Some wheel cleaner info...

[VETLAG72]

Thanks for taking the time, and
putting in all of the legwork, in
the compilation and presentation
of a most helpful chart. rops:


Bob

Agreed, I love the spreadsheet - it's very informative. Props to RippyD for spending time putting this together!

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[RippyD]

Acid is highly corrosive to metals when improperly used. The boring information below is purely to show why some people have an acid phobia when it comes to their wheels. I personally have the phobia due to a past bad experience years ago - the clear was flaking and the acid cleaner got trapped underneath it, when I rinsed I didn't get it all out and it corroded my aluminum wheels. The wheels on my Corvette were just shy of $5000, so I will spend a little extra time cleaning them with a neutral product and a brush to ensure that I don't pit them. To each their own

Sorry to read about your bad experience with wheel cleaner. Can you share what cleaner that was? Fewer instances, but bases will corrode metals as well (depending on several factors).

WARNING - BORING CHEMISTRY TALK BELOW
The pH scale runs from 0 to 14. Substances with a pH of less than 7 are said to be acidic. Vinegar has a pH of 3.5. Human skin has a pH of 4.5 to 6. If the substance has a pH of more than 7, it is basic. Wet cement and lye have a pH of 12 to 13. A neutral substance has a pH of 7. Pure water is pH 7. A pH of 0 is the strongest acid. A pH of 14 is the strongest base. The pH scale is logarithmic. For every whole number increase or decrease, the pH changes 10-fold! The pH of wet cement is one 1 billion times higher than the pH of skin.

Distinguishing characteristics between acids and bases include distinctions made by effects. Acids are chemical compounds that exhibit a sharp, sour taste in water solution. Acids have corrosive action on metals and turn certain blue vegetable dyes red. An acid will turn blue litmus paper red. Bases are chemicals that in solution are soapy, slippery to the touch and turn red vegetable dyes blue. Red litmus paper is turned blue by a base.

All good info. FYI, I was a chem minor in college. This means I had a little more chemistry than the average science major and know just enough to get myself in trouble. And it was about 500 years ago. I will take about it endlessly but run out of juice in 5 mins.

Acids aren't inherently worse than bases. However your point with metals is well taken. I didn't ever consider an acid getting under paint and being trapped there. Kind of perfect storm for a strong acid and metal.

Super nerdy PS: a friend of mine gave me a CRC handbook as a Christmas gift one year. Easily the best Christmas gift I've ever gotten. My kids hate me when they take HS Chemistry. I'm far to involved and "helpful."

 

[VETLAG72]

Sorry to read about your bad experience with wheel cleaner. Can you share what cleaner that was? Fewer instances, but bases will corrode metals as well (depending on several factors).


All good info. FYI, I was a chem minor in college. This means I had a _little_ more chemistry than the average science major and know just enough to get myself in trouble. And it was about 500 years ago. I will take about it endlessly but run out of juice in 5 mins.

Acids aren't inherently worse than bases. However your point with metals is well taken. I didn't ever consider an acid getting under paint and being trapped there. Kind of perfect storm for a strong acid and metal.

Super nerdy PS: a friend of mine gave me a CRC handbook as a Christmas gift one year. Easily the best Christmas gift I've ever gotten. My kids hate me when they take HS Chemistry. I'm far to involved and "helpful."

Oh wow, now you're testing my terrible memory lol. I can't remember the name, it was some super cheap stuff from Walmart about 15 years ago lol. Possibly armor all?


As for your chemistry education, you're light years ahead of me!! I have no formal education in chemistry, but I worked with chemicals daily for years. Please know I wasn't trying to argumentative, just doing a bad job of explaining my thoughts lol. Had the cleaner not been trapped under the clear, all would have been fine!

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[RippyD]

I wasn't trying to argumentative, just doing a bad job of explaining my thoughts lol. Had the cleaner not been trapped under the clear, all would have been fine!

Didn't take it that way at all. That was a situation I wouldn't have ever thought of. Really good to hear about all the crazy stuff that can go wrong. Probably should not have mentioned the chem edu. It's looong forgotten and really just makes think I know what I'm talking about when I don't.

 

[RippyD]

Added a few more products and made a few corrections. I'm sure there are a few more errors in there. 56 products in there. About 65% of them have MSDS sheets available. I may try to look for more if I get the time.

Note I currently have it sorted by containing iron remover and then cost. This will change as I play with it. Please feel free to sort in a way that makes sense for you. I removed the "iron remover" label from the Duragloss product for consistency. I believe it has an iron remover but they don't mention this, there's no color change, and haven't tested it for effectiveness next to others.

 

[briarpatch]

Thanks for compiling this. Once I started using McKees Wheel Coating, my clean up is soap and water. I've not used a dedicated wheel cleaner for quite a while.

 

[RippyD]

Largely the same for me. My rinseless wash is my wheel cleaner for coated wheels (or Sonax Rim Shielded). I will occasionally use whatever wheel cleaner I have if wheels look particularly bad. That allows me to hose off 90% of bad brake dust. This is fairly rare. I use iron remover on my wheels about 2x per year, which seems more than adequate.

 

[RippyD]

Got stuck at the airport and did a little more work on this. Added listed ingredients and percentages so I could quickly compare what has what No way this was worth the effort, but once I started I just kept going. Ignore that info if you don't care. I was moving quickly - no doubt there are typos. Also added a few more products

NO chemistry was done here. Web lookup only. I guessed at purpose of compounds based on common usage in cleaners.

Also locked the top rows and left colums so it may scroll oddly if you're not used to it. Sort however you like.