How would you clean this wheel?

A

Acura_RL

New member
I have a 97 RL, and this is the type of wheel on my car:



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This can be a real pain to clean. I used to use soap and a tooth brush to clean the small pockets all around the rim.



Any product suggestions? Meg's Hot rims? Any other wheel cleaners? I'm looking for a way to save time on my next wash. :bow
 
Eagle One wheel cleaner is strong, inexpensive and can be found at just about any car parts store.



If you use a soft brush and clean them often the small pockets won't be a problem at all.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I remember seeing a wheel brush by turtle wax at wal-mart. It looked almost like a toilet brush :D. Would that be a good brush to use?
 
I use a small flat toilet brush from walmart and it works fine. I probably wouldn't use it on chrome, though, to be on the safe side.

Be careful with the EO A2Z, read all the warnings on the back and don't let any stay on your skin. I don't plan to use it that often since it's pretty strong. Good ol' soap and elbow grease does the trick for me.
 
Look for the oxo wheel brush.



I'd use EFHI dilluted 1:1 with water. Cheaper and better than most wheel cleaners. I have a gallon of it and dillute for all sorts of stuff. Saves a lot of money over time.



Slap on a coat of AIO if you have or a coat of Wheel Wax and then clean with car wash soap and water moving forward. Usually the dust comes right off with that.
 
I have an OXO hand brush, whatever you can find at Pep Boys or a store similar that is really soft. My rim brushes are soft enough to use on the interior. Just clean the rims often so the product doesn't have a chance to get caked on; if it does you'll see how mild the soft brush is when your rubbing the rim over and over and over just to remove a small area of crud.
 
My (painted) wheels have like 15 thin spokes and can also be a royal PITA.

The Klasse AIO made things a LOT easier! Granted, it isn't the cheapest solution, but when you consider how little you need to use, it makes some sense. Wheel Wax didn't seem to work too well for me.
 
Or the Extra all surface cleaner? I watched the Meguiar's video and I think they use that to clean the engine compartment.
 
When you say it's much "gentler," how bad could Hot Rims be? I researched the product in this forum and found mixed reviews. If it was so bad, why would Meguiar's sell it? I'm not the kind that falls for marketing bs, but Meg's is a reputable brand is it not?
 
Welcome to the club of hard to clean wheels Acura_RL :rolleyes: Here's a link to a pic of what my rims look like (minus center cap): http://www.wheels-and-rims.com/images/ALY62274U.jpg



I currently use a cheap 1" foam paintbrush that I got 10 for $1 to get in between the spokes. It's not good for hard scrubbing, but it works okay with a strong wheel cleaner that only needs a light rub anyway. The usual wheel brushes or parts cleaning brushes are all too big to reach into the corners for me.



A2Z is good stuff, and I think Hot Rims is similarly strong but never tried that myself (try a search).



EDIT: Throw out after each use or watch the foam paintbrush for deterioration. The foam is attached to a plastic blade inside and after a few uses it can rip through the foam sideways.
 
Acura_RL said:
When you say it's much "gentler," how bad could Hot Rims be? I researched the product in this forum and found mixed reviews. If it was so bad, why would Meguiar's sell it? I'm not the kind that falls for marketing bs, but Meg's is a reputable brand is it not?
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Swirl Free Polish is gentler than DACP. Does that make DACP bad or marketing BS?



Hot-Rims is stronger so you can spray-on and rinse-off and have your wheel get cleaner. It also works on the more neglected wheels that many consumers have. #36 is pH balanced (and BBS approved, if you care about that) and is quite gentle. I use it with an old chenille sponge to clean my well-cared-for wheels. Meg's makes an even stronger cleaner called Instant Wheel Cleaner, which they specifically mention is stronger than Hot Rims. I guess I don't see what that has to do with Meg's reputation or it being a bad product.



I specifically said I think Hot Rims is good stuff. It does a great job on wheels and has always been up to the task of family member's crappier wheels. I just prefer the gentle cleaning of #36 because my wheels are cleaned and waxed often. I don't need the harsher cleaning power, and I think the Klasse stands a better chance of staying on my wheels with #36. I will likely buy some more Hot Rims, or maybe try the new A2Z for the cars I detail that aren't mine.



:nixweiss
 
The new A2Z is an alkaline based formulation and has been safe in all the rims I have used them on, even pitted ones. I understand that the old one was acid based.



As for wheel protection, I think most wheel cleaners will remove any protection you put on there, so I used soap and water to clean the wheels in between polishes with #20 or AIO. But if #36 is pH balanced (I take that to mean pH=7), then it should be fine, but I suspect then that it is no stronger than a strong solution of car soap, so I would just rather use car soap.
 
2wheelsx2 said:
The As for wheel protection, I think most wheel cleaners will remove any protection you put on there, so I used soap and water to clean the wheels in between polishes with #20 or AIO. But if #36 is pH balanced (I take that to mean pH=7), then it should be fine, but I suspect then that it is no stronger than a strong solution of car soap, so I would just rather use car soap.
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It does feel soapy, and sudses up a bit. However, it is a bit more effective than car soap. But if car soap works, go for it. I think #36 might be a bit more geared to brake dust, though. But I used to use car soap too. I just hate the thought of brake dust getting into the bucket. I'm afraid it will embed there until the next wash or something. Plus, I like to wash wheels first, not last. So that makes it a bit tough to use soap unless I use a buckets-worth just for the wheels. In that case, wheel spray is probably cheaper... :nixweiss
 
Bah! All this talk of wussy "gentle" wheel cleaners! :p Of some of the weaker wheel cleaners I've tried I was always left wondering, "Why bother?"



I just like to spray it on and hose it off with the strongest thing that's safe. Bam! No scrubbing or rubbing at all on light brake dust.



If the wheels are waxed then I just use car soap after I'm done the rest of the car and count backwards from 1000 as I work. :D
 
I didn't mean anything against Meguiar's or anyone on this forum. All I was saying was that some on this forum said to avoid it while others like it. When people said it was too "strong," I thought it meant it could strip the clearcoat easily. I have no problem it taking off a coat of wax. (It's Zymol cleaner wax, it doesn't last anyway.)



Again, I think my interpretation was pivoted based on the meaning of "strong," because had I known it just meant that it took off the wax barrier, then I'd fine with that.



Hope that clears things up. ;)
 
Acura_RL - Like joed1228, I'd go with a SOFT brush. I had a mid-80's Benz whose wheels had similar styling/cleaning issues. I used the round boar's hair detail brush from Griot's. FWIW, I use Griot's wheel cleaner too, diluted with water (Spilchy's EFHI mix wold be about the same thing). Or car wash soap if they're not too dirty, like 4DSC, 2wheelsx2, and others.



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Bah! All this talk of wussy "gentle" wheel cleaners! Of some of the weaker wheel cleaners I've tried I was always left wondering, "Why bother?" I just like to spray it on and hose it off with the strongest thing that's safe. Bam!
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Heh heh, I guess I use those wimpy cleaners because I'm afraid I'll find out (too late) that something was a little TOO strong and have to have a wheel refinished. BTW, the mil-spec hard anodizing on my Mallett C5's HRE wheels COULDN'T have been (easily) redone if damaged, that would've been one EXPENSIVE mistake. Now I'm sorta overly cautious (read: "paranoid") about what I use on wheels. Guess I'm just old-fashioned ("in my day we spent all week cleaning one wheel" ;)), those spray-on/hose-off cleaners :scared me.
 
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