Review: Meguiar's Wheel Brightener

[sgtmillhouse648]

Meguiars Wheel Brightener

Description:

From Autogeek.net
Meguiar’s Wheel Brightener is a super concentrated wheel cleaner for clear coated, factory painted, and chrome wheels. It easily removes brake dust, tar, dirt, and grime with little or no scrubbing. With a dilution ratio of up to 4:1, Wheel Brightener is an easy choice for cost-conscious detailers. You can get sixteen 32 ounce bottles of wheel cleaner out of one gallon of Wheel Brightener!

I have the unfortunate fate of having white painted wheels with the combination of semi-metallic pads which is enough to drive a sane person mad with brake dust. I've struggled for a while to find a good wheel cleaner that would remove not only the brake dust, but also the nasty stains it leaves in the paint, even when coated with a coat of sealant!

Materials used:


-Meguiar's Wheel Brightener mixed 4:1 in a 32oz spray bottle
-Wheel brush from autozone (bendable for the backsides of the spokes)
-Lisle parts cleaning brush (best for crevasse and the face)

Procedure:
-Spray wheels with water to cool them off
-Spray wheel brightener on the wheel
-Scrub with brushes
-Rinse

Wheel before:



These wheels have gone ~ 3 weeks without being cleaned.

Wheel after:


First impressions:

-Wheel cleaner had a sweet smell vs the standard acidic smell of most wheel cleaners
-Immediately started to lift up grime when first sprayed. It removed a lot of the brake dust itself, but left the stains/clumps of concentrated dust. Brushing really really removed any baked on dust/stains/grime quickly
-I felt the cleaner dried too quickly on the wheels. Once the cleaner dried on the wheels, hose by itself did not remove the stains. A quick misting with another coat of cleaner followed by the hose removed the dried residue.
-The directions state that the user should wait 30-45 seconds before rinsing. The cleaner dried/evaporated too quickly to wait that long.

Overall:

I would highly recommend this cleaner to any painted wheels. These wheels were rattlecan wheel painted and cleared and it did not damage them. I would not use on any polished aluminum or anodized wheels as it will ruin the finish and strip the anodizing. The dust from these pads is extremely hard to remove, and it did an excellent job at it.

Any questions feel free to ask!

PS: it also works great to clean bathroom sinks

[Rsurfer]

You better quit smelling it. Get some ceramic pads.

[Dubbin1]

I'm not very impressed with the after picture, there is still a lot of dirt left on the wheel.

[Chris Thomas]

Those wheels must've still had a lot of heat after the rinse. I put it on with a foaming sprayer head and it easily can sit a couple minutes without drying.

[Rsurfer]

Those wheels must've still had a lot of heat after the rinse. I put it on with a foaming sprayer head and it easily can sit a couple minutes without drying.

Been meaning to try the foaming sprayer with WB. Will it hold up to the acid?

[cobalt9123]

After using Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner today, I will never go back to Meguiar's Wheel Brightener or any other wheel cleaner for tough cleaning. You should definitely try it...did I mention its PH Neutral and safe for all wheels?

[Fly bye]

I'm not very impressed with the after picture, there is still a lot of dirt left on the wheel.

[Rsurfer]

After using Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner today, I will never go back to Meguiar's Wheel Brightener or any other wheel cleaner for tough cleaning. You should definitely try it...did I mention its PH Neutral and safe for all wheels?

I guess it's a matter of cost for some.

[sgtmillhouse648]

You better quit smelling it. Get some ceramic pads.

I use this car as a combination track/daily driver. There's no way I would ever run ceramic pads on a track compared to the semi-mets. The difference is amazing between the two.

I'm not very impressed with the after picture, there is still a lot of dirt left on the wheel.

I'm not following...I didn't clean the way back deep portion of the rims, so yeah there's brake dust back behind the pad shield, but really I see no other grime/dirt

For reference, here's a couple pictures of trouble areas on the wheels after cleaning them several months ago with a brush and some eagle1 mag cleaner...notice all the crap remaining

Those wheels must've still had a lot of heat after the rinse. I put it on with a foaming sprayer head and it easily can sit a couple minutes without drying.

I was wondering if some of it could just be the temperature of the outdoors. The wheels themselves were ambient temperature which was prob. low 90's

After using Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner today, I will never go back to Meguiar's Wheel Brightener or any other wheel cleaner for tough cleaning. You should definitely try it...did I mention its PH Neutral and safe for all wheels?

Sonax is nice, but its just so damn expensive for what you get. Provided you can use the same dillution as you can the meguiars, you're paying roughly $75.70 a gallon for the concentrate. Meguiars is $15.99 for the gallon. I could buy almost 5 gallons of the megs concentrate for the same prices as a gallon of sonax Besides...wheels I can't use this on (polished etc.) get an actual polish job instead of a simple spray and scrub.

I guess it's a matter of cost for some.

Bingo. With the megs, Bang:Buck ratio is very high IMHO.

[cobalt9123]

I guess it's all personal opinion. I find if something makes your detailing process truly MUCH easier, it's worth the cost. I sprayed Sonax on one of my filthy wheels last night (Performance brake pads), then scrubbed out the wheel well/tires and sprayed the tires/wheels/wheel well down and got ready to scrub the wheel well/face of the wheel with my 1" detailing brush + shampoo to get rid of the filth and realized there was absolutely none on the wheel. The Sonax had gotten rid of it completely, as well as some stubborn spots that were stuck in the barrel of my wheel that wheel brightener wouldn't get off WITH scrubbing.

It's kind of how I feel about Aquartz Iron Cut as well. It's expensive, but it saved me 7 hours vs a decontamination kit in removing embedded Iron Particles.

If you're concerned about price, don't use it every time you clean your wheels. Use it once every month or once every two months to "decontaminate" them. Apply some sealant to them after cleaning them with Sonax and you should be able to get them perfectly clean with just shampoo and brushes (and this won't remove your wheel wax/sealant).

Either way, I believe AutoGeek should have samples of it. I think if everyone got to try it on a really filthy wheel they would change their minds about the price a bit...less time scrubbing, more time enjoying the after results