best way to clean car tires

How To Clean Car Tires And Rims At Home

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Cleaning your car’s wheels is as necessary as to clean your car’s exterior and interior. Cleaning helps to protect your tires from cracking and removes corrosion if they have any and protects your wheel’s finish from harmful substances. It is recommended to clean your wheels one in a month.

Cleaning wheels is not much difficult and it is not necessary to take your vehicle to the professionals in order to clean your wheels but you can also do it at your home on your own. Here is a step by step guide on how to clean car tires at home. 

Material that is required: 

How to clean tires at home: 

  • Wash the wheels: First of all, wash your wheels in order to get rid of all dust, mud and dirt. You can use a pressure washer for this purpose so that you can blast away the whole bulk of dust on your wheels. Rinse the inner surface of the wheel and rubber sidewall in order to remove all the dirt from the surface. 
  • Apply soapy water: Now take a bucket full of water and add some amount of dish soap. All the grease and road oil will be removed with help of dish soap. 
  • Scrubbing: Now take a wash mitt and start scrubbing the face of your rim. Try to remove as much dirt and other contaminants as you can. Wipe out the surface between the spokes with the wash mitt. 
  • Rinse the soapy water: With the help of a pressure washer, start rinsing the soapy water from the wheels. Be sure that you have removed all the soap from the surface of the tire. 
  • Remove all contaminants by cleaning your rims: After rinsing the surface, there are still some contaminants that are hard to remove such as brake dust, this material can later rust and can become the cause of discoloration of your wheel. It is necessary to remove all these materials so that you can better protect your wheels. 

How to clean rims: 

In order to clean the rims of your wheel, you must need following material

 

  • Spray wheel cleaner: First of all, start sparring wheel cleaner over the surface of the wheel. Clean one wheel at a time and do it thoroughly. Start cleaning the wheel with the help of a cloth and do not let the spray dry. 
  • Scrubbing: Now after a few seconds, scrub between the spokes and around the rim. After scrubbing for a few minutes, it will lose the brake dust and grime on the wheel. Dust will start to run off the wheel surface. 
  • Rinse the wheel: At this point, rinse your wheel with the help of clean water. A pressure washer can also be used for this purpose and to blast away the leftover dirt on the wheel surface. 
  • Apply wheel sealant: Now take an applicator pad and dip it into the wheel sealant. Apply the wheel sealant on the whole surface of the wheel and coat it completely. 
  • Dry the wheel sealant: Wait for a few minutes and let it dry. It will give a hazy or cloudy appearance on the surface. 
  • Wiping out the excessive sealant: Now with the help of a clean cloth, wipe out the dried excessive sealant from the surface. It will give a clean and shiny look. If you want to give a higher level of gloss finish, you can apply the second coat by repeating the previous step again.
  • Give your tires long term protection: Now your tires are clean but in order to give them a long term protection and deep black color, you can apply tire dressing on them. It is also necessary to prevent any weather cracks  in the rubber as well. 

How To Condition Your Tires: 

In order to condition your tires, you will need a wheel applicator pad along with tire dressing or conditioner. 

  • Dry your tires completely: First, before conditioning,  make sure that your tire has completely dried. If you see any beads of water on the surface, wipe out the surface by taking a dry cloth. 
  • Apply tire dressing: Take an applicator pad and apply tire dressing on it. Then apply the dressing or conditioner on the wheel surface directly. Spread the dressing over the whole tire surface around the entire sidewall surface. Make sure you have applied it equally on the whole surface. 

Tip: Avoid any dressing that contains silicone in it because it can turn your tire color into brown and your rubber may degrade faster than usual. Always use water based dressing because they cannot damage the tires and they are less shiny.