Product Review: Meguiar's D143 Wheel AND Tire Cleaner

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

With Meguiar’s offering a concentrated wheel and tire cleaner I was a bit eager to try it and give it a review. This is a product that is placed in Meguiar’s Detailer line and as such I feel it designed with production based detailing in mind just like it concentrate detailer brothers such as D151, D156, and the like. This product calls for a 1:1 or 2:1 dilution ratios. I have not tried out the 2:1 dilution ratio however a product being marketed towards the production based detailing world I feel the stronger dilution of 1:1 being ideal. After all, in the production based world cars usually are more neglected than the occasional garage queen and the stronger ratio is a must to help cut through the grime.

Even though I have not used the lighter dilution of 2:1 this product feels like it has ample power to cut through moderately dirty wheels such as the daily drivers with annual wheel cleanings while offering tire cleaning capability.

http://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-non-acid-wheel-and-tire-cleaner-d-14301.html

PROS:
· Effective wheel AND tire cleaner in the fast paced production based detailing world.
· Not as aggressive to user or wheels as Meguiar’s Wheel Brightener
· Can be diluted to either ratio depending on severity of wheel/tire

Cons:
· Won’t completely remove brown tire staining
· Won’t clear up heavily soiled wheels

Impressions: What’s nice about this product is you can cover the wheel and tire simultaneously with a generous amount and the tires start to bleed brown within a few seconds of application. The directions call to let the product soak up to 30 seconds before agitation. Within 20 seconds I began to clean the wheels with various brushes while the tires bled brown. When the wheel was agitated I moved on to the tire with a tire brush and began to scrub the tire. When the cycle was completed I rinsed the wheel/tire down to inspect the results. On this vehicle the wheels/tires were severely neglected and required a second round to get them 75%. After completing the second round of wheel/tire cleanings the wheel still had a good bit of contamination as well as the tire had a very faint brown hazing.


To really get these wheels back to where they need to be a dedicated contamination removing product is needed. In this case CarPro Trix was used. CarPro Trix is formulated to remove iron and tar in one step allowing you to remove these contaminates. What’s more is that Trix is safe to use not only on wheels, but paint and glass as well.
http://www.autogeek.net/carpro-trix-tar-iron-remover.html















After two rounds of cleaning





Time to break out CarPro Trix!



Trix just sprayed on



Look at those runs!





Within a few minutes just before agitation



After agitation





Just before rinse off



Completed



Just how wheels should look!







Mike

[jamesboyy]

Excellent helpful review of the meguiars d143 wheel cleaner they look brand new

[Tato]

Great review on both products, great work as well. Even products being good, what impresses me more are your photo skills

Thanks for sharing,

Best Wishes.

[Marc08EX]

Excellent review and great write up Mike! Thanks for sharing your findings.

Would you say that it's really acid free and safe for the wheel finish? The consumer counterpart of this seems harsh on the wheel finish.

Doesn't seem like it's very effective in cleaning baked on brake dust.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Excellent helpful review of the meguiars d143 wheel cleaner they look brand new

Thanks for the kind words James!

Great review on both products, great work as well. Even products being good, what impresses me more are your photo skills

Thanks for sharing,

Best Wishes.

Thank you Rafael!

I try to incorporate my DSLR into my work as much as possible.

Excellent review and great write up Mike! Thanks for sharing your findings.

Would you say that it's really acid free and safe for the wheel finish? The consumer counterpart of this seems harsh on the wheel finish.

Doesn't seem like it's very effective in cleaning baked on brake dust.

Thanks Marc!

As for the Chemistry of what's in this product I would have to look it up. On the bottle it mentions "Non Acid".

As far as I know the consumer version is this. Correct me if i'm wrong.
Meguiars Hot Rims All Wheel & Tire Cleaner, cleaner for factory wheels

For the brake dust, I would say there was a good amount of tar built up on the wheels. When Trix was applied most of the sections bled brown while few areas bled purple. Iron-X would have told the full story of what was what.

[Andr3wilson]

Excellent review Mike! I have often wondered about this product

[FUNX650]

Hi Mike...

Thanks for this review of a Meguiar's product.
And as Marc has noted:

Excellent review and great write up Mike! Thanks for sharing your findings.

^^^^^^

Would you say that it's really acid free and safe for the wheel finish?

Hi Marc...

Here's the MSDS:
-seems to have more alkaline ingredients than acid ingredients {pH 13.5 };

http://www.meguiars.com/content/en/msds/D143%20MSDS.pdf

-and the product description doesn't list "safe on bare aluminum" (as one of the wheel finishes).

"Meguiars Non-Acid Wheel Cleaner is safe and effective on":
•Clear coated wheels
•Factory painted wheels
•Chrome wheels

The consumer counterpart of this seems harsh on the wheel finish.

If you don't care:
What is the consumer version?

Doesn't seem like it's very effective in cleaning baked on brake dust.

Since brake dust is baked-on (sintered?) in layers...
It may take multiple applications to remove all of it?

Bob

[The Guz]

Nice review. I use this as my wheel and tire cleaner and have been happy with it. Removes old tire dressings. I typically do it 2-3 times per tire. I'm using it at 3:1 right now and it still works good. I do agree that something else is needed for baked on brake dust.

[allenk4]

Add a tire scrubbing brush for your DA to your arsenal...no more scrubbing multiple times.

I have the blue, which is softer than the black and allows me to run it right up to the rim/wheel.

[1fastTbird]

Just today I used D143 for the first time as well. I think it is a great value for maintenance washing so that you are not constantly using up your higher-end, more powerful wheel cleaners. I loved how it started cleaning the tires immediately after applying.