Tweet
About a week ago, I got a PM from Nick at Adam's who asked me if I'd like to try their new Deep Wheel Cleaner and see how it stacked up against my favorite, Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner. It was a really generous offer and of course I jumped at it right away. I've been using Sonax for years and know exactly what to expect from it on varying degrees of dirty wheels, so this was going to be a piece of cake comparison. Here is my honest opinion:
Value: 4/5 Adam's is about $30 for 36oz, which comes out to about $.83/oz. Sonax is more expensive at about $.95/oz. That being said, I did use a bit more of the Adam's, so let's call it a wash.
IMG_20130326_115303.jpg
Ease of Use: 5/5 This stuff is super easy to use. Kind of interesting that they recommend applying it to dry wheels, but that's what I did. Then you let it work for a few seconds before agitating with a damp boar's hair brush. It takes the advantage over Sonax because of the foaming sprayer makes it cling to the wheel a lot better. Like Sonax or Iron-X, it reacts with the iron in brake dust to turn a magenta color as it works. Isn't as noticeable on my car because I have ceramic pads, but you could definitely see it coming off the rotors.
Dirty Wheel
IMG_20130326_115322.jpg
Letting it dwell
IMG_20130326_115408.jpg
Starting to get a little red
IMG_20130326_115511.jpg
Really turning colors after agitation (most of this is from rotors)
IMG_20130326_115624.jpg
Cleaning Power: 5/5 This left the wheel spotless. Rinsed off very easily and cleanly and nothing was left behind. I really was impressed with it. Certainly as effective as Sonax or anything else I've used.
Perfectly clean wheel
IMG_20130326_115731.jpg
Scent: 2/5 I know how you Adam's guys love your scented car products, so let's talk about it for a second. The smell is sort of cherry with hint of Iron-X funk. Not nearly as bad, but not pleasant at all. The bottle warns you of this and says it will dissipate quickly. Quickly is obviously subjective, but I could definitely still detect it after I had washed and dried the car. You don't get that nastiness with Sonax.
So as you can see, I loved this product. I got around 3 wheels thinking only of all the good things I would say about it. Then I noticed this and documented a before and after for the last one:
Before cleaning fourth wheel:
IMG_20130326_120424.jpg
What all four sets of balancing weights look like now:
IMG_20130326_120840.jpg
Not okay. Not at all. I've never had a wheel cleaner react like that. It's not like this is some foreign object on my wheel, it's a pretty common thing. I was able to scrub about 1/2 of the color off, but now I'm gonna have to take a lot more time to get rid of my new lime green wheel weights. I highly doubt I have some special kind of weights on there, so I'm not sure how this wasn't detected during development. The wheels were absolutely cool, the car had been driven about 20 feet since last night.
I really don't want to bash this product, especially after Adam's was kind enough to send me a free bottle. I wanted to love it, and I did until I saw this. However, I can't in good conscience recommend it until I get to the bottom of this and those pictures are not just my opinion. Maybe Dylan or Nick can lend some thoughts on this.
So anyway, Sonax is still the king for me. I'm benching this product until I can get some answers or do some more testing. Adam's DWC is definitely as effective as anything else on there, but Sonax has never stained anything like that and caused me who knows how much time to correct
**Update 4/20/2013** I wanted to come in and give Adam's a fair shake on this again. I have not run into this problem with the weights on any other cars. Mine still discolor each time, but I guess I have some weird wheel weights. I can't explain why, and it IS happening, but I apologize for insinuating Adam's did not do their due diligence in testing this product. I'm having a weird problem that could not have reasonably been foreseen. I believe this is one of the finest wheel cleaners I've ever used, and I'd like to revise my overall rating to a 5/5.
Value: 4/5 Adam's is about $30 for 36oz, which comes out to about $.83/oz. Sonax is more expensive at about $.95/oz. That being said, I did use a bit more of the Adam's, so let's call it a wash.
IMG_20130326_115303.jpg
Ease of Use: 5/5 This stuff is super easy to use. Kind of interesting that they recommend applying it to dry wheels, but that's what I did. Then you let it work for a few seconds before agitating with a damp boar's hair brush. It takes the advantage over Sonax because of the foaming sprayer makes it cling to the wheel a lot better. Like Sonax or Iron-X, it reacts with the iron in brake dust to turn a magenta color as it works. Isn't as noticeable on my car because I have ceramic pads, but you could definitely see it coming off the rotors.
Dirty Wheel
IMG_20130326_115322.jpg
Letting it dwell
IMG_20130326_115408.jpg
Starting to get a little red
IMG_20130326_115511.jpg
Really turning colors after agitation (most of this is from rotors)
IMG_20130326_115624.jpg
Cleaning Power: 5/5 This left the wheel spotless. Rinsed off very easily and cleanly and nothing was left behind. I really was impressed with it. Certainly as effective as Sonax or anything else I've used.
Perfectly clean wheel
IMG_20130326_115731.jpg
Scent: 2/5 I know how you Adam's guys love your scented car products, so let's talk about it for a second. The smell is sort of cherry with hint of Iron-X funk. Not nearly as bad, but not pleasant at all. The bottle warns you of this and says it will dissipate quickly. Quickly is obviously subjective, but I could definitely still detect it after I had washed and dried the car. You don't get that nastiness with Sonax.
So as you can see, I loved this product. I got around 3 wheels thinking only of all the good things I would say about it. Then I noticed this and documented a before and after for the last one:
Before cleaning fourth wheel:
IMG_20130326_120424.jpg
What all four sets of balancing weights look like now:
IMG_20130326_120840.jpg
Not okay. Not at all. I've never had a wheel cleaner react like that. It's not like this is some foreign object on my wheel, it's a pretty common thing. I was able to scrub about 1/2 of the color off, but now I'm gonna have to take a lot more time to get rid of my new lime green wheel weights. I highly doubt I have some special kind of weights on there, so I'm not sure how this wasn't detected during development. The wheels were absolutely cool, the car had been driven about 20 feet since last night.
I really don't want to bash this product, especially after Adam's was kind enough to send me a free bottle. I wanted to love it, and I did until I saw this. However, I can't in good conscience recommend it until I get to the bottom of this and those pictures are not just my opinion. Maybe Dylan or Nick can lend some thoughts on this.
So anyway, Sonax is still the king for me. I'm benching this product until I can get some answers or do some more testing. Adam's DWC is definitely as effective as anything else on there, but Sonax has never stained anything like that and caused me who knows how much time to correct
**Update 4/20/2013** I wanted to come in and give Adam's a fair shake on this again. I have not run into this problem with the weights on any other cars. Mine still discolor each time, but I guess I have some weird wheel weights. I can't explain why, and it IS happening, but I apologize for insinuating Adam's did not do their due diligence in testing this product. I'm having a weird problem that could not have reasonably been foreseen. I believe this is one of the finest wheel cleaners I've ever used, and I'd like to revise my overall rating to a 5/5.
357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven. 
Comment