How clean does the rim have to be for the coatings to bond properly? My wheels are old, so they've had a lot of dirt and grime on them over the years. I cleaned the wheels with sonax full effect, let them dry, and then cleaned everything with carpro eraser before applying a coating. I tried this on 1 rim and applied the coating. Should I try doing a better job while cleaning the rest of my wheels?





It seems to be working

 

Honestly, your faces look great, and if it were me, I doubt I would be overly concerned about the barrels on those wheels since it is so hard to clean the barrels of multi-piece wheels when they are installed on the car.

If it bothers you, you'll likely have to try a more aggressive approach than Sonax FE to remove whatever is left on the barrels.

 

My main concern is if there is still dirt the coating wouldn't bond. I want the barrels coated because when I wash the car water builds up in the wheels, and I figured the coating will help the water bead and come off of the rim when I use a blower to dry the rims.

I'll just stick with what I'm doing. I don't want to risk something more aggressive touching the raw polished parts of the wheel.