During winter storage I like to take a good cleaning to my oem wheels and my Spoon brakes. I'm finding that a simple home-made cleaner made of dishsoap and water in a spray bottle works wonders. It cuts through all dirt, grease and brake dust with ease, and is gentle enough on the painted surface of my Spoon calipers - which have been known to fade and dull up with some wheel cleaning products.

It's a pretty cheap cleaning solution that can be used anywhere you don't have to worry about wax coatings, since it will strip wax. It probably costs about two or five cents a bottle to mix up. I've always been weary of dedicated wheel cleaners as I've seen them damage wheels and related parts over the years. I'm using ceramic brake pads and the dust seems to come off pretty easy with this mix, I have not tried it with aggressive metallic pads though. I just finished cleaning my rims inside and out, along with the brake calipers and I really like the results, sparkling clean.

 

dawn soap in particular?? or just random similar soap?

 

I will pretty much use whatever my wife has under the kitchen sink at the time, I have used Dawn in the past, right now I am using Palmolive (Green apple scent yummy). Best part is that whenever I run out of cleaning solution I just go to the kitchen sink for a re-supply. I am not sure of the concentration that I use, just a small layer of dishsoap in the bottom of the spray bottle and filled up with warm water.

I should mention that I am spraying it on and letting it sit for a few seconds and then I wipe it off with a rag or towel. I have also had some good results using this on the valvecover.

 

most cleaning products has a high volume of salt and other abrasive contents, u can buy G101 for cheapness and its one of the best APC in the market, dilution rates below, id be careful of using DIY apc, get dilution rate wrong its going to eat into clear coat, it may even have bleach in it as well big no no, get some g101 will last u a very long time and can use it on carpets,wheels,soft top,paint, everything.. just my view

degreasing hot 1:20
degreasing cold 1:8
general cleaning hot 1:50
general cleaning cold 1:30
bug or ink removal,wheel cleaning and polymer reoval 1:5