Interior Exterior
Q:
Hi Guys,
While cleaning up after the trip to The Dragon I tried out two new products that were both very impressive and I thought that I'd mention it here.
I've been a big fan of P21S wheel cleaner since I owned a 911 with Fuchs rims and that was Porsche's recommended cleaner. I was due to buy a new bottle so I went to the Autopia forums to see what the current favorite was. The general consensus seemed to be that the Eagle One "A2Z" wheel cleaner was the best around.
It turns out that Eagle One just renamed it to "All Wheel & Tire Cleaner". I bought a bottle and tried it on a set of anodized and a set of painted wheels and it is impressively better than P21S. It suds up a bit and the brake dust rinses away very easily. It's also cheap and easily purchased locally. Check it out.
I also tried out the new Meguiar's Quick Interior Detailer based on the Autopia recommendations and it's very impressive too. It does a great job of cleaning off the plastic, metal, and leather surfaces and leaving them looking perfectly clean but without adding any annoying shine or greasiness. I've always hated Armor-All and all of the other "better" versions because of the fake shininess they leave. This is nicest interior cleaner I've ever used.
Two new products and a whole day of elbow grease later and the Elise is good as new.
--Josh
A:
I use Eagle One's wheel cleaner on the painted wheels on my MB and BMW when they get really dirty. Cuts the brake dust quickly. The danger is that since it is strongly basic, you have to be careful with it on certain surfaces. A2Z used to be strongly acidic I believe, so perhaps the new version is more safe? In any case, be careful with sport pack wheels! You have to be more sensitive to warm wheels and how long you keep it on with this cleaner. Have not tried it on anything but painted surfaces.
Wheel cleaners like P21S are more safe, but not as strong. More scrubbing would be required. I use a gel similar to P21S from Menzerna and it tends to foam up more, but it's like using clingly dish washing liquid. pH balanced. When being gentle is the priority, these kinds of cleaners (or even just a strong car wash solution) should be used.
You're right, Meguiar's Interior QD is all the rage at Autopia these days. My feeling is that it leaves such a matte finish because it doesn't leave much of anything behind. For cleaning up and dusting though, it's nice.
Users at Autopia tend to push so many products (varying personal preference, varying levels of experience), so sometimes it's hard to pick out the ones that will work best for yourself.
- J
A:
I used to use wheel cleaners on all my vehicles, but on the Lotus I found that a wet rag with some car wash soap does the trick. Those touring wheels are awesome and clean-up is a breeze. I really love them.
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I find the sport wheels to be very difficult to clean and to keep clean. I've decided that dirty wheels are preferable to the sort of cleaning that would be required to keep them spotless.
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I find the sport wheels to be very difficult to clean and to keep clean. I've decided that dirty wheels are preferable to the sort of cleaning that would be required to keep them spotless.
Amen to that.
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Those touring wheels are awesome
STANDARD WHEELS!!!
Surferjer, you missed pointing this one out to me...
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O.K. Tim,step away from the computer,and put down the blunt object.
I had a problem with my "standard" wheels,one of the fronts is peeling,HRM said that Lotus would replace it under warranty.
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STANDARD WHEELS!!!
Surferjer, you missed pointing this one out to me...
Tim, you posted in a thread recently and you missed it.
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I find the sport wheels to be very difficult to clean and to keep clean. I've decided that dirty wheels are preferable to the sort of cleaning that would be required to keep them spotless.
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I also found cleaning sport wheels a pain but enjoy a clean looking wheel. I wash my car weekly and do the wheels as follows..results are not "show car" finish but it is a quick cleaning method with good results!
Give this a try...not harmful and effective.Wet the wheel first,spray with simple green(generous app...) wait a 2-3 minutes and wash with mitt and car wash soap...Works well for me..if I am really energetic I use a long tapered brush and floss the spokes...although with a direct strong pressure aimed at spoke the simple green eliminates most of the crap..
By the way, Costco has a simple green "knockoff"...Kirkland concentrated multi purpose cleaner (sold in gallons)...
A:
not harmful and effective.Wet the wheel first,spray with simple green(generous app...)
Simple Green is corrosive to aluminum, and not a good thing to use around an Elise. It's been pointed out before on the forum: .
A:
Simple Green is corrosive to aluminum, and not a good thing to use around an Elise. It's been pointed out before on the forum: .
Thanks for the heads up..I have been using it for years on my porsches/nsx /mini cooper and MBenz wheels ..with no visible negative effect..oh well.