How-to: Clean and Care for Your Wheels and Tires – Part 2
Cleaning Tires & Wheels
To get your tires and wheels squeaky-clean and shiny, you will need:
- a 3- to 5-gallon bucket (a Home Depot “Homer” bucket will do great)
- a stiff bristled tire brush (I find that small carpet scrub brushes do well)
- soft wheel brush such as EZ Detail brush
- a washmitt (never let a washmitt used on your tires touch your paint, it should be dedicated to wheels/tires and wheelwells only)
- a water hose and nozzle (a foam gun would be a handy tool and a great investment for keeping the rest of your car clean.)
- Car wash shampoo (Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Gloss is an excellent choice for the rest of your car as well)
- An acid-free wheel cleaner (P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner is the most powerful cleaner I have ever used, yet is completely safe for all wheels)
This wheel has collected a good amount of brake dust. The brake dust has had a chance to set, so it will be tougher to clean.
- Clean one wheel at a time. Preferably you should do this in the shade to keep the cleaners and soap from drying up. For extremely bad wheels, you can remove them to make cleaning easier and get better results.
- Clean your tires and wheels first before washing the rest of the car. This prevents the splattering of cleaners, dirt and brake dust on already cleaned panels. Your car is also less likely to get water spots from drying while you wash your wheels.
- Mix a bucket of soapy water with the car shampoo, at a high concentration. For Citrus Wash & Gloss use 1 oz per gallon. (To get the same concentration using the foam gun, use the “D” setting and add about 10 oz. of soap and fill the rest with warm water.)
- Thoroughly rinse the tire and wheel with water using a hose and spray nozzle. If it is exposed, rinse the brake caliper to flush away loose brake dust. Finally, rinse up into the wheel well to wash away road grunge, road kill, mud and other debris. (If you have a pressure washer, it will make this step more effective and easier.)
- If your tires and wheels have a heavy coating of brake dust or road grime, spray them down with your wheel cleaner. If you’re using the P21S Gel, allow it to soak for 5-10 minutes. Other cleaners can sit for up to 5 minutes.
- Use tire and wheel scrub brushes and your soapy water to agitate the tire and wheel surface. Use plenty of soapy water. The soap acts as a lubricant to gently lift dirt and grit away from your wheels. Follow up with your sponge or washcloth to wash the remaining dirt from the tire and wheel. If your wheels have large open areas, use the washmitt to get behind these areas. Make sure the tires are scrubbed. Many people put layer upon layer of dressings on their tires, but never clean them. The result is a brown or yellow discoloration.
- Use your wheel brush and soapy water to scrub the accessible areas of the wheel wells, too. This small detail keeps your car looking fresh and new. If your wheel has a lot of small nooks and crannies, use a parts cleaning brush.
- Thoroughly rinse the tire, wheel and wheel well. Use plenty of water. You need to ensure that all traces of the wheel cleaner are gone.
Protecting Your Wheels and Tires
Cleaning your wheels and tires isn’t all there is to keeping them in good condition. They need to be protected from the elements. Here’s what you’ll need to protect your wheels and tires
Tire Dressing
Recommended dressings
-
Meguiars HyperDressing – a water-based dressing that allows you to choose your level of shine by dilution. 1:1 get you a high gloss shine, 2:1 gets you a semi-gloss, 3:1 gives a satin look, and 4:1 gets a natural matte. It’s also extremely economical.
- 303 Aerospace Protectant -a water-based dressing that leaves a beautiful matte finish that is not greasy, shiny or oily. Treated surfaces resist dust, soiling, staining and also repel water.
- Optimum Opti-Bond – another water-based dressing that leaves a deep “wet” look
Wheel Sealant
- Optimum Opti-Seal – My personal favorite. A “wipe-on, walk away” type sealant with excellent durability. A little goes a long way. A couple of sprays can seal a whole wheel. It is meant to be used all over your vehicle, including paint, glass and plastic.
- Poorboy’s Wheel Sealant – a good sealant with medium durability.
You’ll also need a good dressing applicator.
How-to: Clean and Care for Your Wheels and Tires – Part 1
Your wheels and tires are a focal point of your vehicle. They can really enhance or detract from your car’s overall appearance. Whether you are “rollin on dubs” or just stock wheels, you need to properly car for them. Before we talk about cleaning them, let’s discuss their needs.
Tire Care
Your tires have several formidable enemies, including water, petroleum distillates, ultraviolet (UV) light and ozone. Water washes away the natural oils and waxes in rubber that keep it elastic. When ozone is combined with UV light, a reaction occurs that attacks the tire and its polymers. Petroleum distillates are harmful to rubber and vinyl, eating them on contact and causing cracking.
Wheel and Tire Before
To protect against ozone and UV damage, a stabilizer molecule called a competitive absorber is blended with the tire polymer. Competitive absorbers work by capturing and absorbing UV radiation and converting it to heat, which is dissipated harmlessly. All tire manufacturers use the same competitive absorber, called carbon black. This is why most tires are black. These absorbers are sacrificial; they expend themselves in performing their function of converting UV light to heat. However, as carbon black loses its ability to perform, it turns gray. This is one reason tires usually discolor with age.
To protect tires from further ozone damage, tire manufacturers add a wax compound to their formulas. Tires flex when they are in motion, causing the wax molecules to migrate to the surface. This forms a protective barrier between the air (ozone and oxygen) and the tire polymer. In the tire trade this is called blooming. When tires are parked for extended periods, blooming does not occur, and ozone quickly attacks the tire polymer. With UV light and ozone working in concert, the degradation is accelerated, resulting in drying, discoloration and cracking.
To combat the negative effects of water, solvents and UV light on tires, the car care industry makes tire dressings. Tire dressings fall into two groups: oil-based and water-based silicones.
Oil-based silicone dressings are non-penetrating coatings that seal rubber and vinyl. They are very good at providing a protective surface barrier. Oil-based silicone dressings create a glossy film that never really dries. Be really careful in choosing a silicone dressing, as most contain petroleum distillates as a cleaning agent. So make sure that the dressing contains no solvents or petroleum distillates.
Water-based dressings do not contain oils or petroleum distillates that can harm and dull the surface of rubber and vinyl over time. Most water-based dressings offer a non-greasy, more natural looking satin finish; however, they are not as durable as the oil-based products.
Wheel Care
Modern wheels can be a huge headache to clean, as heated dust particles from brake pads hit the wheel and bake and harden into the finish. If left on the wheel, a process called galvanic corrosion starts, which will eventually destroy your wheel’s appearance leaving them pitted and stained.
Most modern wheels, in particular high-performance aluminum wheels, are painted with the same type of paint and clearcoat used on the body of the vehicle. While durable, the wheel’s clearcoat finish is subject to damage from acids just like your car’s paint, including acid rain and acidic cleaners. Likewise, polished and anodized aluminum wheels, not typically protected by a clearcoat, will react (dull or corrode) to both alkaline and acidic conditions.
Unfortunately, typical car wash soaps and household cleaners are not strong enough to break the bond between brake dust, road tar, road grime and the wheel. To properly clean wheels, the car care industry has developed two groups of wheel cleaners: acid and acid-free. Acid-based wheel cleaners are widely used by many car washes and express detail shops, who need to clean wheels in a hurry. Acid-based cleaners are typically 2% solutions of oxalic, phosphoric and hydrochloric acid. An acid cleaner has no place on any aluminum or fine after-market wheel.Acid-free wheel cleaners are mild solutions that creep under dirt and brake dust to loosen and lift. Non-acidic cleaners usually require some surface agitation, but are safer to use and will not etch the wheel’s finish.
Tune in to Part Two of this article to get step-by-step cleaning instructions and product recommendations.
What’s the true condition of your paint?
Most people don’t give their paint much more consideration than whether there is any dirt on it. But your paint may be in serious trouble. Why not evaluate your paint’s condition to see what your missing?
One of the most common paint afflictions is paint oxidation and contamination. What exactly is oxidation? Well, as the name implies it has to do with a substance and oxygen. When a substance (your paint) comes into contact with oxygen, it loses electrons. As the oxygen burns up the free radicals contained in the paint, the finish becomes duller and duller. Run your fingers across your paint; does it feel chalky? If so, you’re feeling a layer of paint that has been deteriorated by oxygen in the air. If your paint feels more gritty, then you most likely have embedded dirt, rail dust or industrial fallout. Left untreated, oxidation and contamination can completely ruin your paint, causing clear coat failure. In the picture below, the left side is oxidized and tight side has had the oxidation removed.
Treating light oxidation/contamination is easy. A clay bar and lube application followed by an all-in-one (AIO) product will not only remove the oxidation/contamination, but protect it from future oxidation and contaminants. Heavy oxidation/contamination will need to follow the clay bar and lube with a heavier polish, followed by the all-in-one (AIO).
Another highly common problem is swirling (also known as spiderwebbing). Have you ever caught the reflection of the sun on your paint and noticed what seems like thousands of tiny lines in the paint? Well those lines are actually tiny scratches in the paint. Swirling comes from numerous sources including improper wash techniques, automatic car washes and general wear and tear. Swirl marks are not detrimental to your paint’s integrity, however they can get worse and rob your paint of it’s shine. In the end, they also takes away hundreds of dollars from your car’s value. The picture below shows swirling on the right and the swirling removed on the left.
Swirling can be easy or hard to correct, depending on the severity. Very light swirling can be removed by hand with a fine polish and some elbow grease (not sold in stores). However, for anything but the lightest of swirls needs to be removed with a polisher such as the PC7424XP or by a quality detailer.
Now there are numerous other conditions that may affect your paint but theses will be touched upon in future posts. For now enjoy your improved paint.
The Infamous “Wax Job”
Ahh… the all-powerful wax job. The seeming cure for all of your car’s appearance problems.
- Got scratches, swirl marks, dull paint? Get a good wax job.
- Aren’t able to wash your car regularly? Get a wax job and don’t worry about it again.
- Want a good complete service from your detailer? Tell him to give a good wax job.
That car wax is some amazing stuff, huh? Well, actually it is. However, the problem is that it simply isn’t the answer to all these problems. What?! Shocking isn’t it? The fact is most people don’t really know what wax is, what it can do and more importantly, what it can’t do.
Put simply and shortly, wax is a layer of protection for your paint. It’s usually a mixture of carnauba and other waxes. When applied correctly it sits on top of your paint and defends it against UV rays and repels water. These qualities are what makes wax so great. Without UV rays damaging your finish it’ll last longer. Beading or sheeting water makes it easier to clean. And the wax sitting on top of your paint gives it high-gloss and depth to your paint, creating what many call “wetness” in your paint.
Now that we know what wax is and what it does, let’s consider what it isn’t and doesn’t do. Wax is not a permanent coating, it will wear off over time and washes. Wax durability ranges from a couple of weeks for show-quality boutique waxes to 3-4 months for synthetic blends.There are also synthetic polymer sealants that last up to 9 months and easier to use. When your wax or sealant wears off it needs to be stripped and reapplied. Because wax is just a coating, by itself it can’t correct any defects in your paint like scratches and swirl marks.
Now notice I said that wax itself cannot correct any defects. While this is true, manufacturers have added chemical and abrasive polishes to their waxes, creating all-in-one (AIO) cleaner-waxes that can remove minors defects and oxidation while leaving a layer of protection. Other waxes have what are called fillers, components that fill in and conceal defects, making your paint to appear flawless. This effect only lasts for a while, but is a great option for paints at risk of clear-coat failure or.
So what does this mean for you in the end? Basically, buyer beware. While many new waxes are more capable than ever, you need to make sure you are getting the product that will deliver the results you need. For those selecting a detailer, find out what kind of protection they will be applying to your paint. Be sure you get what you pay for.
Here are some recommended waxes and sealants.
- Klasse All-In-One – AIO
- Optimum Poli-Seal - AIO
- Chemical Guys Jet Seal 109 – Sealant
- Optimum Opti-Seal – Sealant
- P21S 100% Carnauba Wax – Wax
- Chemical Guys 50/50 Concourse Wax – Wax
- Poorboy’s World Natty’s Blue Paste Wax – Wax
- Poorboy’s World Natty’s Red Paste Wax – Wax
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