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DogRescuer

DogRescuer

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I am always looking to consolidate and save pennies. That said:
Which product do you prefer again for wheels only :
IronX or Megs wheel brightener?

Consider cost, affectiveness and yada yada yada?

Thanks Steve
 
Hmm,this is self explanatory I would say wheel brighter.Or use a half or whole bottle of ironx for 20.00.
 
WB but they 2 totally different applications in regards to how one uses them ....

I use WB once every year. Post winter wash of winter wheels. I'm a lazy SOB, so the less scrubbing I do, the happier I am ;-0
So WB, quick agitate, let it sit, PW and boom, wheels are clean.

But for every other time beyond that, aside from sealed/soap wheels, IronX all the way

BTW, IME, WB is more work post cleanup anyway....even with a CR sprayer, I find it destroys them, and one does need to flush out the sprayer head with water or change them out...when they go bad
 
I use Griot's Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner. Have tested out using Iron-X afterwards and found it has no reaction thus Griot's must do the job quite well.

I have some Meg's Wheel Brightener (gallon actually) and it's a concentrate too. Bought it by mistake. I use it very little as even with factory wheels I'm worried that it could lead to damage given the nature of how it works. If there's a chip or the clear on the wheel is degraded, cracked, what not, and some of it were to seep through I fear it could stain or ruin the wheel.
 
I like pdq's logic on this. I use both a wheel "cleaner" AND Iron X (not in that order). I view them as two different functions much like how i use soap and ironx on the paint. One is to remove ferrous particles and the other is to clean overall. If i could find a cleaner that also removes iron deposits or ferrous brake dust i would be all over it. I would be interested to try a product advertised as such and then use Iron X after just to test it's effectiveness. I certainly do not like the cost of Iron X and if Megs D140 is effective at that decon part of the effort I'm in!

Good question though, Steve. I am always looking for something in any process of this game that improves the final result and is at a lower cost.
 
If the choices are only Megs D140 and Iron-X, then......
Meg's D140 hands down.

Both work great.
You have to consider the rank smell of Iron-X.
It is that bad.
Bad for you the detailer in application, bad for your customers who may be down wind of it.
Bad for storage, bad for transportation, just bad.

Meg's D140 is versatile with its uses.
It can also can be diluted to suit.
It also is essentially scent free, so no bad smells.
 
Puckman. They do. I also stock Sonax for when the wheels are f1lthy. But my favorite iron dissolve wheel cleaner IMO is 1Z Colourtec. I use this as a maintenance wheel wash for the wheels.

Once clean, sealed and leftover carwash soap is all that;'s needed
 
chefwong said:
Puckman. They do. I also stock Sonax for when the wheels are f1lthy. But my favorite iron dissolve wheel cleaner IMO is 1Z Colourtec. I use this as a maintenance wheel wash for the wheels.

Once clean, sealed and leftover carwash soap is all that;'s needed
Click to expand...

Thanks chef! Good to know.
 
Sorry OP to derail this but yeah Puckman, try it. Between that and Sonax, 1Z is my go to iron dissolving wheel cleaning.
IronX for paint prep / maint. coating decontam.
Sonax for grimey wheels.

And last but not least, WB for that single seasonal wash post winter...

Any chemical that makes my life easier by not scrubbing, I'm game. I'll let the chems do the work ...
 
I plan on ordering a gallon of Wheel Brightener later today... It'll be replacing D143 on my shelf from now on for a couple reasons, as far as the wheel cleaning goes, Wheel Brightener rinses much cleaner than D143, I think most people don't really notice the difference because these days most wheels are silver anodized in color, but a difference can be seen, especially on chrome wheels.

I dilute it @4:1 and plan on using it weekly.

chefwong said:
BTW, IME, WB is more work post cleanup anyway....even with a CR sprayer, I find it destroys them, and one does need to flush out the sprayer head with water or change them out...when they go bad
Click to expand...

Pro tip: If you have a bottle of Meguiars Hot Wheels Chrome Rims Cleaner laying around, use the sprayer from it and put it on your D140 dispenser bottle. Those sprayers on the consumer bottles of acid based wheel cleaner can easily last years!



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Not having used WB, personally i cannot comment on which is "better" but after having used IronX this past weekend i can say it doesnt really "clean" grime and such as well as just normal style cleansers.

like Carolina said, its apples to oranges. one is used for decontamination of fallout/iron(IronX) and the other is a concentrated cleanser(WB), hard to really compare the two. In my opinion, amatuer as it may be, i would say spend the extra few dollars and get a gallon of the WB, and dilute it down and use it for....months.
 
Thanks for all your input guys, I'd love some ideas on dwell times on WB.
 
I try not to let it dwell past 45 secs to 2 minute in non sunny cool conditions -aka, don't let it dry.
Spray, agitate. Move on to the next wheel, Spray. Agitate....then go back and rinse, etc, etc.

I would not use WB as a everyday go to wheel cleaner though IMO....just when it calls for it..
 
Puckman said:
I like pdq's logic on this. I use both a wheel "cleaner" AND Iron X (not in that order). I view them as two different functions much like how i use soap and ironx on the paint. One is to remove ferrous particles and the other is to clean overall. If i could find a cleaner that also removes iron deposits or ferrous brake dust i would be all over it. I would be interested to try a product advertised as such and then use Iron X after just to test it's effectiveness. I certainly do not like the cost of Iron X and if Megs D140 is effective at that decon part of the effort I'm in!

Good question though, Steve. I am always looking for something in any process of this game that improves the final result and is at a lower cost.
Click to expand...

I have used Brown Royal Wheel Cleaner many times and it cleans and removes brake dust at the same time.

Spray on, let dwell couple minutes and hose off.

Really bad wheels may need some agitation with a brush on second application.

Have not tried ironX after rinsing off to test but you can't see any residue and clay runs smoothly over surface (barrels are best place to test products by the way).

Advantages:

One product two tasks
Much cheaper than dedicated products
Smells better than IronX (this could be said about almost anything)
Does not harm painted, coated, chrome, PVD, powder coated wheels (in other words all wheels)
Doesn't kill my grass when I rinse off

It is my first step when tackling any repainting project where surgical clean is needed.
 
I'd recommend spray, let dwell for 45-1min. on normal maintenance wheels. 2-3min. while spraying more onto wheel at the 2min. mark on caked wheels prior to agitating with your choice of wheel brush. Rinse immediately after you're done agitating.

I intend to use it as my everyday wheel cleaner@4:1.


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chefwong said:
Spray, agitate. Move on to the next wheel, Spray. Agitate....then go back and rinse, etc, etc.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the type of routine that could lead to the product drying on the wheel.^

There's no benefit of allowing dirty lather to dwell on any surface, whether it's leather or wheels. Even car wash soap works best when it's rinsed off immediately the paint.

All it takes is a hot summer day and a distraction like your cell phone ringing... And next thing you know you forgot to rinse the wheels and you're blaming everything on acid. Lol.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Generally, if I'm using WB, the wheels are off and it's 4 wheels right next to each other...
I only would use outdoors where it's in a shaded area.

I've got it in my stash, and I use it 1 day - which is when the winter wheels come off my and the wifes DD.
Then it sit's dormant till the next year, when I do the next post winter washup.
 
I've also read good things about 3D's BDX. And it's at a lower cost point as an iron remover too. Again, I wonder about the overall cleaning ability. I would like to find a good single product that does both functions and Chef has me interested in Sonax or the 1Z Colourtec. Are we saying that Megs D140 Wheel Brightener also has some iron removal component?

In addition to that, pdq mentioned the Griots product and a test with an iron remover after Griot's was used yielded almost no iron. Bingo!!! (just pricey).
 
Iron-x really isn't a wheel cleaner, it's sole function is binding iron and a few other inorganics. It's not going to do anything of value for organics like general dirt or road film; nor petroleum based contaminants like grease and tar.

Wheel brightener is a dedicated wheel cleaner, and while it won't do much for petroleum, it will work for dirt and road film. And it will attack all inorganics.

I don't see WB as a maintenance wheel cleaner. Dilution is a small piece of the puzzle, the ionization potential of the target(s) and reactivity of the solution are far more important. Aluminum achieving primary and secondary ionization very easily and HF/ABF having very high reactivity. So even a minor breach in the protective clearcoat can have very severe consequences in the long term. Not worth the risk for me.

Plenty of other dedicated pH neutral wheels cleaners have been mentioned, they are expensive, but much safer and more appropriate for maintenance.

I also agree with E2K that alkalines tend not to rinse clean easily and the residue will attract dirt, making wheels get dirty faster.
 
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