on the rotors (which is normal and should be there) will just pushed into the holes and or slots and thrown onto the rims, so basically you will have little golden spots on the rims, this is normal and are stupid easy to remove, simply get a towel or buffing cloth and wipe rims down after only 1-2 full stops (like pulling into a garage)

 

Now pat yourself on the back, your rims will be shining like those on a BHR car

 

*bonus – for anyone who has open rims, as well as powder coating or painted calipers, apply the tire shine to the caliper, make sure to not get any on the rotors of course, however by adding this you will bring 10x more depth to the color to make it look as if it were painted with several coats like actually paint, this will also protect against the paint chipping off since the silicone shine won’t be affected by the water based solutions. By doing this your calipers will look much brighter and bring out whatever color you have chosen, as well as being semi-reflective allowing more people to see them from a greater distance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

MTS is correct.

 

The removel of shine by petrolem causes the "browning" effect. Now this is not a stain of the tire itself, rather the tires pores being cut off, and in a sense, rotting itself.

 

Tires, and basically all products containing rubber have pores, the cells around this pores are consistantly circulating to the surface to "breath" much like your own skin does. Certain products close those pores, and when the rubber, pores etc cannot breath they begin to rot, and hence turn brown. The reason they turn brown is because although it is mostly synetheic it still contains natural rubber which is an extract from a plant (I want to see the coca plant) when it loses oxygen the natural rubber begins to die, and turns brown as a dying plant would, but since the whole tire isn't made of true rubber, it won't all turn brown.

 

Some products are water based, while they provide a good initial shine they do not often adhere to tires, and with some rain, come off, this is good for touchups mostly, but not shine.

 

Next we have silicone based products, the best as they do not harm the tire, but can adhere to the surface better, thus creating a far longer lasting shine, and 1 that won't be degraded by rain. Actually, it can be rather hard to remove silicone based shine before it wears off, and will usually require lots of scrubbing with a wheel cleaner type product

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...