Alloy wheel cleaner

[DIYspanner]

Its a 2009 i20 so would anyone care to recommend an aerosol spray on for the job of cleaning please.

thanks

 

[Burnerman]

I don’t know if its available as a trigger spray but Wonder Wheels takes some beating.....perhaps the most aggresive of the products and brush applied.
John

 

[JohnD]

Red stuff brake pads.

Leaves wheels much cleaner.

 

[stuartb3502]

Wonder Wheels and the like are great until you realise that every time you use them, they make the next clean harder and are gradually killing your wheels. They're acid. Acid and lacquer don't play well. If your wheels are in reasonable condition I recommend doing a very thorough clean once and sealing them with wheel protectant. From there you will find that cleaning with normal car shampoo will work and will be easy.

For the deep clean you casn use something like Wonder Wheels or a less harsh, but effective cleaner lilke bilberry (various makes available on car care sites) or if you want to splash out, P20 which is fantastic but expensive. Consider getting some "fallout remover" also. This stuff removes near invisible flecks of iron which will be embedded in your wheels and the lower half of your car. Although they are usually not visible they mean that other protective coatings won't stick/work as well. You can continue using this stuff from time to time as the iron flecks still get to your wheels and paint even through protectants.

Then ideally a wipe over with a clean cloth and isopropyl alcohol (which has multiple uses when cleaning and is quite cheap in bulk). It can be slightly diluted for this job with deionised water. If the cloth is dirty after (which it will be ) Clean again. Repeat until you can't be bothered any more/lose will to live.

Then get a protectant (I use Gtechniq C5, but others are available and may be better for all I know) and apply. This is fast and easy by this point.

Sounds like a grind, but it's something to do once a year or less (did my daily driver over 2 years ago ans still OK) and will make a huge, huge difference in the ease of cleaning your wheels and slow down their deterioration.

I'm not a car detailing nut, but learned this stuff after 30 or so years of cleaning cars and bikes and finding out the hard way that other seemingly easier/quicker methods are slower and less effective in the end.

 

[johnny2007]

Pressure washer, fairy liquid on a soft sponge, then pressure washer again.
5 minutes per corner.
Nobody looks at wheels from 3 inches away, usually humans walk on 2 legs and look at wheels from at least 5 foot height or thereabout.

 

[DIYspanner]

I've always frowned on pressure washers used on cars. Surely the water pressure is abrasive to the paint varnish and what ever coatings are applied to alloy wheels?

I've caught bare skin with a pressure washer's jet and its not pleasant.

 

[johnny2007]

I've always frowned on pressure washers used on cars. Surely the water pressure is abrasive to the paint varnish and what ever coatings are applied to alloy wheels?

I've caught bare skin with a pressure washer's jet and its not pleasant.

Maybe on a Fiat.
I've washed my passat for 23 years with pressure washers and the paint is still like it came out of the factory

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I've always frowned on pressure washers used on cars. Surely the water pressure is abrasive to the paint varnish and what ever coatings are applied to alloy wheels?

I've caught bare skin with a pressure washer's jet and its not pleasant.

If used in close, it can lift the lacquer, but used from a few feet they are fine.

 

[Stivino]

I've always frowned on pressure washers used on cars. Surely the water pressure is abrasive to the paint varnish and what ever coatings are applied to alloy wheels?

I've caught bare skin with a pressure washer's jet and its not pleasant.

When I was an apprentice, we apprentices (there were many of us in those days) used to have to wash the cars of the department bosses. We had a wash bay with a steam jenny and part of the fun was taking the pinstripes off the cars with the jenny. And, of course, trying to fill the exhausts with it.

 

[DIYspanner]

My neighbour uses her pressure washer to clean the double glazing.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

My neighbour uses her pressure washer to clean the double glazing.

So do I, but at a distance.

 

[Belle427]

Bilt hamber auto wheel is the best I’ve used and I’m quite obsessed with car cleaning!

 

[DIYspanner]

Bilt hamber auto wheel is the best I’ve used and I’m quite obsessed with car cleaning!

That's the one I've actually ordered after this fella demonstrated it.

Will post how good a job its does.