Bulk wheel and tire cleaner help

[PremierAuto_NJ]

I have been having trouble finding a good wheel and tire cleaner that I can buy in bulk. I always used Meguiars hot rims and was very satisfied with the results, but it did not make sense for me to buy 10 bottles at a time. Customer support suggested Meguiars Non-Acid Wheel & Tire Cleaner saying "chemically it is a different formula, but performance wise is superior and available in bulk sizes". I put it in chemical guys foaming spray bottles and honestly this stuff is almost useless. The spray bottles don't adjust so I can spray it in a wide even foam, so it just blasts out in a jet getting on the car's paint as well as wasting a lot of product, and the foam that does stick around doesn't seem to do anything to even light brake dust. I have changed the dilution multiple times to no effect. Does anyone have a suggestion on a good bulk product? I have a liter of this stuff sitting here because I have basically started using some of my all purpose interior cleaner on rims and have been cleaning them all by hand (costing me about 40 more min per car). Thanks!

[asalesagent912]

brown royal. 28.95 for a 128 oz and u dilute it. check it out on youtube.
not sure if you consider that bulk. but good wheel and tire cleaner

[swanicyouth]

You can buy 1Z Color Tec in 5L containers I believe, but it ain't cheap. Excellent wheel cleaner.

[Audios S6]

I have been having trouble finding a good wheel and tire cleaner that I can buy in bulk. I always used Meguiars hot rims and was very satisfied with the results, but it did not make sense for me to buy 10 bottles at a time. Customer support suggested Meguiars Non-Acid Wheel & Tire Cleaner saying "chemically it is a different formula, but performance wise is superior and available in bulk sizes". I put it in chemical guys foaming spray bottles and honestly this stuff is almost useless. The spray bottles don't adjust so I can spray it in a wide even foam, so it just blasts out in a jet getting on the car's paint as well as wasting a lot of product, and the foam that does stick around doesn't seem to do anything to even light brake dust. I have changed the dilution multiple times to no effect. Does anyone have a suggestion on a good bulk product? I have a liter of this stuff sitting here because I have basically started using some of my all purpose interior cleaner on rims and have been cleaning them all by hand (costing me about 40 more min per car). Thanks!



When you say you are now using the interior cleaner by hand, and it's taking longer, am I to understand that you were using the previous wheel cleaners as spray as rinse (I.e. No agitation?) an expecting perfectly clean wheels?

If so, you should be looking at either acid cleaners (not very safe) or accept that wheel cleaners need agitation. I believe hot rims uses a mild acid (either phosphoric or oxalic acid). Most professional acid wheel cleaners are HF acid or similar derivative and very strong.

[Shortspark]

The Meguiar's Non-acid cleaner is a good product and can be bought in gallon jugs and diluted from there. Maybe the CGs foam sprayer you used is not very good, I don't know as I never tried it. I put a 4:1 ratio of the Non-acid cleaner in an old Mother's foam sprayer and it foams quite well using that.

The Mother's Tire and Wheel cleaner can also be bought by the gallon and used in their smaller, foam sprayers. You can find it here and it is a very good product as well: Mothers Foaming Wheel & Tire Cleaner, chrome wheel cleaner, aluminum wheel cleaner, Mothers wheel cleaner (http://www.autogeek.net/mothers-wheel-mist-cleaner.html)

[SANTA3013]

brown royal. 28.95 for a 128 oz and u dilute it. check it out on youtube.
not sure if you consider that bulk. but good wheel and tire cleaner

I've been using Brown Royal for over two years now and it cleans/works better than numerous other products I have tried. Understand I do not have a full time business and I don't need it on every set of wheels but I have done dozens of wheels/tires and have not had any issues with it. YMMV.

[The Guz]

The Meguiar's Non-acid cleaner is a good product and can be bought in gallon jugs and diluted from there. Maybe the CGs foam sprayer you used is not very good, I don't know as I never tried it. I put a 4:1 ratio of the Non-acid cleaner in an old Mother's foam sprayer and it foams quite well using that.

The Mother's Tire and Wheel cleaner can also be bought by the gallon and used in their smaller, foam sprayers. You can find it here and it is a very good product as well: Mothers Foaming Wheel & Tire Cleaner, chrome wheel cleaner, aluminum wheel cleaner, Mothers wheel cleaner (http://www.autogeek.net/mothers-wheel-mist-cleaner.html)

I have to agree. I have D143 at 3:1 and it's working very well. I'm using the meguiar's spray bottle.

[Shortspark]

You reminded me that I made a mistake in my last post as to the ratio I use. It is not 4:1 but rather 2:1. I'll have to mix up a batch at your 3:1 ratio and see what happens.

[PremierAuto_NJ]

When you say you are now using the interior cleaner by hand, and it's taking longer, am I to understand that you were using the previous wheel cleaners as spray as rinse (I.e. No agitation?) an expecting perfectly clean wheels?

If so, you should be looking at either acid cleaners (not very safe) or accept that wheel cleaners need agitation. I believe hot rims uses a mild acid (either phosphoric or oxalic acid). Most professional acid wheel cleaners are HF acid or similar derivative and very strong.
No I always agitate, I just meant cleaning using the interior AP and only microfiber towels and not letting it sit for very long. It is pretty acidic so I don't want to combine that with agitation with a harsher brush. I am just looking for something higher quality that needs mild agitation that i can use in place of the hot rims

[Audios S6]

No I always agitate, I just meant cleaning using the interior AP and only microfiber towels and not letting it sit for very long. It is pretty acidic so I don't want to combine that with agitation with a harsher brush. I am just looking for something higher quality that needs mild agitation that i can use in place of the hot rims

Gotcha. In that case....Megs non-acid (D143) is nearly identical to hot rims all wheel (G95) strictly from reading the MSDS sheets, but that doesn't always tell the whole story, and it sounds like the folks at meguiar's have indicated that there is a difference.

Do you still have a bottle of hot rims that you could refill with D143 to see if you get better results? Maybe just a normal sprayer would fair better?

If that fails and you want to try something else with a similar chemical make-up, Flash brown royal, Optimum Power Clean, Ardex Proper and LA Totally Awesome are similar. If you have a jobber near you, you could see what they have available. Several non-acid wheel cleaners and APCs have that same active ingredient (sodium metasilicate).

It is my personal opinion that sodium hydroxide should be avoided - this would be the alternate active ingredient found in many non-acid wheel cleaners.

Good Luck in your search.

[stilltipping3]

Brown Royal is the way to go. Seriously I have been saying that for a while. There r better but for the price u cant go wrong. And it really works. U can dilute upto 10to1

[PremierAuto_NJ]

Gotcha. In that case....Megs non-acid (D143) is nearly identical to hot rims all wheel (G95) strictly from reading the MSDS sheets, but that doesn't always tell the whole story, and it sounds like the folks at meguiar's have indicated that there is a difference.

Do you still have a bottle of hot rims that you could refill with D143 to see if you get better results? Maybe just a normal sprayer would fair better?

If that fails and you want to try something else with a similar chemical make-up, Flash brown royal, Optimum Power Clean, Ardex Proper and LA Totally Awesome are similar. If you have a jobber near you, you could see what they have available. Several non-acid wheel cleaners and APCs have that same active ingredient (sodium metasilicate).

It is my personal opinion that sodium hydroxide should be avoided - this would be the alternate active ingredient found in many non-acid wheel cleaners.

Good Luck in your search.
Thank you for all the info! I feel like a caveman with a rock but for some reason I cannot get the hot rims bottle open without cracking the seal... Ill have to see what I can do about that and look into brown royal. Thanks!