# Wheels never clean..Help?



## dannygdesigns (Mar 16, 2015)

Hi Guys,

I have been reading and researching on this forum for a long time now, Constantly trying out products you guys recommend and its a godsend to someone who enjoys trying to keep there car looking great.

Anyway I am having a problem cleaning my alloy wheels, I use Valet pro bilberry wheel cleaner (not sure on dilution ratio as I did this when I bought it and still using from same bottle).

I give the wheels a good spray, leave to dwell for a few minutes, pressure washer off, go over with a mitt from shampoo bucket.

They look great and clean however after I've dried all the body work and windows, I come to dry the wheels and they appear very dusty and matt looking with clearly brake dust left over.

Is there something I am clearly doing wrong or missing a step in the process to make them clean? could the dilution ratio of cleaner be a big problem?

Attached picture to show after full wash. Thanks for your help guys.


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## euge07 (Jan 15, 2011)

horrible wheels to keep clean, I look after a new honda crv which has similiar wheels and I have the same problem as yourself, 
I blowdry the wheels with my pet dryer then use a damp microfibre to lightly remove any of the dusting, not sure why it happens though


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## euge07 (Jan 15, 2011)

might be worth your while to put a ceramic coating on them


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## Sam6er (Apr 3, 2016)

It could be embedded particles from brake dust in which case bilberry wont shift it, you will need a fallout remover. BH korrosol or auto glanz blood tonic or many other brands would do that. 

If you have a paint cleaner/pre wax cleaner, you could also give that a go on the wheels, if its just ingrained dirt, then this or clay would shift it. 

TBH i found bilberry wheel cleaner not very good and sold my bottle on. BH Auto wheels are very good but expensive, otherwise something like AG alkalloy, even a mix of APC would get your wheels cleaner than bilberry in my experience.


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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

Looks like they have a slightly rougher finish between the spokes which is holding the dirt, I'd be tempted to try a cleaner polish on them and see if that helps, maybe just one when or one pair to compare to untreated ones.

If that helps then it might be worth a proper compound polish before a panel wipe and ceramic coating.


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## Forsh (Jun 13, 2014)

Is there any sealant or wax on them?


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## Carpmadjohn (Aug 1, 2015)

are they clear coated? obviously bilburry is safe on MOST wheels, maybe it is to strong and has damaged the coating/paint on the faces. between the spokes looks like it needs a fallout remover to shift it. 

i have had a similar problem with a safe cleaner on my wheels, to be fair the manufacturer has agreed to pay me nearly 1k to fix and is currently in the process of re labelling the product


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

That's just ingrain dirt that never been clean probably. You will need to give the a good decon mate then they will need sealed like a ceramic coating.


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

Chuck the bilberry jizz down the drain and get a decent wheel cleaner. 
Utter garbage.

Try IronX or even Wonder Wheels


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## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

Next time your doing the wheels use Bilberry on them firstly. Allow to dwell a minute then agitate that with your mitt/brushes. Rinse off, grab an old MF towel and give them a quick wipe dry. Secondly spray the alloy with tar/glue remover and allow to dwell for 1-2 minutes before wiping the whole wheel down with an old MF towel. Follow this with another rinse and wipe dry. Thirdly, grab some fallout remover and apply it to the alloy. Allow to dwell for 2 minutes then agitate with your brushes/mitt. Allow to dwell for a further 2 minutes before rinsing off. Finally dry the wheel thoroughly one final time and get yourself a good wheel wax/sealant/coating and apply it. 

I have tried Wowo's Crystal Sealant recently and it's brilliant as a wheel sealant, couldn't be easier to use and lasts up to 6 months. Once you have your wheels protected shampoo is all you will need to clean the wheels for the next 6 months until the protection fades and a full deep clean of the wheels is again required.

On another note it's surprising how poor some peoples opinions on Bilberry are. It is nothing to do with the product but their own high expectations on the product I think. Bilberry isn't a fallout remover or strong acidic based wheel cleaner, it is an mild alkaline based maintenance wheel cleaner and used for such tasks works perfectly and as well as any other on the market.


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## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

Matt_Nic said:


> Chuck the bilberry jizz down the drain and get a decent wheel cleaner.
> Utter garbage.
> 
> Try IronX or even Wonder Wheels


This proves my point with regards to the negativity around Bilberry...


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

Brian1612 said:


> This proves my point with regards to the negativity around Bilberry...


It's not a good wheel cleaner. It's not negativity, it's fact. 
For anything other than the lightest of dust (not even break dust) it's outgunned by most things on the market.


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## derbigofast (Dec 6, 2011)

agitate while cleaner is on the wheels looks like caked on brake dust bonded with heat. a touchless wash rarely gets that baked on brake dust off


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

Matt_Nic said:


> Chuck the bilberry jizz down the drain and get a decent wheel cleaner.
> Utter garbage.
> 
> Try IronX or even Wonder Wheels


This was what I was going to say use a proper wheel cleaner with some grunt not some fluffy crap.!!

OP:
Seriously even something like Auto Glyms Custom wheel cleaner is better.

My advice would be get the 2 Auto Glym wheel cleaners and give them a go....bet you find its a different story.

Ask yourself this if you are applying a "wheel cleaner" and the wheels are still dirty after using it its clearly not doing its job. Other thing i noted is that you say you spray the cleaner on and wash it off then go round with a mitt why do you do that spray on leave for a couple of mins then clean them with the product still on there......if you was it away then its deffo not going to help!


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## TonyHill (Jul 28, 2015)

I find Bilberry perfectly adequate for regularly washed wheels, but it does lack cleaning power on more neglected wheels :thumb:


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## Fidge (Jan 23, 2017)

I think you need to give them a proper clean. I did a wheel off clean with Gtechniq W5 followed by a clay bar and then applied Gtechnig C5. They came up a treat.


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## Chris Donaldson (Jun 26, 2016)

Plenty of good suggestions here but the one thing nobody has asked is are you in a position to get them off the car and work on them one wheel at a time? Putting time into them and having them off and on a bench so you can work on them will mean you can see better what problems you have and how the products you're using are working. I enjoy spending a morning taking wheels off getting them properly cleaned and protected.


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## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

Matt_Nic said:


> It's not a good wheel cleaner. It's not negativity, it's fact.
> For anything other than the lightest of dust (not even break dust) it's outgunned by most things on the market.


Your comparing it to a fall out remover and a highly acidic wheel cleaner, there is no comparison to them as both are used for aggressive wheel cleaning. For the job it is designed for it works as good an any other highly dilutable wheel cleaner on the market. If you bought it with the expectations of it performing like ironx or wonder wheels then that is your own mistake and nothing to do with the product.

It's like you buying a lightly abrasive polish like megs 205 to remove deep scratches then complaining it's rubbish as it's not as good as something like Megs 105. You bought the wrong product for the job at hand.


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## cheekymonkey (Mar 15, 2008)

Brian1612 said:


> On another note it's surprising how poor some peoples opinions on Bilberry are. It is nothing to do with the product but their own high expectations on the product I think. Bilberry isn't a fallout remover or strong acidic based wheel cleaner, it is an mild alkaline based maintenance wheel cleaner and used for such tasks works perfectly and as well as any other on the market.


dont see the need for such a product as a maintenance wheel cleaner. If your wheels are clean and protected you only need to maintain them with normal shampoo.


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

Brian1612 said:


> Your comparing it to a fall out remover and a highly acidic wheel cleaner, there is no comparison to them as both are used for aggressive wheel cleaning. For the job it is designed for it works as good an any other highly dilutable wheel cleaner on the market. If you bought it with the expectations of it performing like ironx or wonder wheels then that is your own mistake and nothing to do with the product.
> 
> It's like you buying a lightly abrasive polish like megs 205 to remove deep scratches then complaining it's rubbish as it's not as good as something like Megs 105. You bought the wrong product for the job at hand.


It's not acidic. I leave it on my wheels for quite sometime to dwell before agitating a little and washing away without any issues at all. In fact, I and many many others use IronX on the body work with no issues!
Megs hotwheels - THAT's acidic.

Bilberry is at best as effective as any shampoo in a spray bottle, at worst, as effective as water.


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## ShiningWit (Jun 23, 2014)

Matt_Nic said:


> Bilberry is at best as effective as any shampoo in a spray bottle, at worst, as effective as water.


Sorry for slight hijack of the thread. Is the VP Dragons breath any good? As an iron/fallout remover I mean? Jus that a local motorist shop has it in stock so saves trying to order stuff online.
I tried the bilberry already and tend to agree its a bit weak. I bought the 1 litre dilutable stuff, sprayed it on neat and it didnt seem to shift anything.
Dont want to buy the dragons breath if its as ineffective.


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## shane32819 (Feb 28, 2017)

I've used dragons breath and I find it very effective.


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## Smanderson117 (Jan 19, 2015)

Dragons breath is incredible, stinks like nothing else (hence the name) but its the best stuff around IMO


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## graham1970 (Oct 7, 2012)

ShiningWit said:


> Sorry for slight hijack of the thread. Is the VP Dragons breath any good? As an iron/fallout remover I mean? Jus that a local motorist shop has it in stock so saves trying to order stuff online.
> I tried the bilberry already and tend to agree its a bit weak. I bought the 1 litre dilutable stuff, sprayed it on neat and it didnt seem to shift anything.
> Dont want to buy the dragons breath if its as ineffective.


Did you agitate it when in the barrels ?

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk


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## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

cheekymonkey said:


> dont see the need for such a product as a maintenance wheel cleaner. If your wheels are clean and protected you only need to maintain them with normal shampoo.


You made a statement about why you wouldn't need one then explained for me why you would. Not all wheels are protected or clean. Will also point out a diluted gentle wheel cleaner performs much better than a car shampoo in my opinion and just as safe at the correct ratio for wheels. Just my own personal conclusions.


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## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

Matt_Nic said:


> It's not acidic. I leave it on my wheels for quite sometime to dwell before agitating a little and washing away without any issues at all. In fact, I and many many others use IronX on the body work with no issues!
> Megs hotwheels - THAT's acidic.
> 
> Bilberry is at best as effective as any shampoo in a spray bottle, at worst, as effective as water.


What colour is the bottle? Will have to disagree with that. Personally I have found 1:5 bilberry is far more effective at cleaning up wheels compared to car shampoo.


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Brian1612 said:


> What colour is the bottle? Will have to disagree with that. Personally I have found 1:5 bilberry is far more effective at cleaning up wheels compared to car shampoo.


Have to agree with you on this:thumb: always use a wheel cleaner no matter if they are sealed you are still going to need a bit more bite just to get some of the stubbin dirt off


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## st1965 (Apr 21, 2016)

I use bilberry and find it very good ! I spray it on, then aggitate with a wheel brush then jetwash off and have never had any problems. If i am cleaning wheels that are very dirty i just alter the dilution ratio and they come up good as new.
Each to their own i suppose but i can honestly say i have never had any issues with bilberry wheel cleaner


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