Poorboy’s World Non-Acid Wheel Cleaner Review

New Year’s day in my area turned out to be sunny and unseasonably warm so I did what any self-respecting car and detailing enthusiast would do: I washed my car. Since my car’s last wash it has seen two snow storms and multiple days of rain. Needless to say, the car was really dirty and my wheels were even worse. This provided me a great opportunity to do a product review of the wheel cleaner I’m currently using: Poorboy’s World Non-Acid Wheel Cleaner.

Why a wheel cleaner?

I have lost count of the cars seen in parking lots or events like Cars and Coffee with clean paint, but the wheels are covered in grime and brake dust. What people don’t realize is the brake dust and grime will form a hard to remove crust and will actually start the eat away at the finish of the wheel. The only way to keep them looking nice and preserve the finish is to keep them just as clean as the rest of the car. That fastest and easiest way to do this is with a quality wheel cleaner.

When choosing a wheel cleaner it’s important to get the mildest one able to do the job. There are wheel cleaners on the market with harsh detergents or even acids in them which will damage the wheel by discoloring, clouding, or even degrading the wheel finish. Some detailing enthusiasts avoid wheel cleaners all together and simply mix up a second bucket of the wash solution. While this may work well for wheels which rarely get dirty, I’ve always used a wheel cleaner. To my eye, they always seem to get the wheels a little bit cleaner with a lot less effort. My last two cars have been German and equipped with performance brake pads; a perfect recipe for wheels that get dirty very quickly. I need all the help I can get.

Unfortunately, many of the wheel cleaners found in places like WalMart or auto parts stores tend to be very harsh. I was pleased with one, but noticed a burning sensation on my hands after being splattered with some of the product. From that point, I now strictly use the milder cleaners I can find at online detailing stores like Autogeek. Depending on the brand, prices vary widely, and will be a bit higher than what is found in stores. However, the products are worth paying a little more. Catching a one of the frequent sales and buying in gallon jugs vs smaller bottles adds even more value. Now for what you actually came here to read.

Product review

Poorboy’s World Non-Acid Wheel Cleaner is a really long name for a simple, easy to use product available in the gallon jug shown here or 16oz bottles. I highly recommend buying the gallon jugs of any wheel cleaner. Not only does it lower the per-volume prices, but a single 16oz bottle of product will only be good for cleaning around 8 wheels, maybe less if they are very large or really dirty. Having a gallon jug on hand also significantly lowers the possibility of running out of product in the middle of a wash, or finding yourself ready to wash your car and finding an empty bottle in your garage. Ask me how I know.

The wheels

Going into this job, my wheels were in pretty rough shape. Two months of brake dust, road salt, and general grime from driving in winter weather left them pretty dirty.

To get a reall appreciation for how dirty the wheel really is, here is a close up of the caked on brake dust and grime.

To save time and wheel cleaner the wheels were first sprayed down with my power washer. I don’t use the power washer all the time, but when the car or wheels are this dirty, it really speeds up the washing process by knocking off quite a bit of loose grime. If you don’t own one and the vehicle is really in rough shape, I recommend going to a coin-op car wash and giving the whole thing the best rinse you can get for a dollar or two. Here is the same wheel after simply giving it a good blast with my small power washer.

The wheel cleaner

Poorboy’s World Non-Acid Wheel Cleaner sprays on thick and has this alien guts green color. For wheels like these with a simple design, I can clean them pretty rapidly and the holding ability of the product isn’t as important. The summer wheels on my previous car had twice as many spokes which made a thicker wheel cleaner like this one very helpful. The wheel cleaner remained on all the surfaces despite the longer time needed to clean between all the spokes.

With the wheel cleaner applied to the working area the next step was to give them a good scrubbing first with my Speedmaster wheel brush to clean the barrel of the wheels, tight areas around the brake calipers, and the smaller areas between spokes. The larger areas and the face of the wheel is cleaned with a soft wheel brush. With this step complete, the wheel cleaner has created lots of suds which still cling to the wheel. In the image below the dark suds on the brake rotor and wheel show how much grime is being removed.

For the purposes of this review I only cleaned half of the wheel at a time. In the bottom left of the above picture and the left side of the picture below you can see the stark difference in color and gloss of the clean side verses the dirty side.

After getting a few good pictures, I cleaned the left side in the same way. The final result is a shiny, glossy, wheel free of brake dust and grime.

Conclusion

Like all the other Poorboy’s World products I use, their Non-Acid Wheel Cleaner is a great product which works well. It doesn’t seem overly harsh, clings to surfaces, cleans well, and rinses off easily. The only negative for this product is the price; gallon jugs are priced at $50. Griot’s Garage Wheel Cleaner which is also a very good product, but thinner in consistency can be found in multiple places $35 a gallon.

If you need a wheel cleaner with some staying power on the surface, Poorboy’s World Non-Acid Wheel Cleaner is the way to go. However, if staying power on the surface isn’t an issue, I’d go Griot’s Garage and save some money.