Rsurfer
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- Jan 26, 2007
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IMHO...
An invaluable 'accessory' for these types of cleaning-processes:
Bob
:xyxthumbs:
Best darn tire cleaning brush I've ever used!
- Thread starter Mike Phillips
- Start date
Mike Phillips
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- Dec 5, 2022
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I'd rather take any APC and wipe my DA polisher down than scrub by hand.
When I arrived to work yesterday morning my goal started out to simple get the wheels and tires clean because we were going to take care of the rest of the exterior for our Thursday Night Project and the wheels were dull and the tires were greasy looking.
The instructions for Tuf Shine Clearcoat stated the rubber face or sidewall of the tire had to be thoroughly clean and free from any previously applied tire dressing.
I started out using the stout tire cleaning brush that comes in the Tuf Shine kit and it was working great but I was doing the work and the slime coming off the tires was very messing and not coming off without a battle.
I thought about how we use the Cyclo brushes to clean floor mats and carpet when doing interior work and stopped working by hand and switched over to machine brushing/scrubbing and I can't emphasize enough how well it worked AND took all the elbow grease out of the job.
Yeah... I'd much rather clean tires by machine and wipe my DA polisher down then work by hand. It's just too effective and does a much better job and does it much faster.
Yes it would and while I have not tired a Cyclo brush on a 3" Griot's mini polisher my guess is the tool won't have the ability to maintain rotation and oscillation and the brush will pretty much just vibrate against a surface.
Here's the key... immediately after the project, wipe the head and body of your DA polisher down with any quality All Purpose Cleaner and it cleans right up. No problems.
Won't work. You don't want to put an extension on a tool like a Porter Cable, Meguiar's G110v2 or Griot's DA Polisher, extending anything away from the spindle would cause a lot of wear to the bearings and eventually something would give.
My best guess is that it would really be wobbly at high speeds to the point it would be uncomfortable to try to actually use the tool in this type of configuration.
Yes, you bet.
Seriously, next time you have to scrub some icky tires clean, track how long and how much energy in the way of elbow grease you expend in the process and weight that against 20 to 30 seconds to wipe any residue off the exterior of your DA Polisher.
It is the least of my worries.
The Cyclo brushes use a 5/16" stud while the rotary buffer uses a 5/8" spindle. These are both male attachment systems.
IF you had a brush that would fit on a rotary it would probably work but you would want the brush to be soft like the one I used or you could and probably would scratch up the sides of your tires. Not a big deal on some tires but if you look at these TA Radials, they have a very smooth, flat face to the sidewall and could be gouged or scratched.
By the way... I LOVE the flat smooth surface of the BF Goodrich TA Radial Tires on this Monte Carlo, they are so much easier to clean and dress as compared to so many modern tires with the intricate grooves and designs in the sidewall that makes cleaning and dress a pain in the butt.
Who me? Not listening? Huh? What did you say? :dunno:
As long as a person uses a little common sense. Keep in mind I've been teaching classes on how to machine wetsand using electric DA Polishers ever since the Meguiar's Unigrit Discs were introduced in 2009 and same thing... as long as you use a little common sense you can completely and safely sand down an entire car using an electric DA polisher with a little bit of water.
In fact, I just documented this a couple of weeks ago and we shot a time-lapse video for the entire process.
Time-Lapse Video: Wetsand, Cut and Buff 1964 Malibu
Good idea to point out safety. Keep in mind, I only sprayed water AFTER I machine scrubbed the tire and then MOVED the DA Polisher either onto my detailing car or set it back behind my wash area.
Seriously, it's not an issue if you use a little common sense. This is another personal preference type of thing and as for my preference, I prefer to work by machine.
Last night, everything we did to the paint on this 1987 Monte Carlo was done by machine except for claying which was performed by hand. We even machine applied the wax as you can see by the pattern in the wax on the hood...
Detail_Dude
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Mike Phillips
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No problemo Ben... I like sharing anything that helps me and might help others...
The soft interior brush worked well on this particular design of tire. The sidewall is very flat and smooth and I was concerned that a stiffer bristle brush could actually scour or scratch the rubber surface.
For other tire designs, "yes" a more aggressive brush could be an option.
BrutalNoodle
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- Nov 5, 2012
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:laughing:
Looks like my tires & rear step pad are going to get a good scrubbing comes this weekend, all thanks to Mike!
rops:
maximus20895
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- Apr 13, 2010
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I know it is extremely unconventional and pretty much overkill, but the best tire cleaner method I have ever come across is to spray plasti-dip on the wheel (3 coats or more so it peels easily) and then peel it off.
Regardless if I clean the tire with degreaser or what ever there is a ton of dirt that comes off on the plasti-dip. The tire actually shines like it did when it was new. kinda neat.
Regardless if I clean the tire with degreaser or what ever there is a ton of dirt that comes off on the plasti-dip. The tire actually shines like it did when it was new. kinda neat.
Hades02
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- Jul 10, 2008
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No the Flex uses a different backing plate system.
cardaddy
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What I noticed in that first car shot.... Big ol' tires on the back! See guys, us old dudes were running staggered tire sizes back before it was even invented! :laughing: Although mine, in the 70's were a LOT more staggered than in that shot! I had a Comet GT that you could literally SIT on the back tires where they stuck out of the fenders. (Might have been because I had a 9" posi in it from beneath a 1970 429 Torino with a shaker hood that was about 1¼" too long on each end!!!) 
Lim3
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- Dec 7, 2012
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thats unfortunate. is there a similar style brush that fits the flex ?
BorisC
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- Mar 30, 2011
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Well I didn't plan on trying this yet but did 3 cars today using an interior brush on the PC w/ Zep orange. It worked great on 2 of the cars. 3rd one didn't clean as well as I would have liked. Maybe a stiffer brush next time. No b4 pics since I wasn't planning on doing this, just sort of happened, & to dark now for a finished pic.
It did get a little messy w/ some splatter but that's part of the fun. Clean up of the PC was no big deal. As Mike said, a little APC cleaned it right up in less than a minute.
And that's after 12 tires.c7424: I think I got dirtier than the PC.
It did get a little messy w/ some splatter but that's part of the fun. Clean up of the PC was no big deal. As Mike said, a little APC cleaned it right up in less than a minute.
And that's after 12 tires.
c7424: I think I got dirtier than the PC.Mike Phillips
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I'm kind of a "word" guy so I wouldn't choose the word "problem" to describe the issue.
I'm kind of surprised there's as much concern about "splatter" in this thread as there is?
First, if you clean tires by hand with a brush you're going to get splatter
Second, if you wash a car the way I wash cars it's a complete non-issue because I wash wheels and tires first ans shared in both my how-to books, my how-to video with Matt Steel and in this article on how to wash your car.
How to wash your car KISS style!
Thus any splatter is a non-issue as you're going to wash the car anyways after cleaning the wheels, tires and wheel wells.
So "no" splatter is not a problem.
Good to hear...
I'm guessing you also found that by letting the machine do the work you didn't have to do the work, that is the machine did the scrubbing not you with a brush.
That's what I like about this beside that the machine did a better job of really getting the tires clean as compared to me trying to get the same results by hand.
The key is to clean your PC as well as any tools immediately after the job as that's when clean up will be easiest and fastest. Allowing the gunk in the splatter to solidify and cement itself onto any surface for a couple of weeks before trying to clean up your tools will only make it harder and more time-consuming.
My white Nikes got pretty dirty as I was sitting on the ground in front of 4 tires scrubbing them, then the wheels and then the wheel wells. No big deal, that's part of car detailing.
Mike Phillips
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Yes it's a Monte Carlo....
Monte Carlo, Malibu.... they both start with the letter "M"....
Must have been typing faster than I think.... I'll make any needed changes. Thanks for point this out via a PM
Mike Phillips
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I just read through the entire thread and found two insteances in post #22 and changed them.
My guess is since I was also talking about and including a link to a MALIBU I was also working on that just made a simple mistake.
This old 2-door Chevy....
Time-Lapse Video: Wetsand, Cut and Buff 1964 Malibu
How to wet sand a car
[video=youtube_share;5zDuFzvKSAI"]How to wet sand a car[/video]
boymanzein01
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- Mar 2, 2014
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I had this thought in my head the other day. Glad to see I was on the right track. Thanks Mike.