Keeping the shine on your wheels
Very few accessories can improve or detract from the looks of a vehicle as much as wheels. When they’re styled and shiny they can make a tired ride look new and when they’re pitted and grimy they can make your mind wander to thoughts of a new vehicle. But with a little time and effort, alloy wheels can be brought back to showroom condition.
The first question many owners ask is, why bother? Many of the substances that wheel rims are exposed to are corrosive. Think things like brake dust, road salt, contaminated water and so on. Leave this material on any type of alloy wheel long enough and it can cause any clear-coat application to peel at the very least and may eventually cause the rim to become porous, leading to slow tire leaks. And of course there are the esthetics of having grimy-looking wheels on an otherwise shiny vehicle.
Professional vehicle detailers often use acid to remove surface grime, and unless handled properly this can lead to more problems than it will solve. First, the acid is extremely corrosive, and when used in the wrong concentration it will actually burn through rubber gloves and several layers of skin. And if it’s not completely rinsed off soon after its application it can corrode various parts of the rim and attaching hardware.
If a vehicle is driven with any amount of acid still on the rims, Murphy’s Law dictates it will come into contact with painted body panels and will permanently mar those finishes. The other main problem with acid is it’s almost impossible to properly dispose of it when using it at home. Any amount you rinse off ends up in a storm drain.
A few years back, Consumer Reports did a fairly thorough review of DIY rim cleaners, even using a colorimeter to measure the amount of dirt left behind after following package instructions. The first thing Consumer Reports noted is not to believe any of the ‘no-scrubbing-required’ labels. Their testers found that all of the cleaners tested did little to remove anything but surface grit without some scrubbing. A soft to medium nylon brush is best and never use any metal-bristled brushes on any type of wheel. Those small-headed kitchen dish brushes are great for getting in between wheel spokes and bottle brushes are handy for cleaning out the recessed lug-nut wells.
In order of performance from best to worse, according to Consumer Reports, the top five were Eagle One A2Z, Meguiars Hot Rims, Mother’s Foaming Wheel and Tire Cleaner, Armor All Extreme Wheel and Tire Cleaner, and Black Magic Foaming Wheel and Tire Cleaner.
Most are available at Canadian Tire and average around $15 per bottle (enough to do about four complete cleanings). Interestingly enough, the Consumer Reports team found that even the best rim cleaner does about the same job as any good quality degreaser which can cost considerably less and has more uses around the home and garage.
If you want to reduce the number of times you have to clean your rims each season, consider getting some wheel/rim wax. A good application of a quality wax such as Turtle’s All Metal Polish can reduce every other wheel cleaning to a simple hose rinse.