Heres a recent detail. This is a client of mine that is extremely rough on her vehicle. Animals are transported almost daily in this vehicle and it gets pretty dirty inside and out. Unfortunately most of the outside “before” shots do not show just how dirty it was except the wheel shots. Interior shots will have to be re-shot next time.

Before: Notice the bad trim, the dirty wheels…

After:

Heres a few shots of an engine I detailed. It wasnt nessisarily that dirty, but definately benefited from a good cleaning.

Amazing Roll off and a scrub brush was used to to clean the grime, rinsed with a high pressure low volume sprayer, dried with a towel and an air compressor, and dressed with Meguiars Hyper dressing. Leaves a nice sheen without the greasy feel.

Before:

After:

Before:

Engine After:

Todays post will serve a few functions: I wanted to showcase a few great products that I feel work very well, I wanted to clean the spare tire on my jeep and I wanted to show what a difference a deluxe wheel cleaning can make.

I had about 70K miles on this rim before it got moved to the spare tire position. It has sat there for about 10 months. Now being that this is a jeep, cleaning the wheels seems a bit overkill but brake dust is bad for any wheel (I’ll show you why in a second) and since this is a spare tire that I get to see the inside of every time I open my tail gate, I just wanted to clean it up.

After I removed the tire, this is what the inside looked like:

Notice how the letters of the tire seem to blend into the dirty walls of the tire. Also that blue coating is STILL on there from when the tire was new.

I sprayed the whole tire down with Amazing Roll Off. (use the search bar at the top of the page for info on this product) After letting it sit for a few minutes I scrubbed every crack and surface with a few brushes. I had to rinse a few times and repeat. I also scrubbed the tire and hosed it down after. There were a few parts of the inner rim that were damaged by pitting. Thats when the brake dust sits on the surface for too long and begins to eat the metal. I used a drill and a wire wheel to scrub the brake dust off. On certain rims or chrome this would not have been an option, but being that these are uncoated on the inside it wasnt a big deal. This tire is from an off-road vehicle thats also a daily driver. If this method can tackle this level of filth and come out looking this good than it will work for any wheel.

Heres how the tire and rim cleaned up after the scrubbing:

That looks a lot better!

Now that the rim has been scrubbed and there is not more brake dust, its time to protect it with a quality wheel sealant. By using a wheel sealant future contaminants will bond to the sealant and not to the rim. Of course this isnt forever, just like wax or sealant on paint, but for a wheel that sits on the spare carrier it will do great.

I chose Poorboy’s World Wheel Sealant. A VERY good product and great company.

Applying a few light coats to the inside and outside of the rim, I mounted it back up on the carrier.

Look between the spokes. Instead of seeing brown you see nothing but silver. A subtle and huge difference at the same time.

Now that the wheel has been properly sealed its time to treat this nice tire since it sits in the same location in the sun.

Im using Ultima Trim and Tire Guard Plus to coat the tire. It will provide months of water beading protection and a little relief from the sun. Not to mention it makes the tire look NEW not “NEWly greased up.” Oh and YES it dries to the touch! No more greasy dirt magnet products!

Finished! Looks like brand new! This procedure can be done to any vehicle new or old at your request.

Here’s a good walk-through on how to wash your vehicle to minimize swirls and scratches.

I make references to “the two bucket wash method” and some people don’t know what that is.This doesn’t take ANY more time than washing with one bucket, but it can GREATLY reduce the number of swirls and fine scratches your paint endures, and that nice swirl-free detail will last longer.

***Quick side note about soap. If you use household dish-washing soap you will strip every bit of wax off your paint. If you are looking to polish you vehicle this isn’t a bad thing. But if you are looking to just give your vehicle a maintenance wash between waxes I would suggest using a soap formulated for cars which is mild and wont strip the wax. The suds in auto soap are usually better and last longer and a half gallon can be purchased at almost ANY store for $5-$15 bucks. ***

Start with a clean bucket and fill it half way with water. Add a few ounces of car soap and then spray into the bucket until the suds fill the top. If you put the soap in first and then spray you will end up with about half a gallon of water and a bucket full of suds, and if you fill the bucket to the top with water you wont have enough room for suds and will be washing with just a wet mitt. So fill halfway with water, 2-3 ounces of soap, and the rest with suds.

The next bucket is just plain water. Fill it 2/3 full or more. (If you want to go the extra mile, you can pick up a Grit Guard from www.autogeek.net)

Now start with a clean wash mitt. This is personal preference. You can use a lambswool mitt (my favorite- it holds a LOT of suds and the fibers are gentle on your finish) a microfiber mitt or even foam mitts.

Dunk the mitt completely into the soapy water mix and do not wring it out. Start with the top of the vehicle (the least dirty part usually) and wash as normal. Do one panel at a time; the roof, the hood, the front corner panel, the door etc. After each panel submerge your now dirty mitt into the CLEAN water bucket with the grit guard. Press the mitt against the grit guard and scrub it a second or two. What this does is loosen the dirt thats trapped in the mitt. The dirt, which is heavier than water, will fall to the lower chambers below the grit guard. Unless you agitate the water forcefully the dirt will mostly stay at the bottom. Now pull the mitt out and wring it out GOOD. It should look cleaner than when you put it in the rinse bucket.

Re-submerge your mitt into the soapy water like before and wash another panel. Its not always possible to wash in complete shade, and dried suds on paint is a huge pain. After each section washed I would go ahead and rinse unless you are in complete shade.

Work your way down the vehicle with the mitt. You want to save the dirtiest parts for last to minimize the dirt from being transferred to less dirty areas and ground into the paint.

You want to save the wheels, wheel wells and tires for last, and NEVER use the mitt you wash your paint with on the wheels, tires and wheel wells. What I do is wash the wheels and tires first because the tire/wheel spray works best undiluted. Meaning if you spray on the wheels and tires DRY then 100% of the cleaner is working to remove the brake dust and grime which is hard enough to get off. Make sure you use a cleaner that is safe for ALL types of metal rims unless you know what kind of rims you have, then you can buy a cleaner specific to that metal whether it be chrome, aluminum or what not. Also you want to keep the cleaner away from your paint and other surfaces because some of these cleaners are very harsh.

Another product tip/suggestion is called Amazing Roll Off. You can purchase this from most boating stores or at www.autogeek.net. “Amazing Roll-Off is bio-degradable, non-corrosive, rust inhibiting and ecologically safe and 100% acid free.”

This stuff cleans better than ANY rim/tire/wheel cleaner I have EVER used! And it has SO many other uses: Convertible tops, engines, patio furniture, boats, vinyl etc.

Happy Washing!

Here’s a sample of the power of a hot water carpet extractor.

After a good vaccuum job this is what was left on the floor mats.

After pre-soaking the stains with a mild, non detergent spot cleaner, and using a few passes with the hot water extractor this is the finished product.

Another clean interior. No more coffee stains, leather grime or dirty carpets. A dressing with UV protection and a matte, factory-like sheen was used. All interior dressings I use are non-silicone based so there is never a greasy feel and no dirt and dust is attracted to the surfaces.