So I get home from work today and just as I am getting out of the car I realize that my passenger side rim/tire are covered a thick black paint-like substance. I touched it with my finger and have concluded that it is oil or grease. It splashed all around the rim, the tire, and also all around below the passenger door. I immediately tried to use a towel to clean it off, however all I did was smear the grease all around. I then took it to a high end car wash nearby.. it cleaned some of the grease off, however, there is still A LOT left... does anyone have any idea what the heck I can use to clean this stuff???? PLEASE HELP!! THANKS!

 

Eeek!
Start mild and work up. I'd say you need to remove as much of any big "glops" as you can "manually" first with soft rags. Then I'd try (in this order)

1. Very soapy HOT water (dish soap). Normally dish soap is a no no but this is not "normally"
2. Simple Green (full strength) or some kind of citrus degreaser.
3. Bug and tar remover
4. Rags soaked very liberally with WD-40. (Yup, fight oil with oil)
5. Last resort, gasoline soaked rags. This will work but is really dangerous for many obvious reasons. Dangerous for you to contact, breath and hard to dispose of rags. I'm putting it out there as a last resort. Auto paint is generally pretty resistant to gas and it will cut grease very well.

What ever you do you are going to need to thoroughly wash and wax the areas affected once the grease is gone. And keep as much "cleaning splash" off your disks and calipers as you can.

Also, wait for others to answer. There may be some much easier ways with less toxic products. It's probably not as urgent as you think. It's just extra undercoating for now (unless it's in the treads of your tires)

One more thing... if it is a front wheel there is a possibility that a CV boot split and grease splattered out of it onto your rims and then the wells and side panels. I've seen it (on an old Corolla) so you really should make sure. Is it inside the rims ?

 

its on the rear drivers side tire/rim. its on one part of the tire, then it looks like it just splashed onto the rim and in the spokes.

 

definitely check your CV boot though. That's what happen in my 2000 SSEi when mine let go. If you catch it quick enough you can replace the boot and not the whole joint.

 

It sounds like axle grease or something akin to it. Adobeman is on the right track, but skip the soap and water...it won't do a thing.

The most important thing you can do is WIPE, RUB, and SMEAR as much off manually as possible. Citrus degreaser is something I wouldn't have thought of, but it may do the trick. WD-40 is probably too light of a solvent to work, at least initially, as is gasoline. The trick is to start with a heavier hydrocarbon solvent, removing as much as possible, then work to lighter materials that will wipe off easier and eventually evaporate.

I'd start with a 49¢ quart of motor oil, liberally applied. That should help reduce the viscosity of to a point where you can remove much of the grease, then move to something lighter, like a WD-40.

Sorry for the brain dump, but you might even want to try—with caution—a power washer to help mechanically remove as much as possible.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

damn... if its a damaged cv boot... how much would something like that run me to get fixed?

thanks a lot for all of your help guys.. great people on this forum!

 

okay... so i went out with a flashlight because I was so anxious to find out what the hell happened.......the cv boot looked perfectly fine... as far as cleaning, first thing i did was try WD40, simply because its the only thing i had readily available. I left it on for about 3 minutes, and to my delight, i wiped right off. the rims were very simple to clean off, the body a bit more difficult. By difficult, I mean just a few extra swipes and it was all out. The only part that I had difficulty with was the tire. It didnt look like much came off of the tire, however I will try again in the daylight. Its almost 10pm here and there really wasnt much light on the driveway. Thanks for your help everyone! If you have any good ideas for the tires, let me know! Thanks!