How the F@#%

[TurboGTU]

How do you guys clean those wheels with all those tinny creavasis? I have a toughf time cleaning the ones on my BMW. My brother used a Grean or lite green bottle that cleaned his wheels on the SHO good but, we forgot the name of it and we can't find it.  I have tried some of those spays that are suppose to clean the brake dust , but I still wined up useing a rag and a scruedriver.

So , what do ya use?

[turby]

I use either simple green or citrus based cleaner. Usually takes most everything off without scrubbing.

[TGPRobNY]

I use simple green and let it sit for awhile, then use a long "bottle brush"   for the holes. I also steam clean the whole chassis and remove  the wheels every spring to start real clean and usually once a month brushing works well. You can also buy more aggressive cleaner and apply it before you go thru  a commercial car wash . Tip the guys a couple bucks up front and it's done with the pressure wands. Good luck. Rob

[sleeperred90tgp]

Well yea tip or pay. It cost me 3 bucks to get the wheels cleaned and it always has to go back. I've been the bottle brush rout but it is time consuming but ai think it does the best job. I now just drive it with dirty honeycomb.    

[Fred931]

Would've always bought auto wheel cleaners for the rest of my life if I didn't know this. Thanks!

[mfewtrail]

Would've always bought auto wheel cleaners for the rest of my life if I didn't know this. Thanks!

If you use simple green, you need to really dilute it.

I use various versions of Meguiar's wheel cleaner on mine along with wheel brushes or soft bottle brushes. It's very time consuming to really clean these wheels. After cleaning them off really well, I use spray wax on the wheels and this makes it a lot easier to clean them the next time.

[Fred931]

If you use simple green, you need to really dilute it.

I use various versions of Meguiar's wheel cleaner on mine along with wheel brushes or soft bottle brushes. It's very time consuming to really clean these wheels. After cleaning them off really well, I use spray wax on the wheels and this makes it a lot easier to clean them the next time.

In that case, SG would be cheaper because I'd get more volume per dollar. Do you know how many parts water I should use per parts SG?

And thanks for suggesting spray wax. But, that wouldn't work like that ArmorAll wheel protectant, would it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Lv2xfLzzU

[mfewtrail]

In that case, SG would be cheaper because I'd get more volume per dollar. Do you know how many parts water I should use per parts SG?

And thanks for suggesting spray wax. But, that wouldn't work like that ArmorAll wheel protectant, would it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Lv2xfLzzU

I'm not sure about the dilution ratio. There are some general guidelines on the bottle that should give you a good idea of what ratio you need to use. Spray wax probably isn't quite as effective as that armor all wheel protectant, but w/ the frequency I clean my wheels, it works great for me.

By the way, you should resize that signature picture, it's a bit large. I don't think we have an explicitly stated rule on signature picture size here, but on the sister board(www.w-body.com), the max size is 600x150. As long as you get it close to that size, it'll be alright here.

[Fred931]

Sized it to 592x150, and by diluting the SG, do you mean the giant jug of it or the spray bottle? I know you have to dilute the concentrate, but the spray bottle should be within a safe range, right?

[mfewtrail]

Sized it to 592x150, and by diluting the SG, do you mean the giant jug of it or the spray bottle? I know you have to dilute the concentrate, but the spray bottle should be within a safe range, right?

Dilute the concentrated kind. It's available in large quantities as well as smaller spray bottles. I know I have some spray bottles of it that are probably quart sized.

After searching a detailing forum I frequent, you might want to look for certain types of simple green if you are going to use it on your wheels or engine. See this thread: http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-detailing-product-discussion/127036-simple-green-its-simple-dont-use-aluminum.html

[Fred931]

So, either Extreme Simple Green Motorsports or Simple Green Pro HD will work with aluminium, but Extreme only seems to come in 32oz. bottles and Pro HD doesn't show up in the Simple Green store but still shows up in the product list.  I also searched for the products in the Home Depot store site and I only found other kinds of Simple Green. Guess I could just stick with a normal auto wheel cleaner. I know a good ICE product that works well, so I'll just get that instead.

[Prospeeder]

uhh sure.... i used straight simple green on my engine and as you can see theres nothing wrong, it didnt harm a thing, paint plastic rubber aluminum nothin and its been years since this pic, I would obviously take care using ANY product on super polished aluminum tho As far as the wheels, a good hour or 2 and a wash towel and a tooth brush gets em pretty clean, nothing spray on does a good enough job, especially on the black wheels.

[jarrade]

When I wash my wheels I spray them down with high pressure to get the major grime off them. Then i spray them down with meguires and use a shop rag to wipe them down. After that i usually take it through a manual car wash and use the brush there just to make sure there clean. Before you use the brush wash it out with the high pressure rinse and it wont wipe grease or anything on them. Usually my wheels look like brand new afterwards.