detailed wheel wells

I'd be surprised if the TOL Grape is relabeled Griot's Undercarriage Spray. I for one like the smell of the Griot's and wouldn't care for the grape, but hey, that's not very important to most people.



Be careful with the Griot's- Pats300zx isn't kidding about it being oily! REALLY loaded with silicon, don't get it on your paint (the regular paint that you wax) or it'll be a mess. Don't get it on your garage floor/driveway or it'll be a dangerously slippery mess. Don't expect it to just launder out of a cloth. Don't worry about these things because it's still good stuff ;) I usually apply it with an old sponge or something like that and wipe off any excess.



You folks who use Mop & Glow/etc.- how does it behave when it starts to wear/get compromised? What do you do about the "old" stuff before reapplying?
 
IIRC, it just does dead/flat looking. I never saw it start to peel. I just thoroughly cleaned the wheel well and was able to apply another coat without issues. The same holds true for EK.
 
Accumulator said:
You folks who use Mop & Glow/etc.- how does it behave when it starts to wear/get compromised? What do you do about the "old" stuff before reapplying?
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Since I only do my wheel wells three or four times a year compromised is not in the equation. It looks good for about a week unless you drive thru puddles or it rains. Each time that I wash the vehicle the wheels and wheel wells get washed with APC and agitated with a brush. Then rinsed.



So, by the time that I get around to Mop and Glo the wheel wells again there isn't anything left.
 
I'm pretty gentle about cleaning the wheelwells, never need anything really harsh. Maybe the M & G would hold up OK for me, given that I just clean them with shampoo mix and BHBs.
 
I just spray Eagle One Wheel and Tire cleaner (aka A2Z) in the wheel wells while cleaning my wheels, and then rinse. When everything is dry, I spray S100 total corrosion protectant.
 
You should rarely ever need to use A2Z on your wheels. Just clean them once and seal them a few times per year. You'll never need to use any more than leftover car wash solution. That's better for you and the environment.
 
heck, my sealant needs redoing on my wheels (water isnt beading very much anymore) and they're still comming 100% clean while still only using car wash solution. If you wash often enough, even without a sealant present, it should come clean pretty easily.
 
My plan of attack has been seriously good cleaning (even the inside lip on bottom of rear panel) during tire shampooing

Wolfgang black diamond tire gel applied by brush, leave to dry and spray Sonus trim and motor kote

I used to use Omikron RD black and that would last permanently but was messy (left drip lines) so I stopped.



I find the wells stay black for a long time with only a layer of dust and or fine dirt which I wash off every week

Not a speck of crap in there.

The ultimate thing to do would be to use gloss black spray paint, then apply a few coats of clear
 
White95Max said:
You should rarely ever need to use A2Z on your wheels. Just clean them once and seal them a few times per year. You'll never need to use any more than leftover car wash solution. That's better for you and the environment.
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What do you recommend for just cleaning the tires? I like to redress the tires after every wash, but to do that I gotta scrub them clean and eagle one did the job for me.
 
SVR said:
The ultimate thing to do would be to use gloss black spray paint, then apply a few coats of clear
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Slight adjustment: IMO you'd do better with a satin black single stage. Gloss paints and especially b/c show the inveitable wear from stuff getting tossed from the wheels/road too much; every little flaw sticks out. Satins with no clear on top of them keep looking good long after you'd expect them to look awful.
 
Accumulator said:
Slight adjustment: IMO you'd do better with a satin black single stage. Gloss paints and especially b/c show the inveitable wear from stuff getting tossed from the wheels/road too much; every little flaw sticks out. Satins with no clear on top of them keep looking good long after you'd expect them to look awful.
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I thought about the spray paint route but you'd have to have a spray that was flexible enough to be on the plastic lining in the wheel wells. If not I am pretty sure it would start cracking. Mine especially since the plastic needs to be moved out of the way to change the fog light bulbs.



Now it would probably work on the rear since there is no plastic then again the black rubberized undercoating would probably be best.
 
twitch- Well, I myself wouldn't paint stuff in there except to redo the factory color ;) but if somebody *does* want to go painting stuff in wheelwells (or on the undercarriage) black, I'd sure use satin single stage. You could paint the plastic stuff with products meant for that, with flex agents, but IMO you'd be setting yourself up for future headaches.



With plastic/rubber stuff like this, I just figure that occasional redressing goes with the territory. I kinda like Autoglym's Bumper Care for things like this, but it's getting hard to find in the US.



Acura_RL- I'd just use a dressing that lasts longer than one wash. I lightly clean my tires at each wash using diluted Griot's Wheel Cleaner, which is pretty mild to start with. I prefer a satin look on my tires (gee, I'm typing "satin" a lot today) and the mild cleaner works fine to take off the grime while not stripping my dressing.



When I really do want to clean the tires (to redress them) I use either EF High Intensity or Griot's Rubber Cleaner. And I keep it on the tires and off the wheels. Stuff like wheel cleaner is too hard on the LSPs I use on my wheels and I don't like to redo them unnecessarily.
 
I wouldn't paint the plastic parts, that would just get the VM, Autoglym treatment twice a year and tire gel for the rest of the time

My car's wheel wells only get dust as it's not a daily driver
 
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