Cleaning Your Wheels

Before you begin cleaning your wheels, make sure you have followed the preparation guidelines.

Add a single measure of car shampoo to a bucket of clean water. Make sure that the shampoo has mixed well with the water so that there are plenty of suds in the bucket.

I prefer to tackle the wheels first as this will reduce the time in between finishing with the paintwork and drying (helping reduce water marks).

I start off with a fairly stiff brush and scrub the tyre (not too hard). Be careful not to damage the actual wheel with this brush though as some alloys can scratch easily.

I then continue with a wheel brush, agitating any loose dirt and getting in between the spokes where possible. It is worth while concentrating on any stubborn tar spots to start off with and if necessary use a tar remover or similar. An old toothbrush can be useful when focusing on stubborn areas or in hard to reach places.

I then use a cleaning cloth for getting in between the spokes that the brush could not reach and generally going over the whole wheel. An old microfiber cloth is also ideal for achieving this.

Warning: do not use any cleaning equipment that you use on your paint work. If you do then it would be best to keep it for use on the wheels alone and replace the item used on the paintwork.

I then rinse with cold water and leave to dry whilst I repeat on each wheel.

Once finished with the wheels, empty and rinse out the bucket. Rinse off any brushes etc and place them on a clean surface to dry.

Now we can start washing the cars bodywork.