These alloy wheels have some kind of glue or cement on them on the center ring. 3 out of 4 of them have it, and it seems it was put there intentionally by whoever owned this car. I tried to wirebrush this crap off, but all that did was make the wheels look even worse, and busted up a perfectly good wire brush. Any idea what this is and how i might get it off?

 

looks to me as though someone broke the center caps and decided to glue them in.

 

that would make sense, but why would someone put glue along the outside? When I wirebrushed a little section it killed the finish, it looks gross. I give up...

 

Kinda looks like some sort of double sided foam tape. Try getting some label adhesive remover from the auto parts store....some is citrus based and wont harn finishes. Also try an auto body paint supply store, they should have the correct stuff.

 

this stuff isnt tape of any sort. Its definately some kind of cement and the little I was able to remove powdered off. I think what I need to do is get new center caps and somehow change these but I dont even know if that is possible.

 

The stuff you are seeing is corosion. This a common problem with plastic centers. The only fix is to replace them.

 

The centers are metal...Still, Id like to replace them if possible.