GearHead_1
Long Time Member
Simple Green won't hurt Chrome but polished wheels are another story particularly if the wheels aren't sealed. 
Simple Green on your wheels?... yes or no?
- Thread starter tommyd
- Start date
tommyd said:
Sounds like a personal problem to me.
Try finding a foam dishwashing brush. I picked up one a Wally world. It had a green scrubber on top but I just tore it off. Sorry I don't have a pic. It's cylinder of foam attached to a plastic handle. When I'm at a tight spot around the sheilding or the caliper it's self, I just push it through, reach around and grab it on the other side.
tom p.
Active member
haven't you considered an excellent wheel cleaner like P21S? i have used it for years with excellent results.
Tommy,
I've tested a few wheel cleaners back to back and it is hard to beat A2Z for price and performance. P21S is a nice, safe cleaner but nowhere near as powerful as A2Z and pricey. I've found BMW branded wheel cleaner (not their Meguiar's version) to work quite well and it is cheaper than A2Z.
For all people that suggest cleaning the rims with shampoo only, you obviously haven't experienced the curse of German pad dust or have enough time to do it 3-4 times a week...
I've tested a few wheel cleaners back to back and it is hard to beat A2Z for price and performance. P21S is a nice, safe cleaner but nowhere near as powerful as A2Z and pricey. I've found BMW branded wheel cleaner (not their Meguiar's version) to work quite well and it is cheaper than A2Z.
For all people that suggest cleaning the rims with shampoo only, you obviously haven't experienced the curse of German pad dust or have enough time to do it 3-4 times a week...
Jesstzn
New member
F1Crazy said:
Have a German Passat which are supposedly notorious for brake dust and at 18,000 miles and washing once a week or so .. not a problem on my stock or after market wheels. And yes .. lots of dust but it all washes off.
Pats300zx
Super Moderator
This past weekend I decided to try some Megs Hot Rims. I have been a die hard user of A2Z but I found at time it left spots on my F150 wheels. The spots easily came out with some AIO.
The Megs Hot Rims worked great and left no spots. I know its not as easy to get as A2Z but worked just as well for me.
:xyxthumbs
The Megs Hot Rims worked great and left no spots. I know its not as easy to get as A2Z but worked just as well for me.
:xyxthumbs
Scott, come on, don't tell me that cleaning a wheel on M-B or BMW is as easy as on a japanese car... I put 30K miles on a car each year, wash it every week and after few hundred miles it is a big PITA to clean the wheels. If I were to use just shampoo it would take me more than 5 minutes to clean each wheel.
wash_me
New member
I wash my Benz about every two weeks and I just use car wash soap. I have done some very bad BMW rims that took me a hour to clean them up. After I got them clean they where easy as pie to keep clean. When detailing cars for a living you can't risk using something that will stain the rims.
imported_neoflex
New member
I have used Simple Green for years on wheels. I never suffered any damage. Even on my Summer wheels. I have a habit of using it to clean the wheels and every other week giving the wheels a good wax. Maybe thats the key. Keeping the wheels polished. I now use A2Z after reading posts on this site, and leave the Simple Green for the Fender wells.
Spilchy
New member
Scottwax said:
While I would agree with you that all you need is shampoo, you also have to take into account your clients. From the pics you post, most of your cars are well maintained and washed regularly. I too use shampoo only on cars that are well maintained, but I worked on a 3 year old Mercedes and a 10 year old Acura the past couple weeks where the break dust was actually baked on and required Eagle One A2Z and 0000 steel wool (used VERY lightly) to gently massage away all the break dust finishing up with a coat of VM topped with Collinite Insulator wax to prevent this from happening again. It took me over an hour alone to do the Acura (and I charged extra).
I regularly work on a bad a$$ modified 2002 Porsche 911 that you can lick the break dust off because he keeps his car in great shape (well, I keep it in great shape!).
So it all depends on the condition of the wheel.
If you track your car and bake the dust onto the wheels it can be a little difficult to remove. I don't see much of a problem with street driven cars. With the stock brake pads on my m3 my wheels are black in short order. I've been using diluted simple green for years on my wheels and have no problems. I just make sure i wash and rinse well and don't let the product dry on the wheels.
tcfool
Detailing Fool
WTF... Please tell me how SG can eat through clear coat or damage the finnish on wheels when it can't even eat through plastic?.... It is stored in plastic spray bottles right? ???? So I don't get it... I use it all the time on my new G35 clear coat protected wheels and it hasn't even hurt them.....
FYI... we are not leaving it on them for days or even hours or even using it full strength... so what gives? I am sick of these discussions that promote the use of certain, none the less fine, products over less costly and equally effective products such as SG... By the way I get a gallon of SG at Home Depot for $8.50 and not a cent of sales tax...it works for me.....
TC
FYI... we are not leaving it on them for days or even hours or even using it full strength... so what gives? I am sick of these discussions that promote the use of certain, none the less fine, products over less costly and equally effective products such as SG... By the way I get a gallon of SG at Home Depot for $8.50 and not a cent of sales tax...it works for me.....
TC
F1Crazy said:
I do this all the time, so I know how long it takes. Most of the time, German wheels take very little extra time over Japanese wheels. I regularly clean two 7 series BMWs, an X5, S55, S500, S420, G500 and a C280 every week, so I clean a lot of wheels on German cars.
The only German wheels that really take any time are those hideously complex 'BBS' style wheels on the 7 series BMWs (washed one this morning, QEW worked just fine) and the ones on the VWs with all the square corners, but it is the wheel design itself and not the accumulation of brake dust. As long as the wheels are washed regularly, I've never had to use anything other than car wash soap. I also never have to worry about a wheel cleaner etching the wheel coating.
I do have several wheel brushes that I use, so that also helps.
Never in a million years would I use a wheel cleaner on my own wheels. I've seen too many wheels damaged by them. Admittedly, the vast majority of the time, the person failed to follow the directions on the bottle, but I'm not taking the chance and I very rarely come across a wheel that simply washing it can't take care of it. I've also found that regular Moose Wax is a very effective wheel polish for stubborn brake dust grime.
tcfool said:
:nixweiss I suggest not using any wheel cleaners at all unless absolutely necessary. And yes, I have seen wheels that were damaged by Simple Green. The guy sprayed it on the wheels when they were still hot....and pretty much any wheel cleaner is liable to damage wheels when sprayed on a hot wheel.
I believe it was our own Brad B. that found out the hard way that SG can discolour the wheels over a long period of use.
Just because something doesn't damage plastic, doesn't mean it's safe. After all, what is Draino stored in? It's not necessarily about "eating through", it's about reactivity.
There is a lot of discussion about using Simple Green as a wheel cleaner in the Archives.
Just because something doesn't damage plastic, doesn't mean it's safe. After all, what is Draino stored in? It's not necessarily about "eating through", it's about reactivity.
There is a lot of discussion about using Simple Green as a wheel cleaner in the Archives.