How do you clean your wheel-wells?

I normally pull the wheel if they are really dirty:



1)Rinse

2)Spray down with your favorite degreaser/APC/Tar Remover(careful on the brakes and suspension parts with this)

3)Let it dwell for a few minutes(normally I can clean the wheel and start de-tarring it at this point)

4)Scrub with a long handled brush(the long handled ones from AutoGeek work great for this, I know some people use the long spindle style ones aswell)

5)Use my little brushes to clean the break caliper, and spots I couldn’t get to with the larger brush

6)Rinse

7)Finish wheel

8)Dress with your favorite dressing(I use megs hyper dressing)

8)Remount, drop it to the ground, and move on!



I repeat steps 1-4 if its really bad.



If you don’t take the wheel off, then just jack it up and follow the same steps..You might not be able to get to the far back sides of the wheel well, but its better than nothing.
 
Crist Clapper said:
What brush do you use to clean your wheel-wells?
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Welcome to Autopia!



What I use depends on the vehicle; I don't use the same stuff on the beater-SUV's plastic lined wells as I do on the polished/waxed wells of the good cars.



For tough surfaces where marring isn't an issue, I use the synthetic bristle brushes they sell at WalMart and I replace them when the flagged bristle tips start to wear down.



For the good vehicles and/or surfaces where marring can be an issue, I use Boar's Hair Brushes.



I also use sponges (grout sponges, Quikee Sponge Mops) and mitts (usually the little three-finger mitts that Griot's sells for use on wheels).



The cleaner I use depends on both the vehicle and the degree of soiling- sorta-strong shampoo mix to APCs. I find this sprayer very handy: Under-Leaf Sprayer - Lee Valley Tools



To gain access, I keep a pair of floorjacks in the wash bay.



And as dmw2692004 pointed out, now and they it pays to pull the wheels off.
 
I agree that it depends on the type of vehicle. Most vehicle's, I will rinse with a powewasher, spray some APC and let dwell. Then, using a long handled boars hair brush (or if "felt/fabric" lined wells, a stiffer brush) to agitate and then rinse again. Once dry, I will dress with Megs Hyperdressing.
 
I bet most people here dress their wells a lot more often than I do :o On the dog-haulers it'd usually be counterproductive given where I take them (yeah, even with " pretty dry" dressings) and on drivers like the Crown Vic and my wife's A8 I usually settle for just keeping them clean. But then I generally don't dress a lot of things that others do...engine compartment stuff comes to mind. I don't even dress the tires at every wash :eek:





Street5927 said:
...(..."felt/fabric" lined wells, a stiffer brush) to agitate ..
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I despise those! Tough to clean, tough to keep nice...and once really worn they look just awful. I'd sure hate to have *those* on a high-mile car, they'd bug me something fierce.
 
Accumulator said:
I despise those! Tough to clean, tough to keep nice...and once really worn they look just awful. I'd sure hate to have *those* on a high-mile car, they'd bug me something fierce.
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Other than "attempting" to keep noise to a minimum, I don't see the need for the fabric lined wells. I am with you on this one, Acc...in that I don't really care for them, but that is how the car came, so I guess I have to live with it for now.
 
Accumulator said:
I despise those! Tough to clean, tough to keep nice...and once really worn they look just awful. I'd sure hate to have *those* on a high-mile car, they'd bug me something fierce.
Click to expand...



And they're always on the higher end cars too! Everything gets caught up in them and you really have to powerwash the hell out of them. I'm curious to know how the ONR guys go about cleaning these?
 
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