Wheel cleaner vs just soap & water?

Mtnsummit

Mtnsummit

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Purchased new 2014 Mazda 6 with clear coated wheels. Purchased wheel cleaner (Sonex). Wheels clean up fine but wondering if really just soap and water work just as well? I find even with wheel cleaner I cannot just hose off. I still need to use microfiber to get dirt off. Seems like soap and water does same job and costs less. What am I missing here? Maybe because wheels are new? :confused:
 
I only really use Sonax for really bad wheels and for not very bad ones I just use APC.
 
If you seal them up...and take care of them weekly, just use soap and water...that is all you need.

Sonax...will also attack iron particles in the brake dust and let you know it’s working. You are correct though, for dirty wheels...you pretty much have to agitate any brand to get them spotless. Maybe properly sealed wheels, taken care of weekly...and rinsed with a pressure washer you could get them close to perfect. But there are always the barrels to clean also...I like getting in there with the Woolies/Daytona/Turbo Stick even when I just use soap and water.
 
Mtnsummit said:
Purchased new 2014 Mazda 6 with clear coated wheels. Purchased wheel cleaner (Sonex). Wheels clean up fine but wondering if really just soap and water work just as well? I find even with wheel cleaner I cannot just hose off. I still need to use microfiber to get dirt off. Seems like soap and water does same job and costs less. What am I missing here? Maybe because wheels are new? :confused:
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Your logic and expectations are flawed. By your logic, you should be able to just spray soap on the car and rinse it off, fully expecting the dirt to be gone. It doesn't work that way. You need to touch the surface to actually remove the dirt.
 
If you clean your wheels well initially and wash regularly, you often can just clean them with soap, water, and an appropriate wheel brush or mitt.
 
I only use wheel cleaners on customers cars being they're so dirty.
On my cars just soap, wash them using a MF towel and wheel brush.
Very easy to clean being I keep them sealed.
 
If they are maintained then they come clean easy with just soap and water, like washing once a week.
 
I've used soap and water, it works OK. But a surfactant type wheels cleaner just seems to cling and foam up better. Of course, I'm cleaning the barrel, rotor hats, behind the spokes, etc... My go to product is Chemical Guys Sticky Wheel Cleaner. Buy it by the gallon. It's dilutable - so it's cheap.
 
Mtnsummit said:
Purchased new 2014 Mazda 6 with clear coated wheels. Purchased wheel cleaner (Sonex). Wheels clean up fine but wondering if really just soap and water work just as well? I find even with wheel cleaner I cannot just hose off. I still need to use microfiber to get dirt off. Seems like soap and water does same job and costs less. What am I missing here? Maybe because wheels are new? :confused:
Click to expand...


Best thing you can do is to,


"Find something you like and use it often"



My guess is this is a daily driver?

As such, the wheels will get dirty with two things,

  • Brake dust
  • Road Grime or road film
The best thing you can do to keep your wheels clean is to clean them often and to do this without causing harm to the clear coat finish is to protect them with a product that will act as a

Sacrificial Barrier Coating

That is a product that will sacrifice itself so your wheel's clear coat wont' have to give itself up.


Coatings are an option as they form a strong bond to the wheel surface and resist breaking down from exposure to heat. I just coated my wheels with the new Black Label Wheel Coating and my wheels are also painted but not with clear paint but single stage black paint. (same idea).


Should help to make make cleaning the wheels faster and easier. Since I coat my tires with TUF SHINE I only use my car wash soap to clean my tires and hopefully now my wheels.

My truck does have 4-wheel disc brakes so I do have brake dust accumulation at all 4 corners and since it's been raining a lot here in South Florida I also have road film issues all over the truck.


See this article as it explains where road film comes from...

Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film



If you want to keep your clearcoated wheels looking nice then definitley find something you like in both a protectant and a wash and use it often...


:xyxthumbs:
 
I use regular megs car wash soap, wheel brush, and 2 Griot's MF finger mitts to scrub (and pick up) the wheel dust that is caked on. Works fine. I have tried Sonax and Megs wheel cleaners, they smell nasty, would not want to get that stuff on my fingers and would not it washing down my gutters to the local creek.
 
Shampoo is going to do the job but it will need agitation. Wheel cleaners, combined with a power wash, should achieve the same level of cleaning without contact.

So it depends what you want really.
 
I've been using a steam cleaner (cheap department store coffee pot-sized) on my custom wheels for years. The Team III Halibrand replicas are aluminum with rough-cast spokes painted gray to replicate magnesium and bare polished aluminum rims.

The steam does a great job of dislodging brake dust and dirt without using any chemical cleaners. The trick is to keep the wheels clean and I do it twice a week. It only takes about 10 minutes.

I polish the bare aluminum rims and knock off spinners with Meguiar's Metal Polysh or Mother's Mag Polish once or twice a month. I use Meguiar's No. 21 sealant on the bare aluminum once a week. DuraGloss AquaWax is great for the rough cast painted centers.

Polishing and sealing the bare aluminum rims doesn't take very long as the surface is perfectly smooth without any surface detail.

When I wash the car, I wash the wheels with the same soap I use on the paint.

I find my particular custom wheels easier to take care of than highly styled clear coated OEM wheels. I don't have to worry about damaging clear coat and I can polish out minor road rash on the bare aluminum rims. The rough cast center sections are painted with Eastwood Detail Gray, so they are very easy to repaint when necessary.

The only problem I had keeping my Team III wheels looking perfect was finding out what paint the factory used. Both the owner and his wife refused to tell me, but I was able to buy a couple of spray cans from them - and I got them with the labels removed! Fortunately, the invoice used the Eastwood part number.

DSC1215-700.jpg
 
With my cars and any car I touch through out the year, I like to use a ferrous fighting wheel cleaner at least 1-2 times every 6 months. I like to think of it as a decontamination step for wheels like I would paint on a car.

When I'm not using a wheel cleaner I use soap and water or a steam cleaner if I'm feeling 'semi-creative'. :)

Of course I like to use a ferrous fighting wheel cleaner every time on any new to me car that I may only see one to two times.

I like to use an APC in my process as well, but that's a different topic.

-Brian
 
Thanks everybody for the great input! And yes Mike, it is a daily (100 mile a day) driver! Everyone have a great Thanksgiving.
 
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