Which wheel cleaner?

JHL88 said:
I have some DP wheel cleaner on the way here. Hopefully its good
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I just recently tried three products from DP, all three were great so very good chance you'll love it:dblthumb2:
 
hernandez.art13 said:
I've been doing some reasearch because I too am shopping around for a wheel cleaner. My main requirement would be for it to be a great all around.

Meguiars D140 looks like a great choice until you have to deal with aluminum wheels. I did some searching and I ran across a product called Brown Royal. It's low cost and effectiveness on all wheels seems like a great choice.

Does anybody have any thoughts on Brown Royal?

Brown Royal Wheel Cleaner Test - YouTube
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Looks promising :dblthumb2:
For wheels that's really dirty my Meguiar's D-160 Wheel Brightner works good too:dblthumb2:
 
HateSwirls said:
Looks promising :dblthumb2:
For wheels that's really dirty my Meguiar's D-160 Wheel Brightner works good too:dblthumb2:
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I think... you might have meant D140..., Honestly Meguiar's Would be my go to product. I got excited when I first started reading about D140..., but then I read that it shouldn't be used on aluminum wheels. So that's why I kept searching and found Brown Royal..., From what I read it can be used on all wheels.
 
hernandez.art13 said:
I think... you might have meant D140..., Honestly Meguiar's Would be my go to product. I got excited when I first started reading about D140..., but then I read that it shouldn't be used on aluminum wheels. So that's why I kept searching and found Brown Royal..., From what I read it can be used on all wheels.
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Yes, DDDDDDDDD140.
So many freaking numbers to remember. Lol
Yeah the downside on the D140 is it can't be used on aluminum wheels.
I'm always careful when cleaning aluminum wheels, very careful.
 
So while attending one of the Meguiar's 101 classes. Michael Stoops said that they had a presentation or demo don't remember exactly. Well he said (not trying to quote btw) that they had talking about a wheel cleaner and how it wasn't supposed to be used on aluminum wheels.

So they wanted to show what happens if you do. So they brought out Barry Meguiar's BelAir and went to town on his aluminum wheels. I guess it stained them, which they purposely did then after they polished the aluminum back. I guess Barry Meguiar found this out weeks or something like that later...

so my question is, if it were a customers car and this did happen, could you not just polish the aluminum back...?

https://www.google.com/search?q=bar...QDg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1184&bih=542#imgdii=_

View attachment 25197




seen the car in person and man was it nice...
 
also it says the Meguiar's D140 can't be used on Anodized wheels. I wasn't really sure what anodized wheels were so I did some more research.

Found these

https://www.google.com/search?q=ano...pIKoAg&sqi=2&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1184&bih=542

They looked the finish on the wheels my cousin has on his car. So I called him and he said they are Varrstoen brand

https://www.google.com/search?q=var...2010%2F01%2Fvolk-te37-vs-varrstoen%2F;310;376

These are my cousins wheels, are they anodized? He called me back to get another detail actually. He said his car friends thought that he had gotten them repainted =D





^Before



This made me want to figure out a good choice as CheekyAge is looking for..., D140 seems like a good choice still actually...

if they are aluminum then you could just do a small test spot and if anything polish it back out... as far as anodized if those are anodized then it seems to be pretty obvious how anodized looks. So I am imagining an APC would be an ideal choice...

Anything I am missing?
 
I highly suggest using a non acidic wheel cleaner first to cut as much grime as possible even if agitation is needed. I would rely on megs WB as my last resort. I'm sorry that's just good practice IMO.
 
Megs Brightener is pretty mild when it comes to this type of wheel cleaner. There are going to be any number of stronger HF type cleaners which will be more effective again. The reason they won't really be discussed on here is because they are just not suitable for sale to the general public, such is the hazard that they present to users (i.e. they are genuinely life threatening).

Wes Bremec said:
I highly suggest using a non acidic wheel cleaner first to cut as much grime as possible even if agitation is needed. I would rely on megs WB as my last resort. I'm sorry that's just good practice IMO.
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You have to be cautious, even with non-acid. The stronger (and often cheaper to manufacture) products are going to be based on sodium hydroxide (caustic). At any strong level, this is an absolute no-no on many more delicate finishes. I would specifically recommend against the use of such a cleaner on aluminium wheels and would realistically only have people use it on powder coat. There are dramatically friendlier non-acid wheel cleaners but identifying one is nearly impossible without some specialist knowledge (it is common that 'safe' actually just means 'not as bad as acid', rather than genuinely safe). This is where the pH neutral type products have come in. IMO they are rarely necessary in terms of safety with a finish, they are less effective and they cost more. BUT, they get over the hurdle of pH and the lack of understanding about whether or not it is harmful to your work.
 
I think I am going to go with D143 over d140. After making calls both seem to be a good choice. However, the D143 seems to more ideal for tire cleaning too.

I was looking for something that could get the wheels really clean. Plus being able to clean the tires off any dressings or grime would be a nice option to have. I could then apply the tire dressing and wax the wheels too.

Side Note: My CarPro PERL, Optimum Tire Gloss and Chemical Guys VRP tire dressings came in yesterday :)

I am thinking about taking off the Meguiar's high endurance tire gel with Meg's Wheel and Tire brightener off my tires. Plus I want to give it another pass on my wheels because my Daytona SpeedMaster Trio brush set also came in. :)

I also want to get the Ultima Tire and Trim Guard just to test it out also :D

I should just use one of each on each tire and do a 4x4 side comparison. That sounds fun :D
 
Well after doing research I went with this, seems to be a good all around and also for regular maintenance washes. Maybe not for every week but give or take... :dblthumb2:

Meguiars D143 Wheel and Tire Cleaner

View attachment 25262
 
hernandez.art13 said:
I've been doing some reasearch because I too am shopping around for a wheel cleaner. My main requirement would be for it to be a great all around.

Meguiars D140 looks like a great choice until you have to deal with aluminum wheels. I did some searching and I ran across a product called Brown Royal. It's low cost and effectiveness on all wheels seems like a great choice.

Does anybody have any thoughts on Brown Royal?
Click to expand...

I have a bottle of Brown Royal. This stuff's strength is comparable to sonax. HOWEVER!!!! DO NOT USE ON BARE ALUMINUM!!! I etched the crap out of my buddy's workmeister wheels and had to get them repolished. Was a very expensive lesson learned. Otherwise, Brown Royal cleans amazing on clear coated wheels at about 1/4 the price of sonax. Honestly, Now I just use car wash soap to clean my wheels and it does just fine. I only bust out the big guns when the wheels are in bad shape.
 
I was considering the Brown Royal stuff, it's pretty inexpensive but probably around the same as the Meguiar's D143. I got it on Amazon for about $21 + $10 for shipping and I like the fact that it is designed for wheels and tires.

With all the Detail brushes I have, I have the Mothers, Wheel Woolies, Speedmaster Trio and a kit AG sells. I literally have to look for dirt now lol... Well I guess that's the point of investing the money in products and tools. (mostly tools for me, I like to just buy one product in bulk)

Well the point seems to have them clean and well I have seemed to accomplished that. Overall I have some pretty clean nice looking wheels. I also feel that I have been able to take on customer cars with a lot of ease.

The hardest part for me was struggling to get their neglected wheels and tires clean. Until I tried Meguiar's Hot Wheel And Rims cleaner and after that I decided to buy it in bulk. Which lead to me Meguiar's D143.
 
Any of you gents & ladies heard of a product called Prosoco 600?

Found this while looking for something to rid of baked on brake dust:

From:
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The wheels I picked up are of similar condition to the wheels depicted. The stuff is on there good. This looks promising. I'm guessing it's stronger than Meg's Brightener.

Source: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...hlight=prosoco
 
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