Cleaning basketweaves is a bitch!

[KenC]

I just spent about 45 minutes cleaning my basketweaves. They were perfectly clean when I bought them a week ago... I'm starting to think this will be a weekly ritual. Thus, I am on a quest to determine the best way to clean them.


How do you guys with 'weaves clean them?


This is what I'm using currently:
I bought the brush at Target for $2.99 - it works pretty well, but it's too thick to fit between the 'weavings'.
I got the toothbrush at the dentist. It gets those hard to reach places.
The Turtle Wax stuff is decent at best. Those 'spray on hose off' products are a joke.




Results :D :

[hamann318is]

Someone share the secret, lol. I hate cleaning mine, and they look pretty grody, prev owner's fault... I'm hoping to fix that someday...

Mine don't look like that ^. That's an awesome job Ken. Damyn!

[nando]

yeah I easily spend 40 minutes on mine. I use a towel and soapy water, and do it one spoke at a time... :x

[Dave]

yeah I easily spend 40 minutes on mine. I use a towel and soapy water, and do it one spoke at a time... :x

Only way to get it done. Welcome to the hell of Basketweaves.

[UNHCLL]

you all spend WAYYY to much time on this.

1)Long soft bristle horse hair brush.... or something like this:


Then get this:


Spray on wet wheel, scrub, getting into all crevices... you'll see when its clean. Dont let the spray sit on them, it'll eventually damage finish if it sits for loooong periods of time. So do 1 wheel at a time.

Takes me 15 minutes to do mine. (all 4)

results (old pic, but still shows effects):

[nando]

it's okay, they look really good when they are clean and it takes a week for them to get really dirty again. I'd rather clean these than the bottlecaps though, those things were impossible and not exactly rewarding.

I've been trying to get some wax on them lately to keep the dust out of the paint. anyone have a wheel wax they really like?

btw, I would NEVER use those types of cleaners on my wheels. the finish on my bottlecaps is almost gone from using that stuff!

[Jand3rson]

The number one reason I will never own basket-style or Alpina wheels.

[bimmer8604]

I just get the power washer out and blast 'em clean.

sometimes I use a tooth brush too.

kyle

[Schniddy]

http://autopia-carcare.com/oxo-1050582.html

http://autopia-carcare.com/son-110.html

got my 17yr old brake dust on my bottlecaps sooo clean....it should work great with basketweavers. If u dont own a bush like this already then it will proably cut your cleaning time in half i imagine

[LikeCDoos]

This stuff rocks:


Don't leave it on too long, just long enough to loosen the brake dust, then scrub a bit with a wheel brush and hose it off. Simple as that. Although my RK's are pretty damn easy to clean.

[e9nine]

I dunno what pads u guys are running but my mesh wheels are not as horrid as you guys' sound to be...

I don't even wash my car that often. When I do, I simply wet the wheels, use some simple green + wheel brush and voila.

[e30Matt]

Simple Green, diluted 10:1. Spray it on, scrub w/a brush in the hard-to-reach places, and hose off.

Don't get it on the paint, though... it's about as good at removing wax as the usual "Dawn wash." I discovered this when I was cleaning the textured undercoating and got a little on my rocker panel. There were spots on the panel from where the wax had been stripped off. Of course I cleaned this spot thoroughly and reapplied the wax afterwards. :)

[e30evolution]

take the tires off.... steam clean the wheel.... use a scotch brite pad and scuff the surface then clear coat the wheels.... it will make cleaning a whole lot easier

[golde30]

damn ken, those are the cleanest weaves EVER!!!! my weaves however, looked like they were never cleaned for the last 5yrs, so i bought that wheel cleaner stuff and let it sit for like 10min, then started scrubbing, took me about 30min, and there is no paint left on the wheels..LOL, oh well, silver even without the paint looks better that brown/black/gray... 8)

[Rob]

my black weaves are hellaciously easy to clean