Adam's Wheel Cleaner Review

Anyone who's spent any amount of time on Instagram is probably familiar with Adam's Polishes. They have a huge social media presence and are widely praised throughout the Subaru community for their awesome detailing products. Having never used any of their stuff myself, and considering my old bottle of DUB Wheel Cleaner was still stinking up my garage, I figured I'd give Adam's Wheel Cleaner a shot.

Initial Impressions

At ~$1/oz, it's certainly not the cheapest wheel cleaner I've used. In fact it's about three times more expensive than my current "favorite" - Meguiar's DUB Wheel Cleaner! However, upon removing the bottle of Adam's from the packaging I immediately noticed one big difference; this stuff wasn't burning the hair out of my nostrils!

Of course I'm exaggerating a bit, but the Meguiar's has a VERY strong smell to it. Most reputible wheel cleaners (IronX, DUB, etc.) will have some sort of iron-fighting agent in them, which seems to be universally derived from extract of Satan. That being said, the Adam's bottle actually has a nice berry-ish aroma!

The product itself seems to be a bit "thicker" in viscosity, and the bottle is well-constructed with a simple twist-on/twist-off nozzle. I also love the compact-ness of the bottle - it takes up a lot less room on my detailing shelf!

Performance

Since it was time for a wash anyways, I pulled the WRX out into the driveway and sprayed down the first wheel with the hose to loosen the dirt/dust.

If the wheels are extra filthy, I'll usually grab my Griots Wheel Wands and tire brush to get the hard-to-reach areas. However, as I'd soon discover, the Adam's cleaner worked so well I was able to completely clean the wheels with just my wheel wash mitt and fender brush!

After rinsing the wheel, I sprayed a generous layer of the Adam's cleaner onto the face and around the brake caliper.

The lack of offensive smell was again a nice bonus, and the product began to turn purple (indicating iron/brake dust was reacting) almost immediately.

As I mentioned before, the Adam's cleaner is more gel-like than other wheel cleaners. This results in a "clingier" product that works longer before running off the wheel.

As I let the product soak, I gave the wheel wells a good scrub.

After a minute or so of sitting, I grabbed my wash mitt and wiped down the spokes of the wheel. At this point, almost all of the dirt had been lifted by the cleaner and was running down the face of the wheel. The wash mitt felt a little redundant to be honest!

A quick blast from the hose and the wheel was looking pretty damn clean for less than a minute's worth of washing!

I also gave my exhaust tips a quick spritz and wipe down, and it did a great job cleaning up the carbon deposits!

Would I Buy Again?

In short, YES.

Overall I am very impressed with the Adam's Wheel Cleaner. It may be a bit on the pricier side, but I consider it money well spent given how much time and effort it saves me. I've said it before but I'll say it again - the lack of smell makes this a winner in my book. Honestly there's nothing I've used that can touch it in terms of performance/usability/lack of stank.

I plan to pick up a few more of Adam's products as I use up my other cleaners. If my experience is anything like their Wheel Cleaner, it'll be hard to go back to anything else!

Where to Buy

If you're looking to pick some up Adam's Wheel Cleaner yourself, I'd recommend going with the pricier (but MUCH better value) gallon jug - it comes out to ~$0.50/oz versus the ~$1.00/oz of the smaller 16 oz bottle!

• 16 oz Wheel Cleaner - $17.00 (Amazon)
• 1 gallon Wheel Cleaner (Amazon) - $60.00 (Amazon)