rim cleaner

A good wheel cleaner is the difference between clean and half-dirty wheels. But which wheel cleaner do you use best? There are 2 major differences in wheel cleaners. Namely acidic wheel cleaners that are generally budget-friendly and pH-neutral wheel cleaners that discolor to dark red purple and react to iron particles. Both are excellent at removing dirt from your rims, but have different properties. Any wheel cleaner works better when you use an appropriate borstel used to loosen the dirt. We also recommend never using a wheel cleaner just after riding, in direct sunlight or on hot surfaces. This can sometimes cause the wheel cleaner to burn in.

The acid rim cleaner can be used on standard OEM alloy rims, rims with a varnish coating and powder coated rims. Please note that if you have embroidery damage, there is no longer any varnish layer and it is therefore bare metal. Acidic rim cleaners on bare metal, polished rims or rims and diamond cut rims will damage the finish. It causes burnt spots, the varnish starts to peel off, the color of the metal starts to change and white cloud spots can appear. An acidic wheel cleaner is cheap compared to a pH-neutral wheel cleaner, but it does require attention.

An acidic wheel cleaner generally works better than a pH-neutral wheel cleaner, but with the modern developments in pH-neutral wheel cleaners, this is no longer always the case. To neutralize the acid from the acidic wheel cleaners, we recommend an alkaline snow foam shampoo to be used after cleaning the rims. In this way, the alkaline shampoo neutralizes the residual acid from the wheel cleaner and prevents it from rusting.

Unlike the acidic rim cleaner, you can safely use the pH-neutral rim cleaner on all rims. They will not damage the finish even though there may be embroidery damage. There are common mild pH neutral wheel cleaners and pH neutral wheel cleaners that react to iron particles such as brake dust and industrial deposits and turn a dark red purple when in contact with them. These wheel cleaners are more and more common as they are safe to use and clean the wheels very well. These used to have the disadvantage that they had a terrible smell, and the very strong wheel cleaners still have this. However, the commercial products on offer generally have an acceptable odor that is largely replacing the acidic wheel cleaner and the regular mild wheel cleaner. In comparison, the wheel cleaner that reacts to iron works considerably better than the normal mild pH-neutral wheel cleaner.

Also note that it is not the case when a product changes color to dark red purple that this is also a pH-neutral product. There are also various iron removers that are not pH neutral. In most cases this concerns a specific iron remover and not a wheel cleaner. The wheel cleaner is usually a slightly more liquid product and foams when it is applied with a brush. The acidic iron removers are more made to stick to the paint and do not foam often.

Due to the new evolution in wheel cleaners, many brands have also started with a wheel cleaner and tire cleaner in 1 product. This makes it very easy to simply clean your entire wheel with 1 product. You do not have to buy an extra product and use the 2 products at the same time when you are going to clean your rims. These work just as well and sometimes better than specialized rubber or tire cleaners and degreasers. Although they can sometimes be more expensive. The trade-off between speed and ease of use versus cost is a decision that everyone has to make for themselves.

So do you want a strong wheel cleaner that is still safe to use for all wheels? Then choose a pH-neutral wheel cleaner that reacts to iron particles.