Hello!
Well, it figures...
I spent some quality time with the extra wheels I got with my 116 today, cleaning them up in preparation to get decent tires on them so that I'm that much closer to driving the car regularly. I have a total of six "bundt cake" wheels, one of which was originally the spare. Of these six, three of them cleaned up beautifully! They literally look like brand-new wheels. One of the remaining three wheels is a seriously beat-up chrome wheel (it looks like a brake pad went metal-to-metal, and metal particles have fused themselves to the inside of the wheel), so I can't really use it.
So, I have two wheels left. The insides got clean, but the outsides are still dull...they probably need to be repainted, but I don't intend to do anything like that in the near future. Any suggestions on what to use to see if I can get them any cleaner than they are? I've been using Simple Green and scrub brushes...don't want to risk ruining the paint, so I haven't used anything more abrasive.
Also, anyone have an opinion on "Kleen Wheels" (http://www.performanceproducts4benz.com/ProductCatalog.aspx?f=brand&bid=1870)? I know they may affect brake cooling somewhat, but I doubt it would be any worse than having steel wheels, and it's not like I'm going to have a huge problem with overheating brake assemblies on a diesel ;)
Any thoughts would be appreciated...thanks in advance!
I checked out the Kleen Wheels site, and gave it details for my car ('79 280SE) and it returned with "no parts available for your 1979 280SE". I then asked for '79 300SD and got the same (non)result.
I have used many solutions to clean my "bottle cap" alloys (we don't have bundt cakes in Oz - but we do have those same alloys, and we think they look like beer-bottle caps); the silver paint seems fairly indestructible. Try an ordinary over-the-counter/off-the-shelf wheel cleaning spray-on, leave it on for at least as long as recommended - perhaps twice as long - then scrub and hose off.
Quote from: OzBenzHead on 14 April 2006, 05:17 AM
I checked out the Kleen Wheels site, and gave it details for my car ('79 280SE) and it returned with "no parts available for your 1979 280SE". I then asked for '79 300SD and got the same (non)result.
Yeha, but they do make them to fit the W123...and I think the 123 and the 116 use essentially the same wheels. So, I don't see why buying a set meant to fit a 123 won't work on the 116. But, I may be wrong...this is one of the reasons I asked. :)
Thank you again 8)