Alloy wheel cleaner

[Toonsoldier91]

Morning all. I'm after some alloy wheel cleaner. I'm going to have a drive out to a place called juicy detailing in Stanley country Durham today as I want to do my wheels today as there a state

They sell dragons breath and bilberry wheel cleaner and also bilt hamber

What one is best?? also do you need to dilute these products ??

I will be washing my car onece a week if I get the chance. So that needs to be taking into concideration ie are both safe to use weekly or would one be best suited to a monthly use or high comtamination

Thanks

 

[scotty76]

 

[AndyT306]

http://dooka.co.uk/Wheels-tyres/dooka-wheels-maintenance-wheel-shampoo

 

[Jimbo10]

I just got some Iron X (lemon scent) from Slims.
Did a bit of research before hand and it's the best, if not one of the best in all test conditions.

I think it's pretty good but then again I have nothing to compare it to

 

[AndyT306]

CarPro Iron X is probably if not the best, but it's expensive, depends how often you clean your wheels, i do mine every week or 2, therefore i don't need a mega strong fallout remover to get them clean

 

[DrEskimo]

I've used Dragons Breath, BH Korrosol, Iron X, Auto finesse Iron Out, Bilberry and Dooka wheel wash.

First thing to note is that Bilberry and Dooka wheel wash are just ordinary shampoos with a bit more 'bite' to clean the wheels. The others are chemical wheel cleaners that react with iron to dissolve it. You cant dilute iron X like products (expect for Red X, but thats another story), whereas you can dilute Dooka and Bilberry as much as you like.

I would say Iron X is also the best of the bunch, but BH korrosol (like many of BHs products) offers the best value. But, if you are cleaning every week, you shouldn't have to use an iron out product every time. Would be too costly.

My advice is to buy one to thoroughly clean you alloys, then apply a ceramic coating to them (Gtechniq C5, CarPro DLUX, etc.) and then just maintain them using with Dooka, Bilberry, or even just you standard car shampoo (I get bad reactions on ym skin with Bilberry, and didnt think Dooka was different to my standard shampoo to need buying separately personally.).

 

[Raiden]

Any Iron out cleaner that's gel based I find works well. The Dodo juice one is the best iv'e found

 

[Toonsoldier91]

I've used Dragons Breath, BH Korrosol, Iron X, Auto finesse Iron Out, Bilberry and Dooka wheel wash.

First thing to note is that Bilberry and Dooka wheel wash are just ordinary shampoos with a bit more 'bite' to clean the wheels. The others are chemical wheel cleaners that react with iron to dissolve it. You cant dilute iron X like products (expect for Red X, but thats another story), whereas you can dilute Dooka and Bilberry as much as you like.

I would say Iron X is also the best of the bunch, but BH korrosol (like many of BHs products) offers the best value. But, if you are cleaning every week, you shouldn't have to use an iron out product every time. Would be too costly.

My advice is to buy one to thoroughly clean you alloys, then apply a ceramic coating to them (Gtechniq C5, CarPro DLUX, etc.) and then just maintain them using with Dooka, Bilberry, or even just you standard car shampoo (I get bad reactions on ym skin with Bilberry, and didnt think Dooka was different to my standard shampoo to need buying separately personally.).

Thanks for your input, I bought some bilberry, but after some more re search I've seen a few people with damanged alloys after use, so I'm thinking about going back up tomorrow morning for some dragons breath as it's acid and alkaline free ( ph neutral ) where as bilberry isn't, I could use the dragons breath onece a month and the bilberry every week with a dilution ratio of 1 part to 8 or something for washing

Have you ever had any bad relations from bilberry ?? Also what ratio do you use

 

[DrEskimo]

Thanks for your input, I bought some bilberry, but after some more re search I've seen a few people with damanged alloys after use, so I'm thinking about going back up tomorrow morning for some dragons breath as it's acid and alkaline free ( ph neutral ) where as bilberry isn't, I could use the dragons breath onece a month and the bilberry every week with a dilution ratio of 1 part to 8 or something for washing

Have you ever had any bad relations from bilberry ?? Also what ratio do you use

I used it diluted 10:1, so quite weak. My personal gripe was that it reacted badly on my hands. Made my skin go all tight and generally horrible feeling! I wore gloves, but it inevitably came into contact with my skin.

Never had a problem with it though. Just generally didnt think it did a better job than a mixture of my car shampoo in a bottle! But then I have my wheels coated in a ceramic coating, so that's probably why

 

[Toonsoldier91]

I used it diluted 10:1, so quite weak. My personal gripe was that it reacted badly on my hands. Made my skin go all tight and generally horrible feeling! I wore gloves, but it inevitably came into contact with my skin.

Never had a problem with it though. Just generally didnt think it did a better job than a mixture of my car shampoo in a bottle! But then I have my wheels coated in a ceramic coating, so that's probably why

Hmm I don't like the sound of that. If it burns your skin then mayb it could damage the alloy I think I'm best taking it back and getting some dragons breath or blit hamber there both ph neutral

Whitch one of them would you go for ? I like the idea of dragons breath turning red but I've heard it absolutely stinks

 

[Bristle Hound]

@Toonsoldier91 - After my fiasco with my local Dealer damaging a wheel when my car was in for service, I thought I would do a decontamination on the other 3 wheels as the new 1 was making the others look dirty

I'd picked up some Wonder Wheels Hot Wheels alloy wheel cleaner from Tesco's a couple of months for £2.50

TBH I was really surprised at how ell it worked
Like my normal wheel cleaner, CarPro Iron X, the Wonder Wheels, which I thought smelt very much the same as IronX, also made me gag lol

£6.99 delivered at Amazon Uk

More info on cleaning alloys here -
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/100045/how-to-clean-alloy-wheels
& the AutoExpress test from June this year
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/63754/best-car-wheel-cleaner-2017

 

[Toonsoldier91]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I've decided to go with bilt hamber auto wheels. Seems to get the best reviews and is non acid and non alkaline. So will be better for the alloys. I think this will be safer to use as a weekly washer. Possibly diluted to 1:1 for lightly soiled wheels

 

[scotty76]

A bit late now but I have used Bilberry without issue. Like @DrEskimo I didn't think it was worth the hype. Clean wheels and a sealant is the way to go. Once sealed a pressure wash and shampoo wash works just fine.

 

[Toonsoldier91]

A bit late now but I have used Bilberry without issue. Like @DrEskimo I didn't think it was worth the hype. Clean wheels and a sealant is the way to go. Once sealed a pressure wash and shampoo wash works just fine.

I'm hoping To get the wheels sealed with in the next couple of month. It's just finding time to do it. Every time I get time it pours down with rain. Do you think blit hamber will be safe to use weekly ??

 

[Bristle Hound]

More info on wheel sealants here -
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/alloy-wheels-sealant.325151/#post-3006384

My particular fave is Planet Polish Wheel Seal & Shine
http://www.planetpolish.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5

 

[Toonsoldier91]

More info on wheel sealants here -
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/alloy-wheels-sealant.325151/#post-3006384

My particular fave is Planet Polish Wheel Seal & Shine
http://www.planetpolish.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5

Thanks for that. Would you say sealant then a couple layers of decent wax?? Or just sealant

 

[Bristle Hound]

Thanks for that. Would you say sealant then a couple layers of decent wax?? Or just sealant

@Toonsoldier91 - I only use a sealant
No need to for a wax as well IMHO

 

[Toonsoldier91]

@Toonsoldier91 - I only use a sealant
No need to for a wax as well IMHO

Ok thanks a lot bristle, hopefully the weather changes ( more torrential rain with hail and possible thunder and lightning forcast tomorrow) so yet another day i ain't got much on I won't get to wash the car. That'll be 5 weeks with out a wash

 

[AndyT306]

I’ve sealed mine so a quick wipe with dooka is enough to get them clean; pw takes most off on its own, only use iron x if they are really caked or I’m feeling lazy

 

[Toonsoldier91]

Thanks guys. I went out and swapped it for blit hamber. I feel better using it as it's ph neutral. The front wheels were quite bad this stuff turned a deep purple/red quite quick. Backs weren't too bad.

Over all I'm happy with this product with how well it removed 95% of the muck that had accumulated over 5 weeks. Will post some pictures up tonight.

I could have gotten them a little cleaner but I was running out of time as I had to be somewhere at 4pm so I skipped washing the wheels so I could apply some bsd to the body work before I went out.

I need to get a jack and get the wheels off one at a time and give them a proper clean inside and out, and a good old sealant to help weekly washes. I wounder how much a pro detailer would charge to Do the wheels, any idea ??

Thanks for all your helpful tips on products I really appreciate them.

 

[Toonsoldier91]

As promised here are a couple of photos from today's clean, only sprayed the alloys onece so quite impressed with the results. Maybe more would be shifted if I was to give it a second spray after rinsing

Also it's amazing how dirty wiper blades get, only wiped them 3 weeks ago and look at how dirty the bowl of water is!

 

[scotty76]

Nice work!

My local detailer charges £25 a wheel to clean and seal them.

 

[AndyT306]

Detailing wheels is easy especially once off the car, I’ve only sealed the front face atm, as my wheels have never been off I’m expecting them to be a pain to remove

 

[scotty76]

Detailing wheels is easy especially once off the car, I’ve only sealed the front face atm, as my wheels have never been off I’m expecting them to be a pain to remove

Mine are a pain to remove as the locking wheel nut is under the spare wheel. And besides I'm too chicken to take them off.

 

[AndyT306]

I just remember taking a wheel off the wife’s new car involved a lot of hammering with a mallet, not something I want to do on a spare wheel jack!

 

[Toonsoldier91]

Nice work!

My local detailer charges £25 a wheel to clean and seal them.

Thanks. Car looks mint when clean. Pint works in decent nick still. Use sonax bsd witch gives good beading. I'll have to pop up to the detailing place near me and get a price for them. 25 a wheel doesn't sound too bad.

Mine are a pain to remove as the locking wheel nut is under the spare wheel. And besides I'm too chicken to take them off.

I'm in the same boat to be honest, I'm not scared to take them off, more scared to damage something under the car while jacking, although I've bought a ice hockey puk with a slot in that's for the 8v sill, One day I will have to give it ago, take my time and wack the spare on so it isn't sat on a jack too long .

 

[niedzial1983]

I spend 5h cleaning mine up with ironx and clay bar... after coated them with c5 wheel armour. Now i need only a cloth and water

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