Welcome back to the Proje’ blog! This week, we’re going back outside and looking at your wheels and tires. These can be some of the trickiest areas to clean, and that’s mainly because people don’t do it right! This blog will delve deeper into the matter – and your wheels – to make sure that everything is perfectly clean and shiny, and you avoid the typical pitfalls that many people come unstuck with.
Cleaning Your Wheels
So, we’re going to start with the wheel and then move onto the tires afterward. The first thing you’re looking for here is a product that is seriously powerful at breaking down dirt and debris. Your wheels get the worst of it; they’re in contact with the ground at all times, and they churn up all sorts of stuff that bounces around inside your arches. This includes build-ups of dirt, brake dust and grease or contamination caused by the breakdown of surrounding metals at high temperatures. We’ve created a product that is extremely tough on embedded debris and particles, breaking down the worst of the build-up in the toughest areas to reach – the undercarriage, the brake parts and the wheel wells. We’re proud to introduce our very own Redline Wheel Cleaner. The active ingredients in the cleaner neutralize any acidic presence, allowing for a smooth wipe clean and an end to any danger of long-lasting damage.
Not only is it extremely difficult to get right under the wheel to scrub and scrape the problem away, but on the superficial surface, excessive scrubbing can cause issues of its own; swirling patterns on paint or small scratches that can collect more dirt and eventually grow in to aesthetic problems. With Redline wheel cleaner, no scrubbing is necessary. Once it has finished working, the sodium in the formula turns red, signalling the time to wipe it away – no scrubbing required. This means that you can easily reach in to the most inaccessible of areas and rid your undercarriage of any growing problems without breaking a sweat.
How to Use Redline Wheel Cleaner
Step 1
Apply redline wheel cleaner to the desired area.
It is important to completely saturate the area you want to clean – redline wheel cleaner works best when a full covering has been established.
Step 2
Once you are happy with coverage of wheel cleaner, wait a minute or so for the liquid to settle. At this stage, redline wheel cleaner will need a bit of agitation to really get to work on the toughest areas, so use our Tire Dressing Short Handle Brush. Brushes don’t just have to be for wiping dirt away. An applicator brush is extremely useful on uneven surfaces, as its sturdier bristles allow you to really get in to all the nooks and crannies. This short handle brush is great for shining all kind of tires and grooves. Because the bristles are durable yet soft, they can be brought in to accidental contact with rims as well as tires without causing any damage, and the short handle gives a much firmer feel and grip, allowing you to really get in to the grooves with your dressing. It’s also easy to wash clean after use – just keep a bucket full of water nearby for prolonged use.
Step 3
Ok, it’s time to clean the inner barrels. The inner barrels are the deepest parts of your wheels that you will need to reach for cleaning purposes. This isn’t purely about depth though; a thin but long brush will get inside the barrel with no problem, but then won’t cover the surface area you need to get a really thorough clean. You need a brush that’s large, long and wide, and our barrel brush is all of those in one! Its bristles are flexible and soft enough that you can push them between your spokes without any danger of scratching, but sturdy enough that they dislodge all the build up of oil, dirt and brake dust that sits deep within your barrels.
A clean barrel will provide a superb, pristine background that will really bring out the cleanliness of your wheels and rims. Our barrel brush also has a plug handle, which is designed to protect your hand and knuckles when you’re digging deep. Hold the brush near the protective guard and you’ll be assured safety as you work the brush in and out of your rims.
Step 4
Now it’s time to wait. As you wait, you should see the lather bubbling slightly. This is the active chemical in our cleaner neutralizing any acidic build-ups, so that they strip away without any problems. As the cleaner really starts to take effect, it will start to turn red. This is the active sodium reacting, and it shows that our product is working on your vehicle.
Step 5
After a few minutes, the whole area should have turned red. Now it’s time to rinse. Again, as you rinse, use your short handle brush to get in to the nooks and crannies, so everything is washed away and all the layers of dirt have gone. You should immediately notice a much shinier wheel, which is great, but if it’s been a while since you’ve given your wheel a proper clean, or you have been using your vehicle at high speeds, there may be some areas where you can repeat these four steps once or twice more. This time, just focus on these areas and get a really good lather going again. A couple more goes and your wheel will be completely free of any debris and brake dust!
Step 6
Once everything is really clean, it’s time to dry everything so that you don’t get any water stain effects. Using a regular towel with the wrong GSM could exacerbate staining or even create minor scratching on your rims. Use our Black Mamba wheel and trim towel – it’s been designed to clean and dry tyres and rims without any staining or scratching, and its colour will allow for multiple uses, meaning that you don’t go through hundreds of towels a year.
Great! Your wheels should now be super-clean. It’s time to move onto dressing your tires to give them that new-looking, shiny black gloss to go with your clean wheels.
How to Use Fusion Tire Dressing
Again, we’ve put our heads together at Proje’ and come up with a great product – fusion tire dressing. It is a water-based dressing infused with a specific formula to stick to your tire and not sling down the side of your car. When applied to a clean tire, this dressing will produce a great shine for multiple weeks. It creates a dark, uniform color while conditioning tires, and its cream formula provides smooth, even product application while avoiding messy overspray and the dreaded sling, that silicone-based tire dressings fall foul of. Sling is caused by dressing coming off the tires as you drive and sticking itself to your bodywork. It’s a nightmare to clean; that’s why we’ve made fusion tire dressing a water-based product!
At this point, we’d like to give you a great tip. Do steps 1 and 2 in the evening, just before you go to bed. Then wipe away the dressing and do step 4 the next day; this way, fusion tire dressing gets to work its magic for hours!
Step 1
Ensure that your tires are clean and dry. Apply a generous amount of Fusion Tire Dressing to a Blue Applicator Pad.
Step 2
Starting at the bottom of the tire and working towards the top, evenly work Fusion Tire Dressing onto the face of the tire. An even application prevents any pooling in the cracks or natural grooves on your tire, so that your end result is an even shine all over the tire. This is where you can reach for your short handle brush again. We designed it as a hybrid product, so it’s soft and durable enough to use on both metal and rubber. Give the dullest areas a good once over to really work in the dressing.
Step 3
Leave the dressing to set for 10 minutes or so, before using our Black Mamba Trim Towel to wipe away the excess dressing.
Step 4
Repeat steps 1-3 as necessary until the desired shine is reached. If you are looking for less shine and a slightly lighter end colour, wipe the tire with the Black Mamba Trim Towel earlier, and apply fewer coats.
And we’re done! You should now have some fantastic-looking wheels and tires. If you liked reading the tips from this and other blogs at Proje’, why not give them a go? We’ve put together a fantastic kit for you, at the discounted price of $57.10, that will take you through the whole process as described right here. The kit includes:
(1) 16oz. Redline Wheel Cleaner
(1) Barrel Brush
(1) Short Handle Brush
(1) 16oz. Fusion Tire Dressing
(2) Blue Applicator Pads
(3) Black Mamba 16x16 Wheel and Trim Towels
If you have any questions about any of the techniques or products that I’ve mentioned in this post, just contact us on info@projeproducts.com and one of the Proje’ team will be in touch with you! Remember that we stock only the best auto detailing supplies, so why not click some of the links in this blog post, or visit our products page to find out more? From all of us at Proje’, Enjoy the Process!
