Aluminum is a silvery-white, shiny metal with low density and high durability, making it suitable for different uses. One of its general uses is for car rims. This is because shiny metal looks great on every car.
However, the shiny and silvery nature of aluminum also exposes it to dirt; very fast. If you don’t clean aluminum alloy wheels, it looks like you don’t take care of your car.
This means you must regularly clean the aluminum rims on your car. There are many ways to do this; however, some cost a little bit more than others, and you may want to clean your aluminum rims asap!
A more affordable way is to clean the aluminum rims with household products. Not only is this possible, but it is extremely easy and efficient.
So how do you clean aluminum rims with household products? Keep reading this article to find the best wheel cleaners you’ll have stored in your home.
Safety tips
Before starting the cleaning, it is necessary to take these safety tips in mind:
- Wear gloves: These gloves will protect your hand from getting scratched by any cleaner you want to use
- Wear non-slip boots: Since you will need to use soap, the workplace will get slippery. Thus, to avoid slipping and hurting yourself, wear non-slip boots.
Clean aluminum rims with oven cleaner
Cleaning aluminum rims with oven cleaner is a great solution for dirty rims. It is easy too. Let’s see how you can do it:
First, use pure water to rinse the tire rims thoroughly. The aim of this step is to wet your rims and prepare them for the next step. You can use a hose or nozzle. Try to spray water with some degree of pressure so that dust and other elementary dirt would go off. Also, if possible, try to use warm water.
The next step is to apply the oven cleaner. Spray the cleaner on the rim before it has completely dried. Apply more cleaner on dirtier parts and then allow the cleaner to stay for half an hour.
After half an hour, take a proper scrub brush and gently scrub the rims. The dirt and grim should go off. However, if there are some tough stains, apply more oven cleaner and scrub again.
Once you are sure that all the dirt and road grime is gone, rinse clean the rims. Again, if possible, use warm water.
Make sure all the oven cleaner is removed while you are rinsing the rims. A failure to do this will cause a white film to apply when rims dry.
Oven cleaner is an easy solution; however, it is not the only one. Let’s see another method for how to clean aluminum rims with household products. This time: lemon juice.
Clean aluminum rims with lemon juice
Lemon juice is also a great solution for cleaning dirt and rims off your rims. The reason behind this is that lemon juice is acidic, and acid is great for removing grime.
The process is easy and straightforward. To clean an aluminum rim with lemon juice, first, rinse the rims. Before they are dried, apply lemon juice and scrub with a brush.
Once you are satisfied with the cleaning, rinse the lemon juice off the rims.
Extra tip: if your car rims are very dirty and you think lemon juice alone won’t be enough, then you can sprinkle baking soda into to the lemon juice mixture. The obtained compound would be much more acidic and powerful than lemon juice alone.
Clean aluminum rims with vinegar
This is the most powerful solution ever. Before getting to the details, let’s see what are the ingredients:
- Vinegar (white vinegar)
- Cream of tartar
You will also need a nozzle and protective gloves. Now, let’s see how you can clean an aluminum wheel with vinegar, which is a common kitchen product.
First, put some water (as much as you require) over a heating stove. Then, add the simple home ingredients cream of tartar and vinegar. The best ratio would be, 4 tablespoons of tartar for each cup of white vinegar.
Let this mixture boil for 5 to 10 minutes, then let it cool down a little but not completely. Pour the mixture into a nozzle and start the cleaning.
Before spraying the mixture, rinse your car rims first and let it dry a little. Then spray the vinegar mixture on the rims and allow it to stay there for 5 minutes.
Then scrub using a brush until all the dirt and grime is gone. Once you are sure that all the parts are clean, start rinsing the mixture.
Following these steps will result in clean aluminum rims.
Clean aluminum rims – more methods
Apart from the above methods, there are many other methods too. For example, in the second method, you can use cola instead of lemon juice and continue the process as mentioned. Since cola is also acidic, it will work too.
Also, if there was a WD 40 around, you can use that too to remove dirt and dust from rims. WD 40 is also a good polisher, it can also help your car rims shine.
However, while every acidic form can help remove dirt, you need to make sure it does not discolor them. Alkaline solutions can be an example.
Wrap Up
Car rims need constant cleaning so that they wouldn’t spoil or destroy a car’s look. There are many ways to clean the rims; however, one of the easiest ways are to use household products to remove stains.
That is why we created this guide to help you learn how to clean aluminum rims with household products. There are many different products (oven cleaner, lemon juice, vinegar, cola) that work, you can choose whatever is available.
In short, any acidic compound can help clean bare aluminum wheels. The procedure is also pretty much the same. First, wet the car rims. Then, apply the acidic solution. Finally, rinse the rims.
One important thing to keep in mind is that you should not use alkaline solutions for cleaning car rims. Alkaline solutions can discolor car rims and place spots on them. You must be extra careful when cleaning aluminum rims, and ensure you don’t scratch the steel.
