Wheel Cleaner Battle: SFE vs. Brown Royal

autoenvy

autoenvy

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So I was away for a couple weeks doing some motivating Army training and came home to a car that was less than desirable in the cleanliness category. (The ol' lady was nice enough to vacuum it out but she's afraid to touch the paint... and rightly so ;) ).

Anywho I figured this would be a great way to see how my "go to" wheel cleaners compare to eachother in a somewhat controlled manner. Both claim to be safe for all wheels and non acidic.

The car: A 2013 Audi RS5. 3 weeks worth of German engineered brake dust. Left outside overnight and rained on but the wheels were "fairly" dry. This may have hindered the effectiveness of the products used. Each product was sprayed on and only rinsed off with no nozzle attached to the hose. I wanted to see which wheel had the best cleaning effect. (After the test I did scrub the wheels with some carpet sticks, A.K.A. Wheel Wollies)

On the Passenger side we have Sonax Full Effect.
On the Drivers side, Brown Royal diluted to a 3:1 ratio

I did the Sonax side first and let it dwell for 5 minutes before rinsing off.

The first contender


Bored waiting 5 minutes so here's a pic of 22PLE beading after 4 months.


Pretty purple


And the results..


I was somewhat unimpressed with the results. Again this was with no agitation on only a hose rinse.

Next up Brown Royal, This time I let it dwell for 4 minutes instead of 5.. It looked like it had run its course so I didn't see a need wait anymore.. Again.. I bore easily...



A lot more run off compared to the SFE



And complete.



The difference is quite noticeable and I didn't expect this to be the outcome. I do have a lot of Sonax products that I love and I think for the cool factor I'll still use the SFE on customer cars when they watch. Interactiveness is key. But for less than a third the price per gallon and dillute-able to 3:1, BR will be my go to maintenance cleaner.

I have a few other wheel cleaners that I may pit against each other and have a tournament style "clean off" Im the MAN
 
Wow, I've used br on a few different cars and was never really happy with it, even with agitation. I prefer uber over it.

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Brown royal is a fantastic product. Definitely needs to be agitated like all other wheel cleaners but it is always in my arsenal.
 
I'm guessing BR has a high pH and FE is pH neutral? That may explain it.
 
Nice review, I just order the buy 2 get 1 free SFE to try out. I've read alot of members using SFE so I thought I would try it out myself. Would agitation made a difference? I would think scrubbing the wheel would help. I'll let you know what I think of SFE next week. I have some german wheels to test them out on as well.
 
04Golf said:
Nice review, I just order the buy 2 get 1 free SFE to try out. I've read alot of members using SFE so I thought I would try it out myself. Would agitation made a difference? I would think scrubbing the wheel would help. I'll let you know what I think of SFE next week. I have some german wheels to test them out on as well.
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Agitation and ANY cleaner whether its car wash soap or a dedicated wheel cleaner would clean the rim in the original post easily. But this test with no agitation really shows Royal Browns cleaning ability. I'm just worried about how safe it is. The Flash Wax website says its completely safe for all painted surfaces and its non-acidic. But it should not be used on bare aluminum wheels/surfaces. I would be a bit concerned about the suspension components.
 
The thing that bothers me about it is that "non acidic" does not equal "pH neutral". I think a lot of wheel cleaners that are sold as "non acidic" have a high pH (basic) which can be corrosive on sensitive material in it's own right. IME the "corrosion factor" may not exhibit any noticeable damage until after several uses or a surfaces repeated exposure to a product.

That being said, in the real world if your detailing for dollars, I'm sure Brown Royal is awesome to have to clean up some dirty wheels, and if you use it as directed I'm sure its fine 99% of the time.
 
anonymoususer said:
Agitation and ANY cleaner whether its car wash soap or a dedicated wheel cleaner would clean the rim in the original post easily. But this test with no agitation really shows Royal Browns cleaning ability. I'm just worried about how safe it is. The Flash Wax website says its completely safe for all painted surfaces and its non-acidic. But it should not be used on bare aluminum wheels/surfaces. I would be a bit concerned about the suspension components.
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That's a good point on the bare aluminum.

This is just my opinion but I would venture to say that the superficial oxidation caused by high PH shouldn't structurally damage any bare aluminum i.e. suspension components, most of those are coated anyways. I believe it would only cause visual imperfections on a polished aluminum wheel. I may have to find an old bare aluminum wheel and do a test on it with BR. Maybe even coat it with Opticoat and 22PLE to see how that would protect the aluminum.

Sent from my HTC One X using AG Online
 
Brown Royal is the strongest wheel & tire cleaner I own. It is a high base ~ 10 to 12 as I recall. It is clear coat safe. I have used it undiluted to remove Artillery Fungus from Mercedes paint. SFE is not nearly as strong but has the cool color thing. For maintenance I cant find a better deal than Brown Royal diluted 2:1 or Megs Non-Acid diluted 1:1. Both do tires well too.
 
I'm surprised at the results of sonax. I'm not saying sonax is the bee's knees but it should have done a much better job even without agitation. You sure that's only three weeks of German brake dust? Lol
 
I have never had much luck with spray and rinse type wheel cleaners. Even a light wipe with most anything can dislodge a lot of recent crud (not baked on).
 
I own BR and love the stuff. Rarely have to touch my rims and they come out great. I do love BDP, Iron X and just ordered the SFE but will always order BR for my upkeep washes.
 
I've been wanting to try Brown Royal. I wish someone else sold it besides directly from the manufacturer.
 
KillaCam said:
It's $29 plus $8 shipping..
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And it can be diluted so it's essentially 3 gallons for that price. Bought two gallons and the shipping was about the same. IMO a good deal considering a gallon of the Iron removers is upwards of $85. I just did another wheel cleaner faceoff with CG wheel cleaners. I'll get around to posting the results later on. But let's just say that they didn't do too well.

Sent from my HTC One X using AG Online
 
autoenvy said:
That's a good point on the bare aluminum.

This is just my opinion but I would venture to say that the superficial oxidation caused by high PH shouldn't structurally damage any bare aluminum i.e. suspension components, most of those are coated anyways. I believe it would only cause visual imperfections on a polished aluminum wheel. I may have to find an old bare aluminum wheel and do a test on it with BR. Maybe even coat it with Opticoat and 22PLE to see how that would protect the aluminum.

Sent from my HTC One X using AG Online
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I had the pleasure of etching my friends polished aluminum wheels with Brown Royal. Not fun lol.
 
Willy Wang said:
I had the pleasure of etching my friends polished aluminum wheels with Brown Royal. Not fun lol.
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Ouch, how bad was the etching? Was BR diluted? Did it dry on there? How long did it set?

Sent from my HTC One X using AG Online
 
Willy Wang said:
I had the pleasure of etching my friends polished aluminum wheels with Brown Royal. Not fun lol.
Click to expand...


Maybe you let is sit to long or didn't dilute it well. I dilute it to 4-1. hmm
I wont use it on aluminum. But I do put it on my own paint and wash it off after 2mins and its fine???
 
I can attest to the bare aluminum staining. It happened and was a surprise. However on painted rims no better product out there. Easy to use and knocks the grime like no other.
 
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