Wheels on new Saab

DFW Dot,

Please do not take your car through the automatic car wash as it ruins the paint.

My mother owns a 9-3 SS Linear and hand washes it, washes the wheels by hand as well.

Here is her procedure

1) Spray "Westly's Bleach White" bottle of wheel/tire cleaner to all 4 wheels and tires thoroughly

Wait a few minutes for chemicals to sit...

2)Use hose from Do-It-Yourself car wash bays and rinse entire car from the TOP down to the bottom with Windshield Wipers (UP)

3) Continue to spray close-up with hose on wheels and tires while washing tires with a hard bristle brush and washing wheels with a nice soft cloth.

4) Use "California" wiper to wipe water completely off of car so there are no streaks, especially on glass and mirrors.

5) Hand polish wheels with wheel polish afterwards

6) Hand wipe polish off of wheels for shine

7) Use Spray wheel wet onto applicator pad and wipe all 4 tires to a nice semi-gloss look.

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At this point you can either choose to WAX or NOT wax car. Do NOT wax car if 1.5 years or newer, 2 years or old it is okay as paint is not as new.

Preference for wax is ZYMOIL brand.

That's it. This process usually takes a good hour or so to do it right.

SaabGuy

Agreed. My Saab has never been machine washed - and it shows.

and tires thoroughly

down to the bottom with Windshield Wipers (UP)

But why pay for using a car wash bay? I wash my Saab in my drive, using a generous amount of car shampo/wax mixture. Since you can't use a hose pipe in my area, I prepare 5 buckets of water for the rinse. After preparation, the whole process takes only 10 minutes, including alloys.

wheels and tires thoroughly

TOP down to the bottom with Windshield Wipers (UP)

If you don't have access to a hose, such as if you live in a city or something.

If you have a hose, please by all means use it.

Either / Or :)

The technique I've used is basically the same as most if not ALL Saab people that go to the Conventions, etc. Saabs ALWAYS look MINT!!

SaabGuy

No I don't live in a city.

Access to a hose pipe is not the problem. There is a general hose pipe ban. This is because hose pipes tends to be used for continued irregation, hence wastes water resources and electricity at the pumping station. Perhaps this is of less concern in the US.

Anyway, 5 buckets works just as well.

Johannes,

This is a large concern in the U.S., but sadly, nearly no enforcement generally unless you are in California or Las Vegas or a Desert-like climate such as the West or Mid-West.

I am in the North East

SaabGuy

I have a 2004 9-3 Arc. I have never washed it myself. I take it to the dealer (Just SAAB Dayton) every other Saturday to get hand washed for free. They do an excellent job detailing the car.

SpongeBob

First off, stop abusing your new car's finish by running it through those automatic car washes, especuially anything with brushes. If you can't get out and wash the car by hand because it's too cold in the winter, use those "touchless" laser wash deals where only high pressure water touches the finish.

As for the wheels: Step 1> liberal doses of elbow grease and a soft brush works best, IMO.

If it's really stubborn you can use: Step 2> any of the myriad of degreaser or wheel cleaners they sell in the auto stores. None are magic. They all still require Step 1

Step 3> apply some sort of wheel wax to the painted parts of the wheel. This makes Step 1 easier next time.

-Fred W

Same here...

Why is that? Water restrictions?

-Fred W

Are you serious? Your dealer hand washes your car every week for free? What an incredibly brilliant marketing gimmick. I would try very hard to do business with someone that offered that level of service.

Except you are never the one actually wielding the sponge, are you Bob?

If his wheels are anything like mine, you don't even need a lot of elbow grease. A stream of water on the wheel does nothing to remove the brake dust. Even those spray-on, rinse-off wheel cleaners don't work. But if you just touch the wheel with your finger, the dust comes right off. I use one of those soft car wash mitts for my wheels. You'll probably want to dedicate one just for the wheels though, because it's close to impossible to get the brake dust out of the mitt and you probably don't want to rub that all over the car in future washings. A soft-bristled brush will do the trick too.

Yup. And if you're doing step 1, in my experience, you don't even need the fancy cleaner.

I'll have to try this. Scrubbing the ten-spoke wheels is a pain.

Right, the 10 spoke for the 9-3 SS is what my Mother has and I have shown her how to "properly" clean it.

A nice moist rag, that is devoted to the wheels. It gets washed, but never gets completely clean which isn't even necessary.

I need to show some photos of this later this summer. Maybe even a "Saab Wash" page.

SaabGuy

I'm serious... Those guys are great!! Free car whash every week, if you have the time to wait 30-45 min while they wash it 4U. They also have free Starbucks coffee...

I still have to hand wash the wife's car, so... I have to buy her a SAAB too.. :-)

SB

For wheels...

A biker friend of mine uses a spray on detergent / cleaner called 'MuckOff' (for cleaning his motor bike) which he raves about. It removes road grime and filth from almost anything if you believe him. I keep meaning to find it in a Bike Shop and try it out... worth a try at least?

PG

Could be, but you're probably seeing more brake dust than actual dirt.

Yes, brake dust is the killer. Dirt will just wash off. I'm not sure, but my guess is that the dust is statically charged, which makes it stick to the wheel. A quick search on Google seems to confirm this, but it may just be marketting hype for wheel waxes. Anyone know for sure?

A couple of months back, I washed my 9-3 for the first time in over a year. The bodywork wasn't a problem (the moss came off much easier than I thought it would), but the wheels were a completely different story. Elbow grease wouldn't even touch the solidified brake-dust.

I went out (UK) and got the wheel cleaner with the most stern warnings about corrosiveness that I could find. It turned out to be "Wonder Wheels". It was absolutely bloody miraculous. The wheels came up lovely and I still have three-quarters of the bottle left for next-years wash.

Cheers,

Colin.

Colin,

The trick is to clean the wheels consistantly and to not let MUCH time pass.

The worst thing that can happen with brake-dust filled wheels is that in the sun, the dust actually gets "baked" into the clearcoat enamel, then eats at the aluminum since it's stuck in there, at that point, your wheel is PERMANENTLY RUINED.

Cleaning wheels is not just for show, it's for saving your wheels life!

Remember 80% of the braking is in the front of the car, so that's why the front wheels are much darker and have way more dust than the rears.

The trick is to clean the wheels consistantly and to not let MUCH time pass.

The worst thing that can happen with brake-dust filled wheels is that in the sun, the dust actually gets "baked" into the clearcoat enamel, then eats at the aluminum since it's stuck in there, at that point, your wheel is PERMANENTLY RUINED.

Cleaning wheels is not just for show, it's for saving your wheels life!

Where is this????

This can't be in the U.S.

SaabGuy