Brake dust and small brown spots build up on the rims over time, and an ordinary wash won't shift them. The wheel arches collect mud, road salt and whatever else comes off the road, even when the bodywork is clean. Wheel and arch cleaning goes after exactly those places, which a routine car wash usually only rinses.
What Alloy Wheel Cleaning Covers
We clean the wheels on the car, without taking them off. That means the face of the rim, the valve and everything we can safely reach with the wheel fitted — part of the inner barrel and the space around the brake disc stay out of reach, because the only way in there is to take the wheel off. The arches get the same attention; after a season they are usually caked in mud and salt too.
Iron fallout comes off the rims and the arches as part of the job — those small brown spots left by metal particles shed from the brake pads. This service is not aimed at the bodywork; for fallout on the paint we have a decontamination wash. Our guide to orange spots on alloy wheels explains why the spots appear.
What It Is Not
This is cleaning and a tyre dressing, not a ceramic coating for the rims. Ceramic on rims and brake calipers is a service of its own, alloy wheel ceramic coating, where the wheels come off the car, or an add-on to ceramic paint protection. Wheel cleaning applies no coating and is no substitute for one.
The Tyre Dressing
We finish the tyre sidewalls with FEYNLAB Black Velvet, a polymer dressing. It evens the rubber out to a matte tone and takes the faded grey look off it. It will not whiten rubber that has already browned — where the browning comes from deep in the material, it stays visible after the dressing too. Our guides on why tyres turn brown and tyre sidewalls that turn brown explain why it happens and where the limit is.
Why Wheels Are Not Cleaned Like Bodywork
Rims and arches take different chemistry than paint — a fallout remover that is fine on a panel can damage a painted or polished rim. So we pick the process to suit the rim in front of us, and we go gently on show wheels. If a rim would not take anything we have for fallout, we say so before we touch it. More on that in our guide to cleaning wheels without the risk.
When It Makes Sense
It shows most after winter, when the arches and rims hold the most road salt and mud, or before selling a car, when brown spots on the rims are the first thing anyone notices. It works just as well as ordinary upkeep — simply add it to a regular wash.
On Its Own, or With a Car Wash
There are two ways to book it. As a job of its own, in the full scope described above, tyre dressing included. Or as an add-on to a car wash: that version comes without the tyre dressing and without a separate drop-off and collection, because the car is already with us for the wash. The dressing can be bought alongside it as the Tyres · Black Velvet add-on, which is ordered with another job. The cheaper version cannot be bought on its own. It is worth adding to a hand car wash, a full hand wash or a maintenance wash for a protected car — after a season, wheels and arches need as much attention as the paint.
Tell us through the enquiry form what car you have and whether you want the job on its own or added to a wash, and we will confirm a date and the price.