View Full Version : I beginning to think iron removing wheel cleaners are a waste of money
Diamond Dog
09-22-2019, 05:02 PM
I'm beginning to think this iron dissolving wheel cleaner is no better than soap and water. It's a gimmick to separate you from your money. I used to use iron X by the gallon. I bought a better product that does the same thing for half the cost. But I think even at that price, it's expensive.
When I use these wheel cleaners I power wash my wheels with water then air dry with a blower. Apply wheel cleaner and notice how much color change. Not just during the wash at hand, but during the NEXT wash. I have found that when I use a iron removing wheel cleaner, when I use it the next wash, it's about the same amount of color change as when I use car soap and water and wheel woolies. The wash before
You would think that there would be a lot less color change if the previous wheel cleaning was iron removing vs simple soap and water, right? Not the case. I have repeateded this experiment several times with no noticible difference between color change whether or not the previous was was an iron remover or simple car soap and water
JLAllroad
09-22-2019, 06:17 PM
Have you sprayed said cleaner on to a surface known to NOT contain metal contamination?
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Diamond Dog
09-22-2019, 06:22 PM
Have you sprayed said cleaner on to a surface known to NOT contain metal contamination?
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I think the iron removers do in fact dissolve iron. My point was, you pay all this extra money to dissolve it when 98% of the same result (removal of iron) can be accomplished with car soap and water and agitation
Who cares if it is dissolved or washed away. If the iron dissolvers were not so expensive, imwould not care. But they are super expensive
JLAllroad
09-22-2019, 08:30 PM
I think the iron removers do in fact dissolve iron. My point was, you pay all this extra money to dissolve it when 98% of the same result (removal of iron) can be accomplished with car soap and water and agitation
Who cares if it is dissolved or washed away. If the iron dissolvers were not so expensive, imwould not care. But they are super expensive
I agree with the expense.... although I think the argument is similar to the various stages of detailing. It really depends on how “clean” Or protected you want a surface to be.
That said....I have been skeptical of the color change vs effectiveness yet I have heard praise by many in the detailing community about the efficacy of these fall out removers saving time that would be spent otherwise claying....a process in and of it self that is removing the “unseen”.
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goalieman24
09-23-2019, 10:28 AM
The purpose of the iron remover is to get off the stuff that soap/water won't tackle. When you wash with soap and water and then use the iron remover and see the color change, that is where it "makes its money".
Its purpose is when you need a full cleaning and want a complete decontamination. I definitely don't use it every single wash.
itsmatt33
09-23-2019, 10:46 AM
i think you are not clear on what the intention of each product is.
Can you make your wheels look clean with soap and water? yes
can you make your wheels look clean with iron remover? also yes
the difference is an iron remover can and does remove particles left behind by your brakes, the elements and sometimes even your water. IronX is not something you need to use every wash. I use it about every 4 washes on my wheels only. Soap and water does make my wheels look just fine but iron X help remove any minerals from the surface which is especially helpful when i need to polish my lips.
pottle
09-23-2019, 10:47 AM
Using Iron-X as a wheel cleaner everytime you wash, is expensive. I use F Bomb diluted for wheels and it works awesome. I also switched from iron-x to now using gtechniq w6 (a lot thicker product and cheaper)
I will use a fallout remover as part as my maintenance wash for my ceramic coated vehicles but even that is maybe once a month.
pdqgp
09-29-2019, 03:46 AM
Iron removers are really only needed to remove embedded particulates that are trapped in the clear finish. On wheels every week, especially with metallic pads, yes, you'll see a crap ton of bleeding as there are tons of particulates sitting on the surface. If you wash and clean the wheels with even just soap and water then rinse and try the remover, you won't likely see much at all. Now that said, it will be there if the wheels aren't protected with something like a ceramic coating which will help prevent the particulates from becoming embedded in the finish to begin with. Hope that makes sense.
BR11S4
10-21-2019, 09:00 PM
Waste of money for regular cleaning. I will use ironx maybe once a year or twice on my paint before a polish and seal.
Color changing products for wheels dont clean well and are a major waste of money.
Buy a gallon of Meguiars Wheel Brightner or Meguiars Non Acid Wheel cleaner, both work better the Groits, ironx or any other.
Note if you dont have oem cleaner coated wheels or chrome wheels DO NOT use Wheel Brightner. Wheel brightner is amazing, spray on and power wash off. Maybe a little agitation. I really like Non Acid Wheel Cleaner too. Takes a little agitation but still works way better than color changing cleaner imo.
Bonus, they come in a gallon and you dilute. For 25-28 bucks you will have 16 32 ounce bottles! Yes 16!
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