LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

I had been wanting to do this review for a couple weeks now ever since I picked up Adam's new wheel cleaner. Like most I've been using Sonax for a while now and am pretty happy with it. Sonax seems to have the wheel cleaning market locked down except for maybe Car Pro's Iron-x but I would venture to say Sonax is more well known and used more.

When Adam's came out with their Deep Wheel Cleaner it peaked my interest. When you talk to hard core detailers it seems you will get mixed reviews on Adam's products mainly on their paint correction products. I have never used any of their paint correction products but do use some of their other products and have loved everything I have tried. Their wheel cleaner was no different. I can say 100% this stuff is legit.

The first car I did was my 2000 Firehawk. The wheels like most are starting to look pretty pad. Luckily just the chrome on the barrels are flaking off but I'm sure it won't be long till the faces will look bad.

I did this comparison as fair and as scientifically as I could. I have no affiliation with either company and went into this comparison with an open mind to find out which product worked better.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

Sonax sprayed on.


Adam's sprayed on. The first thing I noticed about ADWC is the sprayer. It foamed the product when helped it dwell on the wheel longer.


I let both products sit for 5 minutes. It was overcast today and did not fear either product would dry out.


This is what it looked like after 5 minutes.

Sonax



Adam's



After

Sonax



Adam's

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

Sonax vid


Adam's vid

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

My Firehawk wheels weren't real bad but the worse I could get a hold of today. I took my wifes Avalanche to work today to road force balance the tires. After I took the wheels off I realized the barrels had never been cleaned. (She bought it before I was obsessed with paint correction and detailing)

Now I had no hopes of the barrels coming completely clean. The semi metallic brake pads have destroyed the barrels. Let this be a lesson preventative maintenance is very important.

Sonax

Before

In action

After(this was after two applications)


Adam's

Before


In action


After

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

After two applications of the Sonax I wanted to see if ADWC could pull out anymore brake dust.

Adam's in action


After

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

So all in all Adams gets the nod?

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

There were a few spots on the face of the wheels that Sonax didn't get out the last time I cleaned the wheels.


Adam's went to work


Sorry I don't have an after pic. I washed the wheel off then realized I didn't take a pic but those spots were gone.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

My thoughts/impressions;

The sprayer on ADWC is very nice. As I mentioned before it foams the product which helps it cling to wheel compared to the SFE which runs off.

ADWC starts working much faster.

Both of my Firehawk wheels looked the same afterwards but ADWC required much less agitation to get the wheel clean.

ADWC seemed to be able to pull brake dust out that was deeper compared to SFE.

I used less ADWC than SFE.

Please don't think this is a slam on SFE. If it performed better than ADWC I would have posted those results. I will continue to use both products for a while so I can get more comparisons on different type of wheels.
Thanks for looking.

J

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

Yes. Very much so.

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

How much rubbing are you having to do? I don't let my rims get even as bad as the ones on your hawk.. The gf does.

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

Thanks for the comparisons!

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

That's hard to say. What one person might think is a lot someone else might not. It did take more agitation on the wheel with SFE. It didn't seem to pull the brake dust out of the wheel compared to the ADWC. Again this is just my experience with both products. Someone else might get completely different results.

I tried to be as unbiased as I could in the comparison.

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

I guess.. Is it a quick pipe over it or are you scrubbing?

I have never really had too much of an issue because i clean them once a week.. But if i could spray this on wait love minutes and give it one quick wipe down, ill order some.. Im lazy. Lol

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

On the hawk wheels the the ADWC was more rubbing the wheel woolie over it and that was it. With the SFE is was more of a scrubbing action to get the brake dust off because it didn't seem to be lifted off.

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

Going to order some Adams, thanks for the honesty!

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

No problem. I use wheel woolies, daytona speed brushes and Adam's Trim & Lug nut brush to clean rims. I don't know if you are using any of them but highly recommend them. I have several different kinds because I clean all types of different cars.

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

Im starting to build my detailing outfit.. I have a few things but a ton left for sure.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

I understand. I didn't realize how much stuff I had till I did a job at a customers garage. It's out of control.

9WhiteCamaro9

Heck yeah, thank you for the review on the two products. I have been thinking about getting one or the other but really didn't know which one to get until now.

egott_91

iTrader: (1)

One tho g you'll find out about Adams products is that they won't release it until it has performed the same as, or better than the competition.

Great comparison. I'm surprised you didn't mention the smell comparison...