how to clean tires when wheels are sealed?

[imported_Neothin]

I'm planning on putting on a coat or two of poorboy's wheel sealant onto my wheels when it arrives but this has made me think of something. How am I supposed to thorughly clean the tires when the wheels are sealed? I assume that any wheel/tire cleaner or APC that I spray onto the tire, and most likely a bit of the wheel too, will strip off the wheel sealant. Am I just going to have to moisten a throw away rag and wipe the tire cleaner onto the wheel and start scrubbing from there or what?

 

[imported_mrecktid]

Just clean your tires really well before you apply the Sealant to the wheels. So that all you need is carwash solution and a brush to clean the tires.



If you do need to clean the tires while the wheels are sealed, try making a circular cutout of cardboard to cover the wheels...

 

[White95Max]

Get the wheels and tires VERY clean. Dress the tires, and seal the wheels. From then on, all you need to wash your wheels AND tires is regular car soap. There's no need for strong wheel cleaners or tire cleaners.

 

[imported_mirrorfinishman]

Get the wheels and tires VERY clean. Dress the tires, and seal the wheels. From then on, all you need to wash your wheels AND tires is regular car soap. There's no need for strong wheel cleaners or tire cleaners.

Sounds like a very good plan.



Personally, I would prefer to stay away from strong cleaners in the first place. Too much risk of damaging expensive wheels.

 

[Accumulator]

I've had decent luck using diluted wheel cleaner. I try to keep it on the tires and off the wheels. I then scrub with a tire brush and rinse it off, again, trying to keep it off surrounding areas. Seems to work OK, it's not like my wheel LSP is failing around the edges or anything. But I *am* pretty careful/good at keeping it only on the tires.



When I used car wash solution on the tires I got lots of staining on my tire dressing applicator- I wasn't getting the brake dust off (or, out of the pores of) the tires as well as I was getting it off the wheels. The diluted Griot's wheel cleaner works better, and gives me a way to use up all those gallons of it I have on hand.

 

[Ed Fisher]

How about going to the nearest grocer and buying an "ultra-soft toothbrush prescribed for sensitive gums" and using your general purpose cleaner to clean the wheels squeeky clean before applying anything at all ? And after sealing and waxing them, using that very same brush regularly until it wears out and gets replaced ?

Let us be realistic; brake dust an road film do not simply wash off with just car shampoo and water. You need to try a bit before you can get rid of them. So I have suggested what I do and get real good results... I also recommend strongly that you take a couple of minutes more and a relatively older MF towel to QD your wheels as well. I just cannot imagine a freshly QD' d car with spotty and dull wheels...



All the best

 

[White95Max]

Let us be realistic; brake dust an road film do not simply wash off with just car shampoo and water. You need to try a bit before you can get rid of them.

Mine come clean with car shampoo and water. One wipe and they're clean.





2 months worth of brake dust:

10 seconds later, after just a simple wipe with my wash mitt and car soap + water...

I've got AIO/WGx2 on the wheels.

 

[Accumulator]

My *wheels* come clean with just the shampoo, but not my *tires*. I suspect the dressing I use (Zaino Z-16) soaks up brake dust :nixweiss Even with the regular cleanings using the diluted (Griot's) wheel cleaner, when I *really* clean the tires with Griot's Rubber Cleaner I still get a lot of [nasty stuff] off/out of the tires.

 

[White95Max]

That's true. My tires often get cleaner with APC than with just car soap. When he mentioned brake dust, I just thought of wheels.