Rinseless wash users. How do you clean your wheels?

Harry Da Hamster

Harry Da Hamster

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On my old car, my rinseless wash procedure went as follows.

I use Optimum No Rinse and a modified version of the Garry Dean Rinseless Wash Method and a pressurized sprayer and wash the entire vehicle first. Then i'd clean the wheel wells with the pressure sprayer and an old and dirty MF towel dripping wet of ONR. Then lastly i'd clean the wheels by spraying liberally with ONR and wiping them down with a dripping wet old and dirty MF towel.

I didn't have any problem with this on my old BMW because quite frankly i didnt really care for it. I bought it used to use for a short period and re-sell. So now that i bought my new vehicle, and i do care for it, i don't know how safe this method is for cleaning the wheels. The wheels have a very glossy finish and i don't want to ruin them. And one of my apartments doesn't have a car wash facility so i have absolutely no access to running water.

So my question for the rinseless washers, what is the safest method to cleaning your rims without running water?
 
I use a microfiber finger mit to clean the wheels and an old microfiber towel to dry. I use the rest of my rinseless solution after I've finished the rest if the car.

Broadcasting from an undisclosed location.
 
I will sometimes use the same routine with the rinse less wash as I do on the paint...

...but I usually use my steam cleaner.
 
Try sealing up your wheels with opti coat or something simular then once you are done cleaning the whole car use the left over soultion with wheel woolies and microfiber towel or air of choice..good luck
 
With a hose and bucket. I don't think dirty wheels can be cleaned to a high standard using rinseless only methods. You need to use a "soap" that will foam up and cling to the wheel, unless your wheel is a round slab with no recesses. To get the wheel perfectly clean, brushes are often required - which likely won't work well with a rinseless solution that drips right off.
 
I have to clean my wheels on a separate (more frequent) schedule from the body. What you use depends how elaborate the wheel design is and how much access you have thru the spokes/openings. I treat it as a separate operation from a waterless wash.

I use a 2 gallon pump sprayer with a fan nozzle filled with hot water, a 5 gallon bucket with soapy water, a hand sprayer filled with a mild wheel cleaner, a daytona brush for the wheel barrels and a different brush for the tires, and foam finger pockets for the spokes (I have 5 spoke wheels with good access to the wheel barrels). I dry them with the master blaster. I can clean and dry them without getting any water/cleaner (or at most a few specs that I dab off) on the body panels (but it does take some practice). I use the same process when I do a full/regular wash, just to keep things easier to remember, except I rinse with a hose rather than the pump sprayer.

Just like with engine bays, if you keep them regularly clean, the maintenance cleanings aren't much work. In my opinion, it's not just clean wheels, but also clean wheel barrels, that make a big difference in appearance. I have some wheel woolies on the way, so if those work as planned I won't use the Daytona brush and finger pockets anymore.
 
I have a syringe of Opti-Coat ready to go but i have yet to apply it to wheels. Gotta find the time to stop by the parents place and use their jack.

Perhaps for the wheels, i will have to get a separate sprayer bottle with water and soap solution and soak first then use the rinseless solution.
 
If the wheels aren't real dirty, I'll just wipe down the faces with a black MF mostly wrung out at the end of my RW. At least monthly, during the winter, I plan to take my bucket, speedmaster, and spray bottle of diluted DG901 to the coin-op. After I HP rinse the wheels and rest of the car, I spray each wheel with the DG901 solution, then come back and clean each wheel with the speedmaster. The bucket just has some rinse water in it from the coin-op to rinse the speedmaster between wheels. I'll give the tires a scrub on this cycle too (I usually don't touch the tires during a RW). Then another cycle of HP rinse. Wheels are sealed with BF All Metal Sealant.
 
Just use the left over ONR in the bucket. Sounds like you keep the car up so you should not have any problems.
 
My question is how do you rinseless wash/clean the wheel wells or whatever you call the area on the underside of the car by
the tires. Sorry... Can't think if the proper term, but I
think everyone will understand the query. Feed back please
:buffing:
 
That's the wheel wells. I use a Kwazar Venue Pro pressure sprayer and spray ONR solution onto the wheel well surface and wipe with a damp MF towel. I don't bother drying wheel well surfaces.

Be sure to use a MF towel you dont mind throwing away because it'll be rendered useless with all the trash that it'll pick up.
 
I just do the wheel wells with the HP rinse at the coin op. Yah, it doesn't get them real clean, but at least it rinses out most of the bigger particles (salt, sand, leaves, etc) so they won't be as much of a pain to clean up properly in the spring.
 
Irishwoodchuck said:
How do you get the wheel wells using waterless wash?
Click to expand...

I have a pair of mf gloves that I use to clean my wheelwells. I wait till I'm done doing my rinseless wash to the car, then dunk my hands into the solution w/ the gloves on and clean out the wheelwells, as well as the tires and wheels. I never dry the wheelwells as I"ve got a car and its honestly good enough but I've got a seperate old mf towel to dry the sidewall and wheels with.

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
If it's a maintenance wash I use leftover ONR. If they are bad enough, I use Brown Royal.
 
If I am doing a maintenance wash on my wheels I will use wheel cleaner that is pretty heavily diluted. Let it sit for a few mins making sure that it doesn't dry. Before I rinse off the wheel cleaner I will over the wheel with a soft wheel brush just to agitate any dirt.

After that I will use my normal car wash solution to clean the wheels.
 
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