How to clean wheel wells

J

jhe888

New member
How do you clean wheel wells? I actually get mine clean, but then they look a little gray and "dry." How do you get them nice and black and dark again?
 
i clean mine via Megs APC 10:1 when dirty if not soap and water with a body brush followed by Megs Hyper Dressing 1:1
 
Any type of dressing that can be used on plastic and rubber. I used to use those aerosol tire dressing cans. I would just spray it on and walk away.



Most of those aerosol dressings are solvent based though and attract more muck and dirt than when you cleaned them the first time.



Now I clean my wells with Amazing Roll Off every 3 weeks or more. I maintain it with a quick wipedown with an mf and onr in between. I dress them with optibond when I use the ARO. They don't get that dirty unless it rains.
 
jhe888 said:
How do you clean wheel wells? I actually get mine clean, but then they look a little gray and "dry." How do you get them nice and black and dark again?
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I use soapy water and a wheel well brush to get rid of dirt.



After that, some aerosol/spray tire dressing should give you the right level of blackness.
 
ALAN81 said:
Griots garage makes a great product for wheel wells
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I have mixed feelings about that Undercarriage Spray. I'd recommend a SEARCH before trying it, see what we've said over the years.



No, that's not a slam, just a caveat. I have it and I use it.
 
Tire dressing is a good temp fix for the moment but if they are really clean and yet still just look bad and you're sure they won't come any cleaner and want more than a few days of dressing repaint them black. Alot of people look at it as a hack method and mostly I would agree since most volume shops do this because they don't actually take the time to clean them properly. However if you actually did clean them properly and they still look bad and you want more than a simple coating painting is a very viable option. smeigloss black tends to work best for most.
 
Jakerooni said:
Tire dressing is a good temp fix for the moment but if they are really clean and yet still just look bad and you're sure they won't come any cleaner and want more than a few days of dressing repaint them black. Alot of people look at it as a hack method and mostly I would agree since most volume shops do this because they don't actually take the time to clean them properly. However if you actually did clean them properly and they still look bad and you want more than a simple coating painting is a very viable option. smeigloss black tends to work best for most.
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Just to clarify my process for cleaning/dressing wheel wells... I use dressing on the plastic wheel well liners. That's usually what's most visible in most modern cars and dulls and grays after a thorough de-greasing/cleaning.
 
Last time I did an engine detail using CD-2, I hit the wheel wells with it also and it looked darn good! The shocks and everything looked really nice for a 9 year old 4 runner.
 
Jakerooni said:
However if you actually did clean them properly and they still look bad and you want more than a simple coating painting is a very viable option. smeigloss black tends to work best for most.
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I did this to a 10 year old car of mine w/ excellent results. I used a rubberized undercoating (3M?) after pulling the wheels and masking off. Was a great look and most of a full day project.
 
08xB said:
Give Chemical Guy's Bare Bone Undercarriage Spray. Works like a charm and pretty durable too!
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I love this stuff. I've found that a quick spritz of this stuff, even on an unwashed wheel well still looks Great!
 
I use Adam's Undercarriage, really good stuff too and lasts a good time too. For those using Chemical Guy's Bare Bone Undercarriage Spray, how is it compared to Adam's.
 
To get the black back on wheel wells, I've been using Zaino's tire dressing or CD-2 Engine Detailer. Both work well, but the CD-2 tends to be a bit more shiny.
 
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