Bilt Hamber Atom-Mac

[Nigelo]

The discs on my car always seemed to oxidise within seconds when having any contact with water (particularly during washing). Even when I used the dryer, rusty-coloured water would still drip down making the alloys look like they weren't washed at all.

Going for a quick drive would just see the residue all over the wheels again - I'd have to wash one alloy, drive and use the brakes, then repeat for each other wheel, then prevent any water getting into the discs again.

Decided to buy some Bilt Hamber Atom-Mac, which is a corrosion inhibitor, and brake disc corrosion is mentioned on its uses.

It's only 300ml, but is made up at a 5% dilution so will last a while.

So went out to wash the car there, misted on a coating before any water went near the car, did the usual summer wash (very dilute everything - tfr, snowfoam/shampoo, purge on the alloys, spray-wax, deionised water rinse). I misted another coat of the Atom-Mac after rinsing the alloys.

I'd say it worked 95% ....

There is a little brown tinge to the disc bells, but I think it'll take a bit of mechanical cleaning to get them back to silver. The alloys themselves are much much better, but I can still see brake dust on the shields, so need to get alloys off for a proper scrub.

If your having similar issues, would recommend this product!

 

[davyk31]

With gloss black wheels something like this is interesting.

does it need a spray on the disks both before and after washing?

 

[Nigelo]

With gloss black wheels something like this is interesting.

does it need a spray on the disks both before and after washing?

I took no chances and did a 'before and after' but it seems one or the other is possibly all you need, rather than both.

Might depend on whether you can avoid getting water on the alloys until you are washing them individually. I'd try just 'before' to begin with.

 

[Coog]

How are the brakes afterwards?

 

[Nigelo]

How are the brakes afterwards?

Will let you know soon on that one. Any other online reviews seem to suggest that you no longer get that binding when you wash a car with the handbrake on, but don't mention any other brake-stuff.

 

['96dc2]

Bit of Wd-40 would have done the same job.

 

[Nigelo]

Bit of Wd-40 would have done the same job.

You don't happen to work in the car repair industry, do you?

 

['96dc2]

You don't happen to work in the car repair industry, do you?

Thinking about going into vehicle maintenance.

 

[Martyn]

I found an American product that cleans the wheels and protects the discs at the same time.. I went to buy it and they stopped making it.
I see the guy that does the obsessed garage uploads on YouTube was going to start making it again - but nothing yet.

I am definitely going to give this a try!
Great post,

 

[Nigelo]

I found an American product that cleans the wheels and protects the discs at the same time.. I went to buy it and they stopped making it.
I see the guy that does the obsessed garage uploads on YouTube was going to start making it again - but nothing yet.

I am definitely going to give this a try!
Great post,

Lol, if the obsessed Garage fella starts making it, it'll be £80 a bottle, but the bottle will be made from some polypropylene with a 'unique' level of silicates to give it some BS properties.

My favourite yet was his replacement screw for the top of his snowfoam bottle, or maybe the $$$ he was looking for a quick release + funnel for that same bottle.

I wonder could you add a little atom-mac to their wheel cleaner, 2 jobs in one.

 

[davyk31]

How careful do you need to be when spraying? Just wondering if you spray it after washing and rinsing does it not also get over the insides of the clean rim and mark it?

 

[Martyn]

Lol, if the obsessed Garage fella starts making it, it'll be £80 a bottle, but the bottle will be made from some polypropylene with a 'unique' level of silicates to give it some BS properties.

My favourite yet was his replacement screw for the top of his snowfoam bottle, or maybe the $$$ he was looking for a quick release + funnel for that same bottle.

I wonder could you add a little atom-mac to their wheel cleaner, 2 jobs in one.

I did suggest to Ross @Big Pimp that this might be a good all in one product idea.

 

[Nigelo]

How careful do you need to be when spraying? Just wondering if you spray it after washing and rinsing does it not also get over the insides of the clean rim and mark it?

Yeah, I wiped down the barrels and faces after as I was applying some alloy wheel sealant, so not 100% on that. They do mention spraying it into voids to protect against corrosion with no mention of rinsing, but then, it wouldn't really matter in those areas.

@Coog brakes were absolutely fine the next morning, no difference at all.

 

[Cookies]

I've been using Atom Mac for around a year now, and it's worked really well. I've tried it a varying solutions, but obviously the stronger (5%) the better for preventing flash corrosion. I usually spray the discs after washing each wheel.

One of the great things about it is that it can also be used to neutralise road salt in the winter months. BH themselves have said you can leave a tray of Atom Mac under a stored classic car, and the 'migrating particles' will offer protection against that Barn Find look.

BTW - I've the litre bottle, and IIRC it was around 35 quid. But lasts ages due to the dilution rate.

Cheers

Cooks

 

[Nigelo]

I've been using Atom Mac for around a year now, and it's worked really well. I've tried it a varying solutions, but obviously the stronger (5%) the better for preventing flash corrosion. I usually spray the discs after washing each wheel.

One of the great things about it is that it can also be used to neutralise road salt in the winter months. BH themselves have said you can leave a tray of Atom Mac under a stored classic car, and the 'migrating particles' will offer protection against that Barn Find look.

BTW - I've the litre bottle, and IIRC it was around 35 quid. But lasts ages due to the dilution rate.

Cheers

Cooks

A lot of Bilt Hamber stuff is great value when you look at how well it dilutes!

 

[big_pete]

That's a fantastic product. The brakes on M cars are some of the worst I have seen for surface corrosion after a wash. Ordered

 

[Nigelo]

That's a fantastic product. The brakes on M cars are some of the worst I have seen for surface corrosion after a wash. Ordered

Yeah they are terrible! It must be whatever the composition of the discs is, or possibly pad deposits. When washing it only takes seconds to go from grey to brown.

 

[davyk31]

Might give this a shot but not sure when to apply in my wash routine. I wash wheels first and apply snow foam while washing them. Then power hose the foam off including rinsing the how clean wheels. Then wash the body, power hose off and at this stage the wheels/discs might get a little wet. Then over the whole car and wheels with filtered DI water.

So is it a spray of this stuff after the DI rinse but I’m thinking the corrosion may have started before that stage perhaps.

 

[300trophy]

Might give this a shot but not sure when to apply in my wash routine. I wash wheels first and apply snow foam while washing them. Then power hose the foam off including rinsing the how clean wheels. Then wash the body, power hose off and at this stage the wheels/discs might get a little wet. Then over the whole car and wheels with filtered DI water.

So is it a spray of this stuff after the DI rinse but I’m thinking the corrosion may have started before that stage perhaps.

Buy it and experiment a bit, first time using it try applying it to each wheel but at different stages of the wash process to see which works best for you.

 

[davyk31]

Ordered this and have used a couple of times. Is it meant to be applied right at the end after rinsing the wheels and thus they have already been wet for a while?
Yesterday I sprayed it on the discs before doing anything so they were dry. Then did my usual power wash rinse of the wheels but wonder Does this just wash the product off again? Then I washed wheels, did the body etc, power rinse, rinse with Di water and then this product on the disks again. Hard to say it did a lot to be honest but it was my old runaround car so the disks aren’t perfect. Need to try on one of the better cars.

 

[Todd]

Ordered some of this to give it a go!

 

[Nigelo]

Ordered this and have used a couple of times. Is it meant to be applied right at the end after rinsing the wheels and thus they have already been wet for a while?
Yesterday I sprayed it on the discs before doing anything so they were dry. Then did my usual power wash rinse of the wheels but wonder Does this just wash the product off again? Then I washed wheels, did the body etc, power rinse, rinse with Di water and then this product on the disks again. Hard to say it did a lot to be honest but it was my old runaround car so the disks aren’t perfect. Need to try on one of the better cars.

I spritz a fair bit on before any water goes near the discs, although, I did whack some on after I absentmindedly started washing the alloys then remembered about it..... It still was grand.

I do a much lighter spray after the final rinse too.

 

[Todd]

Arrived this morning. Will give it a go at the weekend

 

[Nickyyy]

How does this differ from taking your car a drive after you wash it.

 

[davyk31]

The difference is the car stay clean rather than getting dusty and it’s even worse if it’s been raining when your clean car gets dirty again.