How to clean ceramic-coated wheels?
Applying a ceramic-coating to your wheels is the best way to protect them from the elements. However, whilst ceramic-coatings help keep the wheels cleaner, they still need regular maintenance washes to maintain the performance of the coating.
What You'll Need
- Pressure washer
- 2 x Buckets of hot water with grid guards
- Iron wheel cleaner
- Snow foam and foam lance
- Car shampoo
- Microfiber wheel mitt
- Microfiber wheel brush
- Soft detailing brush
- Water-based sealant or detailer
- Car dryer or microfibre drying towel
It's always best to pre-rinse the wheels. Since ceramic coatings have good hydrophobicity and self-cleaning capabilities, a thorough rinse with a pressure washer will remove any light dirt and contaminants from the surface before you start your contact wash.
Using chemical decontamination is the most effective way of cleaning your wheels without any contact and will give excellent results. However, ensure your wheel cleaner is less acidic, as this can impact the long-term performance of your ceramic coating. I recommend a product with a pH between 6-8.
Important — you should never use a clay bar on a ceramic-coated car or wheels. This will permanently damage the coating.
Make sure to read my article about what is pH and why is it important.
Apply your chosen pre-wash chemical liberally to the face and barrel of the wheel, and remember to always work on one wheel at a time. Allow the cleaning product to dwell (usually between 2-5 minutes), and ensure the product isn't left to dry. Depending on your product, this can be applied using a trigger spray or a pump sprayer. Rinse the wheel thoroughly.
As most brake dust and contaminations have been removed from the wheel using the previous step, we can now apply a layer of snow foam and allow it to dwell. This will dissolve any remaining contaminants not removed by the dedicated wheel cleaner. Next, rinse the wheel thoroughly.
Apply a car shampoo (preferably mildly alkaline or pH-neutral) to your wheel bucket and dilute following your product's instructions. Agitate using a wheel mitt, microfibre wheel brush and soft detailing brush, ensuring you regularly rinse them in a clean bucket of water. This will help stop any remaining contaminants from being ground into the coating, causing unnecessary damage. Finally, rinse your wheel thoroughly.
To aid the drying process, I recommend applying Gyeon WetCoat to the wheel and rinsing it off. Once you've washed the rest of the car you can dry them off using water, a car dryer or a drying towel. In addition, I recommend using a quick detailer like Gyeon Quick Detailer, Gyeon Ceramic Detailer or Gyeon Cure. This will aid the self-cleaning ability of your coating and maintain its hydrophobicity.