# Astonish Wheel Cleaner 99p Review Lots of Pictures!



## sanchez89 (Feb 14, 2009)

Seeing as i bought a bottle of this from the cheapo shop to try, i thought i would enlighten the rest of DW as to my views on this product.

*The Product:*

Astonish Wheel Cleaner is available from shops such a Home Bargains, Poundstretcher, Poundland. Comes in 750ml size in a dark green (which appears black) bottle. The liquid inside is actually a slight blue colour.



















As it says on the back of the bottle it is a non-acid based cleaner (therefore alkaline like bilberry for example)

*The Test Vehicle:*

My Honda Civic Type R (EP3)

1 weeks (160 miles) worth of brake dust on front wheels that are not sealed.
The wheels are due to be refurbished in the new year, as such there are parts of the wheel where brake dust has already done its damage, thanks to the previous owners lack of cleaning action.
These areas will be more apparant in the later images.


































































As you can see, a thorough dusting. These are new pads and discs on the front which were only put on last friday so i dont no whether the bedding in process produces more dust?

I wiped the wheel with my finger as a reference for what colour it should be and to hopefully show the level of brake dust present.

*The tools:*


















Yes just a normal hose. I do have a pressure washer, but i can't be bothered to get it out. haha :thumb:

The small brush is a swisswax/envy style brush in size 8, and the other is a silverline/megs style from ebay last year. As you can see im minus the proper rubber end and its a bit battered but its a soldier so i will keep with it.

*The process:*


















Sprayed the wheel covering all the face, barrels and the tyre.
The trigger on the bottle felt ok, it delivered a decent amount of product, but the pattern was narrow, so lots of squeezing later i finally covered the wheel. This used quite alot of product. (good job its cheap!)

Another thing i noticed is the trigger cant keep up with your fingers, if you understand, when you depress the trigger it takes longer than you expect to come back to its normal position. It still sprays but you dont get the full stroke so not as much product is dispensed.

The liquid is like a typical wheel cleaner consistancy, fairly watery and starts to run down as soon as you spray it on.

I gave the product approx 3 mins to dwell before i started brushing. The manufacturer recommends 1 min dwell time.


















































Once fully aggitated i rinsed off with the hose leaving this:


























































As you can see its cleaned pretty well, you will notice the patches that remain untouched, these are the damaged areas.

My usual wheel cleaner is I4Detailings Bright Wheels @ approx 8:1. I used some of this on the wheel later on and found it removed slightly more from the barrels but nothing worth shouting about and nothing from the faces so it shows it can compete with the more expensive competition.

*Second test:*

Seeing as i had another 3 dirty wheels to do i tried something different.

I have noticed the main DW review members doing this when they test a wheel cleaner.

I sprayed the other front wheel in the same way










































this was identical condition to the opposite side, as you would expect.

However with this side i allowed the cleaner to sit on the wheel for approx 5 mins, but didnt brush.

This would test the wheel cleaners ability to clean unassisted. An seeing as only normal water pressure was being used for rinse off this would not affect the result.

Once again i marked the wheel with a finger swipe for reference.

This was the wheel after the 5 mins dwelling:










































Looks the same as it did before to be honest. Just with more cleaner at the bottom of the wheel and on the floor.

The wheel was then rinsed thoroughly, leaving this:


























































Very minimal brake dust and grime removal. The wheel needed a further application and brushing to get the desired results.

The bottle does state that a brush can be used for stubborn deposits. I would say it will remove only a very very light layer of dust and grime, maybe only 1 days worth, without aggitation.

*The Conclusion:*

The old saying "you get what you pay for" applies perfectly here.
Yes it will do the job, it takes effort to do it, but it gets there eventually.

There are other products out there that can do the job quicker, leave a better finish, but these cost alot more than 99 pence.

This is a product perfect for people on a tight budget.

Its not going to suddenly make Valet Pro, Chemical Guys etc. sit up and take notice, but it does what it says on the tin. What more do you want, apart from change from a pound! :thumb:

Hope you enjoyed the review, sorry it was a long read.


----------



## prokopas (Apr 29, 2010)

Good job sanchez


----------



## Avanti (Jan 17, 2006)

Nice review, 5 mins is a long time for dwelling though (too long) I still have some in the original clear bottle, but as you say it is a blue liquid, I did find the performance acceptable but no more so than using a 1:10 of shampoo on looked after wheels :thumb:


----------



## A.B (Feb 8, 2010)

I used to use this wheel cleaner back in the day when it was in a clear bottle. I didnt expect any less in this review as in my opinion shampoo mixed with warm water would of done the exact same thing unless the wheels are very dirty. Thats not to knock this product of course but just sayin alot of people seem to always use ''wheel cleaners'' when a shampoo mix will do the same job


----------



## sanchez89 (Feb 14, 2009)

Avanti said:


> Nice review, 5 mins is a long time for dwelling though (too long) I still have some in the original clear bottle, but as you say it is a blue liquid, I did find the performance acceptable but no more so than using a 1:10 of shampoo on looked after wheels :thumb:


Thanks, yes i no 5 mins is a long time, but i wanted to give it a decent chance of doing something. i was checking the wheel to see if it was drying out too much but to its credit it stayed wet for the full 5.


----------



## sanchez89 (Feb 14, 2009)

A.B said:


> I used to use this wheel cleaner back in the day when it was in a clear bottle. I didnt expect any less in this review as in my opinion shampoo mixed with warm water would of done the exact same thing unless the wheels are very dirty. Thats not to knock this product of course but just sayin alot of people seem to always use ''wheel cleaners'' when a shampoo mix will do the same job


Thanks for your view. I seem to remember seeing some in the shop before in a clear bottle. So its obviously the same stuff just changed the packaging.


----------



## E38_ross (May 10, 2010)

a good test would be to see how it compared to bilberry once it's diluted so it's the same price. this stuff is used neat, bilberry gets diluted so i don't think there will be much price difference anyway.


----------



## sanchez89 (Feb 14, 2009)

E21_ross said:


> a good test would be to see how it compared to bilberry once it's diluted so it's the same price. this stuff is used neat, bilberry gets diluted so i don't think there will be much price difference anyway.


i agree Ross, thanks for your comment, it will be something that i would like to try in the future. But as my maths is not up to standard any ideas as to what dilution?

a litre of Bilberry is £13.70 delivered from Shinearama, so what dilution would be needed to bring the cost down to £1 per spray bottle used?


----------



## Avanti (Jan 17, 2006)

sanchez89 said:


> i agree Ross, thanks for your comment, it will be something that i would like to try in the future. But as my maths is not up to standard any ideas as to what dilution?
> 
> a litre of Bilberry is £13.70 delivered from Shinearama, so what dilution would be needed to bring the cost down to £1 per spray bottle used?


Well there is talk of a 1:4 dilution ratio, so 1 litre becomes 5 of ready to use product, so the bilberry is still twice the price of the astonish and that excludes the spray bottle,which for comparison would be about £2.20 for the same 750ml


----------



## pete5570 (Jun 11, 2010)

That makes Bilberry 1.37 per 100ml. Dilute at 1:10 and a litre would cost 1.37 and it would this garbage out of the water.


----------



## Avanti (Jan 17, 2006)

pete5570 said:


> That makes Bilberry 1.37 per 100ml. Dilute at 1:10 and a litre would cost 1.37 and it would this garbage out of the water.


I'm not so sure, I have seen plenty of reviews where folk have been dissapointed with bilberry at any dilution ration.


----------



## sanchez89 (Feb 14, 2009)

Avanti said:


> I'm not so sure, I have seen plenty of reviews where folk have been dissapointed with bilberry at any dilution ration.


well said that man. :thumb:

personally, i had bilberry a while back, and it did the job, but i dont think i used it below 6:1, even then it took a brushing to get wheels really clean.

i need to try some different brands to get a good comparison. which is why i did this review.


----------



## sanchez89 (Feb 14, 2009)

pete5570 said:


> That makes Bilberry 1.37 per 100ml. Dilute at 1:10 and a litre would cost 1.37 and it would this garbage out of the water.


if thats the view that you have, can you attempt a comparison. i would be interested, as im sure others would be too.

it gives people more choice over what products they could try in the future.


----------



## Eppursimuove (Sep 28, 2010)

Astonishingly, I just seen that Astonish wheel cleaner is in my local Tarjostalo (basically like a big home bargain..only more expensive) tonight for €4.99. Unbeliveable!

Obviously I didn't buy any at that price. I certainly would at 0.99 though!


----------



## pete5570 (Jun 11, 2010)

I've used this Astonish before,bought it from a pound shop along with another product, a kind of back to black. Both products were shocking! The wheel stuff cleaned light grime off at best and the trim stuff lasted about 2 days. This stuff used to be sold by Kleeneze for about 4 quid a pop. Not surprised it's in the pound shops now.
As for Bilberry, i've seen a lot more good reviews than bad and i've never been dissapointed with it, i've even made some up for friends who have used it and gone on to buy it.


----------



## taz007 (Dec 31, 2007)

update on this is a good cleaner but thats because it has ph levels 12.5 - 13.5 according to their safety sheet for the product on their website


----------

