Keeping It Wheel | Cleaning Your Wheels

Wheel cleaning - it's one of, if not the most important steps in the car detailing process, so you need to know how to undergo the process and what products can help you to do so. Slim's is here to help out and recommend the best of the best for the "wheel" of approval.

Your car's wheels happen to be at the optimal position for getting smothered with dirt from the road surface, in addition to the large amount of brake dust that can stick to them. Depending on how often you clean your car and how much contamination you face between wash processes, the amount of build-up may vary, though any contaminant is bound to diminish the vehicle's appeal. 

Luckily, getting rid of these contaminants in your wash is easy with the inclusion of these steps and their associated products.

Step One | Decon

When decontaminating (decon for short), wheel cleaner is the easiest product to use, even when dirt, iron, and fallout are caked on. CARPRO IronX and Koch Chemie Reactive Wheel Cleaner are very easy to use: spray onto the wheel working upwards from the bottom to coat the alloy surface. We recommend working on one wheel at a time so you can observe the chemical reaction when the iron "bleeds" from the rim, turning a deep red colour.

Step Two | Agitate

For those more stubborn and caked-on contaminants, it is ideal to "agitate" the product into those stains as well as around the harder-to-reach brake calipers.  Using a Wheel Woolie is the safest bet if you are looking to protect your alloys as much as possible when agitating, though a wheel brush like the Martin Cox Wheel Brush has soft bristles to avoid scratching when cleaning tight spaces - the choice is entirely yours to make.

Step Three | Wash

Once you are satisfied with the amount of coverage and agitation in your process, ensure to wash the product off thoroughly. A garden hose is efficient enough to get the job done, but a pressure washer ensures the thorough removal of product - the AVA Evolution P60 and AVA Smart P50 are both useful pressure washers, each individually sized and purposed depending on the required flexible mobility for the job at hand.

Step Four | Dressing

Though this isn't a required step, we have included the finishing process of tyre dressing to our guide for those who prefer the look of glossy wheels and want to replicate it on their own vehicle. CARPRO Perl offers UV protection on plastic, rubber and leather surfaces for up to 3 months - though if you are going for the American high-shine look, we recommend using Malco RTU which is silicon- and solvent-free.

Cleaning your wheels couldn't get any simpler than that! Following our simple steps should allow you to see an improvement in the results of your pre-existing wash process, and hopefully give you that wheel-good factor (pun intended).

To dive into the experience of wheel cleaning, click here for our full wheels & tyres range and find what's right for you!

And remember: in the words of Slim himself, it's all about the details.