All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

[roushstage2]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

Correct me if I am wrong, just for information's sake, but there is one or two wheel cleaners that can stain the driveway?

[CieraSL]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

That reminds me, can All Season Dressing or Hyper Dressing stain the driveway?

[Mike Pennington]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

Correct me if I am wrong, just for information's sake, but there is one or two wheel cleaners that can stain the driveway?

Just about any wheel cleaner may have the ability to "clean" the driveway where it runs off.

The question(s) is, how strong is the wheel cleaner, is it diluted properly if it is a concentrate, and the stronger each it is, the more "cleaning / whitening" you may see on a driveway.

And when judging the strength of a wheel cleaner, you can't just look at pH, because that doesn't tell the entire story. There are acids that have the same pH, but will react totally different to brake dust and/or even concrete for that matter

Just to clarify, we do make 2 different "All Wheel" cleaners.

1) Hot Rims All Wheel Cleaner - Safe on all factory wheels, but not safe on anodized or uncoated aluminum.

2) Gold Class All Wheel Cleaner - Less aggressive than Hot Rims All Wheel Cleaner and truly safe on all wheels.


Here is an idea / suggestion to help minimize the possible staining. Always wet down the area beneath your wheels before you begin to spray the wheel cleaner onto the wheel. This way, when it runs off, it will be diluted and helps the situation.

That reminds me, can All Season Dressing or Hyper Dressing stain the driveway?

As odd as this may sound, when are dealing with tire dressings, it appears as they stain because you see those 1/2 moon shaped white areas. Well, that area is actually "waterproofed" so to speak. That area is just dry, as in the water is not absorbing into the concrete but gives the illusion it is stained....

[Andrew C.]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

It's Just a fun filled day full of new info on wheel/tire applications to driveways here on MOL

[G_S_DB]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

It's Just a fun filled day full of new info on wheel/tire applications to driveways here on MOL

Maybe they should create a new forum subsection just for driveways
- Driveway Detailing 101
- Driveway Detailing by Hand
- Driveway Detailing by Machine
- Driveway Detailing for $

[Tuck91]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

My driveway is pretty bad.

[G_S_DB]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

UPDATE: Not a stain...

I hit the white spot with pressure washer and it instantly disappeared. It didn't put up a fight and pretty much just floated away.


In the pic below, you will see the large clean area is where the white "stain" was from original post. The area above that was to show the difference between clean concrete and the stain (or "super deep clean" as Mike put it).




The next test was to see if the mystery substance could be brushed away, see exhibit #2: Before



And exhibit #3: After



So in conclusion... The mystery spot was the result of a dried chemical leaving a residue behind after the cleaning process and not a stain (clean or otherwise) in the concrete.

The prosectution rests...

But, I guess the moral of the story is that I should have just gotten the pressure washer from the beginning and not bothered everyone.

Sorry

[the_invisible]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

Interesting. Thanks for posting the results. It still looks like the concrete has been etched somewhat, which isn't all that bad. Next time you seal your concrete, consider using concrete etcher (may not be legal in your area however).

[G_S_DB]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

Interesting. Thanks for posting the results. It still looks like the concrete has been etched somewhat, which isn't all that bad. Next time you seal your concrete, consider using concrete etcher (may not be legal in your area however).

Oh after I took that last picture, I washed down all the remaining white spots and everything looks normal again. No etching.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

To avoid the problem in the future just make sure to rinse the area clean immediately after use. Even a normal hose should do the trick if you get to it before it dries.

Mark

[Andrew C.]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

Not trying to get too technical but I think that All wheel cleaner has Oxalic Acid in it. Oxalic Acid has a crystallized form. It is possible that the white residue left over is the Oxalic Acid that was in the wheel cleaner, just in a small crystallized form.




Then again... I could be completely wrong

[the_invisible]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

Back in the days, I removed rust from my race cars chassis using oxalic acid. As a reducing agent, HOOCCOOH changes the chemical compound of rust on metal by effectively altering its chemical composition in the process known as oxidation reduction reaction. It is also a great driveway cleaner.

In theory, if oxalic acid is used in the AWC, I would expect the rust of which AWC is applied to turn rust into a grey or black color.

[Jossy92]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

I guess I now know the difference between the words "stain" and "residue".

It's hard to see the difference in a picture, never considered the residue option.

Next time I let some polish dry on my trim and then allow it to set up in the sun, I can't say that the polish stained my trim. I will give it some "passion" comparable to a pressure washer and a brush.

Thanks for sharing your mistake, I am going to wet down the areas under my wheels before I hit them a with cleaner from now on.

[G_S_DB]

Re: All Wheel Cleaner Stained My Driveway

To avoid the problem in the future just make sure to rinse the area clean immediately after use. Even a normal hose should do the trick if you get to it before it dries.

Mark

Thinking back to that day, I started with the wheels before I even rinsed the car down. So that means that the driveway would have been dry also. I will definitely wet the entire area before I start next time.

Thanks everyone for your help.