best safe wheel cleaner

H

Heff

New member
whats the best all wheel safe wheel cleaner? I'm going to be doing enough kinds of wheels soon, that I dont want to risk anything, and I know even some of the so called all wheel cleaners actuall have in fine print do not use on certain types of wheels, so what actually safe on all wheels? I have actually been using simple green diluted 3:1 and it actually works quite well, plus it's acid free. But I feel wierd about using a degreaser for wheels, when there are so many auto specific products out there, but has anybody found anything better?
 
I have always liked P21S wheel cleaner. It's safe (detergent based, neutral pH), but of course it's not very strong, and kind of pricey. I recently bought a bottle of Griot's wheel cleaner, which I understand from members here is similar; it's much more economical, but I haven't tried mine yet. I have also used the EO A2Z (now called All Wheel and Tire Cleaner) and that works fine, but I usually reserve that for neglected wheels.
 
I used to use e1 a2z but, it has acid in it and I was afraid to use it on numerous clients vehicles. I like simple green because its easy to find, cheap and apparently safe, but can anyone think of a reason why it's not a good idea?
 
Actually, A2Z is alkaline, not acidic, but it has a high enough pH to consider it a caustic. Neo, Simple Green has a capability to attack aluminum under the right circumstances, they actually have a special "airplane" version or something due to all the bad press on it from the Army, IIRC.
 
Regular car wash soap is by far the safest and on regularly maintained cars, that should be more than sufficient.
 
On cleaning rims it’s easy if rims are cleaned regularly but if rims are caked on brake dust then that is a different story. Brake dust over time creates a hard cake that’s held together with fibers and to clean those types of rims the secret is to agitate in using a harsh detergent & brush, let your detergent soak as long as possible and brush again if needed. If you are using alkaline or acid cleaners don’t let it soak, (agitate with a brush real quick if rims are caked) and rinse baby rinse in a timely fashion, repeat cycle if needed.



The Safest rim cleaner is what Scott said plan car soap.



Brake Dust is bad for your heath so…..



Fred Flintstone never had problems with brake dust
 
Heff said:
whats the best all wheel safe wheel cleaner? I'm going to be doing enough kinds of wheels soon, that I dont want to risk anything, and I know even some of the so called all wheel cleaners actuall have in fine print do not use on certain types of wheels, so what actually safe on all wheels? I have actually been using simple green diluted 3:1 and it actually works quite well, plus it's acid free. But I feel wierd about using a degreaser for wheels, when there are so many auto specific products out there, but has anybody found anything better?
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Meguiar's is one of the best then soap.
 
Scottwax said:
Regular car wash soap is by far the safest and on regularly maintained cars, that should be more than sufficient.
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Scott is exactly right. Car wash soap is usually all that is needed when it comes to safely cleaning the wheels on regularly maintained cars.
 
For the most part, the general public doesn't have "regularly maintained" wheels (or vehicles).



Most customer vehicles I deal with need strong wheel cleaning. I will normally look to EO All Wheel and Tire or APC 3:1.
 
ZaneO said:
For the most part, the general public doesn't have "regularly maintained" wheels (or vehicles).



Most customer vehicles I deal with need strong wheel cleaning. I will normally look to EO All Wheel and Tire or APC 3:1.
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Thanks, Zane...whenever we talk about wheel cleaners, there is the chorus of "you don't need wheel cleaners!"...well, what you noted is why I have several wheel cleaners around.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Thanks, Zane...whenever we talk about wheel cleaners, there is the chorus of "you don't need wheel cleaners!"...well, what you noted is why I have several wheel cleaners around.
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Yeah...most Autopians and car enthusiasts can survive with no problems on soap and water, but your average soccer mom, business owner, etc. does not maintain their vehicle the same way, which requires different measures.



With this question being posed in the Professional forum, I would make the assumption that soap and water won't be the best answer for all circumstances.
 
I use Griot's wheel cleaner and have had excellent results with moderate amounts of buildup, i.e., cars that weren't neglected for several months.



I tried using it on a friends very poorly maintained 4x4. It removed some of the buildup, although I didn't agitate aggresively for fear of scratching the rims. They were painted and had clear coat, many rims in this sense are like the painted surface of a car. Any stiff brushing (e.g. tooth brush/nylon brush) will almost certainly scratch up the surface.



I have yet to find an cheap/easy solution for this problem. I think neglected rims might suffer quite a bit of marring/scratching and need to be polished if the buildup is really bad. Combined with this are rims can have odd shapes and hard to reach areas, so from a business standpoint the time invested to clean such rims might not be worth it.



In severe cases, the rims might need to be restored by process of bead blasting and re-painting.
 
ZaneO said:
With this question being posed in the Professional forum, I would make the assumption that soap and water won't be the best answer for all circumstances.
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:nixweiss I haven't used a wheel cleaner in about 10 years...and I have run across some really nasty wheels. I do have several different wheel brushes though, seems to really help.
 
ZaneO said:
With this question being posed in the Professional forum, I would make the assumption that soap and water won't be the best answer for all circumstances.
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When you are talking about the best safe wheel cleaner, soap and water may just be the best answer for all circumstances.



Personally, I have never used anything other than car wash soap for cleaning wheels. Of course, it may take a little more time to clean up those wheels that are a bit more dirty, especially when you need to use a variety of soft bristle brushes, including tooth brushes.



The good news is that you will never have to worry about causing any wheel damage using car wash soap.
 
The vast majority of the time I use soapy water but when the wheels are not cleaned for sometime, I use a mix of Autoglym wheel cleaner and water (1:4) which helps speed up the process
 
Something a little stonger than A2Z that I use for current baked on brake dust is Meg's Professional Wheel Brightner. Its pretty strong stuff. I usually dilute it with water at a 4:1 ratio. Works really well. Its claims its safe on clear coated wheels and chrome and what not. This is def not for someone to use a regular basis. The cars I detail always have baked on brake dust, so for me the wheel cleaner is the only real effective solution.
 
if your mags are really bad off and oxidized id we sand by hand with 2000 grit and then compound with 3m, dont know the exact product name but ill find it if you wanna know. wenols pretty good to. but just to *clean* your wheels i agree with scott. never needed anything other than the same soap i use on everything else.
 
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