QEW and tire/wheelwell washing not going so well

wifehatescar

wifehatescar

My L5-S1 is killing me!
I would love if others would share their technique of washing cars (and really SUV's/trucks) moderately/"normal person" dirty tires and wheelwells with QEW.



I have the paint washing down no problem, when scrubbing the tires with a brush and the wheelwells with a old cottom mit though, the dirt just stays on the tire/wheelwell liner and dries that way. Going back over the area with a MF towel doesn't seem to work very well either. I even tried slopping the QEW solution all over the areas a couple times (to simulate a rinsing action) but I haven't found a technique that works nearly as well as a nornal wash & hose rinse (when I do those the rinse water is always brown/black with the diry stuff).



This scenario is turning me off to QEW. Any advice welcome.
 
QEW really isn't designed to take place of a good tire and wheel cleaner. It should work somewhat decently on wheels religiously cared for, I would say you could successfully wash them with it if you do so probably more than once a week. As for tires though, you really do need the appropraite cleaner. Despite these limitations I would still say QEW is an awfully handy product, one of the best in its category :up
 
I have an old mitt I hit the wheels with a the end of the wash and the only thing that doesn't come off is the baked on stuff, which I might try to polishoff later today. The bucket goes from slightly dirty to pitch black. I just run a microfiber through them really quick to wrap up.
 
I have a 1/2 gallon pump up sprayer that I fill with QEW. After the car is clean, I spray the tires, wheels, and wheel wells with the solution. I scrub the tires with a stiff brush and wash the wheels with a MF mitt, the wheel wells are scrubed with a tampico brush or old terry cotton towel depending upon how dirty they are. I dry the wheel wells and tires with a fresh terry towel and dry the wheels with a dedicated MF. I use the water in my QEW bucket to rinse the brush/mitt as needed throughout the process.



Cleaning behind the wheels is whole other process for, with QEW anyway.
 
I've said before that tires and wheels are an area where, IMO, QEW falls short. Not that you can't clean the wheels with QEW, I just believe that there are far better products for this application.



Although QEW is highly heralded here, I find it an OK product if you have limited access to water. I find the more traditional wash methods (2 or more bucket) produce a safer and superior wash.



I have regulated QEW to door jambs (PB's S&W is equally effective, and you don't have to mix/measure) where I want to limit the amount of water. QEW is also OK on a really cold/windy day when you don't want to eat a lot of spray.



Edit: I just read my post and realized I made a grammatical error :o. The word I meant to use was relegated, not regulated.
 
As long as wheels are cleaned regularly, I have no problems with QEW and an assortment of brushes getting them clean. I also have brushes I can get into the fenderwells. What you might want to get is a large sprayer (like the ones for weeds) that hold a couple gallons of water and use that to spray out the fenderwells after your scrub them with QEW.
 
When I clean tires/rims... here is what I do:



If the tires/rims are really bad, I spray a bit of Eagle One A2Z on them and scrub normally, using a rim brush I then slop some QEW with water on there and scrub it around a bit to loosen all of the dirt.



most importantly, I then take a 32oz spray bottle filled with water and mist the rest of the dirt off of the rims/tires. The spray bottle really works well for me. I have been using about 75% of the bottle for one car.



I also take an old towel and put it behind the tire (if I'm in a driveway) to absorb all of the dirt and water so that I don't mess up the drive way by letting the brake dust sit there. I ring the towel out as necessary.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I will investigate them all. Looks like I do need *some kind* of rinse of water/solution to get the results I'm looking for.

I agree with Mr. Clean for the most part, I do a traditional wash still whenever the customer has a hose easily available.
 
I use a 2 gallon pump up sprayer with an adjustable nozzle. It works great for rinsing wells and tires and wheels. Basically it works fine whenever you need a blast of water:xyxthumbs
 
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