Love the alloy lattice wheels, but cleaning is a pain! Anyone have a quick way or product they swear by?

 

Does the neighbors kid and a 5 dollar bill count?

 

Heh heh....been there.

A bottle brush is useful for heavy cleaning but the real trick is to never let them get very dirty. I found that a mild solution of Simple Green loosens the dirt pretty wheel and, with practice, you can get down to about two minutes per wheel with a rag and your index finger getting into every triangular hole.

If you let dirt and brake dust get caked on, you're sunk :-)

Cheers
DD

 

ditto on the bottle brush and whatever mild soapy juice you like. Its much easier since I had then powdercoated

 

i have Wires and i use meguirs hot wheels. Be sure to buy it for aluminum or you may mess them up. You need to rinse them first, spray it on and leave it for a bit and then rinse back off.
My wheels look gorgeous when i do it. they make it for chrome and aluminum, chrome is more aggresive obviously. I have used it on aluminum before and just rinse it alot faster and alot more thoroughly.

The stuff sprays and gets everything and then foams a bit. Works great and wires are usually a HUGE pain to clean. So id expect it to work well on the aluminum lattices.
gl!

 

i cleaned my wheels today but only remember to take a pic on the very last one which was a rear one so it wasn't very dirty and i keep my wheels pretty clean anyways.

To add to this the pictures didn't show a big difference but its alot more obvious IRL.im not gonna show the before because the pic is bad and makes the difference almost not noticeable.
but here is what it looks like cleaned. Rinse, spray, let sit 15-20 seconds, rinse again.



imma post a pathfinder wheel my dad cleaned just to show what this stuff does.it was only about 10 seconds because they are aluminum and were also rinsed ALOT more. the brush was barely used (only had 10 seconds). These had alot of brake dust and grime and have been sitting in the backyard for about 8 years.

 

i accidently dbl posted, dunno where the delete is but this is better than having 5 extra pictures. sry

 

Great tips guys. I ran out and got my spray wheel cleaner and a small bottle brush, we'll see how it goes.

 

i don't have lattice wheels. don't even have a jag (yet). but i've found sonax full effect wheel cleaner to be the best stuff available for cleaning up really tough brake dust, road grime, tar and other wheel stuff. not sure what forum rules are on posting vendors, but i've only found one place to get the stuff. there's good photos on his site of the stuff in action. you can google it or PM me for the url. also, i've narrowed my search for a v12 xjs down to the 88-89 years, for which it seems the lattices are the most common wheels. good luck.

 

As has been said, the best way is not to allow a dust build up to start with.
I reckoned that the smoother the metal the easier it would be to clean. When I had my 21 year old wheels refurbed last year I ordered a very highly polished finish. This gives a slightly chromed look ( but more subtle ). They now just require warm mild soapy water to keep them looking new.

 

Wow...I really like those polished wheels. I wonder how they polished inside the triangles? They look great! Much better look than the chromed ones and you don't have to worry about the chrome pealing off in a few years since chrome does not adhere well to aluminum. Are they clear coated? I looked at your pictures in your album but I can't tell if they were polished or not in the pics. Do you have a picture that shows the polished wheels?

 

When I bought my 87 it had lattice wheels on it but they were not the factory wheels that became available in 89-96. I had the BBS wheels that almost look the same but not quite as pretty to me. I bought a set of factory wheels from 1990 models...I found a guy that had several he was parting out and I was able to get 4 wheels that look new since they were all 4 spares in separate cars. I don't think they were ever on the ground. I also got the tires that were new also. A side note: I sold the tires on ebay for exactly what I paid the guy originally for the set of tires and wheels. The BBS wheels have a thinner edge on the outside and my center caps showed BBS. You can add the wheels later if you find an earlier car that you like. I see a nice set of factory ones on ebay now for $300. I think they are very reasonable for what you get.

 

Yes, but not in close up. The process according to the refurbishers was as follows

Clean and blast wheels to SA 2.5
Apply primer
Powder coat in chrome effect
Top coat and laquer

Cost me approx. £ 300 sterling for 4 wheels ( this included repairing 21 years of kerb rash and abuse ).

Wheels before refurb






After

 

Well, they really look good! Thanks for the additional pictures. I noticed you had a rear spoiler in one picture and not in the newer ones. Was the removal for any reason other than the different look?

 

The car left the factory with the 'sports pack'. This involved a tighter suspension set up and TWR rear spoiler.
I thought the spoiler did nothing for the looks and removed it. Purely a matter of personal preference. However I have kept it in case I ever sell the car to someone who wants it ' as it left the factory '.

 

The spoiler only detracts. The car is magnificent.

 

Wheels can be tough to clean especially if you let things build up. I have had good luck with Scholl Products Rim 7, it is pH balanced and can be used on any wheel surface. I recently did a full detail on my car and the inside of the wheels were the toughest thing to get clean. Of course I had never cleaned the inside surfaces in the 19 years I have owned the car!!!!!

If interested you can see the pictures and processes here:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/d...ection-100495/

Cheers,

Allan

 

Thank you gentlemen. My XJ wuzza six wears a set of pristine lattice wheels courtesy of a KIWI that updated his pristine XJS.

So, far, soap and water have kept them nice and clean.

Some of the commercial cleaners are an acid and if not carefully used can mess up wheels. some just are not candidates for those acidic cleaners. Been there, decades ago.

Carl

 

When I had my lattice wheels refurbished my indy at that time supplied me with a couple of brake dust covers.

They were big enough to cover the entire disc and were fitted prior to putting the wheels on.

As you can hardly see the callipers anyway I thought I would try them. Never had a brake dust issue after that and just required a quick squirt with the hose to keep the wheels pristine.

Just a thought.

 

Related question to lattice wheels:
My 1992 XJS has chrome plated over aluminum lattice wheels. A guy at a Jag /British show ripped on me saying the lattice were never chrome plated, only polished. Are my wheels a dealer options?


My '92 also has the chrome delete around the wheel wells, is this uncommon also?