Cleaning wheels - what is the trick I'm missing?

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ShineMyCar

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I've worked on 3 really badly neglected sets of factory painted Aluminum wheels lately. Started using Eagle One product I picked up locally. Today I tried the Griots HD wheel cleaner.

Sprayed Griots HD cleaner liberally, and let it set. It dissolved some of the grime, but never changed to the reddish color I had seen on the product pic linked below.

GR-heavy-duty-wheel-cleaner-4.jpg


Had a sweet smell ( I expected a more chemical scent for a Heavy Duty Cleaner ) and I had to agitate the heck out of the wheel to clean it. Using HD wheel cleaner multiple applications, auto soap, some of the old Eagle One product I had ( because it was cheaper and I wasn't going to waste all the Griots on one set of wheels ).

I got em clean ( more through grunt work than chemical cleaner ), but I can't imagine anybody who ran a detail business would go through that process with every customer who got a detail while turning a profit.... ???

What am I missing? any thoughts?
 
Ive heard the Flash Brown Royal will make it easier. What tool do you use to "scrub" with?
 
sometimes its the cleaner and sometimes its your method. I would go and buy a daytona wheel brush to get in between the brake disc. Spray a good wheel cleaner on let soak for 30 seconds, scrub and hose off.
 
If you are looking for a product to spray on, then rinse clean you are out of luck. On a wash it typically takes me 45 minutes to clean the tires, wheels and fenderwells alone (and thats not including removing wheel weight glue)

This is why I don't offer car washes unless someone is willing to pay $100+
 
dcjredline said:
Ive heard the Flash Brown Royal will make it easier. What tool do you use to "scrub" with?
Click to expand...

I used Autozone's wheel scrubber. It looked somewhat like this

DSC02140.JPG


but my brush is a little more dense with the bristles.

I wasn't able to remove all the grime without using a cotton t-shirt rag and getting my fingers in between the tough spots with a little cleaning product on the cotton rag.

I was not expecting a spray and rinse off, but did expect a spray, agitation, rinse based on the reviews I had read on the Griot's HD wheel cleaner. The product had lots of positive reviews, one comparing it to a much more costly sonax wheel cleaner.
 
Flash Gordon said:
If you are looking for a product to spray on, then rinse clean you are out of luck. On a wash it typically takes me 45 minutes to clean the tires, wheels and fenderwells alone (and thats not including removing wheel weight glue)
Click to expand...

I probably spent that time cleaning the 4 Wheels without dressing or fenderwells.
 
ShineMyCar said:
I used Autozone's wheel scrubber. It looked somewhat like this

...

but my brush is a little more dense with the bristles.

I wasn't able to remove all the grime without using a cotton t-shirt rag and getting my fingers in between the tough spots with a little cleaning product on the cotton rag.

I was not expecting a spray and rinse off, but did expect a spray, agitation, rinse based on the reviews I had read on the Griot's HD wheel cleaner. The product had lots of positive reviews, one comparing it to a much more costly sonax wheel cleaner.
Click to expand...

:eek: That brush has shinning metal ready to bite your wheels! Be careful!

Like Flash said, don't expect a simple solution when the wheels are really dirty. If the grime is baked on, you will have to scrub a lot and use good products: IronX and TarX (for iron particles and for hydrocarbon particles, respectively).

And Sonax is for sure better than Griot's...
 
I bought about 25 of those Autozone wheel brushes when they went on clearence for a penny apiece.....thats about all they are worth too :D

Yea, cleaning the rims is a real bummer, but they totally make or break the outcome of your detail
 
+1
Flash Gordon said:
I bought about 25 of those Autozone wheel brushes when they went on clearence for a penny apiece.....thats about all they are worth too :D

Yea, cleaning the rims is a real bummer, but they totally make or break the outcome of your detail
Click to expand...
 
Sometimes you just come across those difficult wheels that don't ever seem to come clean.
 
dcjredline said:
No sorry, I agree that the wheels make the detail!! lol Oh you were teasing me :props:
Click to expand...

Oh, then you're smarter then me. When I found out those things were reduced to a penny apiece a spent a whole day driving around to all the AZ's in town. Now I have a mountain of worthless brushes and a dry gas tank :o
 
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