Being a skeptic about miraculous claims and the fact that my Indy rims always seems a shade of off white from all the brake dust I could never seem to get off I decided to test a product...Armor All Extreme Wheel and Tire Cleaner.
First we soaked the wheel and rim with a hose and washed them with a brush and soapy water to see what that would do... While they seemed a bit cleaner they were still dingy.
So I soaked them again with the hose and saturated them with the cleaner. I used a rag instead of the brush so I could get into the little cracks, nooks. and crannies better....like a Thomas's English Muffin.
The final look came out far better than I could imagine...the wheels are whiter than they have been since they were new! I love it!
This product comes with the Rottin seal of approval!!!!!!!!!
[This message has been edited by johnyrottin (edited 05-18-2012).]
You know what, I think I might give this a shot on my GT wheels. Same deal as you, the brake dust just doesn't want to come off. Thanks for taking the time to review it!
There is only one "best" wheel cleaner (my opinion). I use it for many things. P21s. Made in Germany. I mail order mine. I have never seen it for sale locally. The absolute best. Very effective and very gentile. Only thing I have used in the last maybe 15+ years. Wet the surface lightly, spray some on, some light scrubbing with a fine hair brush, rinse and perfectly clean. This is for lightly soiled or oil surfaces.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
IP: Logged
07:40 PM
JohnWPB Member
Posts: 5218 From: West Palm Beach, Florida Registered: May 2009
I have never used the Armor All cleaner, so I have no idea what is in it. that being said....
FYI, I used to work for a professional detail shop in college for a few years. We did mostly high end cars. So this is all just from my personal experience.
On the Armor All Label It says "Safe on all factory and aftermarket COATED wheels"
That is there good reason that that is on the label! Most wheel cleaners contain acid. If you have ever sprayed rim cleaner, and gotten a good whiff, and it makes you cough, it's the acid making you cough. Acid can and will discolor many non-coated rims, bare aluminum and steel rims. On aluminum it can make them look darker, and in some cases, worse, by just darkening spots of the rims. Keep in mind, In cases where the rims are coated and old, like Fiero Rims, the coating has worn off a lot of the times.
We had a guy that accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle of a mild acid solution AKA Rim Cleaner, when detailing the engine bay on a C6 Vette. It discolored the intake manifolds badly. It cost the shop owner quite a bit in parts and labor to completely replace them for the customer. The Vette was the latest model year and only had like 10,000 miles on it at the time. An expensive lesson for sure!
IP: Logged
09:16 PM
PFF
System Bot
May 18th, 2012
johnyrottin Member
Posts: 5487 From: Northwest Florida Registered: Oct 2007
This being the case I would not reccommend using the stuff on a regular basis. Having said that, for a one time cleaning it worked awesome! I also used the Armor All Wheel Protectant which proportedly keeps the brake dust from sticking. It did a pretty good job I must admit. This summer I will take the rims completely off the car, give them one reeeeaaallllyyy good cleaning and then keep up on them. Hopfully that will help the dingy wheel syndrome.
Rodney's reccommendation of P21 is a sound one. I used to use that back in the day on my cars and my bikes. Works a champ!
[This message has been edited by johnyrottin (edited 05-18-2012).]
IP: Logged
04:08 PM
May 19th, 2012
css9450 Member
Posts: 5491 From: Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA Registered: Nov 2002
That is there good reason that that is on the label! Most wheel cleaners contain acid.
LOL Once I brought a wheel into the house and tried using one of those spray-on products on it (might have been too cold out so I used it indoors). The stuff was strong enough to etch a big circle on the basement thats still there 7 or 8 years later. Strong stuff!
IP: Logged
09:21 AM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
A terry cloth or wash rag will always clean better than a brush, especially on white. I too tried some brand (dont remember) of aluminum/alloy wheel cleaner that was safe on ALL wheels. I did use it to clean all the ultra polished engine components on one of the Corvettes. It ruined them all, I ended up painting all the brand new polished parts. A friend with a 72 Pantera show car, had his complete aluminum engine and transaxle polished to like chrome while it was apart. A professional detail shop sprayed it all down and ruined it too. It cost them about $7000 to have it all torn down and repolished. Now I trust only soap and water. I dont let brake dust set on them more than a few days. I also try to buy only silver painted wheels now too. Just ordered a painted set for the new Mercedes AMG.
IP: Logged
09:27 AM
Tony Kania Member
Posts: 20794 From: The Inland Northwest Registered: Dec 2008
Just to sum it up, be very careful, and test an unseen spot if you can. Otherwise it could cost you a lot of heartache and money!
quote
Originally posted by JohnWPB: We had a guy that accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle of a mild acid solution AKA Rim Cleaner, when detailing the engine bay on a C6 Vette. It discolored the intake manifolds badly. It cost the shop owner quite a bit in parts and labor to completely replace them for the customer. The Vette was the latest model year and only had like 10,000 miles on it at the time. An expensive lesson for sure!
quote
Originally posted by css9450: LOL Once I brought a wheel into the house and tried using one of those spray-on products on it......The stuff was strong enough to etch a big circle on the basement thats still there 7 or 8 years later.
quote
Originally posted by rogergarrison:
I too tried some brand (dont remember) of aluminum/alloy wheel cleaner that was safe on ALL wheels. I did use it to clean all the ultra polished engine components on one of the Corvettes. It ruined them all, I ended up painting all the brand new polished parts.
quote
Originally posted by rogergarrison: A friend with a 72 Pantera show car, had his complete aluminum engine and transaxle polished to like chrome while it was apart. A professional detail shop sprayed it all down and ruined it too. It cost them about $7000 to have it all torn down and repolished.
