Cleaning Tires: Rinseless Method

[CH.Detailing]

I find myself most often working in a situation that does not allow me to use a hose to clean the car, so I do the obvious thing and wash the car with a rinseless wash. This works well for the body of the car if its not too dirty, but what about the wheels and tires? Generally these are the dirtiest areas of the car and a rinseless wash may not be sufficient to clean all the dirt, grime, and old dressing off the tires.


What I use:
Meguiars APC+ (diluted at 4:1)
Meguiars Super Degreaser (diluted at 4:1)
Rinseless Wash solution (Blackfire in this example)
Cheap microfiber cloth (no need to trash something nice)
Old towel
Optional: Pressure sprayer with rinseless solution.



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Fill a bucket with water and prepare a rinseless wash solution as per the dilution on the bottle. (1 oz/2 gallons) Toss your cheap microfiber in the bucket and let it soak.


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Wrap the old towel around the base of the tire to catch the filthy run off. This is only necessary if working on a surface you don`t want to get dirty/stained.

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You can use the pressure sprayer in place of a hose to rinse the cleaners off the tire, or you can use a cloth and your bucket of rinseless wash.

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Find a nasty old tire in need of cleaning.

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Spray both cleaners directly onto the tire, you should notice the dirt to instantly run off the tire.

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Take your cheap microfiber and scrub that bad boy down. For the tire with more ridges in the sidewall you may opt to use a stiff brush to scrub.

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You have a couple option to rinse. You can either wipe the tire down with rinseless wash, or you could use the pressure sprayer. The sprayer is a little bit quicker but both are very effective means.

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Dry it off with another cheap microfiber and apply your tire dressing of choice. Viola! Clean, black tires without the use of a hose.

[Orinda Auto Detail]

Nice write up! I`ll have to try that I`ve been doing more and more ONR washes, but almost always have to APC and pressure wash the tires before hand.

[CH.Detailing]

This comes in extra handy for me this time of year. Winter is creeping around the corner and everybody is putting their cars away and wants them done while in storage, this means I have to do them entirely indoors (and not in a wash bay). Minimal water usage and runoff control from chemicals is important.

[Wors]

Very good article. Laying a towel a towel down to catch the APC or tire Degreaser is a great tip. Where did you purchase the Flomaster Pressure Sprayer?

[CH.Detailing]

Home Depot. They sell smaller ones, but with the 2 gallon sprayer I don`t need to refill it as often. I use it for rinseless washes, clay lube, and careful rinsing of wheels and engine bays.

[Pats300zx]

Awesome write up. I just picked up a couple of tips. Love the idea of the towel to catch run off.

[Wors]

Home Depot. They sell smaller ones, but with the 2 gallon sprayer I don`t need to refill it as often. I use it for rinseless washes, clay lube, and careful rinsing of wheels and engine bays.

Great, thank you again for posting.

[tropicsteve]

good info, thanks connor. :bigups

[BIOLINK]

I love the idea of a rinseless wash on wheels and tires because it usually leaves a bit of a shine enhancer behind. Lots of great ideas in the write up. Thanks.

[Rocket]

Nice write up. I like the tippers sure sprayer tip. I`ll have to try that out

[edjoe]

Looks great, nice clean rubber! I just had my 1st order of BFRW delivered today. After seeing your photos I will try it on my tires as well, didn`t even think of using on tires thanks CH for the post. Did the polymers in the wash add any shine or UV protection to the tires?

[CH.Detailing]

Realize that the primary cleaning here isn`t the rinseless, its the APC and degreaser. The rinseless is just to flush the surface, you could probably achieve the same results with just plain water. Generally I do this after washing the car, and simply choose to re-use the wash water when cleaning the wheels/tires.

I doubt the rinseless adds much protection for the rubber. In the final photo there is Opti-Bond on the tire.

[Bunky]

Nice write up!!!

[RTexasF]

Sheer brilliance! Thanks for the write up.

[Todd@RUPES]

Thanks for the write-up Connor. Great advice! :bigups