Mothers "All Wheel" Cleaner, is it Safe?

**Camman** · 08-12-2010, 10:50 PM

Hey everyone, other than my introductory post, this is my first with a specific question in mind... I did a search on here but couldn't find a real definitive answer, and as I'm new to detailing, I figured I'd ask the question before messing up my wheels on my new car....

I purchase some of the Mothers "All Wheel & Tire Cleaner" (Mothers Wheel Mist All Wheel Cleaner cleans & maintains coated, painted, polished and anodized wheels without pitting the coating or corroding the) and the bottle of course says safe for all "OEM Wheels", but I've seen reviews online saying that this cleaner "ruins your clearcoat" on the wheels. Now, I try to take online reviews with some skepticism because there were a lot of positive reviews but I just wanted to know if anybody had used this wheel cleaner and if there is anything I should be concerned about, the bottle does say "Non-Acetic", but on Mothers site they have this warning:

WARNING: FOR USE ON FACTORY/OEM COATED WHEELS AND HUBCAPS ONLY. AVOID POLISHED OR ROUGHCAST ALUMINUM, BILLET OR ANODIZED WHEELS. DO NOT USE ON MOTORCYCLE WHEELS, CASINGS OR COMPONENTS.

Which I thought seemed strange to have a warning like this on something billed as an "All Wheel" cleaner. I have a 2010 Subaru Forester with factory alloy wheels, I assume they are clear coated because they have a gloss to them.

Just wanted to get some expert opinion before I put this stuff on my new wheels..

Thanks!

**Jim D.** · 08-13-2010, 12:50 AM

I am familiar with the product as well as your wheels, and it should work very well, especially on the tires.

There is indeed some confusion on the product listing at autogeek as the product chemistry had changed for 2010, yet there are still some elements of the previously-named Wheel Mist chemistry in the listing.

Though either product is safe for your factory alloy wheels on your 2010 -- which are indeed coated.

Virtually every "modern" factory alloy wheel is coated, by the way -- the only ones I've seen in recent years that weren't were a modular wheel on an Aston Martin Vanquish S.

**Bunky** · 08-13-2010, 06:54 AM

I have used it on my Dakota's clear coated wheels and some chrome wheels without any issues.

**andyo** · 08-13-2010, 10:56 AM

i used it on my gmc and it has white dust on it and i hosed it off twice.

**Jim D.** · 08-13-2010, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by andyo

i used it on my gmc and it has white dust on it and i hosed it off twice.

What type of wheels?

You may want to contact Mothers at 714-891-3364 (weekdays, 8-5 California time), and get some advice from the source. I have found them to be very helpful.

**Ron S** · 08-13-2010, 01:41 PM

I have used this product on chrome wheels and also clearcoated wheels. Both are on gm cars. The Mothers wheel cleaner I used was not the foaming one. Hope this helps. No problems on either car.

**newbdetailer** · 08-14-2010, 12:39 AM

there are a couple of posts on waxforum dot com (a mothers forum) where that stuff ruined some wheels. One was a bmw where 2 or 3 of the wheels were refinished and the paint wasn't cured right. It didn't affect the factory finished wheel, but damaged the others. Also there was someone else who had their polished wheels pitted by that stuff so they added the warning to the bottles. In both cases the reps at mothers stepped up to the plate and took care of things. Great customer service.

**Camman** · 08-16-2010, 07:53 AM

Thanks for all the feedback on this everyone, I washed the car this weekend and due to the uncertainty with this product, and the wheels aren't in too bad shape in terms of brake dust due to how new it is, I just washed them with the car wash soap, a brush, and some elbow grease. I was thinking about trying the mothers wheel cleaner on another, older, vehicle that has some more caked on brake dust, it has factory finished alloys so it looks like it should be OK.