I just bought a 2000 328i and I love it. It came with the BBS style 16inch wheels and they are filthy after only 300 miles. Take a look at the attached picture. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep them clean? I tried a spray wheel cleaner but it did not do a great job. These rims have so many nooks that I had no choice but to clean them by hand. It took 45 minutes just to do all 4. I am not looking foward to doing this on a weekly basis. I would love to hear what others are doing.

Thanks,
justin

It could be brake dust. My impression is that it will progressively stop doing that after awhile.

You are right. It is definetly brake dust.. But why so much? Are these cars known to make this much dust?

I've had my car 2 1/2years now, and the brake dust still appears as frequently as ever. I have come to the conclusion that it is just a by-product of German engineered brakes(which are amazing). We just have to deal with it and clean the wheels once a week, twice if you are anal about your car like I am, hehehe...

All VW brakes do the same. I have a new compact and thats the same, but the brakes are out of this would. We had a drive day at a racing track and the brakes never looked like giving up. Some of the other makes of cars only lasted one lap.

These a link to some phot's of the day.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1427951&a=14032176&f=0

I wash my wheels (and car) at least once a week, particularly to keep the wheels free of brake dust. I find if i do it often enough, I don't need to use any special cleaners, just a normal car wash soap and spounge. I use a separate bucket of suds and a different spounge just for the wheels since they get so dirty. My wheels are the sport wheels with seven wide spokes, so they are alot easier to clean than others. Sorry, but there is no way around cleaning your wheels regularly to keep them looking good.

Check out Pagid pads and "Green Stuff" and "Red Stuff" pads for a replacement. They put out far less, if any visible dust. Yeah, our factory pads are infamamous for their dust.

Someone at work was telling me to wax the wheels, he said that we cut down on the buildup. Is there any truth to this?

Never heard that but it sounds like it would be a bitch to wax wheels like you have.

brake dust from bmw's sucks, but those wheels look a bit easier than the old style basket weave BBS wheels on the sport models. i have trouble getting my finger into some of those gaps, and have just given up totally. I dont think its worth all the worry to get into all the nooks and crannys of the wheel, but just a heavy duty wheel sparay over the general area and then a quick brush up leaves them looking pretty good.

I have a 330ci and my sport-package wheels have a groove in the center that I can't get my finger into to clean. In response to this problem I headed on down to Pep Boys and found a product made by "Good Grips." This wheel brush does not scracth my clear-coat wheels, and gets them clean in about 30 seconds per wheel. Go to www.pepboys.com to find a store near you. This brush was fourteen bucks, but it was well worth it.

Originally posted by slytsi4
I just bought a 2000 328i and I love it. It came with the BBS style 16inch wheels and they are filthy after only 300 miles. Take a look at the attached picture. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep them clean? I tried a spray wheel cleaner but it did not do a great job. These rims have so many nooks that I had no choice but to clean them by hand. It took 45 minutes just to do all 4. I am not looking foward to doing this on a weekly basis. I would love to hear what others are doing.

Thanks,
justin

It looks like it has been raining as well (or you have driven through some wet roads). When you mix water and brake dust the wheels get dirty very quickly. If it was not for the water no as much brake dust sticks to the wheels. I would recommend you wax your wheels with synthetic wax and wash them at least once a week.

Originally posted by slytsi4
Someone at work was telling me to wax the wheels, he said that we cut down on the buildup. Is there any truth to this?

Yup it does work. I used to wax the wheels of my VW GTI. Now I will be waxing the wheels on my 330Ci. It makes it so much easier to clean and protects the wheels.

as far as i know this is a problem that plagues almost all german autos...


and yes waxing your rims does help a bit plus it adds to whole of the car...

Wax them with synthetic wax. Zaino is the best. Use simple green to keep them clean. Wash once a week. You think you've got a tough time keeping your wheels clean, try cleaning and waxing these!
ftp://jimmyb:2wtuvp6c@ftp.netwiz.net/public_html/Tom/bmw5.jpg

I've got the same problem, same wheel, even the same car. My solution is going to be replacing the wheels with 5 spoke 17" wheels. Of course thats after my tires wear down a little bit more.

I have similar rims on my car and I waxed them because I wanted to keep brake dust off. Seems like it helped, but very little. It was a real pain trying to cover all the inside spots, so I don't want to do it all the time. How often should I wax them?

I scraped one of them on the curb a while ago and the scuff turned blackish and won't clean off. I probably should've waxed over the scuff right away to sort of fill it, right? Is there any way to clean the scuff now to be closer to the original finish on the rims?

I have tried just about every wheel cleaner out there and have found Gliptone wheel cleaner the best. It was expensive but worth it. My wheels get noticably dirty after 15 miles sometimes. I have stopped waxing the wheels as it was time consuming and did not make much difference...

I went to the dealer to get the recall done and they said I need new brakes soon. The car has almost 18k miles on it, why do i need brakes already.. the answer is because these brakes pads suck... that is my conclusion.

Definitely agree on the Zaino. Clean the wheels completely and then Z1 and Z2 them. The dust practically drops right off with a heavy spraying.

www.zainobros.com

I have 17 inch rims and i use a small brush that i brouth from auto-zone that cost about 6 to 7 dollars. and get the wheel tire cleaner that works
it's by eagle-one in a black bottle. wax is also good to
my rims are much harder to clean then yours try that out

:cool:

yes thats one of the things that you have to put up with being a bmw owner but its well worth it .wal mart sells a detail brush for wheels that cost under $3 and it works great it also gets in all the nooks and crannes.i just use reagular turrtel wax car wash and it does a good job.

All bmw owners have the same problem with brake dust,(its well worth it), I use turtle wax car wash and a wheel detail brush,( from Wal Mart for under $3 made by turtle wax), it gets in all the nooks and cranies without any problems and the rims look great. I also heard about waxing the rims but haven't tried it yet because I 'm satisfied with the results I get .
































































































































































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I have solved that dirty wheel problem for me.... I pay someone else to wash my car and wheels once a week.... After scrubbing the wheels for the first year of me having my car, i got sick of it so decided to pay a car detailing place to clean it for me, and they do a great job everytime... :)

nooooo way!:bloated:

T x 2 u gotta make love to the car, wash and wax every little crevice allllll over its body, u know what ur doing is basically prostituting ur car out to someone and paying THEM for their time?:eek:

no, its not just u, that exhaust pipe DOES look a little stretched out:p

Change the pads to a harder compound.

Does anyone know about the ceramic brakes? Do they make them for the BMW? I have a 1999 328I, love it hate the dirty rims.

If you are the type of person who likes their wheels spotless, owning a BMW will surly be a challenge. Personally, I like my wheels clean, but I don't care if I miss a few small spots here and there. Once a week I spray a wheel cleaner on the wheels, and then use a power washer to wash it off. I do this as part of my car wash, and takes about 3 minutes for all 4 tires. Although the wheels aren't spotless, they come very clean.

Anthony

i have problems with the dirty wheels, brake dust i have 17 inch rim on my 330I 2001 sedan 4door
i use some wax on the rims