dirty rims

[tjts1]

Clean it, sand it, prime it, paint it. No point in trying to save 15 year old wheel paint.

[Allen in Hemet]

Then, after you have cleaned and/or repainted the rims, and after the brake pads have worn down, replace the front brake pads with Cereamic pads. Available on line at Carparts.com, partstrain.com, and your local Autozone store also have them. Ceramic pads don't create black dust and have very good braking characteristics. R/ Allen

[mindshadow]

Get some P21s (gel if you need some extra cutting power). It absolutely won't damage your wheels and it cut through brake dust that I was certain nothing would remove. Looking at the photo of your wheels, that's nothing compared to how mine looked before. Now they look brand new. Use the Matthews Amazon link up top and search for P21s so the site gets the referral link.

[mikealder]

Not too sure the stuff I use will be available in the USA, I use a trigger bottle made by "Astonish" its just labeled up as Alloy Wheel cleaner, costs under £1 and works great, spray on, agitate with a soft brush then rinse with water, under £1 and you get enough to clean all four wheels at least eight times each - Mike

[cdnbluez]

OK, so I just picked up a set of Columba's today. They are from a '95 850 and are pretty dirty. Came with decent tires, $200. I bought some Greased Lightning, it worked pretty good. The caked on black spots are hard to remove. It will take a few tries. It was getting cold so I gave up. Here are the results

[gilhuly]

Easy off over cleaner, yellow can

[thecheat]

That wheel doesn't look TOO bad... buy wheel cleaner with acid in it (look on the bottle, most say there is only a surfactant in it but you want the acid) and spray it on, wait 30 seconds, then rinse it. Don't leave it on and especially make sure it doesn't stay on the rubber as it can whiten it.

If you use it sparingly it won't cause too much damage to the paint.