Bigtuna00

Just to close the loop, Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner had no problem removing the black marks I mentioned, either with a Wheel Woolie, or a microfiber towel. Tip: I took a garden sprayer like you'd use for weed killer and filled it with distilled water. I removed each wheel and washed with distilled water and Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner. After drying, I then applied Adam's Quick Sealant to the whole wheel (including tire sidewalls). Now that I have a nice clean base, I hope I don't need to do anything this involved for a while! It took something like 3 hours when all was said and done! But everything came out really clean. Another tip: I only used 2 gallons of distilled water for all 4 wheels. Only 1 gallon in the sprayer, and another gallon in a bucket to hold/rinse brushes and such. Thanks all for your help.

First of all thanks again for your help Kingsford. This is some follow-up for the archives. I went to America's Tire and the tech there used something called Rema Tip Top Cleaner Fluid to do a little test cleaning. The black stuff seemed to come off with minimal effort. Also he was using just a regular terry towel to try it. He said this stuff was basically diluted alcohol, though that's not what it smelled like...smelled more like turpentine and even came in a small metal can. I tried an experiment at home with ~50/50 isopropyl alcohol and a higher quality detail towel. It also seems to work well. I only cleaned about 25% of one wheel, I need to pull them off the car and clean all 4 in better light. We called TSW to find out about the finish. The TSW rep described it as a "wet powder coat". Is this a real thing? A little Googling makes it seem like it is, though I'm not sure I'd really call it a powder coat. As for wheel care, TSW recommends washing with normal car shampoo and distilled water if necessary. I'm not entirely sure how I'm supposed to wash the wheels with distilled water given that I need to wash the car with normal water. I suppose I could wash the wheels after the car and use the distilled water to dilute the hard stuff. Per Chase's recommendation I will probably set myself up with some quick sealant so that the hours I'm about to spend cleaning don't go to waste!

This is actually the post that got me started researching: http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/22709-advice-cleaning-matte-finish-wheels/?p=360940 However I still feel like those instructions may be for a "normal" wheel that just has road grime and brake dust. I feel like I'm starting off with something abnormal.

As far as I've been able to tell the wheel is uniformly the same. I pulled one wheel off yesterday, but I wasn't specifically looking to check the finish. And I remember before they installed them that the *inside* of the wheel (i.e. under the tire) was also gunmetal. Based on how they look after washing, I'm thinking they are anodized. They react a lot like my anodized cookware at home. EDIT: I'll see if America's Tire can give TSW a call and find out for sure.

Thanks Kingsford, I had a similar experience while Googling. I found people asking this question, but no definite answers. I just called America's Tire and they asked me to bring the car in so we'll see how that goes. Appreciate your help.

You know I'm kind of thinking I don't have a choice but to go back to America's tire at least to start with. I don't want to mess with the wheels without them knowing there is a problem first. If I screw something up I'll have to pay to fix it...if I let them screw it up at least it's on them? What a nightmare, I already had to go through ordering two other types of wheels that ended up being out of stock and my budget nearly doubled in order to get these wheels... Thanks all.

I actually wanted to contact TSW directly and ask them what they recommend but they have no contact information on their site. The point being I actually don't know if it's anodized vs painted or what because the site doesn't say: http://www.tsw.com/alloy_wheels_nurburgring.php They're a really popular wheel, maybe I can find a previous post to answer your question...

I picked up some TSW Nurburgrings from America's tire last Friday. Upon delivery I noticed the wheels had some black smudges on them which I assumed was grease from dirty installer hands and that it would wash right off, so I didn't make an issue out of it. Last night I washed my car (at 8 PM so it was not hot/sunny) and attempted to clean the wheels. The car wash soap didn't make even a dent in these marks To be clear, to wash the wheels I used Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash with tap water and a kitchen sponge (NOT the scrubbing side, only the foam side). I didn't use anything else on the wheels yet, wanted to try plain soap first. If I rub vigorously with my fingers I can get the stuff to come out somewhat. I'm kind of baffled at what to try. I've read a lot today about how to clean matte wheels under normal circumstances, but I don't think this is normal and I don't want to ruin my wheels. I could take them back to America's Tire but the LAST thing I want is for them to experiment trying to clean them. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!