If you want your wheels free from grime, grease, dirt, and brake dust, then you should get the right wheel cleaner to do the job.
There are many wheel cleaners out there for you to choose from, whether they're environment-friendly ones like KevianClean Wheel Cleaner, or something that's heavy-duty, like the brands made for dealing with off-road vehicle gunk and mud.
You should find a formula of wheel cleaner that can effectively yet gently clean up all types of wheels and hubs, whether they're clear-coated, anodized, polished, color-coated, modular, factory-treated, or completely exposed.
The Multitude of Wheel Cleaner Types
- Hands On versus Spray On: Certain wheel cleaners come in spray form. Others are available in gel form, thus requiring applicators for proper even application. Sprays are easy to use because it's readily to apply on your wheels, just wipe the suds to get rid of the grease, dirt, brake dust, and so forth. Gels generally last longer, with a little bit of gel dissolved in water lasting quite a long time.
- Buy a Soft Brush Too: Spray-on, rinse-off is the best method for maintaining mostly cleaned wheels. However, rims and hubs filled with gunk, mud, debris and contaminants that cling onto the surface of the wheel's clear coat or, worse, the metal itself takes more to clean out. You'll need a soft brush to agitate these contaminants away without scratching your magnesium or stainless steel wheel surface.
- Alloy Wheel Maintenance: Your wheel cleaner of choice should also be able to clean up all sorts of alloy wheels with their open-spoke design. A good cleaner should contain ingredients that can protect exposed alloy wheels from brake dust and road grime that tends to accumulate on their surface. Alloys made of steel or iron are particularly susceptible to corrosion, so they need the most protection from hands-on or spray-on cleaners.
- High Priority Wheel Safety: The thing that makes a wheel cleaner better than dishwashing soap and water when it comes to cleaning the grime from the wheel axle and hub is the fact that they prioritize wheel safety. Many of these cleaners have pH-balanced formulas that ensure protection from corrosion while being non-corrosive or acidic themselves. Compare that to soaps and liquid detergents that works great on ceramic but can corrode or damage your wheels.
- The Price and Value Balancing Act: You can get your own wheel cleaner in pump bottles or aerosol cans weighing 24 ounces that cost from $4 to $7. You can also get cheaper 16-ounce bottles in case you feel that you don't need to clean your wheels as often as other vehicles. For example, an all-terrain vehicle requires a more intense cleaning regimen compared to a sedan that has to deal with city driving and L.A. traffic at most.