Wheel Cleaner that won't strip wax?

[TSIFREAK]

Use a dedicated washing towel for your wheels only so you dont have that crap end up on your paint. Reason sealants work so well on wheels is the sealant can stand up to the heat the wheels take on from the brakes. Some sealants are good to 400*f carnuba will melt off at 100- 125*f
Sealants are alot slicker so they are perfect for wheels.

 

[Emile]

Naturally my wheels get different towels from the rest of the vehicle. And even my wheel and tire brushes never share the same bucket as my wash mitts.

Cleaning the rims is easy using the wheel brushes. But when the tire sidewalls are really muddy, then soap/water and my tire brushes are just not enough and I have to break out my wheel cleaner and vigorously scrub the tires.

I do aim specifically at the tires but my wheel cleaner does drip down onto the rims and I have a feeling that while the wheel cleaner does have an effect on any wax and/or sealant on the rims.

I've thoroughly cleaned 3 out of 4 wheels. If I feel like it, I will take some pictures to show you guys.

 

[SanAndreas]

I have the same issues with my work truck off-road. I find that regular use of tire dressing makes cleanup easier. Every couple weeks I use 2 applications of Poor Boys BnB. Obviously you have to live with the fact that most of the time your tires aren’t going to look as good as street-only vehicles. I scrub them with a cheap microfiber and regular wash bucket water. Once in a while I use the MF followed by a brush then wipe again with the MF.

 

[Emile]

Here is the process I took to clean each wheel after 10,000 miles. This was the vehicle's first 10,000 miles and I plan to follow this same procedure every 10,000 miles from now on. Obviously this is aside from normal car washing and wheel cleaning. This procedure was for the final wheel, and I had already taken these exact steps on the other three wheels.

First, I removed the wheel from the vehicle. Mostly clean as the car was just washed.

The inside of the wheel was nasty, easily the dirtiest of the four wheels.

Another picture of the ugliness.

The spare donut tire installed on the vehicle.

Wolfgang Foam Gun filled with Dawn. Bucket filled with Dawn and tire and wheel brushes (too much foam to see the brushes). Eagle One All Wheel & Tire Wheel Cleaner for pre-rinse.

Wheel layed down on the driveway, ready to be cleaned!

Wheel sprayed down with wheel cleaner, letting the Eagle One product work.

Rinsed the wheel cleaner off and sprayed the wheel with the foam gun.

Wheel cleaned and dried. Sorry I skipped some pictures, I didn't want to drop my camera or get it wet while I was brushing both sides of the wheel.

There is still quite a bit of tar or something that was left on this wheel. None of the other wheels had this, which was weird.

Breaking out the PowerBall and PowerMetal to polish the inside and outside of the wheel!

I was victorious! The PowerBall didn't pickup any of the tar or whatever, but using the PowerMetal and some moderate rubbing with a towel did the trick.

Nice and clean and shiny!!!

The front wheel was PowerBall-ed with PowerMetal...you can see the polish residue all over the wheel.

Buffed off the residue and then gave the wheel and tire sidewall a final cleaning with Poorboy's Spray & Wipe Waterless Wash.

Tire sidewall sealed with the dopest, wettest-looking tire gloss EVER!!!

Look at that shine! Tire gloss is dry and ready for placing the wheel back on the vehicle.

The wheel placed back on the car. This is the final finished product. Yay, finally done with all four wheels.

 

[kopimon]

Wow, that's amazing. What did you use on the sidewall to give it such gloss?

 

[Emile]

Thanks. It's over the counter stuff. Black Magic Titanium Tire Wet Gel. $8 for 16oz. The pictures show after one coat. You can add another coat 15 minutes later for even more gloss, but one coat is ridiculous enough.

 

[ScottB]

that much wetness usually means alot of spitting up the side. Drive carefully or buff to remove any excess.