Quick and easy wheel cleaning: Power Clean

[Heijneker]

Hey All,

Recently saw a video on YouTube from DIY Detail, showing how to easily clean wheels. Spray on APC and wipe with a wrung out towel. That's it! Was excited to try it out!

On my own car, which had moderate brake dust from 2500+ mile (4000+ km) driving, it worked amazing. Came out looking near perfect in about 5 minutes for all 4 wheels.

Yesterday I washed a very dirty car, with lots of brake dust and decided to just try it out.  A couple sprays of pure power clean and wiping with a wrung out ONR towel. It worked awesome! Browning from the tires was easily removed. Also the brake dust got destroyed. Getting in the lug nuts was an issue. I couldn't really remove black streaking the dirty towel left behind, that would take a lot of time and wiping and more towels. But the paint needed a pressure rinse so I rinsed the wheels as well. End result surely wasn't perfect, with some missed spots and stubborn brake dust remaining, but for 6 minutes of effort and a simple wash & wax job the results were awesome! If it were a detail I would follow up with some iron remover, a brush or towel, more apc on tires and another rinse.

Wheels before:

After spraying with Power Clean and wiping with a damp towel for +/- 1 minute. Notice some black smearing and brake dust remaining.

Wheel after a pressure rinse;

Some close-up shots of remaining dirt:

[stephen.details]

I use this method often! There’s an old video of Yvan showing how to do this with power clean and opti-clean. Opti-Clean 3:1 is an EXCELLENT wheel cleaner. Yeah for nasty cakes stuff you may need an iron remover but everyday brake dust ONR or opti-clean works great, and maybe a little power clean a brush. 
 

Also check out this video from a former OPT employee 

even without running water you can use ferrex to clean off brake dust and brushes dipped into ONR will be enough to rinse it. Of course you could also use a pump sprayer or hose to further rinse it.
 

that’s the coolest thing about OPT products, even with the most limited methods you can make things work. 
 

ONR + Power clean alone can clean just about anything safely. But that’s not as sexy as a new shiny product every single month that does the same thing as 12 other products so YouTubers don’t promote it anymore. 

[stephen.details]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CgQONeZgSlj/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Here’s a video of me using a modified version of the process with some brushes. If there was a barrel to clean then a long brush would suffice and you could flush any excess with a pump sprayer or hose. But power clean can be left on tires and then dressing added right over 

[Heijneker]

Hey @stephen.details , thanks for the vids, your Instagram's looking good! Yeah using the brushes as well would really lift up the result. It's easier to get in those tight places. Good to hear the dressing can go over the Power Clean residue!

Had a Volvo in today. Also a simple Wash & Wax + interior.  These had infinite spoke wheels, but wanted to stay waterless. So Power Clean, the Optimum brush, and a microfiber towel. Pretty similar to your Instagram vid. Couple sprays, lightly dunk the brush in ONR and brush the wheels, then wipe clean with a towel. Worked awesome, but of course took some time. Don't think a pressure washer would've improved the results a lot.

Wheels before, moderate brake dust and some old tire shine:

Wheels after cleaning, notice there was almost no run-off.

Optimum Tire Bond; I LOVE that the wheels and tires are completely dry when I cleaned them this way. Makes for easier tire shine application:

And wiping down for a less shiny look:

These rims took a lot of time, about 20 mins since I went for a bit better result. Still not perfect, but good enough for selling.