Hello all......just purchased a 2003 M45 with the chrome rims. I'm in the process of getting the car back to my standards of clean and maintained, and currently doing a complete exterior, and interior clean.

The factory rims are, of course, chrome and the previous owners have definitely not kept up on keeping them clean. I believe the car lived most of it's life in the CT area, so I'm sure it's seen it's fair amount of salted winter roads too. At quick glance they don't seem to bad, but on closer examination, they have what appears to be areas of baked on black, rough sections, that definitely do not come off with regular soap and water cleaning. It appears to be on there so good, I'm not sure even a chrome cleaner/polisher would make a dent.

Is there any method, or product to look for that can attack this rim situation. I'm hoping that they are not too far beyond repair, and the only choices are new (or used) rims, or having they re-chromed at a rim/wheel shop.

Any help and/or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Power wash them? also, a steam clean then polish them

If they are chrome, they probably are not salvageable. (appearance wise) If they are aluminum,they can be sanded and re-clearcoated.

Yes, they can be saved!

I used to detail as a side job, and one customer had a Town and Country van with the chrome wheels. The previous year I had tried to clean them with regular wheel cleaner and a brush, but I didn't have any luck. The next year I bought some Mothers or Meguairs Chrome Wheel Cleaner. It took some elbow grease, but after a while, I brought them back to life!





Getting the proper product is key here, it must be for chrome. I also like the Iron-X gel cleaner as a finishing product, it helps pull metal particles from the wheel that other cleaners can leave behind, but I'm not sure if it's safe for chrome wheels, better check first.