Even the most well-washed car doesn't look its best if it has dirty rims. Anyone who likes to take care of the exterior of a car knows that it is difficult to wash wheels from road dirt and wheel dust without the use of specialized chemicals. But the choice of cleaning products is large, their prices differ markedly.
We went to the nearest hypermarket and bought four inexpensive disc cleaners to test their effectiveness. We also took a tile cleaner with us, since it is based on acid, which is also the main component of budget wheel rim cleaners. We haven’t forgotten about regular table vinegar – why isn’t it an acid?
What you need for quality cleaning
How to clean carbon deposits from wheel rims at home? You will definitely need:
- soft sponge that perfectly absorbs water;
- microfiber;
- sandpaper;
- brush for cleaning teeth;
- a composition that can be used to clean wheels;
- small bucket;
- water;
- car detergent;
- jack;
- hose and spray nozzle.
IN PLACES
Outside the classification Cif Cream
Cleaning cream
Russia
500 ml, 125 rub.
In such tests, we often check purely kitchen products: what if they work? But it contains abrasive particles, and therefore cannot be used on paintwork. Testing on a control sample confirmed the fears - there were scratches on the coating.
Out of the standings Liqui Moly
Schnell-Reiniger Quick cleaner
Germany
500 ml, 300 rub.
The complaints are not about the product, but about the seller, who decided that since it is suitable for brake discs, it will also be suitable for wheel ones. No, it won't! The composition is intended for cleaning and degreasing parts that are not afraid of solvents, but it cannot be sprayed on rubber, plastic and varnish. That’s why it was left out of the competition – this is a warning to inattentive sellers and buyers.
9th place Hi-Gear
Universal disk cleaner
USA
500 g, 340 rub.
The composition turned out to be ineffective. Couldn't cope with stubborn dirt and bitumen stains.
8th place NANOX
Disc cleaner for all types
USA
650 ml, 400 rub.
Nanotechnology has not helped: the efficiency is quite low. Doesn't work well with old stains.
7th place DoctorWax
Professional wheel cleaner
USA
650 ml, 340 rub.
It removes fresh dirt, but gives in to old, dried dirt. True, if you rub for a long time and with great diligence, then something begins to work out. For such cases, the manufacturer recommends using a brush. Maybe then the composition is not really needed?
6th place GRASS
DISK professional
Volzhsky, Russia
1 l, 200 rub.
This is a concentrate. Before application, you need to dilute it, and in addition purchase a spray bottle. Efficiency is rather weak. To remove old, dried dirt, you need to rub for a long time, and still the composition does not completely remove it.
5th place SONAX
Disc cleaning gel
Germany
500 ml, 325 rub.
The annotation states that it removes heavy stains. But in practice, it gave in to bitumen stains on the cast wheel even after repeated treatment. I dealt with the rest of the dirt in the form of remaining stuck dust from wear of the brake pads easily. After application you need to wait up to 5 minutes. For a long time…
3–4 places ASTROhim
Wheel cleaner
Russia
500 ml, 120 rub.
3–4 place ASTROhim
Universal cleaner
Russia
500 ml, 80 rub.
Its effectiveness is identical to a specialized drug with the same name. The thought about the same barrel involuntarily creeps in. To remove something, you need to rub for a long time, applying great force. But it's inexpensive!
1st–2nd place Meguiar's
Wheel Polishing KIT
USA
Set, 1345 rub.
Nice big packaging. For effective cleaning, a foam drill attachment is included. There is even a composition for cleaning it after polishing. But they were greedy with the cleaning product - there are only 118 ml in the tube. But the product coped with all bitumen stains and old, dried dirt. At the same time, we checked the detergent composition for the nozzle: after washing it looks like new. That's just the price...
1st–2nd place Meguiar's
Hot Rims All Wheel & Tire cleaner
USA
710 ml, 450 rub.
Quickly removes not only caked-on dirt residues, but also old bitumen deposits. According to the instructions, dirt can be wiped off within 15 seconds after applying the composition. Practice has confirmed this: bitumen stains disappeared almost immediately. And it didn’t take much effort. A clear leader.
Any discs after three winter months become covered with a layer of dirt, which is almost impossible to remove with plain water. It is most noticeable on light-alloy wheels with large, shiny spokes. Even from a Karcher it is impossible to clean the resulting deposit, which is aggravated by the oxide film. And on the inside of the spokes a dense crust of cemented chemicals, salt and road dust forms. When you rub it with foreign objects, scratches and stains appear. And at the junctions of the light-alloy wheel and the hub, so-called galvanic corrosion often occurs, which usually occurs when metals with different chemical reactivity come into contact. Thus, by spring the discs are already very battered. It is difficult to restore the former shine without special preparations. What disk cleaning technologies will help get rid of layers of winter dirt?
Age-old pollution
We leave the bath soap and vinegar alone, as we have a more serious test next. We take four discs and apply one cleaner to the inside of each of them. It's very dirty there! We also wait a couple of minutes and wash off with Karcher.
When using auto chemicals, you should avoid direct sunlight on the surface to be cleaned - for some reason, manufacturers do not mention this in the instructions. In the sun, liquids dry out quickly, at best, without having time to act properly, at worst, leaving difficult-to-remove stains on the paintwork. In our case, the sun partially hit the disks - these are the places where the cleaners did the worst job.
In this test, Lesta is an outsider - the discs are only slightly cleaner than they were originally.
The result of the LAVR cleaner was a little better; only the part that was exposed to the sun remained frankly dirty.
GRASS demonstrated even higher efficiency, but it is far from ideal.
The unexpected leader is Eclipse. Yes, not everything has been washed, there are still some pretty dirty spots left, but compared to the competition, the difference is obvious.
Contactless washing
It’s almost impossible to wash discs without using a brush, but it’s worth a try. Apply four products to two spokes of one disc and into the space between them, wait a couple of minutes, and wash off with high pressure.
The triggers for all the remedies are far from good. None of them produce a long “zilch” with a cloud of finely dispersed suspension. GRASS sprays generously, like Lesta, LAVR foams heavily, Eclipse practically flows like a stream.
The only thing I honestly didn’t like about the smell was GRASS, which smells like cheap and effective toilet cleaners. “Lavr” also has a slight acidic smell, but it is not so pungent. Lesta and Eclipse are practically odorless. All liquids are initially transparent, except for LAVR cleaner, which is pink.
In terms of wow effect, the Lesta wins, which, after application and reaction with metallic inclusions, acquires a purple color, as befits an iron.
LAVR and Lesta coped best with dirt in this test. Although after “Lavr” the spokes are still cleaner.
Lesta left a lot of dirt on the spokes and between them.
But in general, the attempt to wash very grimy discs without contact, as expected, was a failure.
Third place goes to GRASS.
Well, the worst part of the Eclipse disk was washed.
We take another disk, on one half of which we apply a bathroom product, on the second - vinegar. Here the result is interesting: a lot of dirt remains, but after Clean Tone it is mostly sand - the black shoe dust has been washed off from more of it, although overall the result is worse than that of Eclipse. This is not very noticeable in photographs, but in person the difference is obvious.
Therefore, it’s definitely not worth trying to wash discs with vinegar, but in principle it’s possible to use an acidic household cleaner in the absence of special equipment.
The result of the first stage of the test: none of the cleaners is capable of washing dirty disks without contact, but LAVR and Lesta will probably be able to remove a week’s worth of dirt without any extra effort on your part.
Helpful information
Brake discs are made of cast iron, so when purchasing specialized compounds, you need to clarify whether the chosen product is suitable for this type of metal.
When working with chemicals, you need to take care of personal protective equipment . It is unacceptable to remove the part from the solution with bare hands. They must wear rubber gloves.
The cleaning procedure should be carried out in a room with good ventilation.
There is a lot of useful and important information about methods of fighting rust on a car in this section.
How to clean car rims without removing them from the car
When you wash the car completely, you should also clean the rims, knocking off most of the dirt. After this procedure they will become much cleaner. However, this method cannot completely remove all contaminants: brake dust, bitumen and resins will remain on the surface.
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It is clear that even a stream of water under high pressure will not be able to clean all the dirt. Therefore, a special chemical should be used. It can be used to clean metal and rubber surfaces. This cleaner contains chemicals that penetrate deep microcracks, chips, and scratches. At the same time, the paintwork of the wheels does not deteriorate. Thanks to this care, your car wheels will look like new for a long time and you won’t have to spend money on restoring them.
How to clean wheel rims yourself? We remove dust and dirt with a stream of water under high pressure. While the wheels are still wet, apply a cleaning agent to the surface. It will take a little time for the oxidation reaction to take place and the contaminants to break down. You will see the composition turn reddish. This indicates that metal dust is being removed. Then you can see yellow smudges; these are oil stains breaking down. However, if the cleaner is cheap, it will not be able to remove serious contaminants such as carbon deposits.
To completely clean the surface, use a stiff brush. It will help clean the outside of the wheel; you will also need a brush to get to the internal parts. As soon as you see that a chemical reaction has begun, rub the surface.
Note!
In no case should you keep the detergent composition longer than indicated in the recommendations for use. Otherwise, the varnish will be damaged, because the surface of car wheels reacts sharply to the effects of chemicals.
To protect the skin of your hands from contamination, as well as the harmful effects of chemicals that are part of the detergent, you should wear rubber or latex gloves if you are going to clean the rims with your own hands.
Sink with brush
Finally, we generously water each of the discs with our product and proceed to washing using a brush.
Of course, the final result in this test is influenced by the quality of the physical impact - after all, something can be cleaned not well enough, but we rubbed each disc for a long time and actively. And GRASS did the worst job - the remaining dirt on the disk after it is visible to the naked eye.
Eclipse worked a little better: a little dirt remained, but you need to look closely to see it.
The Lesta cleaner showed good results - there is minimal static on the disk, visually it looks clean. If you are not a fan of perfectly washed discs, the result will more than satisfy you.
The winner of this stage is LAVR. Dirt, sand and block dust were completely removed, only bitumen stains remained, although none of the products could cope with them. But it shouldn’t have been able to cope - completely different substances are used to remove bitumen.
Re: How to clean discs from brake pad soot
you need to buy new wheels, leave the dirty ones for the spare wheel
No question! That's what I do!
I think you should try a special brake disc cleaner - that’s probably what they were created for, for example: https://mobil-esso.ru/catalog/group1/. r-Aerosol.html All brands producing fuel and lubricants and auto chemicals have similar chemistry.
The brake disc cleaner cleans them, the main purpose is to degrease them. I bought a spray can to clean rims, everything was washed, the rims are like new
It's more of a degreaser and won't help with soot.
And this soot, isn’t it reddish in color?
It's usually black! Reddish in color, in my opinion this is rust from the wheels after the car has been sitting for a long time!
GenaWRX
Gena, a long time ago, in my “youthful maximalism,” I raced in IP Racing with a DS 3000 Ultra, not only is it slow. discs with pads erased nah. in 2.5 months, I also “removed” the wheels. With powerful braking (and on the DS 3000 ultra it is so strong that you fly out of the windshield!) hot dust hits the brakes. pads and brake the disc literally melts into the paint of the wheel rim. By the way, it settles on the discs in the form of soot, which then turns red due to the oxidation of the worn-out metal of the brake disc. In general, I couldn’t wash the wheels with anything then, only to repaint them. Although Gena, maybe your situation is different and I hope you can solve this problem.
Dimon, I have exactly the same situation, the dust from the pads has practically eaten into the paint. I surfed various forums and prescribed various “super” products; if they don’t help, then I’ll definitely use painting.
GenaWRX
Tell me what kind of product it is)))) I bought some kind of crap foam cleaner that helps, but it doesn’t really help, once I wiped off the rims, scraped them with a lighter all day, a month later the same garbage again, although right now there is no layer of dust a millimeter thick, but that’s all still don't rub off. I tried it with a rust converter, it wipes it off, but some stains remain. and it feels like they are being eaten away. Is there any effective proven remedy? So I could spray it a little and rub it off and wash it off?
young pirates don’t care about elderly port girls
I'm not a designer. and not even a photographer, which is a rarity these days.
Two Cuba Libre cocktails, beer and mescaline in ampoules!
And if you want to become even more beautiful. Pour me Jack two for a hundred.
Source www.sti-club.su
UPD About I purchased a set of disks that I have long dreamed of. But they have centuries-old plaque from the brake pads. It doesn’t use anything from household chemicals (dishware detergent, Domestos) How can I wash this poop to its original appearance? Who will advise what? ps All spare parts are always on, but I'm afraid it will damage the paintwork.
It turned out that the product does not (or almost does not) interact with the paintwork of these specific discs, at least I did not notice any changes (cloudness, dullness, change in color, shine).
There are some spare parts, maybe someone can look for something (see previous blog post)
Price tag: 9,000 ₽
Solvent
Another tool that is almost always available in any garage is white spirit. It is used to defrost and lubricate locks, to combat rust and to unscrew soured threaded connections. It contains a mixture of liquid aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons that have a number of positive chemical effects.
Among other things, white spirit is used to dissolve paints, enamels and varnishes. Therefore, it effectively erases traces of bitumen from alloy wheels. It's easy to use. It is enough to apply the product in stages, wait until it penetrates the stains, and then remove with a wet microfiber cloth. The main thing is not to rub the liquefied mud, but to blot it to eliminate the abrasive effect.
How to clean discs from brake pad soot
In general, the problem is the following. I put a Ferado 3000 in front and drove it for a bit, about 2000, but it turned out that the last 1000 was on the highway, after which I went to the car wash to wash the cars and was surprised that the whole car was clean and there were two black rims on the front. We started rubbing with different chemicals, but nothing helped, it felt like the pads were being worn off in pieces and stuck to the discs. Has anyone encountered this problem? How can I wash my wheels?
Water, 5 sec. Soot from pads is essentially dust. Washed off in one go. So it's not from the pads.
Take Profoam 2000 and wash it! It’s a good thing, the 1000th corrodes everything!
schumanite
NightRider
Why overpay if you have Dosya)))
Evgeniy-Balashikha
I agree that the soot is washed off in 5 seconds and before I had never encountered such a problem, but as soon as I installed other pads this happened. And it’s not just dust, but in some places a thick layer of soot. If you rub it with something sharp, it will peel off a little bit, but I will rub all the discs like that. Maybe there is some kind of traditional medicine?
Well, I wonder what it is. Not bitumen? For soot - gasoline, kerosene.
coca-cola. They say it corrodes everything, even rust.
Evgeniy-Balashikha
No, bitumen is 100% Chemistry like bitumen cleaners doesn’t work, I also tried disk cleaners like those specifically for this crap, also without results.
Garfield
Coca-Cola, but I’ll try it as an experiment
Yes, these are the kind of pads you come across! I also somehow wiped off the wheels somehow! Fairies don’t talk about this crap at all! Try the powder with hot water!
Motul has a brake disc cleaner.
Our verdict
Since our subjects showed different results in different tasks, we had to compile a table for a complete ranking. The numbers in it correspond to the occupied places at each stage. Thus, the lower the total amount, the better.
15.03.2021
Cast and forged wheels made of light alloys look good provided the decorative coating is intact. But exposure to road chemicals, dirt and dust leads to paint damage and metal corrosion. We’ll tell you in this article how to clean alloy wheels from oxidation and protect them later.
Features of Turtle Wax Wheel Cleaner
If we take a closer look at the British manufacturer of Turtle Wax cleaners, we can highlight one product among them - Turtle Wax Intensive Wheel Cleaner, intended for professionals.
A good sign is the fact that the product is used not only by ordinary car enthusiasts, but also by professionals - at car washes and service stations, if the client requires a wheel rim cleaning service.
The product contains acid, the composition of which is patented by the manufacturer, and it effectively removes even the most stubborn plaque, but does not cause damage to any types of discs, including chrome elements.
In addition, the cleaner, based on the results of practical experiments, has been found to be absolutely safe for rubber tires, so there is no need to remove them before cleaning the metal.
Among the negative properties of the substance, one can highlight its harm to the paintwork of the car body, therefore all cleaning procedures should be carried out only on dismantled wheels, away from the car itself.
Important!
If particles of the cleaner do get on the paint of the car body, they must be immediately washed off with water and the affected area wiped with a dry cloth, since the substance may not have time to begin an active reaction.
The principle of action of the drug is based on the formation of active foam, which immediately reacts, dissolving metal particles from brake system consumables, as evidenced by a red indicator.
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Of course, it will not be possible to remove all the dirt that has been ingrained or settled into cracks and scratches by purely chemical means, and the technician will have to use a sponge, brush or microfiber to remove these substances from hard-to-reach places manually.
Cleaning a disk from rust
