Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

[akimel]

I think I have my tire and wheel cleaning process down pretty good now, and I thought I'd share it with you and see what you think.

1) Hose off wheel well, tire, and wheel.

2) Spray the wheel well with Megs' All Purpose Cleaner Plus.

3) Spray the tire with Eimann Fabrik Tire Cleaner.

4) Brush the wheel well with a cheap brush I purchased from AutoZone.

5) Brush the tire with Megs' Versa-Angle Tire Brush.

6) Hose off.

7) Spray the rim barrel with Megs' All Purpose Cleaner Plus.

8) Apply car shampoo to the wheel face with Montana Original Boar’s Hair 20" Wheel Brush. I prefer NXT Car Wash as my wheel shampoo. It seems to remove grime and brake dust better than other shampoo products I have used so far. Maybe that's just my imagination, though. In any case, I usually do not need to use a special wheel cleaner.

9) Brush the rim barrel with Megs' Spoke Wheel Brush, dipping the brush into the shampoo solution as needed.

10) Brush the wheel face and lug nuts with Swissvax Wheel Brush, dipping the brush into the shampoo solution as needed.

11) Hose off.

Repeat with each tire.

Cheers,
Al

[SHYNEMAN123]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Looks great !
Very nice adding links to products used, That is a big help.

Thanks

[akimel]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Oops. I forgot a step in the process. Step #4 should be: Brush the wheel wells with a cheap brush purchased from AutoZone.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Hey Al,

Thanks for the excellent write-up and suggestions!

For tire cleaning, the best product I have ever used, I hate to say this, was Eagle One Tire Cleaner. It is now discontinued, but it worked awesome! I still have a few bottles left as I bought a few cases of it when it became hard to get; so now I use it only when really needed.

Meguiar's Safe D-Greaser, and Meguiar's Ctiri-Gel Cleaner were/are another favorite for cleaning tires. Sadly, both of these are discontinued as well.

Tim

[3Fitty]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

I welcome your suggestions.

Cheers,
Al

Well done Al. A very comprehensive job, although I do think you are missing a "beer drinking step". Maybe it is just assumed, but I think for the sake of the noobs, you should have included it expressly.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Great process, thanks for sharing, Al.

[Tuck91]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

My process varies depending on the condition of the wheel, tire and wheelwell. Aggressive chemicals such as Wheel Brightener and Super Degreaser may be needed as well as various brushes. Sometimes I will use a pressure washer as well, and sometimes all I need is soap amd water.

So it depends.

[JLMex]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Oops. I forgot a step in the process. Step #4 should be: Brush the wheel wells with a cheap brush purchased from AutoZone.

Really great process!! I always have problems cleaning my wheels (one of my main problems is finding good brushes in local stores), specially the wheel wells... what type of "cheap brush" did you use? Is it like a tire brush, or a softer one ?

Also, the APC+ you used, was it diluted? And what ratio? 4:1 or something?

Thanks for sharing!

[akimel]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Really great process!! I always have problems cleaning my wheels (one of my main problems is finding good brushes in local stores), specially the wheel wells... what type of "cheap brush" did you use? Is it like a tire brush, or a softer one ?

The cheapee brush I use on my S2K wheel wells looks like this:



There's not a lot of space between the tire and the fender, but the brush I have slides right through the narrow space and works okay. It's not optimal but I haven't found anything yet that works better. And it only cost me two bucks. It reminds me of a brush one might use in a toilet.

Also, the APC+ you used, was it diluted? And what ratio? 4:1 or something?

I use a 7:1 or 8:1 ratio. As I recall, Tim Lingor suggested this ratio as a good all-around cleaner.

[cnfowler]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

...For tire cleaning, the best product I have ever used, I hate to say this, was Eagle One Tire Cleaner...

I agree. I loved that stuff. It was the ONLY wheel and tire cleaner I would use until it was discontinued.

Colin

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Looks to be a very effective and safe way to go, regardless of wheel type. APC also works very well as both a wheel well cleaner and tire cleaner - spraying onto both surfaces and letting dwell for a while will reveal all manner of gunk falling out of the wheel wells and plenty of brown washing away from the tire sidewall.

Still, you've done a great job documenting a process that continues to frustrate many people, so kudos to you, Al!!!!

[the_invisible]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Wow, Al, that's quite a process for just cleaning wheels! Do the S2K brakes dust so much that you have to wash it so many times? I thought they swaped out less agressive pads on the AP2 to reduce dusting.

Your method is really good. You could serve salad on your wheels

[akimel]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Wow, Al, that's quite a process for just cleaning wheels! Do the S2K brakes dust so much that you have to wash it so many times? I thought they swaped out less agressive pads on the AP2 to reduce dusting.

Actually, they only get washed once. I just use different products on different locations: APC on wheel well and rim barrel, Eimann Fabric on the tire, NXT shampoo on the wheel face. I go with the gentler car wash solution on the wheel face because I don't want to remove whatever sealant may still be on it. If I'm not worried about removing sealant, I suppose I could just as easily go with the APC. Hmmm ...

[3Fitty]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Hey Al, I was just wondering... have you given the P21s Gel Wheel Cleaner a try?

That was the one product which interests me, because it is non-acidic, safe for all finishes, yet seems pretty effective (but not very cheap). Any thoughts?

[akimel]

Re: Cleaning wheels and tires -- my amateur process

Hey Al, I was just wondering... have you given the P21s Gel Wheel Cleaner a try?

That was the one product which interests me, because it is non-acidic, safe for all finishes, yet seems pretty effective (but not very cheap). Any thoughts?

No, I haven't used it yet. But my friend Dan Wendell has. He uses it all the time and really likes it.

Perhaps because I wash our vehicles fairly frequently, I simply do not need anything much stronger than NXT car shampoo to effectively clean the wheel face. Maybe I'm doing something wrong ...