Meguiar's acid-free wheel cleaner FYI

[Circa40]

Just FYI, D143 will eat away anodized finishes. My wheels have black anodized center caps which means I cant use the cleaner on my wheels
I tested the cleaner on a scrap piece of anodized aluminum and sure enough, it stripped the color.

[MiCVPI]

Thanks for posting this. Good to know. I just purchased some. What ratio were you using? I think the reccomended is half and half out of the gallon jug...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using AG Online

[Circa40]

Thanks for posting this. Good to know. I just purchased some. What ratio were you using? I think the reccomended is half and half out of the gallon jug...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using AG Online

I used the recommended 2:1 ratio. I used it on a friend's car and it seems to be very effective on caked on brake dust. Its a shame I cant use it on my car.

[MiCVPI]

I used the recommended 2:1 ratio. I used it on a friend's car and it seems to be very effective on caked on brake dust. Its a shame I cant use it on my car.

I mixed mine at 50/50 and it works well. I think it works better at loosening dirt, grime and brake dust on tires than wheels but I like it. Ill have to try it at 2:1, I may like it even more.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

[PiPUK]

Unfortunately this is not all that surprising considering that the product is based on a caustic hydroxide. This sort of thing is a constant problem in the UK. Caustics are extremely good and cheap cleaners, there is no doubt of that. Unfortunately the reality is that sodium and potassium hydroxide are arguable every bit, if not more, aggressive than some of the acids they are used to replace. For a professional, this is not a big problem but you often find trade products crossing over (often driven by forum recommendations) and a general user isn't going to identify that there are potential hazards.

Caustics are common in wheel cleaners and heavy duty cleaners/vehicle cleaners. If you are using such a product and you are using it on something remotely out of the norm, you need to double check with the manufacturer that there is no potential harm. If harm then occurs, it is their problem.

[Audios S6]

Unfortunately this is not all that surprising considering that the product is based on a caustic hydroxide. This sort of thing is a constant problem in the UK. Caustics are extremely good and cheap cleaners, there is no doubt of that. Unfortunately the reality is that sodium and potassium hydroxide are arguable every bit, if not more, aggressive than some of the acids they are used to replace. For a professional, this is not a big problem but you often find trade products crossing over (often driven by forum recommendations) and a general user isn't going to identify that there are potential hazards.

Caustics are common in wheel cleaners and heavy duty cleaners/vehicle cleaners. If you are using such a product and you are using it on something remotely out of the norm, you need to double check with the manufacturer that there is no potential harm. If harm then occurs, it is their problem.

What specific active ingredients should people be looking for in high pH wheels cleaners that would indicate it is safe or not-so-safe? I'm familiar with sodium/potasium hydroxides and their derivitives (sodium metasilicate) but are their others to be on the lookout for that are caustic?

Do you know of any high pH wheel cleaners out there (UK or US) that are using a safer pH modifier? I 've seen some US manufacturers claim their wheel cleaner is not caustic even though it contains sodium metasilicate; perhaps I'm misunderstanding sodium metasilicate as being caustic, but I know it can react badly with aluminum.

[Setec Astronomy]

PiPUK is more qualified to answer this than I am, but I don't think it's the aluminum that has a problem with the caustics (which are used as bare aluminum cleaners), it's the coatings on the aluminum which are affected by the high pH cleaners, as the OP noted.

[c8n]

Curious... why did you even try this on anodized wheels?

Meguiar's stated that D143 was not to be used on bare aluminum, anodized and powdercoated finishes.

Mid-Year Introduction - D143 Acid Free Wheel & Tire Cleaner

[PiPUK]

What specific active ingredients should people be looking for in high pH wheels cleaners that would indicate it is safe or not-so-safe? I'm familiar with sodium/potasium hydroxides and their derivitives (sodium metasilicate) but are their others to be on the lookout for that are caustic?

Do you know of any high pH wheel cleaners out there (UK or US) that are using a safer pH modifier? I 've seen some US manufacturers claim their wheel cleaner is not caustic even though it contains sodium metasilicate; perhaps I'm misunderstanding sodium metasilicate as being caustic, but I know it can react badly with aluminum.

Silicates would be one of the main stays of non-caustic cleaning. Caustic in this regard is meant as an hydroxide (caustic soda/potash/etc.). Silicate can be corrosive but it is much less so than the caustics. Hopping to another field, specialised pot and glass washes are often metasilicate based because of the reduced reaction with aluminium (common in pots and cooking/baking trays) and also because caustic based products are well known to cause frosting of glasses.

From a general safety perspective, a product with a specific hazard class (in the EU - for instance, Irritant) can have 5-10x more metasilicate so that should show you that is is dramatically less dangerous.

The problem with MSDS watching is that you often need to look deeper. Sodium hydroxide is in lots of things and is totally safe because of its combination with something else. In the absence of chemical knowledge/experience, it is very hard to be definitive and hence you have to hope that the supplying brand has that knowledge. MSDS are still obligatory (if they wont give you one, they almost certainly shouldn't be trusted about anything chemical) but this is from a safety and first aid perspective.

[Circa40]

Curious... why did you even try this on anodized wheels?

Meguiar's stated that D143 was not to be used on bare aluminum, anodized and powdercoated finishes.

Mid-Year Introduction - D143 Acid Free Wheel & Tire Cleaner

Autogeek didn't mention anything like that in their info page: Meguiars Non-Acid Wheel and Tire Cleaner D-14301

I based my purchase on their description.