I've found that when the wheels have been pre-soaked with Mother's wheel mist (I've used only the yellow, not the red bottle) the I'm able to get the dust off with a wet cloth and hardly any effort. Of course, I may not have brake pads/shoes that leave as tenacious of dust behind to need a brush.
After seeing so may cars' paint damaged by using brushes to scrub all surfaces, I try to go with the least aggressive method first for everything.
I know the yellow bottle has the scary skull and bony hand warnings, (and really smells like acid!) but after reading a bit, I saw Forrest mentioned that it's about as safe as they can make it, and since I'm using a wet rag to remove it (i dip it into my car soap bucket), my hands are covered in water which dilutes the acid (at least, I'm hoping it does!
So far no ill effects!), and the rag is in contact with the wheel, not my hands. (and I spray the wheels with water first, as per the directions)
Anyway, sometimes, if the brake dust isn't too bad, I can get it clean with just some stronger concentration of car soap and a rag. Not much chance of marring, or even disolving the protection this way.
Hope this helps!
Aluminum coated wheels
Linear Mode
