Not long ago, I picked up a set of BBS Carrera 3 wheels for a really nice price on the second hand market. As with the majority of used wheels they had there share of imperfections this included some mild curb rash, black buildup (brake dust, dirt, asphalt) on most of the rim interior and scratches from improper cleaning maintenance on the front faces. I figured I would try my best to bring them back to life and if I was still unhappy I would consider sending them out for professional repair and repaint.
I mainly followed Larry's procedure from Ammo NYC on how to go about cleaning them. Larrys video
here. The only major difference for my method was that since I do not own a RA polisher I had to do all the compounding by hand. I took some photos along the way to document how it came out.
 |
| Cleaning Materials (Wheel Cleaner, Dish Soap, Spray Wax, 105 Compound, Ultimate Compound, Sponge, Soft Brush, Clay, Microfiber Towels) |
In addition to the cleaning materials pictured above I also used a respirator (during compounding), nitrile gloves, old towels and a large plastic storage bucket.
Pictured below is the initial condition of the rim, I don't think the camera was able to pick up the fine scratches that resulted from poor cleaning technique but trust me they were there on the majority of the outer lip and between the spokes.
 |
| Initial Condition - Front |
 |
| Initial Condition - Back |
Since it is winter and cold here in the northeast I attempted to do everything in my bathroom. And aside from having the sit on the floor while doing the manual labor that location worked pretty well.
 |
| Wheel in dish soap bath |
 |
| Resulting water after dish soap/wheel cleaner bath and sponge cleaning |
 |
| Rim after dish soap bath |
 |
| Rim after clay bar treatment. Some of the black stain was removed and the clay was good at removing stuck asphalt |
 |
| Rim after compounding. 105 worked well by hand. |
 |
| Final Result |
After I was finished with the compounding I did do one additional step which was to use Klasse All-In-One to add a layer of protection back on the surface to help prevent/reduce future build up. I did not take a photo after that. Total time per wheel for all 4 steps was about 6 hours, with a large portion of that being devoted to hand compounding.
