Wheel-well brush/tool help?
- Thread starter clapperc
- Start date
GearHead_1
Long Time Member
I use the wheel woolies and they fit between my wheels and the calipers and that's a pretty tight fit, perhaps only an inch and a half. What kind of vehicle is it? I know this is kind of a worse case scenerio suggestion in that it isn't actually a convenient step when washing your car but you could of course lift it by the frame/sub-frame/uni-body and let the wheels hang to give you a bit more clearance. If your clearances are that tight it might be nice to get that extra clearance to be able to really clean the wheel wells and suspension components.
Don't think I haven't thought of lifting the vehicle!
Only place I would share this... I had the undercarriages sprayed with epoxy-paint and would be afraid of marring the finish... :inspector: I have two Jeeps I need this solutions for... An SRT; And a Commander with oversize tires.:help:
Detail Impressions
Detail Impressions
Please measure the clearance, most likely you have to customize a brush. Grind down the handle area to allow clearance.
GearHead_1
Long Time Member
Ha! You need a pillow/cushion for your floor jack.Don't think I haven't thought of lifting the vehicle!
I use a block of hardwood (actually 2, one for each side using two jacks) with a slot cut in it to straddle the pinch weld on one of my cars when not lifting by the suspension. Might not be soft enough for your purposes and would definitely be a problem for a very low vehicle but might not be an issue on a jeep. There are also a variety of jack saddles with rubber cushions in them available. A guy has to be able to get his car in the air in various manners while in the driveway or garage. Sometimes you really need the suspension hanging.
Amazon.com: Universal Slotted Rubber Jack Pad Frame Rail Protector: Automotive
Someone who's thought about this before I'm thinking! :thinking Will measure. :bigups
ShaneB
New member
I always just bend the Daytona brushes about 90 degrees and they work great that way. Makes it much easier to get the back corners this way too. Done this plenty of times with no ill effects
Seems like it would work... Right? Tried multiple bends with the Daytona... The result is rub-marks in the residue where the tip hits.
ShaneB
New member
How are you bending it that the tip hits? I bend it right in the middle so the brush is in an L shape. Never have an issue with the tip hitting anything
Accumulator
Well-known member
Gearhead_1- Agree completely about using a pair of jacks with the appropriate blocks/pads.
clapperc- I too think the answer lies in raising up the vehicle a bit. I do it on vehicles that have *NICE* undercarriages and it's certainly possible to do it without damaging anything. I mean, when it gets under-car service it's gonna get lifted up anyhow...and you gotta get under there to clean that part of the car unless you pull it up onto ramps (RaceRamps are good for accessing the undercarriage but don't help with the wells or allow you to turn the wheels). I additionally pad the jackpad/block with thin sponges and/or MFs, having cleaned and dried the jacking points beforehand. Only takes a few minutes once you get your system sorted out.
You can do some cleaning by squeezing wash media in the wells, but it'll miss a lot of areas and I can't help but think that it'd be hard to inspect your work properly unless you raise things up enough to be able to see what you're doing. I know that *I* have to inspect the wells from a few different positions to really do a proper inspection. And then there's the LSPing of the wells to consider, even if only using a Spray Wax or a leaves-stuff-behind type of Rinseless or QD.
Eh, can't help but think that it's all a matter of how far you want to take it and that I'm perhaps a bit extreme about this topic even by Autopian standards
The WheelWoolies don't work as well as I'd expected in wells/undercarriages but that's almost certainly dependent on the vehicle and they're good to have on-hand. Note that they don't rinse out as easily as brushes or even some mitts; they require dunking/hosing and lots of squeezing-out. Their short nap doesn't get into tight nooks and crannies either.
Once I gain access (yeah, by lifting it up, other than the Tahoe), I use a combination of mitts and BHBs, trying to get most of the dirt with the (easiest to rinse) BHBs. For mitts, I *really* like the little "three-finger" sheepskin mitt that Griot's sells for wheels. For BHBs, I usually prefer the cylindrical "BBQ brush" type ones when doing the tight spots of wheelwells. For large areas I like short-handled BHBs for cleaning wheels or regular-size wash mitts.
I've had some vehicles that required various sizes of swabs to do certain areas.
As I get older, I seem to appreciate additional lighting more, a waterproof/rechargeable trouble light is handy.
I use the Daytonas for some things like cleaning coil springs and getting between exhaust systems/driveshafts and the belly pan, but I don't like using them for wells as they always missed some areas and the tip doesn't lend itself to doing any real cleaning in tight spots (so I had to go back in there with something else anyhow to get those areas).
As for the hose, this is one reason why I use a plastic female quick-disconnect with integral shutoff as my nozzle (with an additional shutoff on the hose end, so it's hose-> shutoff -> female quick disconnect). They fit in the wells easily and don't cause much damage if I accidentally touch the paint with them, and once they're adjusted properly (via the integral shutoff) they function just fine as "hose nozzles".
clapperc- I too think the answer lies in raising up the vehicle a bit. I do it on vehicles that have *NICE* undercarriages and it's certainly possible to do it without damaging anything. I mean, when it gets under-car service it's gonna get lifted up anyhow...and you gotta get under there to clean that part of the car unless you pull it up onto ramps (RaceRamps are good for accessing the undercarriage but don't help with the wells or allow you to turn the wheels). I additionally pad the jackpad/block with thin sponges and/or MFs, having cleaned and dried the jacking points beforehand. Only takes a few minutes once you get your system sorted out.
You can do some cleaning by squeezing wash media in the wells, but it'll miss a lot of areas and I can't help but think that it'd be hard to inspect your work properly unless you raise things up enough to be able to see what you're doing. I know that *I* have to inspect the wells from a few different positions to really do a proper inspection. And then there's the LSPing of the wells to consider, even if only using a Spray Wax or a leaves-stuff-behind type of Rinseless or QD.
Eh, can't help but think that it's all a matter of how far you want to take it and that I'm perhaps a bit extreme about this topic even by Autopian standards
The WheelWoolies don't work as well as I'd expected in wells/undercarriages but that's almost certainly dependent on the vehicle and they're good to have on-hand. Note that they don't rinse out as easily as brushes or even some mitts; they require dunking/hosing and lots of squeezing-out. Their short nap doesn't get into tight nooks and crannies either.
Once I gain access (yeah, by lifting it up, other than the Tahoe), I use a combination of mitts and BHBs, trying to get most of the dirt with the (easiest to rinse) BHBs. For mitts, I *really* like the little "three-finger" sheepskin mitt that Griot's sells for wheels. For BHBs, I usually prefer the cylindrical "BBQ brush" type ones when doing the tight spots of wheelwells. For large areas I like short-handled BHBs for cleaning wheels or regular-size wash mitts.
I've had some vehicles that required various sizes of swabs to do certain areas.
As I get older, I seem to appreciate additional lighting more, a waterproof/rechargeable trouble light is handy.
I use the Daytonas for some things like cleaning coil springs and getting between exhaust systems/driveshafts and the belly pan, but I don't like using them for wells as they always missed some areas and the tip doesn't lend itself to doing any real cleaning in tight spots (so I had to go back in there with something else anyhow to get those areas).
As for the hose, this is one reason why I use a plastic female quick-disconnect with integral shutoff as my nozzle (with an additional shutoff on the hose end, so it's hose-> shutoff -> female quick disconnect). They fit in the wells easily and don't cause much damage if I accidentally touch the paint with them, and once they're adjusted properly (via the integral shutoff) they function just fine as "hose nozzles".
Accumulator
Well-known member
Some day I'm gonna cut the handle off one of those wheel brushes, making it something palm-size. Might work great, might just ruin the brush...
briarpatch
New member
You'd think someone would have developed a brush to fit these wheel wells without having to get the vehicle off the ground.....something like one of the old school toilet bowl brushes.....
Accumulator
Well-known member
Back before I got so extreme about this, I used THESE http://www.quickie.com/product/glass-mug-sponge/106 for a long time. They fell apart quicker than I liked, and you have to be careful about the stee-loop core, but they're kinda similar to the "toilet brush" idea. Altough similar to the WeelWoolies, they worked better for me (until falling apart).
Two-inches.
briarpatch
New member
There are grill brushes that have plastic bristles...and the bristles are considerably shorter than the wheel well brushes that I've seen.....this might give you the clearance you need
Accumulator
Well-known member
Just remember that shorter bristles generally = more aggressive, and that as the (presumably) flagged tips wear they turn into scratch-machines (not hating on them at all, use a plastic-bristle brush on certain wells and some stuff under the Tahoe, but I have to be very careful). Just pointing that out as some of my vehicles have wells that are delicate/nice enough that I have to be careful not to cause any significant marring.
Accumulator
Well-known member
clapperc- I keep thinking about how I want to *see* what's what in areas like that. Cleaning "blind" is sure better than not cleaning at all, but I think that once you start lifting it up (and get that squared-away so it's not a big PIA) you'll find yourself being a lot more Autopian about those areas (and for once I mean that in a good way).
Two inches isn't much...but I think it's more than my S8 has and I *know* it's more than most of my sportscars had. Still, most of my vehicles have a *LOT* more than that and I simply have to lift them up to do things right.
Two inches isn't much...but I think it's more than my S8 has and I *know* it's more than most of my sportscars had. Still, most of my vehicles have a *LOT* more than that and I simply have to lift them up to do things right.
jtford95
New member
I use the Shmitt tire scrub pad. Yes, still have one. Thin enough to get in there and do what you have to do
Ronkh
Wax Waster
Cheap toilet brush or Daytona wheel brush