Cleaning Your Wheel Wells

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donm3ga

New member
I did some research and I found that a lot of Autopians use Meguiars APC to clean them. I went to every Walmart, Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, and Target near me and I could not locate one. So I picked up some Simple Green APC for my Wheel Wells. It seemed to do the trick. I just sprayed it on. Let it sit for a couple minutes. Then sprayed it down with water. I'm guessing if I want a real clean job I am going to have to hand scrub it with something. Part of my wheel wells are a sort of carpet material.



Anyways, what other products do you guys use and what is your process of cleaning your wheel wells? How do you get your wheel wells to shine that deep black color?



Thanks!
 
donm3ga said:
I did some research and I found that a lot of Autopians use Meguiars APC to clean them. I went to every Walmart, Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, and Target near me and I could not locate one. So I picked up some Simple Green APC for my Wheel Wells. It seemed to do the trick. I just sprayed it on. Let it sit for a couple minutes. Then sprayed it down with water. I'm guessing if I want a real clean job I am going to have to hand scrub it with something. Part of my wheel wells are a sort of carpet material.



Anyways, what other products do you guys use and what is your process of cleaning your wheel wells? How do you get your wheel wells to shine that deep black color?



Thanks!
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I clean with Purple Powerr 1:1 and a Mother's Fenderwell brush.



Protect with any exterior dressing. I like to use Zep All Around, AA Foam, 303, and spray dressing really.
 
Hope I'm not hijacking your thread, but what do you guys do with the sandy rough surfaces? I usually can soap up the plastic areas and dress them nicely, but I can't really get my MF on the rough surfaces (it would get ripped up pretty easily). Maybe just a brush?



To the OP, don't know if you know this, but generally the "deep black color" is achieved by spraying tire dressing of some sort. I personally use Armor All Tire Foam, and it does a pretty good job of making the wheelwells look nice and clean. My only problem is that it seems to attract dust. I'm probably going to try to wipe the wheelwells dry next time.
 
mikebai1990 said:
To the OP, don't know if you know this, but generally the "deep black color" is achieved by spraying tire dressing of some sort. I personally use Armor All Tire Foam, and it does a pretty good job of making the wheelwells look nice and clean. My only problem is that it seems to attract dust. I'm probably going to try to wipe the wheelwells dry next time.
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I currently use Armor All Detailers Advantage Foam on my tires and it looks GREAT on tires. I will have to try it on the wheel wells now. Thanks!
 
since my wheel wells are never that bad, i use some car wash soap and sponge (also wearing latex gloves) and clean them pretty thoroughly (turning the front wheels also helps). i'll use either AA tire foam or No Touch ($10 for a 4pk at sams club!) to dress the wells...



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Nice. Just looking for something that gets the job done, but at the same time doesnt damage the appearance of the wheel wells in the long run.



I think tires, wheels, and wheel wells are the most underrated parts in making a car look nice. Dirty/dull wheel wells just take so much away from the car.
 
Detailer's Advantage Foam is a great tire wet. I stopped using it because I it has a lot of silicone which apparently leads to browning.
 
I also you Simple Green APC, and I try to brush the areas I can reach. I might need a longer and more slim brush for this.



I use tire foam dressing to make them black again. I might switch and find something better.
 
I use a strong APC and a long handled toilet bowl brush, the one with the bristles in the loop shape, sort of donut shaped at the end. The bristle/wire end is easy to bend to whatever curve/shape is needed.

Rinse, then an AA spritz.

-John C.
 
i'm one of the ones that uses meg's APC for the wheel wells. diluted 5:1, a gallon certainly goes a long way!



normally i spray, let sit for 30 seconds, and then wipe out with one of my many old sheepskins dedicated for only this task. afterwards i thoroughly rinse.



normally i dont dress the wheel wells. the only time i do is when the car is a show. It is then that i use an aerosol tire shine (95% of the time i use non-foaming meguiar's hotshine aerosol because it doesnt run like other aerosols i've used). i figure while i'm shining the whole tire (tread and sidewall) i can do the wheel well while im there :)
 
JohnZ3MC said:
I use a strong APC and a long handled toilet bowl brush...
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I'd be a little careful about which vehicles you use a toilet brush on...just as you probably wouldn't wash your hood with one, there are some wheelwells where I wouldn't want to mar the paint with such a thing.
 
Neothin said:
paint in the wheel wells? wow, i've never seen that before.
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:confused: Huh? Really? I thought it was normal as a lot of our vehicles have body-color paint in the wheelwells. There are areas that're black-coated and there are plastic panels, but there are also painted areas. Most of the time it's both thin and not cleared, so you have to be kinda gentle with it.
 
I have all three types in my truck's wheel wells, body paint (white), black plastic, and black undercoater. It's easy to get at all of it, and once it's clean it tends to stay that way because I spray 303 fairly liberally in there each wash, so even the undercoated sections give up their dirt pretty easily with a soft scrub brush. For the rest of it I use a synthetic mitt.



For me a very big time saver is that I hold a manila file folder against the lip of the wheel wells and move it around as I spray the wheel well and the tire and the (clear coated) wheel with the 303. The folder keeps the spray off of the exterior body paint. I follow that up with a damp sponge to equalize out the heavy/light areas on the tires and come back in a minute or two to wipe up all the excess on the tires and wheels. I like the more satin finish of 303 on tires, and it's a great final finish on the wheels; brake dust just washes away with the hose.



On my wife's sports sedan, there is virtually no clearance around the wheels so there's no way to get anything in there (though I'm gonna try that toilet brush idea!) so I just spray the 303 over whatever dirt didn't just fall off with the hose. It keeps it reasonably dark and decent looking back there. Her wheels are also cleared, so I don't know how the 303 would work on straight metals.
 
dpsorg- Good idea, using that manila folder as a barrier :xyxthumbs I use various cardboard/etc. materials that way all the time and it's very handy.



On your wife's car, if you have a floorjack handy just use that to gain a bit of access. I've ended up keeping a pair of them in the wash bay for just this purpose.



Neothin-Guess it just depends on the vehicle in question. Even most of our cheap ones have some painted areas :nixweiss
 
For dirty ones, I rinse with a hose, spray Hi-Temp Tire Cleaner 1:1, then agitate with a stiff brush and rinse clean. Then I use Megs Hyper Dressing 3:1. On not so dirty ones, I use strong car wash solution in place of the tire cleaner.
 
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