Wheel cleaner

These specialist products will help you put the sparkle back into your alloys

CarPlan Wonder Wheels

Price £9.99

CarPlan 0161 7645981

www.cares4cars.co.uk

Cleaning specialists CarPlan and Comma have been slugging it out at the top for years with their alloy wheel solutions. However, CarPlan yet again had the advantage with its Wonder Wheels cleaner. There is very little to choose between the two brands when it comes to shifting the worst of the baked-on grime, but Wonder Wheels has a slight edge on cost, thanks to the generously priced 1.0-litre pack, which also came with a cleaning brush. Our multiple champion still looks unlikely to be beaten any time soon.

Comma Alloy Wheel Clean Kit

Price £6.99

A new price and smaller trigger pack for Comma, which added up to poorer value for money. Cleaning power was on a par with our champ and Mer. Yet none beat Comma’s all-round package, which includes gloves and a brush.

Buy it now for £6.95 »

Comma 01474 564311

www.commaoil.com

Mer Alloy & Steel Wheel Cleaner

Price £6.99

No-frills Mer matches Comma’s price, but has no handy extras, so it relies on cleaning power to make it into our top three. We couldn’t split it from our winner’s performance, but it failed to match CarPlan’s price or overall package.

Mer 020 84010002

www.merproducts.co.uk

Williams F1 Team High Performance Wheel Cleaner

Price £4.99

A blend of effective cleaning by its foaming trigger spray and a competitive price that made many rivals look costly meant this
newcomer easily managed to achieve a podium place.

Williams F1 Team High Performance Wheel Cleaner

Williams F1 Team 0845 3731350

www.ultimotive.com

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What we looked for

Unless you want a hefty bill from a mobile wheel refinisher, it pays to keep your alloys clean. Only a few weeks of normal driving can leave hard-to-shift, burned-in brake dust and road grime. Regularly using a specialist cleaner is essential for avoiding the repainting bill, or losing hundreds of pounds at trade-in time.

Our test put 20 cleaners to work on a wheel that had been left untouched for 20,000 miles. We kept brushing and hosing to a minimum to determine the most effective product. Price played a part in our verdict, as did the addition of extras such as brushes or protective gloves.