Wash Wheels First?

C

chet31

New member
Some guys say you should wash the tires, rims, & wheel wells before washing the rest of the car. Makes sense, they're usually dirty and cleaners and dirt can get on the paint. However, when I do this, my problem is I must dry the wheels or I get waterspots (hard water in my area). My wheels are VMR710s, PITA to clean and dry. Of course, the wheels get wet again when you wash the paint, requiring the PITA wheels to be dried a 2nd time.

Question 1: Do you wash the wheels first or paint first?
Question 2: If you wash the wheels first, do you dry them twice or do you have a trick to prevent waterspots (I was thinking spritzing w/ ONR or something)?
Question 3: If you wash the wheels first, do you whip up another couple of buckets of wash and/or rinse? I worry the water gets contaminated by doing the dirtiest areas first.

Interested in your comments.
 
My process before I got a blower was to wash wheels last. I would wash/dry the paint then did the wheels with the residue soap. If you use the 2 bucket method, the soap is clean. It seemed better than mixing up additional soap.

I did not have many issues with water overspray (just wipe it off the paint) but then I am usually just doing maintenance washes so the wells, wheels, and tires are reasonably clean.
 
chet31 said:
Some guys say you should wash the tires, rims, & wheel wells before washing the rest of the car. Makes sense, they're usually dirty and cleaners and dirt can get on the paint. However, when I do this, my problem is I must dry the wheels or I get waterspots (hard water in my area). My wheels are VMR710s, PITA to clean and dry. Of course, the wheels get wet again when you wash the paint, requiring the PITA wheels to be dried a 2nd time.

Question 1: Do you wash the wheels first or paint first?
Question 2: If you wash the wheels first, do you dry them twice or do you have a trick to prevent waterspots (I was thinking spritzing w/ ONR or something)?
Question 3: If you wash the wheels first, do you whip up another couple of buckets of wash and/or rinse? I worry the water gets contaminated by doing the dirtiest areas first.

Interested in your comments.
Click to expand...

1 - Yes, I do
2- No drying till after everything is done I just keep them wet
3- I use one bucket with just water in it and spray the APC on the area I'm cleaning than dump that bucket out when I'm done and fill it up fresh for the rinse bucket.
 
IMO, like most detailing processes and products there isn't a right or wrong answer. Do what suits your "flow" best.

What works the best for me is to wash the wheels, tires and wheel wells first. I have a dedicated bucket just for this area. Between washes it serves as storage for the associated brushes, sponges, etc. also dedicated to the area.

I dry the wheels last, using either a QD or a spray wax which usually takes care of any water spotting.

For the bodywork, I use dedicated wash and two rinse buckets. I normally precede the bucket wash with a soaking with my foam gun. All this might sound excessive, but I feel like extra precautions (time) spent upfront can save me time at the back end. Even if you plan on defect removal, no since in adding any further damage, but that point could be debated on both sides w/o a clear winner.
 
I have been in your position with the hard water and all at a customer's home. I always do the wheels and tires first but my wash mitt or bucket of wash water has nothing to do with the wheel/tire washing. working one wheel at a time, I first wet the wheels/tires/wells then spray them with the cleaner of my choice and use a (wetted with my hose) soft wheel brush and a wheel well brush then rinse that wheel before moving on to the next. Most of the times this works well but when stuck using hard water I find it beneficial to spray the rim with Spray and Wipe after that wheel has been cleaned and then continue on with the rest of the wheels.

After the rest of the car has been washed and dried I then go and apply my tire shine product of choice to the tires and wells, at this point I either wipe the Spray and Wipe residue from the wheel along with whatever over spray from the tire shine. This works well for me as the Spray and Wipe seems to act as a barrier to prevent the minerals in the hard water from adhering to the rims.

Soon I will have a tank full of my own soft water to rinse with so all this will be much easier. It takes some thought and time to develop a system in which to work without working backwards.
 
I wash the wheels, tires, and wheel wells first. After that, I will presoak the the vehicles front end and mirrors, use a dedicated bug remover, and clean the front end/mirrors. From there, I will wash the entire vehicle. (then dry)
 
I always wash wheels/tires first then use spray and wipe to clean them up after applying the Bold n bright.

Love the V710 rims.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I hate cleaning rims so I do it first 9as long as they are not hot) and get them out of the way. I keep everything wet until its time to dry. I sealed my rims and its really cut my clean time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top