BMW Wheel Coating

A little while ago, I wrote an article about how the wheels on my BMW 320i were really dirty and how I tried using an automatic car wash at a gas station, but it didn’t remove much of the grime. After that, I received lots of ideas and advice from readers on how to clean wheels effectively.

BMWを洗車 – ガソリンスタンドの自動洗車機で汚れはどの程度とれるのか？

I even tried wiping them down with a sponge myself, but the remaining dirt was so stubborn that I thought, “No matter how many sponges I have, it won’t be enough.” So, I decided to try getting wheel coating done at the nearest gas station.

I took my beloved BMW 320i to the gas station right away, but I was shocked when I heard the price for wheel coating!

For 16–19 inch wheels, it’s “11,000 yen”

Is coating really that expensive? I couldn’t help but ask a rather rude question: “Does wheel coating actually make a difference? (-_-)” The staff replied,

Yes, it makes a big difference. It makes dirt less likely to stick, and even if it does, it comes off easily with a wipe, so it’s much easier to maintain. The effect generally lasts about a year.

I thought, “That sounds good,” and since I couldn’t verify it without trying, I decided to go ahead. They said the wheel coating process involves “cleaning the wheels first, applying the coating, and letting it dry, which takes about 50 minutes.”

By the way, here’s what the wheels looked like before bringing them in.

After going through the automatic car wash, there were fine scratches all over, making it look pretty rough. After 50 minutes, here’s how the coated wheels looked.

Shiny as can be! Even the brake discs are sparkling (*ﾟ∀ﾟ)!!

They looked much cleaner than I expected, and just looking at them felt great—I was very satisfied with the result. That said, the important thing is “how long this condition lasts” and “how easily dirt comes off,” so I decided to observe them for a while.

After the Wheel Coating

Here’s what the wheels looked like one week after the coating.

Some dirt has started to accumulate, but it looks like it could be wiped off easily. Here’s the state three weeks after coating.

It’s getting a bit dirty. However, I remember that when my BMW 320i was first delivered, “after three weeks it was much dirtier overall, with a rusty iron-like color,” so this is better in comparison.

Next, I decided to try wiping off the dirt on just one wheel. I prepared a sponge, a spray bottle, and a dry towel.

First, I sprayed water with the spray bottle, then scrubbed with the sponge, and finally wiped lightly with the dry towel…

Wow—it got pretty clean! Even someone clumsy like me managed it. Using this method, I wiped the other parts as well, and in just about a minute, it looked like this.

So clean! If it’s this easy to get clean with just water, that’s great… but my hands got pretty dirty.

When I tweeted about this, someone commented,

When cleaning cars (especially wheels), you have to wear silicone gloves~＾＾

Really? I had no idea! (ﾟдﾟ)

…I guess I haven’t been washing my car properly until now…

Later that day, I told my husband, “I wiped the wheels and they got clean right away!” and he said this:

Well, that’s obvious, right? Of course it comes off if you wipe it (-_-). The important thing is whether you can remove wheel dirt quickly with a pressure washer or automatic car wash without the hassle of wiping.

T-That’s true… (ﾟдﾟ)(What a silly person…)

Wiping is a hassle and your hands get dirty, so the key is whether you can easily remove wheel dirt without that. So, I decided to try both the automatic car wash and the pressure washer later.

Next page → Can a pressure washer or automatic car wash really remove dirt…?