Wheel cleaning/polishing

[PilotG97]

Happy Monday everyone! My car is in the shop so I’ve used a picture I took last year after a maintenance wash. 
 

I just switched to Adam’s products and have been spending the last 2 hours reading post on here about cleaning and polishing wheels. Once I get my car back this week I’m wanting to do a full exterior detail this weekend. A couple of questions I have: 

 

1) I’ve been reading a few post about how you don’t have to use wheel cleaner and tire & rubber cleaner for every maintenance wash. So will car shampoo suffice for the wheels and tires in between big details ? 
 

2) How long does tire dressing last ? More specifically Tire Shine or VRT. Do I need to reapply after every weekly wash ?
 

3) I’m more than positive that my OEM wheels are polished aluminum, but I haven’t done the test with the metal polish and applicator yet. If it turns out the wheels are not raw aluminum and are clear coated, can I use polish with my mini SK ? Or do I need use something like hand polish ? 
 

4) How can I protect my wheels and tires ? I’m waiting on ceramics till the winter time. Trying to figure out what product to use to seal/protect them for the time being. 
 

5) I have the Visco clay bar kit. Will detail spray be okay to use as lube on the wheels when I clay them ? 
 

Thanks in advance.
 

[RayS]

Hi Gabriel,

I have recently switched to using the Wheel and Tire cleaner and am really happy with the outcome, especially on the coated wheels.  For the non-coated wheels, it is either the Wheel Cleaner or Eco Wheel Cleaner according to how the wheels are and the material they are made of.  I try to use the least hash chemical that I can and I really dislike the smell of the regular Wheel cleaner, but it sure does work well.

 

For most of my vehicles, I only need to do a more thorough cleaning of the tires and wheels about once a month or every 6 weeks according to the usage.   The wife's garage queen can easily go 2 months without them needing to be touched.  Since we change the brakes on my daughters Range Rover to ceramic, they don't need weekly cleaning anymore.  Your environmental characteristics and vehicle usage will make a big difference on how often you need to do a thorough wheel cleaning.   Coating the wheels will also make a huge difference.

 

Detail Spray is my go to lube for anything related to clay, regardless of the location.

[BRZN]

19 hours ago, PilotG97 said:

1) I’ve been reading a few post about how you don’t have to use wheel cleaner and tire & rubber cleaner for every maintenance wash. So will car shampoo suffice for the wheels and tires in between big details ? 
 

2) How long does tire dressing last ? More specifically Tire Shine or VRT. Do I need to reapply after every weekly wash ?
 

3) I’m more than positive that my OEM wheels are polished aluminum, but I haven’t done the test with the metal polish and applicator yet. If it turns out the wheels are not raw aluminum and are clear coated, can I use polish with my mini SK ? Or do I need use something like hand polish ? 
 

4) How can I protect my wheels and tires ? I’m waiting on ceramics till the winter time. Trying to figure out what product to use to seal/protect them for the time being. 
 

5) I have the Visco clay bar kit. Will detail spray be okay to use as lube on the wheels when I clay them ?

 

I wash my vehicles tires and wheels every time I wash them. Why have a nice clean vehicle with water spots or dirt on the wheels? If your wheels are Ceramic Coated and there's Tire Armor on the tires Car Shampoo will be more than enough to keep them clean.

 

Tire Shine lasts longer than VRT. Tire Shine is water prof while VRT is water resistant. I reapply after every wash.

 

The wheels on the car in your picture appear to be the stock wheels that came on the car. Those would not be polished raw aluminum but painted silver and cleared. This is what polished aluminum looks like:

 

If you want to wait on Ceramic Coating the wheels until winter you have many choices in our line; Buttery, Americana, or Patriot Wax, Paint Sealant or H2O Guard & Gloss, Ceramic Boost, or CS3.

 

Detail Spray is what's recommended as the clay lubricant. Doesn't matter if you've got Visco, Medium Grade, Fine Grade or our Clay Mitt.

[mc2hill]

@PilotG97 Lots of good advice above! 

As for cleaning the wheels, if you are cleaning them often, after the first aggressive cleaning you can use a milder approach.  I use Adam's Wash & Wax, premixed in a spray bottle with a foaming sprayer, to clean the wheels on our cars.  When I do a customer car, I will often clean the wheels with Wheel Cleaner, then spray the W&W to add a little protection.