Keeping a car’s wheels clean has become quite a difficult task. Wheels are getting more and more spokes, creating more hard to reach places for brake dust to settle. We have been very disappointed with wheel cleaning products in the past, as they all seem to make empty promises of a “spray on, spray off” perfect shine. So naturally, we wanted to put some of the top products to the test to see which was the best wheel cleaner. Please keep in mind that the products we are testing are designed to clean a car’s wheels, which are different than tires (tires are the actual rubber that is mounted on the wheel).
Spoiler Alert: If you have come here to find the magical wheel cleaner that cleans every nook and cranny of hard to reach brake dust with a simple spray on and spray off, you’ll be disappointed. To our knowledge (and vast experience with wheel cleaners), there is not a product that can truly clean all brake dust and grime off of a wheel without some scrubbing involved. Yes there are some extreme cleaners that can do this, but they are not meant for wheels and can be very damaging to the finish of wheels.
Table of Contents
Wheel Cleaners We Tested
To find the competitors for this review, we utilized our own experience with a wide array of wheel cleaners and scoured the internet for top rated and top selling products. The list we came up with include some very well known brands and some not so well known brands:
Car Guys Premium Wheel Cleaner
- ✅ CAR GUYS Wheel Cleaner is a versatile brake dust cleaner that is safe on ALL types of wheel finishes, tires, and more! It's quick & easy to use, and like all our products, it’s backed with our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!
- ✅ Safe on ALL Rims and Tires! – Our advanced pH Neutral formula, safely removes the toughest dirt and road grime on ANY wheel or tire. Works to clean your calipers, rotors, exhaust tips, old tire dressings, and is a great whitewall tire cleaner too! Safe on alloy, chrome, aluminum, and much more!
- ✅ Quick & Easy to Use! – Nobody likes wasting time and money. Our highly concentrated cleaning gel is ready to spray right out of the bottle, but can also be diluted with water to extend the longevity of the liquid. Clings to wheels so each spray has minimal runoff, for maximum cleaning power!
Meguiar’s Ultimate All Wheel Cleaner
- FAST ACTING: Active gel quickly dissolves heavy brake dust and turns purple as it dissolves brake dust
- PRISTINE WHEELS: Tough on road grime and dirt, but not your wheels
- SAFE FOR ALL WHEELS: Acid free and pH balanced - safe for all wheel finishes
Mothers M-Tech Wheel + Tire Cleaner
- Quickly and Easily Cleans Both Wheels and Tires (Including Blackwalls and Whitewalls)
- Foaming, non-acidic spray removes dust, grease, dirt and grime
- Safe for painted, clear coated, alloy, Steel, Modular, chrome or Factory treated wheels and hubcaps
Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect
- SAFE ON ALL FACTORY INSTALLED WHEELS: Acid-free, ph balanced formula won't damage wheels, Safe on various wheel finishes including: Chrome, Aluminum, Steel, Clear Coated, PVD, Painted, Plastic Wheel Covers, and Magnesium
- WATCH IT WORK: The color changing formula activates when it comes in contact with the ferrous metals (iron) from brake dust or other dirt and grime. Full Effect sprays on fluorescent yellow, then turns deep red or purple as it dissolves brake dust
- ADVANCED AND EFFECTIVE CHEMISTRY: Full Effect, non acid wheel cleaner attaches and emulsifies stubborn baked on brake dust. Simply spray on, let it dwell, watch for color change, agitate if necessary, and rinse with water. *For best results rinse using high pressure water
Features & Pricing
All of the wheel cleaners we are reviewing have similar pricing and have similar features. All claim to be acid free, safe on all types of wheels, spray on – spray off products, with Car Guys being the only product that says to dry the wheels after cleaning. Both the Sonax and the Meguiar’s wheel cleaners also claim to change color once they come in contact with brake dust. Of course, these products can claim many things, so we decided to put those claims to the test.
Initial Testing
Spray On, Spray Off Test
To narrow down the field, we had our reviewers test each of the products on their own cars. First, each reviewer was instructed to use each product exactly as directed on the instructions of the bottle. Since each wheel cleaner claimed to not need any scrubbing (a few said scrubbing/agitation can help with extremely difficult spots), the first round of wheel cleaning was just spray on, spray off.The results were underwhelming to say the least. No wheel cleaner truly cleaned an entire wheel with the spray on, spray off test. The only standout during this test was Mothers M-Tech Wheel + Tire Cleaner since it was able to give our tires a good cleaning, but we’re not here to tell you which is the best tire cleaner.
| Car Guys Premium Wheel Cleaner | Meguiar’s Ultimate All Wheel Cleaner | Mothers M-Tech Wheel + Tire Cleaner | Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect | |
| Application | Sprays on thick, poor coverage | Sprays on thin, good coverage | Foamy and thick, poor coverage | Wide spray, best coverage |
| Smell | Fruity smell | Sulfur-Type Smell | Fruity Smell | Slight sulfur smell |
| Wait Time | 3-5 Minutes | 2-4 Minutes | 30 Seconds | 3-5 Minutes |
| Cleans light brake dust | ✔ | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Cleans heavy brake dust | – | – | – | – |
Scrubbing Test
Next, we decided to spray the wheel cleaners on the wheels, and then scrub the wheels using a wheel brush to lift up some of the brake dust and grime, and then spray off the cleaner. The results of this test were more promising:
| Car Guys Premium Wheel Cleaner | Meguiar’s Ultimate All Wheel Cleaner | Mothers M-Tech Wheel + Tire Cleaner | Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect | |
| Cleans light brake dust | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Cleans heavy brake dust | ✔ | – | ✔ | ✔ |
Right away it was easy to narrow our field down to three. The Meguiar’s wheel cleaner not only smelled the worst, but it also was unanimously voted as the worst cleaner among all of our reviewers. The remaining three products were able to clean all of the light brake dust on our wheels, and they all were able to remove most of the heavy brake dust and grime areas.
Mothers M-Tech Wheel + Tire Cleaner and Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect emerged as the top two products. They both cleaned the heavier brake dust significantly better than the Car Guys Premium Wheel Cleaner. In addition, Sonax had a wonderful wide sprayer that made application the easiest. Both Car Guys and Mothers had the worst sprayers, as they sprayed on thick, causing us to have to use more product to get full coverage.
The Finalists – Mothers vs Sonax
Our top two contenders were Mothers M-Tech and Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaners. They both cleaned our wheels better than the Car Guys and Meguiar’s. To crown our king of wheel cleaners, we needed to do a head to head test. So we tested Mothers and Sonax on the front wheels of a sports car with multiple spoke wheels that have hard to reach and hard to clean areas. We sprayed on the wheel cleaner, scrubbed the wheels thoroughly with a wheel brush, and then sprayed the cleaner off. We took before, during, and after photos for each:
Mothers M-Tech Wheel Cleaner:
Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect:
As you can see, both wheel cleaners did a sufficient job at cleaning the wheels. It was very hard for us to choose between these two wheel cleaners as they each have pros and cons.
The Mothers Wheel Cleaner did an amazing job at cleaning the wheel and the tire and smelled great. However, it had a terrible spray nozzle that made the application to the wheels a chore in and of itself. Also, after cleaning the wheel, we did notice that it had a tendency to leave behind some white residue on the wheels. The only way we were able to keep this from happening was to wipe down the wheel with a cloth after washing, so for that reason the Mothers Wheel Cleaner isn’t a true spray on, spray off wheel cleaner.
The Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect was almost as good at cleaning the wheels and it had the best sprayer out of the field. The only downside for the Sonax was its terrible sulfur smell. Compared to the Mothers, it also loses a point for not doubling as a tire cleaner.
The Best Wheel Cleaner
As hard as this decision was, we have to give the crown to Mothers M-Tech Wheel + Tire Cleaner. It was the best at actually cleaning the wheel, even though the application of it wasn’t the easiest, and you may have to wipe down the wheel afterwards with a cloth. We believed that the cleaner result was worth the extra effort. If the extra effort bothers you, we have no issues recommending the Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect as it was a strong second place finish that performed great.
The Mothers M-Tech Wheel + Tire Cleaner performed great at both cleaning the wheels and the tires of our test cars, and we strongly recommend it to anyone looking to buy a wheel cleaner for their car. It is our pick as the best wheel cleaner.
- Quickly and Easily Cleans Both Wheels and Tires (Including Blackwalls and Whitewalls)
- Foaming, non-acidic spray removes dust, grease, dirt and grime
- Safe for painted, clear coated, alloy, Steel, Modular, chrome or Factory treated wheels and hubcaps
Tips For Cleaning Your Wheels
To help make your wheel cleaning experience as efficient as possible, we decided to put together a quick list of tips when cleaning your car’s wheels. These tips are essential for getting the best results and the cleanest wheels around.
Get Yourself a Quality Wheel Cleaner
A quality wheel cleaner will make your wheels shine like a diamond with a little bit of scrubbing. Our analysis above on multiple wheel cleaners should give you a good idea of which to buy. Quality wheel cleaners won’t damage your wheels and will make the entire cleaning job as easy as possible.
Wheel Brushes Are Great for Brake Dust
A wheel brush to agitate the brake dust areas on your wheel is a must. Wheel brushes are extremely effective at removing brake dust in hard to reach areas. Here is the best wheel brush that we recommend:
- PREMIUM SOFT BOAR’S HAIR BRISTLES - Boar’s hair is renowned for its soft touch and tough durability! Tackle all of your sensitive jobs and specialized cleaning needs with the premium touch of the Boar’s Hair Detailing Brush from Chemical Guys!
- GENTLY CLEAN SENSITIVE AUTOMOTIVE SURFACES - The soft plastic handle and ferrule are lightweight, chemical resistant, and scratch-resistant across all your sensitive surfaces! Soft boar’s hair bristles knock out dirt and grime while preserving a pristine finish!
- PERFECT FOR EXTERIOR DETAILING - Spray your favorite Chemical Guys all-purpose cleaner or degreaser on dirty exterior parts and into the brush bristles and agitate dirt, grease, and grime out of grilles, lug nuts, calipers, engine bays, emblems, and more!
Utilize a High Power Sprayer
Use a high power sprayer when rinsing the wheel cleaning solution off. This is more effective than a traditional hose.
Dry Your Wheels
We recommend drying the wheels with a cloth after cleaning, as this can wipe away any excess wheel cleaning solution that may leave behind residue.
Final Thoughts
Whichever wheel cleaner you choose, it is important to consistently wash your wheels to prevent brake dust from permanently damaging your wheels. Whether you choose to use the Mothers or Sonax wheel cleaner, each has proven to be a quality wheel cleaner at a quality price. We hope to see you driving around with sleek shining wheels!
- Quickly and Easily Cleans Both Wheels and Tires (Including Blackwalls and Whitewalls)
- Foaming, non-acidic spray removes dust, grease, dirt and grime
- Safe for painted, clear coated, alloy, Steel, Modular, chrome or Factory treated wheels and hubcaps