What have you done to your MK 7 today ?

[JB GTI]

Red does look great, JBircy's clean GTI and JBs R inspire me to clean mine today. Sealed with Hydro2, which could be the most perfect sealant yet. You literally spray on, pressure wash off and you've got protection.

Looking good Kyle 

[Booth11]

JBirchy and Kyle - both cars look stunning 

Kyle - how much of a pain are the Santiagos to clean? 

[KyleB]

Cheers guys.

Booth Santiagos are a pain to clean. There are tiny little holes that I can't get my fingers into that are hard to get to, there is an annoying ridge that traps all fort inside the wheel. They do look good though.

[p3asa]

Ever since I got the car I've been desperate to get the wheels off and put some copper slip on them as I once had wheels that refused to budge when I had a puncture. So a year later I finally got round to it    Although they came off with little persuasion today.

What I did notice was I reckon I could have undone the wheel nuts with a socket on the end of a screwdriver as they were literally only hand tight     The car was in for a service a couple of weeks ago and I wonder if that's how they came off easy and weren't tightened properly!!

While off I took the opportunity to wax the callipers from the S&S package.

To start with



Some G101 (great stuff)



Wax on 



Wax off 



Some copper slip and a bit of tyre dressing and all back together again 

IMG_2564 by p3asa, on Flickr


Can't really say I'm impressed by the Nogaro's.
Visually they look great and compliment the car well but on closer inspection the black piano gloss is scratched to hell even although they have been well looked after.
Plus the edge between the black and the diamond cut spoke is really serrated in parts, not a clean join at all.
Not to mention I found a lump of black paint on the inside of one of the wheels!!

[Booth11]

Cheers guys.

Booth Santiagos are a pain to clean. There are tiny little holes that I can't get my fingers into that are hard to get to, there is an annoying ridge that traps all fort inside the wheel. They do look good though.

Ah, the annoying ridge that VW love so much.  My Glendales have it too.  They are a breeze to clean, all except the bloody dirt and water trap ridge!  You need a good small wheel brush for the holes.

Can't really say I'm impressed by the Nogaro's.
Visually they look great and compliment the car well but on closer inspection the black piano gloss is scratched to hell even although they have been well looked after.
Plus the edge between the black and the diamond cut spoke is really serrated in parts, not a clean join at all.
Not to mention I found a lump of black paint on the inside of one of the wheels!!

Nice job.  Shame about the scratched gloss black.  Have to say it's stood up pretty well on the Glendales, few marks here and there, but nothing too bad.

[JB GTI]

Booth11
You will have no problem with the Pretoria's. They are possibly the easiest wheels I have ever had to keep clean and they are completely lacquered inside and out. I had all mine off within a week of taking delivery on March 1st and gave them a proper clean and polish then added a coat of Poorboys Wheel Sealant and they still gleam 

[Booth11]

Booth11
You will have no problem with the Pretoria's. They are possibly the easiest wheels I have ever had to keep clean and they are completely lacquered inside and out. I had all mine off within a week of taking delivery on March 1st and gave them a proper clean and polish then added a coat of Poorboys Wheel Sealant and they still gleam 

Thanks JB.  Great to hear, I like an easy clean wheel.  Been spoilt of late with the simplicity of the Glendales, so glad the Prets will be just as easy.   Poorboys Wheel Sealant is my wheel sealant of choice too 

[KyleB]

Does poor boys sealant make much of a difference? I've always found wheel protection doesn't really last.

Is it best applied when wheel is off?

[Booth11]

Does poor boys sealant make much of a difference? I've always found wheel protection doesn't really last.

Is it best applied when wheel is off?

I've been using Poorboys for years and it's always given excellent protection.  Never had a hint of whiteworm on any of my diamond cut VW wheels, including 2 sets of Monzas and my current alloys.  And this is despite having kerbed the wheels on more than one occasion     I rate it very highly and see no reason to change to anything else.

To be thorough it would help to have the wheels off a few times a year, but not essential.  If the wheels are coming off for some other reason then makes sense to give the wheels a really good clean and seal before they go back on.  But it's easy enough to apply, though I can see Santiagos being a challenge for application of anything 

[JB GTI]

I reckon you could do the Pretoria's without taking them off as there is plenty of room to get your hands in but personally I prefer to take them off to see what's going on