wheels only

[DogRescuer]

I am always looking to consolidate and save pennies. That said:
Which product do you prefer again for wheels only :
IronX or Megs wheel brightener?

Consider cost, affectiveness and yada yada yada?

Thanks Steve

[GSKR]

Hmm,this is self explanatory I would say wheel brighter.Or use a half or whole bottle of ironx for 20.00.

[chefwong]

WB but they 2 totally different applications in regards to how one uses them ....

I use WB once every year. Post winter wash of winter wheels. I'm a lazy SOB, so the less scrubbing I do, the happier I am ;-0
So WB, quick agitate, let it sit, PW and boom, wheels are clean.

But for every other time beyond that, aside from sealed/soap wheels, IronX all the way

BTW, IME, WB is more work post cleanup anyway....even with a CR sprayer, I find it destroys them, and one does need to flush out the sprayer head with water or change them out...when they go bad

[TTQ B4U]

I use Griot's Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner. Have tested out using Iron-X afterwards and found it has no reaction thus Griot's must do the job quite well.

I have some Meg's Wheel Brightener (gallon actually) and it's a concentrate too. Bought it by mistake. I use it very little as even with factory wheels I'm worried that it could lead to damage given the nature of how it works. If there's a chip or the clear on the wheel is degraded, cracked, what not, and some of it were to seep through I fear it could stain or ruin the wheel.

[Paul A.]

I like pdq's logic on this. I use both a wheel "cleaner" AND Iron X (not in that order). I view them as two different functions much like how i use soap and ironx on the paint. One is to remove ferrous particles and the other is to clean overall. If i could find a cleaner that also removes iron deposits or ferrous brake dust i would be all over it. I would be interested to try a product advertised as such and then use Iron X after just to test it's effectiveness. I certainly do not like the cost of Iron X and if Megs D140 is effective at that decon part of the effort I'm in!

Good question though, Steve. I am always looking for something in any process of this game that improves the final result and is at a lower cost.

[vanev]

If the choices are only Megs D140 and Iron-X, then......
Meg's D140 hands down.

Both work great.
You have to consider the rank smell of Iron-X.
It is that bad.
Bad for you the detailer in application, bad for your customers who may be down wind of it.
Bad for storage, bad for transportation, just bad.

Meg's D140 is versatile with its uses.
It can also can be diluted to suit.
It also is essentially scent free, so no bad smells.

[chefwong]

Puckman. They do. I also stock Sonax for when the wheels are f1lthy. But my favorite iron dissolve wheel cleaner IMO is 1Z Colourtec. I use this as a maintenance wheel wash for the wheels.

Once clean, sealed and leftover carwash soap is all that;'s needed

[Paul A.]

Puckman. They do. I also stock Sonax for when the wheels are f1lthy. But my favorite iron dissolve wheel cleaner IMO is 1Z Colourtec. I use this as a maintenance wheel wash for the wheels.

Once clean, sealed and leftover carwash soap is all that;'s needed

Thanks chef! Good to know.

[chefwong]

Sorry OP to derail this but yeah Puckman, try it. Between that and Sonax, 1Z is my go to iron dissolving wheel cleaning.
IronX for paint prep / maint. coating decontam.
Sonax for grimey wheels.

And last but not least, WB for that single seasonal wash post winter...

Any chemical that makes my life easier by not scrubbing, I'm game. I'll let the chems do the work ...

[CarolinasFinestDetailing]

We are comparing apples to oranges here.

[Eldorado2k]

I plan on ordering a gallon of Wheel Brightener later today... It'll be replacing D143 on my shelf from now on for a couple reasons, as far as the wheel cleaning goes, Wheel Brightener rinses much cleaner than D143, I think most people don't really notice the difference because these days most wheels are silver anodized in color, but a difference can be seen, especially on chrome wheels.

I dilute it @4:1 and plan on using it weekly.




BTW, IME, WB is more work post cleanup anyway....even with a CR sprayer, I find it destroys them, and one does need to flush out the sprayer head with water or change them out...when they go bad

Pro tip: If you have a bottle of Meguiars Hot Wheels Chrome Rims Cleaner laying around, use the sprayer from it and put it on your D140 dispenser bottle. Those sprayers on the consumer bottles of acid based wheel cleaner can easily last years!



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[CParrott]

Not having used WB, personally i cannot comment on which is "better" but after having used IronX this past weekend i can say it doesnt really "clean" grime and such as well as just normal style cleansers.

like Carolina said, its apples to oranges. one is used for decontamination of fallout/iron(IronX) and the other is a concentrated cleanser(WB), hard to really compare the two. In my opinion, amatuer as it may be, i would say spend the extra few dollars and get a gallon of the WB, and dilute it down and use it for....months.

[DogRescuer]

Thanks for all your input guys, I'd love some ideas on dwell times on WB.

[chefwong]

I try not to let it dwell past 45 secs to 2 minute in non sunny cool conditions -aka, don't let it dry.
Spray, agitate. Move on to the next wheel, Spray. Agitate....then go back and rinse, etc, etc.

I would not use WB as a everyday go to wheel cleaner though IMO....just when it calls for it..

[Crispy]

I like pdq's logic on this. I use both a wheel "cleaner" AND Iron X (not in that order). I view them as two different functions much like how i use soap and ironx on the paint. One is to remove ferrous particles and the other is to clean overall. If i could find a cleaner that also removes iron deposits or ferrous brake dust i would be all over it. I would be interested to try a product advertised as such and then use Iron X after just to test it's effectiveness. I certainly do not like the cost of Iron X and if Megs D140 is effective at that decon part of the effort I'm in!

Good question though, Steve. I am always looking for something in any process of this game that improves the final result and is at a lower cost.

I have used Brown Royal Wheel Cleaner many times and it cleans and removes brake dust at the same time.

Spray on, let dwell couple minutes and hose off.

Really bad wheels may need some agitation with a brush on second application.

Have not tried ironX after rinsing off to test but you can't see any residue and clay runs smoothly over surface (barrels are best place to test products by the way).

Advantages:

One product two tasks
Much cheaper than dedicated products
Smells better than IronX (this could be said about almost anything)
Does not harm painted, coated, chrome, PVD, powder coated wheels (in other words all wheels)
Doesn't kill my grass when I rinse off

It is my first step when tackling any repainting project where surgical clean is needed.