ADR Design Wheels Tests and Recommends Meguiar's #36 Wheel Cleaner

[Mike Phillips]

ADR Design Wheels Tests and Recommends Meguiar's #36 Wheel Cleaner

The Great Wheel Cleaner Test
Which wheel cleaner came out on top?

August 13, 2004

After an extensive testing period of about one year, the Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Wheel Cleaner #36 came out on top. The acid free cleaner is safe for all ADR Design wheel finishes, and creates a brilliant shine. The acid free formula dissolves grease, grime and brake dust. Great to use to clean HMC Silver finish wheels! For more great products, including the new NXT line of cleaners, visit www.meguiars.com

#36 Hi-Tech Wheel Cleaner




Click here to read the story on ADR Design Wheels website!

[Lt1Corvette]

Is 36 an all wheel cleaner? Is it safe on lets say BBS, magnesium wheels or those dreaded old five spoke forged alloy wheels Porsche made.

Meguiars

[Mike Phillips]

Yes, #36 Wheel Cleaner is safe for all wheels.

Mike

[George Wax]

Mike, it has been my experience #36 wheel cleaner is not very potent for really dirty wheel's let say on a daily driver. Not my first choice for wheel cleaner's. I almost alway's had to resort to a secondary wheel brush to agitate the surface of the wheel..

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by George Wax
Mike, it has been my experience #36 wheel cleaner is not very potent for really dirty wheel's let say on a daily driver. Not my first choice for wheel cleaner's. I almost always had to resort to a secondary wheel brush to agitate the surface of the wheel..

That's correct. #36 is a SAFE all wheel cleaner.

There's always a trade-off when you balance safety with strength. I specifically addressed this when I wrote the FAQ, which I'll post below.

The point is this, there a lot of people that don't know what their car's wheels are made of, more specifically, what the surface of the wheel is made from, or coated with. If these people choose and use the wrong wheel cleaner, especially a strong chemical and/or acid-based wheel cleaner, they can and often times will stain or discolor their wheels.

To help prevent this, Meguiar's offers two safe-for-all-wheels, wheel cleaners. The idea being that,

1) If your car's design leaves your wheels susceptible to fast build-up and heavy build-up or brake dust, then you use a wheel cleaner often as part of a good maintenance program.

Like Barry always says, "Frequent car care is easy car care".


2) If your car's design leaves your wheels susceptible to fast build-up and heavy build-up or brake dust when using a safe-for-all-wheels wheel cleaner, you add more cleaning power to the cleaning action by using an appropriate wheel cleaning brush and in some instances cleaning the wheels twice with a second application of wheel cleaner after rinsing the first application off.

Here's the wheel cleaning FAQ


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From Meguiar's Meguiar's *NEW* FAQ


2. What is the best and safest way to clean my wheels?

Use the correct wheel cleaner

The best and safest way to remove brake dust, dirt, and road grime from wheels is to match the type of wheel cleaner to the type of wheel you're cleaning. Using the wrong wheel cleaner can lead to discoloring, dulling, and permanent staining. When in doubt, contact the wheel manufacture and ask them for their recommendations.

When cleaning neglected or extremely dirty wheels with extra heavy build-up of brake dust and road grime, instead of relying solely on a chemical cleaner for its cleaning power, boost the power of your wheel cleaner by using either a soft wheel brush or quality household paint brush.

When it comes to cleaning extremely dirty wheels, many people seek-out an extra strong wheel cleaner to do all of the work, when all the extra strength they really need can be found in their arms.

Don't make the mistake of trying to take the easy way out by resorting to an extra strength cleaner that can potentially damage your wheels because it's too strong. This is a common mistake people make when they rely on cleaners that are too strong, or use common under the sink multi-purpose cleaners that were never intended for use on their particular wheel surface.

Twice is Nice

Instead of using a more aggressive and potentially harmful cleaner on your car's wheels, try cleaning your wheels twice using a soft bristle wheel brush such as Meguiar's Deluxe Wheel Brush, or Ultra Soft Wheel Brush. Even a high quality household paintbrush along with a little extra elbow grease will help you get you wheels clean easily and safely.

Your first wheel cleaning will remove a majority of the built up brake dust and road grime. This will allow the next application of wheel cleaner to go right to work on the built-up brake dust and road grime that was underneath the first layer.

By using a high quality wheel brush or a household paintbrush, you will effectively agitate the built-up brake dust and road grime enabling the wheel cleaning chemicals to penetrate, loosen, and break their grip on the surface of your wheels. A second application will only take a few extra minutes and it will do a much better job of safely cleaning your wheels, versus trying to get the job done quickly with only one application.

Of course, as Barry always says, "Frequent car care is easy car care". This goes for cleaning wheels too. Washing your car often and thoroughly cleaning your wheels each time you wash your car, including all of the nooks and crannies, will prevent excessive brake dust and road grime from building up in the first place. Applying a protective coating of either a Meguiar’s NXT All Metal Polysh, or Meguiar’s All Metal Polish (for uncoated, polished wheels), or any Meguiar’s premium wax or paint protectant (for coated, or factory painted wheels) to insure cleaning your wheels is fast and easy.

In an effort to help you keep your wheels sparkling clean, Meguiar’s offers the following wheel cleaners, one of which is perfectly suited for your particular wheels:

Gold Class Instant Wheel Cleaner - Safe for factory clear coats and chrome
Hot Rims/Cool Care All Wheel Cleaner - All wheels except anodized aluminum
Gold Class All Wheel cleaner - All Wheels
#36 Wheel Cleaner - All Wheels

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The reason I describe some cars as having a design that leaves wheels more susceptible to brake dust build-up is because it is these wheels that are hard to clean and because of this, prone to dirt build-up. On the other hand, some car designs as well as some wheel designs don't have this characteristic and are therefore easy to clean and less susceptible to dirt, grime and brake dust build-up.

An example would be the three cars I own, none of them have ever been prone to build-up of brake dust and their design as well as their surface coating, (chrome), makes them very easy to clean and maintain.

Earlier this year, I drove a BMW for about a month. The wheel had an intricate design that while it looked nice, it was very difficult to clean and the brake system/design/components seem to lend themselves to causing the wheels to quickly build-up with brake dust and road grime. The intricate design made them very difficult to clean easily and quickly.

I could see how a wheel design like this could cause a majority people to give up on cleaning the wheels thoroughly each time they wash the car and thus over time the brake dust and road grime will build-up and making the wheels even more difficult to clean. This would then trigger a person to seek out a strong wheel cleaner to do the cleaning work for them, instead of opting for the ideal situation that I outline above,

1) If your car's design leaves your wheels susceptible to fast build-up and heavy build-up or brake dust, then you use a wheel cleaner often as part of a good maintenance program.

Like Barry always says, "Frequent car care is easy car care".


2) If your car's design leaves your wheels susceptible to fast build-up and heavy build-up or brake dust when using a safe for all wheels wheel cleaner, you add more cleaning power to the cleaning action by using an appropriate wheel cleaning brush and in some instances cleaning the wheels twice with a second application of wheel cleaner after rinsing the first application off.

In summary, George you are correct, #36 Wheel Cleaner is not as strong as some of our other wheel cleaner, but it is safe on all wheels, (all surface types), and effective if used as part of a regular maintenance program and/or agitated with the appropriate wheel cleaning brush.

The other option is to use a stronger wheel cleaner. This is fine if you know what kind of wheel you have, (type of surface or coating), and you as the owner/consumer know what your doing. And I know that you are an exception in that you know what your doing in part because of your experience at Meguiar's and your passion for detailing cars. But a lot of people don't have your experience and knowledge and I think this is one of the reasons a company like ADR Design Wheels would invest their time and resources testing available wheel cleaners to find one that they can recommend to their customers that they can trust to safely clean their wheel designs.

Does that make sense?

Mike

p.s.

After driving and cleaning the wheels on the BMW and now comparing and contrasting how easy the chrome wheels are to clean on the Pilot and the chrome Cragers on the Blazer, whenever I purchase a car, or a set of wheels, I will always take into consideration the wheel design and the surface material or coating before making a purchase. I like polishing paint, not cleaning wheels.

[Setec Astronomy]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips





An example would be the three cars I own, none of them have ever been prone to build-up of brake dust and their design as well as their surface coating, (chrome), makes them very easy to clean and maintain.


After driving and cleaning the wheels on the BMW and now comparing and contrasting how easy the chrome wheels are to clean on the Pilot and the chrome Cragers on the Blazer, whenever I purchase a car, or a set of wheels, I will always take into consideration the wheel design and the surface material or coating before making a purchase. I like polishing paint, not cleaning wheels.

Some of the cars I have been looking at have a chrome (vs. painted) wheel option, which is quite expensive. I consider it mostly an appearance option, but have also wondered whether the chrome holds up better against road salt (they salt the roads here at the drop of a hat). So Mike, you're also saying that, for a given wheel design, chrome plating will shed dirt/brake dust better than painted? Good to know.

[John Styrnol]

Been using #36 for a few months now, nice product.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Setec Astronomy
So Mike, you're also saying that, for a given wheel design, chrome plating will shed dirt/brake dust better than painted? Good to know.

Hang on a second, I'll go take a picture of the wheels on our Pilot and you'll see how easy the design is to clean...

Chrome Honda Pilot Wheel
See how the design is fairly flat faced and simple? (Excuse the dirt and road grime, we had flooding here in the high desert today and were driving through major puddles of water)





Here's the the Chrome Cragar wheel on the 1973 Blazer.
Again, a fairly simple design that lends itself to cleaning easily with a wash mitt except around the lug nuts which I use a wheel brush on.




1959 Cadillac Stainless Steel Hubcap
And last but least, here's the stainless steel 1959 Cadillac hubcaps, which are also very easy to clean with a wash mit. (Of course the Cadillac still has drum brakes in the front and doesn't have a brake dust issue)




Now contrast the above wheels to the design of this Magnesium wheel on a 1973 Maserati Bora,






Notice the built-up dirt in the textured surface of the wheel face...



The Bora wheels were neglected and very dirty, but even following the suggestions listed in the wheel cleaning section of Meguiar's FAQ,

• * Using a safe, all wheel cleaner, (Magnesium Alloy Wheels)
  * Applying the wheel cleaner twice, spraying from the bottom up
  * Agitating with a wheel brush

As you can see, the wheels came out spectacular!



Mike

[zey]

Mike, may I ask is part of the wheels on the 1973 Maserati Bora having sand-blasted surface; which results in rough-to-touch surface, easily trapping brake dust and dirt? I find that no matter how tough the wheel surface is to be cleaned, by following what Mike suggested will definitely clean the wheels perfectly. Suitable/safe wheel brush makes heck alot of difference!

[Teak]

Mike,
Excellent advice as always.

I would rather clean a chrome, aftermarket or older delicate wheels two or three times. To reduce the risk of damage by using a milder cleaner, than one time with a heavy cleaner. One thing to remember is OEM and aftermarket rims can be expensive to replace.

Eric