Best Wheel Cleaner Products Tested: 2020 Edition
Don’t waste money on the wrong product and buy the best wheel cleaner that actually works for your dirty rims.
DBFR posted a poll on Instagram asking people which wheel cleaning product was best, and a few names kept popping up, so it’s time to test five popular options, costing from $1 up to almost $40, to see which is best at cleaning your dirty wheels.
From least expensive to most expensive, the first contestant is LA’s Totally Awesome, which can be found at dollar stores across the country, followed by Mother’s Aluminum Wheel Cleaner ($8), Adam’s Polishes Wheel Cleaner ($14), Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus ($24) and finally CarPro IronX, which costs a whopping $40.
Wheels with varying levels of filth were pulled from the Project E46 tire pile to put our contestants to the test, with the least filthy wheels tested first. The products that performed the best would go on to a final round, taking on two wheels from Project Civic Si that were caked in racing brake pad dust and track day gunk. Here’s what happened.
Fifth Place: LA’s Totally Awesome
LA’s Totally Awesome is a all purpose cleaning product with recommended dilution ratios listed on the bottle. Using it at full strength on any sort of painted surface is definitely a no-go. Even diluted, it did cause a minor amount of discoloration to one of the wheels spray paint finish. Perhaps it was a specific reaction to spray-painted surfaces, but that puts it at the back of the pack.
Forth Place: Mothers Aluminum Wheel Cleaner
The Mothers product had the opposite effect of LA’s Totally Awesome in that it was the least aggressive option in the test, and, thus, the least effective at dealing with any amount of caked on wheel grime. Its widespread availability (you can pick it up at any auto parts store across the country) is great, but it’s outgunned even by plain old soap and water.
Third Place: CarPro IronX
This was always bound to be the chainsaw in a gun fight. CarPro’s IronX is not a wheel cleaner, as such. It is, instead, designed to remove iron deposits, rail dust and environmental filth and contaminates from a given surface. Many detailers use it to prep a car ahead of polishing, but its aggressive cleaning properties also do make it a suitable wheel cleaner.
Fair warning: unlike the previous two products, a little bit goes a long way with the IronX, which, when agitated with a wheel cleaning brush, will foam up and cover a lot of area, easily. It also smells foul, and must be used outdoors or in a well ventilated area.
Second Place: Adam’s Polishes Wheel Cleaner
The Adam’s wheel cleaner is a surprisingly close second place, right behind our winner. It’s relatively inexpensive, and very effective at cleaning wheels. That is undercuts the cost so notably compared to the our first place contestant means it will do a great job for 99% of car enthusiasts out there who need an effective wheel cleaning solution.
First Place: Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus
German car aficionados have long known the Sonax name for their quality products, and their wheel cleaner is, perhaps, the most famous of the bunch.
Like IronX and the Adam’s wheel cleaner, when sprayed on dirty wheels it experiences a chemical reaction against iron and other heavy metals found road grime that causes it to change color, letting the user know when it’s time to start scrubbing.
A tiny amount of Sonax is all that will be needed for most wheel cleaning projects, meaning that while pricey at $24 for the larger bottle size, it should last quite a long time.
All three of our podium finishers will remain staple products in our car cleaning supply, though, in the case of IronX, mainly for paintwork ahead of polishing. What do you think, did we miss any must-try products? Sound off in the comments.
