I had grown tired of detailing cars for people, who wouldn't wash their car till their next visit, with my nice (and expensive) pinnacle supplies, so I loaded up with poorboys products last week to save me the grief and money. Poorboys gives great results for the price. While looking around I saw their wheel cleaner which says: spray on, rinse off, done! I must admit, I was sceptical when I picked this up. A wheel cleaner that requires no brushes or aggitation? I call shenanigans! I picked up some anyway becuase I get twice as much for the same price as the pinnacle wheel cleaner. I read some reviews that it still required aggitation for heavily soiled spots, but that's ok becuase it only takes me 10 minutes to do wheels.

I washed my car at lunch, and did my usualy routine; throw the brushes next to the first wheel and reach for my pinnacle gel wheel cleaner. Then I remembered I had the poorboys and thought I'd give it a shot. Prove it wrong. I sprayed it all over the rear wheel, let it sit for a second, and then rinsed it off. Clean. Wow, it did what it said it does, but the real test will be the front wheels (which hadn't been cleaned in two weeks and I have track pads which dust like mad). I read the bottle and it said spray all 4 wheels, then rinse. I did so (sprayed the inside as well) and started to rinse and, honestly, I couldn't have done a better job with brushes and pinnacle. There were some spots left over that I missed with the spray, so I gave it a quick shot of poorboys and rinse and it was clean. This was the most impressive detailing product I have ever used. It only took 2 minutes to do the wheels!

I honestly didn't know what to do with myself with the 10 minutes I saved.

too long; didn't read: It works. Buy it.

 

This is exciting news. Any idea how caustic/acidic the cleaner is? I've never found a truly effective "spray-on/rinse off" wheel cleaner that was safe enough for regular use.

Twenty years ago, I used a cleaner by Eagle 1 that was specifically designed for chrome wire wheels, and while it worked great, it played hell with the plastic center caps after a few years. You had to be careful not to the breathe the stuff, though, since it was extremely caustic (probably why it didn't play nice with the plastic caps).

EDIT - I just found Poorboy's description of the product. They describe it as "an aggressive acidic blended cleaner", and while they say it's safe for clearcoated/painted wheels and plastic parts, they advise caution on polished or raw aluminum wheels, and suggest using it with protective clothing, eyewear and gloves, because of the acidic nature of the cleaner. I think I'll pass.

 

hrm, I didn't read any of that from where I bought it (found it after you meantioned it on their homepage). On their site they do suggest diluting it for well cared for wheels, so I don't know if that would make a difference on the polished and raw wheels. I was in a T-shirt and shorts with no gloves or eyewear and I'm still standing.

 

darkness- how would you compare it with Meg's wheel brite or watever
it's called that ML used?

btw, i like your nutshell version. 'it's time to try.' kinda.

 

I haven't used megs before so I wouldn't be able to compare, but I have used quite a few other wheels cleaners; detailers pride, mothers, pinnacle to name a few (most of the time when I helped friends I didn't know what we were using). All of them did their job as described; spray on, aggigitate, rinse. I always felt pinnacle made the wheels shine better than the others, which is why I used it. However, after years of dusting, and my first indiana weather absolutly killing me and the car, the wheels had lost a bit of their luster. They no longer had that shine I loved and were a little more greyed out rather than bright silver. No matter how hard I cleaned it didnt' make a difference. I figured the dust was there to stay. One application of this stuff and you could literally see it melting the filth away, and the wheels had been restored to their original glory. It also works really well to get inbetween those lugnuts and the places you can't possibly reach with a brush without a tremendous amount of effort.

If I can find a extra spray bottle I will dilute it, as recommended by poorboys due to the acidity, and report back with my findings. For neglected wheels I would definitly go for full strength and get that caked on stuff off.

I'm going to watch how the shine holds up with regular cleaning of pinnacle and use a diluted formula on the other mini. I'm probably going to use this once after the winter full strength to get the dust that has built up and burned on off the wheels to keep that shine going and use it as sort of a restorer... unless it works just as well diluted in which case the gallons are on the way.

Still, spray on; rinse off? in two minutes? You can't really beat that if you ask me.

 

Good review! Just wanted to clarify about Meguiar's product.

It's called Wheel Brightener.

http://www.meguiars.com/?detailer-wh...eel-Brightener

Richard