New owner - How do I clean my Fuchs?

[mark.travis]

Having had a 996 I've finally bought a real Porsche, a '84 3.2 Cab with 60K miles, but although the Fuchs are in good condition they are very dull.

Are there any ways of giving them a bit of a shine ?

 

[bones]

Apart from all the usual methods if you are talking about the paint in a very recent post (run a search) vaseline left over night apparently works wonders, make sure you wipe it off carefully though.

 

[dtunnicliffe]

Hi Mark, and welcome to the Forum and the joy of owning a 3.2! There recently was a good thread running on this which recommends Vasoline. 911jon ran a thread:

quote:

ORIGINAL: 911jon

All,


Treating Fuchs with Vaseline is of course Porsche recommended practice, but using it to revitalise the Targa paint is a result of my own experimentation. My bar was faded and had a whitish oxide bloom, I too was contemplating a re-spray. I happened to be treating a set of wheels with Vaseline in my garage and tried a test area overnight on the bar, having noticed the similarity of the finish to a black Fuchs centre. To my astonishment the test area buffed to a perfect black sheen, no trace of oxide.

I am unsure of the chemical process here (if any!) but I suspect that the slightly absorbent semi-gloss paint absorbs some oil/petroleum and the oxide is either masked or dissolved. I am sure it would not work on gloss/automotive paint. Either way, I've been treating my Targa bar for a couple of years this way with outstanding results, and have concluded that since I was considering removal/re-spray, I have nothing to lose via this technique.

Treating the Fuchs wheels for 24 (or more) hours was an accidental discovery. I had occasion to leave a wheel with Vaseline applied prior to buffing and ended up buffing it off the next day... and noticed an unexpected improvement in the paint and anodising condition. If you leave too much Vaseline on the wheel after buffing, they do collect brake dust. The prevention here is a really firm rub down after application, but of course the dust is easily wiped off a Vaseline treated surface anyway.


Hope that helps!



Regards,



Jon Taylor



Hope it all works out okay for you. Keep us posted with a thread.

Dave

 

[steh]

hi mark, good to hear you are now an 3.2 owner, although in my eyes a 996 is still a porsche. any how to the wheels if they are just dull i would try and clean them with some paint cleanser or polish them folowed by a good wax.

good luck and let us all now how you get on with them what ever way you go with them.

steve

 

[Mike58]

Try a good wipe and buff with WD40
It gets rid of the milkiness
Mike

 

[NicD]

Mark,

when I had my 73 RS, I had more trouble pronouncing Fuchs than cleaning them!

 

[Guest]

Someone on this forum recommended speedy metal polish. I was amazed at the results, really a fantastic shine.

It was also suggested that I coat the wheels with a layer of wax after cleaning them. I have also been doing this and have perhaps noticed a slight difference when cleaning the wheels the following week. The dirst seems to lift off a little easier.

I am keen to try the vaseline method!

 

[Jacob]

I guess it depends on which part of the Fuchs you are trying to clean.

I have a polished outer rim and use "speedy metal polish" - this works just as good as autosol, but as the name suggests, it doesn't take very long!
If you have anodised outer rims - they always look a little dull.

To clean the centre part of fuchs I use "HD Cleanse" by zymol. this brings up a reallly good "just painted" shine.

Welcome to 3.2 ownership - what do you think to a real drivers car?[]