[A4] Wheel cleaner?

[Brett Dikeman]

At 8:07 PM -0400 6/29/03, Michael and Stacey Rollins wrote:

>  > I dont get anywhere near that involved. I have been
>>  using 30 oz. of Simple Green mixed with 2 ozs. of
>>  water in a 1 quart spray bottle. Hit the wheels with a
>>  hose, spray on the stuff, use a soft brush on tires
>>  and wheels, hose off. I wax them twice during my 5K
>  > wheel rotation period.


...except that Simple Green will pretty much instantly remove that
wax, not to mention it's inappropriate for aluminum surfaces; if you
had cracks in the paint or clearcoat, SG would only make things worse.

I nailed some impossible tar stains on the ovloV just the other day
on the front+rear bumper covers with some stuff called Zep Degreaser;
it mentions "automotive" uses, but doesn't have any warnings about
paint damage, so it's probably OK, but double-check the label.  It
wasn't able to touch the baked on tar dots on the wheels with
it...but nothing I have tried is able to.

The best will always be P21S, in my book- it's perfectly safe for the
wheels, recommended by most rim manufacturers(and car
companies)...and bought in bulk it's not that expensive.  Their
sprayers however DRENCH the wheel in cleaner; I HIGHLY recommend
moving the stuff over to a different sprayer(or just spray a little
onto the brush, instead of trying to cover the wheel)...their sprayer
will run you into the poorhouse.  The gel does a pretty good job of
staying put, and can supposedly be left on the wheel for hours for
removing tough stuff; you might want to give that a try.  Get a
decent amount of gel on the spots you need to clean, and just walk
away for a couple hours.  Make sure the wheel is completely cool.

Note- many of the wheel cleaners out there are HIGHLY, HIGHLY acidic
and will eat the hell out of your wheel's clearcoat and into the
metal if there's any damage- not to mention, the stuff is REALLY bad
for you to inhale, and you WILL end up inhaling the fumes.  Check the
label- if you see any sort of acid...to quote Monty Python, "Run
away, run away!"

Brett
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