Cleaning honeycomb plastic grilles?

evo77

evo77

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Both my Cruze and Grand Caravan have plastic honeycomb grilles. It's very tedious to clean in each hole. Both vehicles sit outside 24-7 so rain water will collect inside each hole and eventually leave water spots.

Since I only do rinseless washing it requires much effort to get my wash media into all the nooks and crannies.

I've used flagged wash brushes and an assortment of small soft tube/pipe nylon brushes to get in each hole but they just don't get them as clean as I'd like. Using a MF towel wrapped around my finger works best but takes forever!

How do you tackle these kind of grilles and what are the tools you use to make the job fast and easy?

I think a plastic coating should be next on my list to help them repel water spots and stay cleaner longer. I just haven't seen an aerosol product that gives a matte finish instead of a shiny one.

Thanks.
 
I have the same problem. I have a JGC and I have tried everything. The best solution is the old microfiber around a finger. And yes, it does take forever and I don't get the "perfect" look that I want.
 
You get a brush and spray a foaming all purpose cleaner on the brush , and on the grille and you work the brush to loosen the dirt, then hose off
 
Here is one option that will work well for plastic honeycomb grills. You can use a wheel cleaner (such as Griot's or Meg's Wheel Brightener), spray liberally, let it dwell, then agitate using a detailers brush and rinse.

Meguiars Wheel Brightener is a professional grade wheel cleaner for factory coated wheels! Meguiars wheel cleaner and brightener makes coated wheels
EZ Detail Brush Mini, Motorcycle Detailing Brush, Mini Wheel Brush
Wheel Woolies Boar’s Hair Detail Brush 1 inch


An air blower will help get all the water out and dry the surface. Then you can go through the meticulous process of a coating.
 
APC and a boar hair brush, or maybe the 1" wheel woolie. the wheel woolie will quite a bit of time to get in all of the openings. dry with either a blower or compressed air and dress it.
 
:props:
paul_g said:
Here is one option that will work well for plastic honeycomb grills. You can use a wheel cleaner (such as Griot's or Meg's Wheel Brightener), spray liberally, let it dwell, then agitate using a detailers brush and rinse.
Do you really want an acid wheel cleaner dripping on your bumper?:props:
Meguiars Wheel Brightener is a professional grade wheel cleaner for factory coated wheels! Meguiars wheel cleaner and brightener makes coated wheels
EZ Detail Brush Mini, Motorcycle Detailing Brush, Mini Wheel Brush
Wheel Woolies Boar’s Hair Detail Brush 1 inch


An air blower will help get all the water out and dry the surface. Then you can go through the meticulous process of a coating.
Click to expand...
 
I only do rinseless washes. No water hose.

I have the smallest wheel woolie and it's too big for the openings.
 
Lake country detail stix. Bigger than a normal swab and made out of foam.
 
Kyle_Elantra said:
What was linked was the wheel woolie brush, not a wheel woolie.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. Might be a great tool with a car shampoo but wonder how good with a rinseless wash.

I used this assortmant of brushes from Harbor Freight. The black cone shaped brush fits but the slinging of rinsless solution makes a mess. And the nylon bristles don't really do well at cleaning. The other black one with the brush tip didn't fair too well either since the bristles are too soft and collapse easily offering no good scrubbing.
 
Good info folks. I have such a grill on my old F150 and just recently repainted it so may do the coating thing or get me some of those brushes.
 
I use a 4" wide paint brush. Every weekly wash gets this area with my regular paint wash soap and a 4" paint brush (covers more area than a smaller brush). About every 3rd or 4th wash I spray APC on my lower fascia grille for a deeper cleaning and then work it with the paint brush. I'm not worried about using a boars hair brush and don't worry about any scratches a regular paint brush may induce. I've never noticed any ill effects from this method. I then have a seperate 4" paint brush dedicated only to dressing and do the same thing after i have blown it all dry after washing. Spray in some dressing and work it for more complete coverage with the brush.

Just my method anyway.
 
I tape off area and use an airbrush filled with DLUX. By far the easiest way.
 
Once you get them clean up real good, coat them with CarPro Dlux
 
evo77 said:
plastic honeycomb grilles.
It's very tedious to clean in each hole.
Using a MF towel wrapped around my finger
works best but takes forever!

How do you tackle these kind of grilles and what are the tools you use to make the job fast and easy?

I think a plastic coating should be next on my list to help them repel water spots and stay cleaner longer.
Click to expand...
Yes...
Those honeycombed vehicle components
are a little tedious to maintain.

Instead of using your microfiber towel wrapped fingers...
try one of these:

Lug Nut Brush,Clean Wheel Brush,clean brake calipers, clean lug nuts, boar's hair wheel brush, best wheel brush, wheel lug nuts


__________________________________________________

Microfiber Gloves/ Pair


_________________________________________________

Also:
A microfiber-wrapped Chopstick can
also wok...OOOPS!!...work into all of
the honeycombs' "nether regions".


Then...After the initial cleaning is done:
-CarPro DLux Plastic & Wheel Coating;
or:
-Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant (WETS)



Bob
 
I cleaned mine 6 Months ago (tedious) and then applied Sonus Trim and Motor Kote

Dave
 
I spray it with megs all purpose then take a brush and scrub then power wash and blow dry followed by some sprays of the megs water based dressing and let dry on its own

Sent from my QMV7B using Tapatalk
 
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