Review - Wheel Woolies Power Woolie 12X

[Angus]

For this review, I’m going to share my thoughts on using Wheel Woolies brand new drill mounted Power Woolie 12X.




From AG’s copy:

Wheel Woolies Power Woolie 12X is manufactured using the same foam and materials you know and love from the Wheel Woolies line – it’s just specially designed to be used with an air driven, electric, or cordless drill! The Wheel Woolie Power Woolie is the safest way to clean or polish your wheels; the metal handle is encased in a safe rubber sleeve so it won’t scratch, and the soft fusion fiber technology bristles will not mar your wheels’ surface. If you already love the Wheel Woolies Car Detailing Brushes, kick it your detail up a notch with Wheel Woolies Power Woolies 12X!

*Bias Review Disclaimer* AG sent me this item pre-release to use and review at no-charge. Ok now that bit of housekeeping is out of the way… Onto my review!

Over the years I’ve amassed a selection of wheel cleaning brushes:



But this will be my first drill mounted wheel cleaning AND wheel woolie brush!

Whenever I buy a new brush, it’s always because I’m trying to find one that:

a) helps me to quickly clean my wheels,
b) fits into as many nooks and crannies as possible,
c) does not harm my rims in any way and
d) keeps debris off of me - ie does it splatter? Wheel cleaning can be a messy event!

(I’m purposely omitting stands up to harsh wheel cleaning chemicals because that`s a given)

Based the above, let`s see how well the Wheel Woolies Power Woolies 12X does.


Construction

The WWPW12X is ~12’ long:



Has a soft and fluffy nap that is 3.5’ wide and 6’ long



Steel ¼” hex:



In addition to having a metal free exterior surface, the shaft connecting the drill to the brush head has a free spinning center exterior that allow you to use both hands to hold the brush for greater control and accuracy:



A super nice feature that comes in handy while in use. Speaking of…




In action

The rims on my wife’s Subaru Impreza had a mild amount of crud on them and served perfectly for testing out the latest addition to my wheel cleaning arsenal. After giving the rims a quick blast from my pw to remove any loose surface crud, I filled up my wheel cleaning bucket up with soap and water, dipped the WWPW12X (now drill mounted: DeWalt DCK281D2 20V MAX XR) in and let it rip:



Overall I’d say the WW worked pretty well at quickly removing 90% of the crud from the face of the time with the remaining 10% of hard to reach spots (lug nuts, valve stem, narrow spoke ends) needing a once over with a smaller brush.

I’ve used the WWPW12X on rims with wider spokes and found them to be just as easy to clean around.

Here’s what I learned:

The Good:
Yes, the wheel cleaning process was significantly faster using the brush. BUT if I ran my drill at full speed soapy water splattered all over the place. Gross. In order to avoid this, I dropped my drills speed setting down to low.

Even after doing all 4 rims, my drills battery still had a plenty of charge left @ ~75%. Running my drill at a lower speed had the advantage of conserving battery life.

The Bad:
Do not use this brush for cleaning the face of your rims! When holding the brush parallel to the vehicle, the brush will catch an edge and kick back. Resulting in your drills metal chuck coming into contact with the vehicle`s paint. How do I know this?




Ouch! That thud you just heard is me losing focus and making that mistake for you. Thankfully no harm was done. Lesson learned - only use this brush perpendicular to the vehicle. Do not try and clean the face of the rim like I did. Something like Mother’s Wheel Cleaning brush is a much better tool for that job.

You also need to be mindful when extending the brush head into the wheels, and avoid getting too close to your brake disk because the brush head has a tendency to catch the edge and pull itself into the rim. Operating your drill at a low speed will help minimize this from happening

Placing the WWPW12X + drill combo down while wet can be a little tricky due to the weight of the brush head wanting to tip forward. Thankfully whenever this happened I was able to catch the brush before it could come into contact with the ground / getting contaminated

Clean up

After use, the WWPW12X cleans up very easily. Just run some clean water over it to remove any crud and let air dry.


Bonus use:Cleaning exhaust tips

Cleaning your exhaust tips is easy using the WWPW12X.

One of my DD dirty tips:



Now watch how easy it is to use the WWPW12X with nothing more than soap and water:




With S100 polishing soap:




And finally with P21S Multi Surface Finish Restorer:




Finished product*:




* Power washing step edited out

For regular tip maintenance, this is a GREAT tool. Admittedly, my tips need a little more elbow grease to get them back up to snuff, but after that - cleaning them will be pretty dang easy.


Conclusion

Overall, I believe this is a good option to have in your wheel and exhaust tip brush cleaning arsenal. Is it a one and done sort of tool? Nope. You still need a selection of brushes to get your rims 100% clean. And you need to take care not to run the drill at full speed or hold it at less than a 90’ angle while in use.

To recap, how well does the Wheel Woolies Power Woolie 12X meet my wheel brush cleaning criteria:

a) Quickly clean my wheels? YES12X!
b)Fits into as many nooks and crannies as possible? Nope. The WWPW12X does not replace the need for smaller brushes.
c) Does not harm my rims in any way? Other than the hex bit, there is zero exposed metal. The brush heads soft fiber bristles will not harm your rims
d) Keeps debris off of me/ splatter? Yes but only at low speeds. One of the benefits of using a classic Wheel Woolie brush (vs a Speed Master) is the lack of splatter from the brush while in use. And as long as you use the WWPW12X at low speed, while holding the brush at a 90’, splatter should be kept to a minimum.

I hope you enjoyed this review and the information provided was helpful to anyone considering purchasing Wheel Woolies Power Woolie 12X. I’m certainly going to keep using it as part of my normal cleaning routine.

A finally a very big Thank You! to Meghan@AG for sending a Wheel Woolies Power Woolie 12X to me for a review

[JSFM35X]

That`s awesome, I actually have something called RIM stix that are similar in use, that I love. Its great for really dirty barrels. They are suede strips and have not hurt anything.

I like the look of these and perhaps ill pull the trigger. I just need a smaller WW because my rotors are large and the calipers come so close the wheel I cannot use the largest WW on my car.

[atgonzales]

Angus

A very well thought out review, with honesty and professionalism we have come to respect, nicely done

Adam

[mnehls86]

With well over $100 in brushes already I can`t believe I am saying this..........I need this! This would fit the barrels on my wife`s car perfect.Thanks for the review Angus.

[nickclark08]

Angus - stellar review as always! Appreciate the hard work you always put into them.

[rlmccarty2000]

Great review. I have been thinking about getting one, but I was worried about sling. I see you slowed down the drill speed to counteract the sling. I going to have to think if I really need this or not. Pulling out the drill adds an extra step to my detailing process. Decisions, decisions.

[Angus]

That`s awesome, I actually have something called RIM stix that are similar in use, that I love. Its great for really dirty barrels. They are suede strips and have not hurt anything.

I like the look of these and perhaps ill pull the trigger. I just need a smaller WW because my rotors are large and the calipers come so close the wheel I cannot use the largest WW on my car.

I agree, a smaller version of the Power Woolie would be perfect on smaller clearances. Sure you can squeeze the smallest WW into a drill BUT in the long run it`s going to get trashed vs the Power Woolie that was made specifically for the purpose.

Angus

A very well thought out review, with honesty and professionalism we have come to respect, nicely done

Adam

Thank you for the kind words, Adam. Much appreciated.

With well over $100 in brushes already I can`t believe I am saying this..........I need this! This would fit the barrels on my wife`s car perfect.Thanks for the review Angus.

You`re very welcome! And yeah, in addition to the small fortune I have in wheel/ tire brushes I bought 2 more wheel brushes last month - the angled WW and Mothers Wheel Brush... shhh don`t tell my wife.

Angus - stellar review as always! Appreciate the hard work you always put into them.

Thank you very much, Nick! I enjoy the review writing process/ highlighting why I think a product is good or maybe not so good

Great review. I have been thinking about getting one, but I was worried about sling. I see you slowed down the drill speed to counteract the sling. I going to have to think if I really need this or not. Pulling out the drill adds an extra step to my detailing process. Decisions, decisions.

Thank you, Sir!

Sling is an issue if you run the WW at full speed/ when loaded with soap & water. And unless your drill has a 2 speed transmission allowing you to step down it`s maximum speed I personally wouldn`t recommend this brush.

[mobiledynamics]

For a drill operated cleaning wheel appartus, while helluva messier, the ACE powersticks IMO excel in this area.
The shafts are much more flexiable, the *fins* get every nook and cranny. The only drawback is it`s just a tad bit messy - but that`s moreso just due to rotational drill movement - aka, splatter.


BTW, completely made in USA if brownie points count.

I guess MANY don`t like it just due to splatter, but it`s a great tool to use when you need to get between a big rotor/big wheel and no clearance . I have all 3 sizes like the WW.

Have not touched many of these wheel cleaning tools since wheel coatings existed. Just HPW

[GearHead_1]

Angus, thank you for the review. I enjoyed it very much.

[JSFM35X]

Thanks for your review. I am now the proud owner of one of these and I will let you know my results after I use it, hopefully this weekend.

[Angus]

For a drill operated cleaning wheel appartus, while helluva messier, the ACE powersticks IMO excel in this area.
The shafts are much more flexiable, the *fins* get every nook and cranny. The only drawback is it`s just a tad bit messy - but that`s moreso just due to rotational drill movement - aka, splatter.


BTW, completely made in USA if brownie points count.

I guess MANY don`t like it just due to splatter, but it`s a great tool to use when you need to get between a big rotor/big wheel and no clearance . I have all 3 sizes like the WW.

Have not touched many of these wheel cleaning tools since wheel coatings existed. Just HPW

I do like the idea of the ACE Powerstick/ Turbo Stick for getting into the harder to reach areas. Maybe I`ll pick one of those up too.

FWIW - the Power Woolie is also made in the USA.

Angus, thank you for the review. I enjoyed it very much.

Thank you, Mark! Happy to hear it - I enjoy writing reviews for you guys.

Thanks for your review. I am now the proud owner of one of these and I will let you know my results after I use it, hopefully this weekend.

Sweet! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on using the Power Woolie.

[Accumulator]

[Yes, of course...another well-done review by Angus. I expect nothing less from him ]

My primary reaction is surprise that so many people have wheels with adequate caliper clearance for something that big (I have their manual set and even the smallest one is too big for a few of our vehicles).

[mnehls86]

My primary reaction is surprise that so many people have wheels with adequate caliper clearance for something that big (I have their manual set and even the smallest one is too big for a few of our vehicles).

My smallest whoolie fits behind my calipers just fine but for using this new 12x one I would probably just hit all the wheels 3/4 of the way and then roll the vehicle back or forward a little and hit the rest that way you don`t have to work behind the caliper and if you are like me bashing your knuckles every time getting behind the tight caliper/barrel clearance.

[Accumulator]

mnehls86- I guess a lot of it is just vehicle-dependent; the big one just doesn`t fit well enough for any of my vehicles.

These days I`m not rolling the vehicle for access, either don`t need to (with the thin little things I`m using) or have it jacked up on both sides so I can spin the wheels while cleaning them. With the sedans I`m almost always jacking them up so I can do a proper job on the undercarriage and the Tahoe is high enough that I can just slide under with a creeper.

Actually, I find that getting at them from underneath/the back side makes things a lot easier and since I gotta be under there anyhow....