Wheel coating
High-temperature ceramic on faces and barrels. Brake dust wipes straight off.
What wheel coating does
A wheel coating is a ceramic layer made to take the heat from your brakes. It bonds to the wheel finish and leaves a slick surface that brake dust, road grime and tar struggle to grip.
Brake dust then rinses off with water and a soft brush. You no longer need strong wheel cleaners or hard scrubbing. The coating also holds up against the salt air and fine dust that dull a wheel finish over time.
Why wheels need a different coating
Brakes heat the wheels far more than the sun heats the paint. Hot brake dust contains metal particles that etch into the finish if they sit there. A paint coating is not made for that heat, so we use a high-temperature ceramic on wheels.
How we coat wheels
We take the wheels off the car so we can reach the inner barrels and the backs of the spokes. Those areas collect the most brake dust and are the hardest to clean at home.
- Wheels removed from the car
- Deep clean and iron fallout removal on faces and barrels
- Tar and old tyre dressing removed
- Faces polished where the finish allows
- High-temperature ceramic applied to faces and barrels
- Wheels refitted and torqued to the manufacturer's setting
Which wheels can be coated
The coating suits painted, powder-coated and diamond-cut alloys. We check bare polished and chrome wheels at inspection before we agree to coat them.
New wheels are the easiest to coat, because there is no etched brake dust to remove first. Older wheels with a pitted or peeling finish need refurbishing before a coating is worth applying.
Looking after coated wheels
Rinse the wheels when you wash the car and use a pH-neutral shampoo. Avoid acid wheel cleaners, because they wear the coating down. Dust and salt air build up on wheels quickly in Malta, and a coated wheel rinses clean without scrubbing.