[dhodory]

Ok, I've been side-by-side testing the following 5 wheel & tire cleaners for the last 2 months (weekly washes, so call it 9 wheel cleanings):

-Griot's Heavy Duty
-Sonax Full Effect
-3D Super Wheel Cleaner Nano
-Chemical Guys Sticky Citrus
-Adam's Wheel & Tire Cleaner

Everyone wants to know what the "best" cleaner is (I know I did). I've come to the conclusion that "it depends". It depends upon how dirty your wheels are, why are they dirty (is it brake dust or other, non-Fe dirt?), how often do you wash/clean your wheels, etc.

I've come to the conclusion that these are all (at a minimum) "good" cleaners in most situations.

If you need a thorough cleaning and de-iron I'd go with either:

Griot's Heavy Duty
or
Adam's Wheel & Tire

If your wheels aren't horribly dirty or don't have a ton of brake dust or don't need to be de-ironed (and you want to save some money), I'd go with:

3D Super Wheel Nano

Even diluted at 8:1 it's pretty strong and very cost effective at $40 for 64 oz.

The sprayers and the solution thickness make a MASSIVE difference here. The best sprayers (by far) were the Griot's Heavy Duty and Sonax Full Effect sprayers. Both were able to generate a super-fine mist that got total coverage very quickly without a lot of wastage.

While I really liked the Chemical Guys Sticky Citrus, the nature of the liquid and the sprayer meant that I ended up using a LOT more product to get coverage. For a frame of reference, on the same number of front and rear wheels, the Chemical Guys Sticky Citrus is at 1/2 full whereas the Adams' Wheel & Tire is between 2/3rds or 3/4 full. I am not a professional detailer, and as such, "dwell time" (which the Car Guys Sticky Citrus has in spades) is not a big deal for me. I usually clean one side of the vehicle (wheels & tires) at a time, so dwell time is a non-issue. I could see how it would be a nice thing if you were detailing multiple cars at a time and it took a while to get back to a previously sprayed wheel. The Car Guys sprayer also makes it harder and more time consuming to get full coverage on the wheel and tire.

I'm sure there are other cleaners out there that I should probably take a look at, but the above is what I've tested side-by-side so far.

One nice surprise is the Adam's Polishes rubberized tire brush (red and black bristles) and the rubberized wheel brush (red bristles). I've found them both to be very good, though I still like the Griot's black and grey shaped tire brush too.