# Review: SONAX XTREME Felgen Reiniger Plus Max Effect Wheel Cleaner



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*Review: SONAX XTREME Felgen Reiniger Plus Max Effect Wheel Cleaner*

SONAX XTREME Felgen Reiniger Plus Max Effect










*What is it?*

Spray-on wheel cleaner.

*What does it do?*

Dissolves, loosens and removes built-up brake dust and road film.

*When do I use it?*

Every time you wash your car, truck or suv.

*Why should I use it?*

To keep your rims looking sparkling clean. Regular cleaning also prevents excessive build-up of brake dust and road film and extended build-up of these two contaminants can be corrosive to the rim causing permanent damage.

SONAX XTREME Felgen Reiniger Plus Max Effect Wheel Cleaner

So my friend and co-worker Rob McCrary over at SONAX U.S.A gave me a bottle of a new SONAX Wheel Cleaner to test out. This is a new product not available in the USA. He asked me to test it anyways and let him know what I thought.

NOTE: This SONAX wheel cleaner is NOT acid-free like other SONAX wheel cleaners. So it should only be used on chrome wheels and factory painted wheels. It's comes in at 5.5 on the pH scale and while it's still super safe for this category, please be aware that it does use some acid in the formula for more cleaning power on severely neglected wheels.

Over the weekend I detailed my brother-in-law's 2018 Chevy Silverado High Country pickup truck. This is a daily driver that is always parked out side, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and being we both live in South Florida, it's driven in the rain all the time.

*2018 Chevy Silverado High Country - Daily Driver & Boat Puller*










*Traffic Film*

Driving in the rain means it gets a lot of road grime as I call it or Traffic Film as my car detailing buddies call it in the U.K. Same idea though, it's the dirty, oily film that builds-up all over your car, including wheels and tires, anytime you drive in the rain.

*This is built-up traffic film or road film*










If you're not familiar with the origins of road film or traffic film, see the pictures in my article here,

*Traffic Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has traffic film *

The good news is, the brake system on this truck is not horrible for brake dust. Yeah I know, everyone loves to see the purple/red bleeding effect when you spray a wheel cleaner onto a dirty neglected wheel. But that didn't happen with the wheels on this truck, there just wasn't much brake dust - at least on the front side of the spokes. I tested the product anyways and here are a few pictures of the process.

Here's the product, I don't speak or read German but using Skynet Translate I found that *Unser Bester Felgen Reiniger* means *Our Best Rim Cleaner*.



















*Here's the tools I normally use to clean wheels and tires...*

FLEX Cordless PE14 Rotary Polisher
Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush - Long Bristles
Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner
Wheel Woolies Boar's Hair Wheel Brush
Famous Detailing Brush
Speed Master Wheel Brush
Autogeek Knee N' Back Pad - To sit on so your butt doesn't get wet.










_*Go time!*_
After assembling everything I need to do a bang-up job getting the wheels and tires clean, it's go time.










*Spray on the wheel cleaner, let it dwell and then use all the above brushes to scrub the wheel and the tire. *

Then repeat this to the other 3 wheels and tires.

(Sorry no pictures of me doing the work but I was the only one in the garage and the wheels and tires didn't scrub themselves) 










*Here's the final results...*

Clean and shiny, they look like new.



















Review

SONAX makes GREAT stuff! And they make SAFE stuff. The road film or traffic film that had built-up on these chrome will was easily obliterated by this new SONAX Wheel Cleaner and there was no damage or staining to any of the other areas behind the wheel like the brake calipers.

While this new wheel cleaner is supposed to be strong enough to simply spray on, allow to dwell and then blast off, I've never been the type of detailer to not also agitate wheel cleaners with a brush. I used the Speed Master Wheel Brush for the barrels, around the brake calipers and the back of the spokes and used the Wheel Woolies Black Boar's Hair Wheel Face Brush for the front of the wheel, spokes, lip and all the sides of the spokes. Also - no foul odor or scent and it won't stain your driveway.

If you're looking for a wheel cleaner that is both safe and very effective at removing everything off severely neglected wheels, then I wholeheartedly recommend SONAX XTREME Felgen Reiniger Plus Max Effect Wheel Cleaner.


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