New Product Launch: Wheel Acid Is Here! AWX Makes Cleaning Easier Than Ever. Episode #944
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast
New Product Launch: Wheel Acid Is Here! AWX Makes Cleaning Easier Than Ever. Episode #944
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Term
wheel acid
Wheel acid is a strong cleaner used to get brake dust and dirt off car wheels. Old types could be dangerous and damage the wheels, but newer ones are safer and work better.
Term
DA polisher
A DA polisher is a tool that helps clean and shine car paint safely. It moves in two ways to avoid hurting the paint.
Term
rotary polisher
A rotary polisher is a tool that spins in one direction to make car paint shiny. It can be risky because it might hurt the paint if used wrong.
Term
paint correction
Paint correction means fixing scratches and marks on a car's paint to make it look smooth and shiny again.
Term
brake system heat
When you use your car's brakes, they get hot because stopping the car creates heat. Sometimes the wheels can feel warm or even smoke a little if you brake hard.
Term
pH neutral iron remover
This is a gentle cleaner that gets rid of tiny bits of metal and brake dust on your wheels without using strong acids. You usually need to scrub a bit to clean well.
Term
acid wheel cleaner
Acid wheel cleaners are strong cleaning liquids that help get brake dust and dirt off car wheels. They work by breaking down the dirt but need to be used carefully so they don't harm the wheels.
Term
dwell
Dwell means how long you leave a cleaner on your car before washing it off. Leaving it on the right amount of time helps clean better without hurting the car.
Term
brake dust
Brake dust is the dirty powder that comes off your brakes when you stop your car. It sticks to your wheels and needs special cleaning to remove.
Part
brake calipers
Brake calipers are parts that push brake pads to stop your car. When they work, they make dust that can get stuck on your wheels and needs cleaning.
Term
surfactant
Surfactants are ingredients in cleaning products that help the cleaner soak into dirt better, making it easier to clean your car.
Term
TRX
TRX is a special cleaner you spray on your car's wheels to help get them clean without hurting them. People who like to keep their cars looking nice use it a lot.
Part
powder coated wheel
Powder coated wheels have a special kind of paint that is sprayed on as a powder and then baked to make it hard and strong. This helps protect the wheel from damage, but strong chemicals can still hurt the coating if you're not careful.
Term
decontamination
Decontamination means cleaning off all the stuck-on dirt and grime from your car's paint or wheels so they look nice again.
Part
carbon ceramic brakes
Carbon ceramic brakes are special brakes made from strong, heat-resistant materials. They help cars stop better and last longer, especially when driving fast or on race tracks.
Car
Chevrolet Silverado
The Chevrolet Silverado is a big truck that people use to carry heavy stuff and drive on different roads. It's very strong and popular for jobs and everyday use.
Term
traditional acids
Some wheel cleaners use strong chemicals called acids to clean off brake dust and dirt. These work well but you have to be careful and sometimes need to clean the wheels more than once.
LIVE
Welcome to the pints and polishing podcast. The most influential and listen to podcast in auto detailing. Welcome to the community.
I bet you most people are like me. And that's, you know, the worst thing that you want to do when you're doing a car is the wheel. The first thing that you do when you hire somebody is you have them clean the wheels.
What about you? Is that what you do? I know most people do it. We do the community pub. Everybody used to talk about yep. First thing we're doing when we hire somebody, they go down and start scrubbing and cleaning wheels.
Yeah, just it's a good starting point. You know, a lot of things, you know, if you have a good system, you don't allow them to damage anything. It's just a good place to start them to learn how to detail a vehicle.
But it's also one of the nasty worst places for most people to go get their hands into and start scrubbing. It's like the dirtiest place to go into.
So most of us that I used to talk to a lot of you guys are like, nah, I hate that. Like it's the worst part for them. They despise it.
So why do you think there's so many people that come out with ways to clean wheels better? That's the reason, right? Because it's so nasty to do.
So Nick, do you want to put your hands on there? Or do you not want to put any hands on a wheel when you clean them?
Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, it's anytime I'm a big advocate, I tell people this all the time. I see guys dilute the hell out of product making their life harder, using less powerful chemical, you know, that they have in their hand because they want to dilute it down.
They now have to scrub more, which introduces more damage, which makes their life harder. I mean, we've seen that. There's not a detailing group you can't visit that doesn't, you know, talk about how far can I cut something?
Well, I don't really know what that does except create more work.
And so if you're going to spray and clean, would you rather go and start scrubbing or just simply rinse it off after letting the chemical go, right? Like there's the question, right?
As we get into this type of wheel cleaning, it's something that a lot of us, I bet you, you know, if we've been cleaning cars of the last five to eight years, maybe even 10 years, there's something that we've never used because it's been such a like a oxymoron.
It's been such a, no, stay away. It's been such a, I don't know, fill in the blank. What do you call it? Like, stay out of here type of product. Nobody will ever want to use wheel acid.
Why? What is the problem with most wheel acids on the market?
Well, I think it's a lot like what happened to Rotary, where people were just scared off. I mean, there's a lot of health concerns with old school acids. There's still people selling a very old school acid.
You need to be worried about using those. Let's be fair. There's there's some negative health connotations, but there's a better way to do acid.
You know, so we'll tell everybody now we've now launched our product called AWX, which is our acid wheel cleaner.
It's just more modern chemistry using some of the old school tricks, but, you know, modernizing them to make a highly effective, highly effective wheel acid.
But yeah, I mean, what happened with wheel acids? Very simple.
Instead of teaching people how to use it, we just told everybody it was really bad and that bad things can happen.
And that's all very true, right? Just like you can burn paint really easily compared to a DA with a rotary.
So we demonized it until we started to realize, well, actually, it's still the best tool to heavily cut a car.
It's the same with wheel acid. And actually the videos that I shot, and I'll be shooting more to educate people on AWX,
it was very important that I just showed you like a normal maintenance, like not a hammered wheel.
You know, like, I don't need to show you a hammered wheel. I just need to show you how not scared you need to be.
I even backed my car out where you would see a little bit of smoke coming off the wheel.
And I touched the wheel and the wheel face and I show people like you need to use common sense.
But when I touch the wheel, it's cool, but you can see some heat from the brake system.
So really what I tried to am trying to tell people is we have a very safe wheel acid.
Can you make it unsafe? Yes, you can. Using it improperly is the biggest key with a wheel acid.
And I think wheel acid, a lot of people think, oh, wow, yeah, strong, right? That's the first thing people think wheel acid.
Oh, it's really, really strong. Here's a key point I want us to remember.
Strength of acid doesn't necessarily translate to stronger cleaner.
As you and I began to build it, it's what we learned on the key basis.
We thought, we go, hey, let's just dump a bunch of acid in with water.
Hey, we're good, right? You know, because you mentioned like the old school ones.
Just to think like, wow, we could do this 30 to one. Some people would tell us like, wow, that's super concentrated.
Here's the crazy thing. The best wheel acid, the old school wheel I said that was ever built was built more intelligently than that.
I mean, you and I know the company that I'm referencing.
And so they were intelligent for that time and we're sort of intelligent for this time, right?
But wheel acids that like you said, people would go 10 to one, you know, 30 to one.
Number one, they came with all kinds of danger. You know, if you didn't dilute it properly, you were burning something.
You were burning, you know, calibers, you were burning rims, you were burning your skin, you were burning your eyes, you were burning your face.
If the wind blew the wrong way, you know, I mean, just the whole nine.
And so I think what people have come to expect from us is exactly what you're going to see with AWS.
It's just a smarter use of current technology with enough power for you to go, this is a great wheel acid.
But having all of this danger that existed around wheel acid, there actually is a way for us to talk about that and go,
man, some of the stuff I see in detailing groups and, you know, fleet washing groups and all these groups, I go,
man, when you use our wheel acid, it's going to put your mind at ease.
Okay, number one, still use the same acid mentality, but understand, you know, it dwells a lot longer than a traditional acid that just runs all over the place.
It sticks to the wheel, which is exactly what you want. But you got to use common sense.
I mean, you know, you can't be crazy with this stuff. You know, it is not Fuego.
You know, Fuego is a pH neutral iron remover, but you got to do some scrubbing, because again, that's the basis of it.
So it's more lubricated. With this acid, if you get some hammered wheels, you know, and you use it at a very, very strong,
you know, dilution ratio, even straight, hey, look, man, really hammered wheels, you might have to spray it twice.
This is kind of the New Age acid. Old school acids, it would just burn your wheel up.
But it would get the dirt off. I mean, you get the dirt off, but it would just burn the wheel up.
So how do you get the mixture of the two, and that's kind of where we've landed here?
Yeah, because, right, if you wanted to take just acid and water, right, you'd spray that on, because that's what we would think, right?
Just really strong. What happens? Well, it's just going to run.
You know, here's the thing about acid, and if you're wheel cleaner, if any of them do, if you're wheel cleaner,
you spray your acid wheel cleaner on a wheel and it runs off in 10 seconds.
That's not strong acid. That's ineffective acid, right? And I guess it's not doing anything.
You mentioned a word there, and I want to focus on that word, and that's dwell.
So it is what we needed to start to figure out is, okay, cool, we can take acid and we can make it the strength that we want it
and choose the acid, and we went back and forth from a couple different acids, and we landed on the ones we wanted.
Those acids then, well, they're in a strength that we like, in a strength that is good for cleaning certain things.
Let's go over some of those things, because then I'll go over in the other aspects of the cleaner, right?
So acids are really great for wheels to clean, you mentioned, brake dust, right?
There's carbon, certain fibers that come out of those brake calipers and brake wheel, all that stuff, right?
It gets embedded. So if we're thinking clean versus hangout, a clean, which we're trying to do with acid, is get it to sit there, right?
Because if it just runs off, well, hey, that was cool to hang out with you, but listen, we didn't do much work, right?
Like, we can think about that. Ah, it's cool to hang out. Yeah, you know, really cool.
But if it doesn't do much work, it's not dwelling, it's not there eating away.
And so we then put in a surfactant that is key for penetrating.
I mean, we all love that, right? It's a wonderful thing to do.
So you can get to dwell, we're there, but then we're penetrating down deeper.
The acids are going to clean what the acid's clean.
But then the other stuff we added in penetrate clean the grime, clean the soils, clean what's needed for almost in a sense,
we're calling this an acid wheel cleaner is going to do all of it.
You're going to go inside the brake, down to the faces.
I've seen some people send me videos, you've probably seen, if they dilute it far enough out, one to three, one to four,
and they spray it on the whole caliper.
Usually that it would turn all what, orangy, rusty, you know, and some people are sending back, hey,
this not getting any color change because of the other cleaners that we have in there.
We're doing more than just, ah, strong acid. Yeah, let's go.
Yeah, it's just, you know, we want to make something that's effective, right?
But we also understand, you know, a lot of people have been scared off on acids and rightfully so.
I mean, there's really not been a ton of development in the acid world.
For those of you, you know, not in the behind the scenes of our world and making chemicals, there's not that many people making acid anymore.
I mean, largely they don't want any part of it.
You know, there's a lot of things that go on in your facility that you have to protect yourself and you have to protect people around and all these kinds of things.
So one of the things I would say is one of the to mention one of the first weekends.
Remember, I told you, I was like, oh, yeah.
I mean, there's a lot of there's a lot of concerns, right?
So a lot of companies bail out of it. They just don't want any part of it.
I actually think it's a useful product.
You know, we thought it was a useful product.
And one of the things I can say is if you guys are just maintaining your own stuff or you're maintaining vehicles for people.
Man, if you use this right, you're going to speed all of that up.
Like you are going to speed all of that up.
Now, I want to get at something that people may think when you're talking about embedded iron contaminants of a really hammered wheel Fuego and TRX and all those things are still part of the process.
This is just for people to me that want to look at this product and go this fits me, you know, not every time, but sometimes.
I don't think it's replacing things.
It's probably the number one thing we get asked all the time.
Okay.
And I try to do my best to understand it.
But I don't.
Okay, which is I never looked at things.
Prior to me being, you know, an owner in a chemical company as a replacement all the time.
I looked at it as another tool in the toolbox.
There's many of you that use acid.
I think you'll enjoy this one more.
We got to say we don't have that harsh acid smell that many of you probably hate that use acids.
But there's a different part of it.
Acids always just been a tool for those of us that knew how to use an asset.
It wasn't some replacement of Fuego or replacement.
I see this a lot.
I think you probably see.
Oh yeah, because I had it on my list to bring up.
So I'm glad you brought it up.
Here's one of the things that I see assets being sold as just spray this on your wheel, then spray it on the rubber.
That's not how an asset works.
It's just not how it works.
I don't know what they're telling you or what you're seeing, but TRX is still in every video where I'm cleaning the wheels.
Right.
I'm still going to use TRX.
As a matter of fact, a safer way to use acid is while you're letting it dwell and you just spray down your tire with TRX,
give the wheel a little spray with TRX.
It helps neutralize the acid, helps it carry it away a little bit more safely.
You can do that with water with a very thorough rinse.
But I go through all of this in the YouTube video that's available now when you guys are listening to this,
where I just try to show you what a no touch maintenance clean looks like,
because everybody can show you a hammered wheel.
We don't really advocate that you guys are always claiming a hammered car.
So when we started thinking about filming something and I'm going back and forth with our team,
I just go, well, that's just not what I advocate.
I'll show you that stuff.
Don't get me wrong.
But on the launch of AWX, I just wanted to show a common sense chill way of using the product
and getting your feet wet for those people out there that have been scared off of acids for a variety of valid reasons, by the way.
A lot of you were scared off for real reasons.
This takes all of those and puts them to bed.
Go through those reasons then, right?
Because we're going to have to go over certain wheels, certain things that you still can't put AWX on.
Like raw wheels, you know, you guys can't, you know.
How do I know if it's a raw wheel?
I mean, do the simple rag test.
If your rag turns black, you know, you have, you know, a polished wheel, right?
So don't use it on that.
Now you can use it on that if you want to etch it up for polishing.
There's a lot of guys that do that.
But don't use it on that.
Aside from that, I'm fairly comfortable with it on other stuff.
Okay, just like any wheel cleaner.
I will say this.
Many of you have gotten used to probably not paying attention while you're cleaning wheels.
When you use an acid, I'd probably say that's not the way to use an acid.
Pay attention to what's going on.
Keep the serve, you know, we're going to go into the hot time of the year.
Okay, pay attention.
Don't let it dry on the wheel.
Pay attention.
You might have to spray a little more to keep the surface wet.
You guys can use it in all kinds of different things.
Okay, I showed it in literally a 32 ounce bottle.
Everything I did in the launch video that you guys can watch on YouTube was specific to
you don't have to have a bunch of fancy stuff, a sprayer, a keg sprayer.
This, it was literally things all of us have on a common sense wheel that's not hammered,
but had been driven for weeks and weeks to German brakes.
And that's what I did.
Okay, we will show other stuff, but I want everybody to be put at ease.
This is not something to be scared of if that's where you're at currently as a user.
If you're somebody that's just comfortable, give it a shot because I think you'll love the user
experience and you'll love what it provides.
But there's a lot of people that are scared off acids simply because some older acids were
things to be scared about.
Oh, I know we're going to get some black wheels.
So we're going to go, Oh, I can't do it on black wheels.
Actually, you can.
Yes, there's some black wheels that are clear coated.
Some black wheels are powder coated, right?
There's, can I put it on a powder coated wheel?
I don't have a problem.
Here's what powder coated comes down to for me.
A quality powder coated wheel and acids not going to damage.
It's just more susceptible if you look away and don't pay attention.
And or if you go full strength, right?
Yeah.
Listen, if I got a wheel, which was I going to bring up was, Hey, if I got a wheel that I'm not
exactly sure, don't don't go full strength in.
Yeah.
Okay.
You know, dilute it.
Put your mind at ease and that's one of the things like I'm really excited we have this
product.
Right.
I mean, it's it's exciting for HQ and the things that we can build behind the scenes
that many companies aren't able to build.
And for all of you out there that have been looking for an acid from us, it's a win.
I just don't ever want to mislead people like you need to pay attention.
You know, you need to dilute it.
If you're worried, you need to, you know, use some caution and look, this is one of those
products.
You know, you should wear gloves.
You know, you should understand it's not going to, you know, it's not going to fill your
your lung.
You know, if it's super windy out, man, don't spray it all over your face.
You know, like it's it's this is a true acid wheel cleaner.
Yes, it's modernized.
But I can tell you this, man, like just cleaning up BMW wheels and tires and doing having to
do nothing but stray product.
That's that's pretty nice.
Like that's really nice to do.
And I know all of you understand that this is a product.
I think a majority of you that get comfortable with it, it's going to make your life easier.
You know, it is going to make things easier on you.
And I'm excited about all of that because look, this is not a product that a lot of people
want to chase.
We chased it and we chased it because, you know, the story is I called Marty and said,
I need something that makes me not scrub wheels because sometimes I just want to clean up cars
a little quicker on my own.
And that's really the basis of us chasing an asset, to be honest.
Because we go.
It's the only thing left is right.
I mean, you could take.
I'm glad you mentioned that earlier about, you know, TRX, because that's I know what
people are already going.
Oh, does this replace TRX?
No, it doesn't.
No, but but there's sometimes like even TRX full strength on some wheels.
I'm just not wanting to do all that.
Well, because TRX, you know, requires you to scrub the actual wheel, right?
Like that's what it's built for.
You know, just like Flago is built for not only your paint and decontamination, but to
decontaminate the wheel.
But it's lubricated for exact reason of we know you're going to have to agitate it.
There's look.
TRX is a great maintenance product.
And I've used it since since we started building it.
It doesn't change that.
This is just something different in your toolbox.
And I think especially some of you pros out there are always looking to replace something.
And I'm not going to have to use that.
Well, you get on sensitive wheels, you do need Flago and TRX.
It's going to put your mind at ease.
It's not going to fit everything.
There's also look carbon ceramic brakes, you know, am I going to use acids on
carbon ceramic brakes?
I'm not going to do that.
You know, you need TRX, you need Flago, you need these things in your toolbox.
But if I roll up on a Chevy Silverado, you know, I'm going to be reaching for acids
and TRX on the rubber and I'm going to be moving on with my life.
Right?
Like you got to have these tools and I can already see the questions flying,
which is why we're answering it here.
It is not a replacement for anything.
This is a separate product that serves a separate need.
One of the questions I know is going to happen because it's a.
Well, once I started, you know, making it, reusing it and seeing something happen,
I go, oh gosh, I forgot all about that.
You know, acids, you spray them on a wheel and they roll down onto you.
Mention that word rubber, the tire.
Well, there's a little thing that happens.
Kind of gets a little bit discolored.
Yeah, I can.
Yeah, I can.
Absolutely can.
All the time.
I just, but here's the deal.
When you use an acid or use an AWX, get the acid on the wheel and start
spraying TRX on your rubber.
That's all avoided.
Okay.
It's all avoided.
There's a reason.
Go watch the YouTube and go watch my process.
It shows you the exact way to do a no touch maintenance on a wheel.
There's a reason I did it that way because I'm not going to sit there and let
the acid run all over the rubber, un-neutralized.
Okay.
It's the simplest way to say it.
Nothing bad is going to happen.
It's not like he's going to destroy your rubber or anything like that.
Let's destroy it.
Just leaves a color that I know people are going to go.
But if TRX is.
But if TRX is on the rubber, you don't have any problems.
Right.
It's a process because it neutralizes.
Yeah.
This is the chemistry where people go, are you guys chemists?
Well, we don't have to be to understand this.
Yes.
You know, we made it enough through chemistry and enough in college.
You don't realize like us making this product is a big deal.
I don't want to undersell that the learning process and being able to pass
on real world things to you, not the nerdy stuff we have to deal with behind the scenes
is very important.
Get TRX on the rubber, get the acid on the wheel, move on with your life,
nothing's going to happen.
Right.
You may, if you ever see a discolor on a piece of rubber, like on a tire,
it's going to come off.
Okay.
But you're just going to see some stuff, but just get TRX on the rubber.
You're good to go.
Like it should be part of your process.
And I think people should be excited about this because now you get another tool in the
tool belt to take on things, make your life a little easier in some situations.
This is one of those products that when you figure out how to use it,
some of you already do, but you start using it, you start using it properly,
you start understanding the dilution ratios that fit what you're doing,
what you're seeing.
You're talking about speeding up your process and put yourself in a really good position.
All right.
Now let's go through those dilution ratios.
So the interesting part too is we are selling just the gallons.
There's no 16 ounces.
You're going to buy just the one gallon.
And on that gallon, you're going to find a couple of different options of the way you
can dilute AWX.
Now we did that because, as Nick said, you're going to get hammered wheels.
So we all know what those are.
And this break does for months, you know, right?
Some of them, six months, right?
We don't know how long it's been since this customer or maybe I bought a car,
bought a used car.
Maybe, you know, I got gifted something.
Maybe I go out and go, listen, I know I've been neglecting these.
It's new year, new me and it's March and it's about time for me to get started.
And they go, hey, I got to start cleaning, right?
So however you find a very caked on, nasty, heavily, that's going to be brake dust as
well as grime, right?
Like that's the confusion I think a lot of us get into.
We think of when we look at the wheel and we see all this every go, ah, that's brake dust.
Yes.
But it's brake dust mixed in with dirt mixed in with mud mixed in with tar mixed in with
whatever gets splashed up while we're driving down the road.
So you got this hybrid, this crazy mixture of all this stuff that's just been sitting
there, not only sitting there for a long time, but it also cycles high in heat to then maybe
it gets cold and imagine if it's right now, we just can have the winter and you got high
heat to then dramatic freezing temperature.
Yep.
We can understand what's beginning to happen here.
Yeah.
And, you know, you can go from full strength to four to one, you know, full strength, you
know, I know some people will cut this 10 to one understand that 10 to one is going to
be pretty watered down.
Okay.
Don't expect a lot of power.
But somewhere between full strength and four to one is your sweet spot in my opinion.
Okay.
Somewhere in there, even three to one to me is kind of probably the furthest I take it.
I go, you know, full strength to three to one and if I rolled up and I got somebody's
work truck and I go, I want to make this as fast as possible.
I'm going to be close to full strength or one to one.
Okay.
Because I'm going to make my life easier, but I'm also going to understand.
Okay.
I got to watch what I'm doing.
I got to pay attention a little more.
It doesn't mean I got to sit there and worry, but I got to pay attention a little bit more.
Right.
And so I think one of the best parts of this is just like with a lot of our products, you're
going to find a sweet spot for the things that you come across the way you care for
your cars, et cetera.
But it is safe straight.
It is safe at one to one at two to one at three to one.
It is safe when used under the directions that we make very clear.
And I've used it in all different forms and fashion.
Right.
And I have success with all of them.
Now you get really heavily soiled wheels, you know, with brake dust and whatever.
Let's talk about it.
One of the things that people never said about traditional acids is that you and I used,
who used a lot of traditional acids, there were even sometimes you had to go back for
a second application.
Absolutely.
All the time.
Okay.
So if I have really hammered wheels and I think a wheel acid that, that isn't going
to like freak me out type of wheel acid, dude, the stronger the wheel acid, the more
it would rip all that off, the more it's going to damage wheels.
So you want to find the balance.
Even back in the day, some of those traditional wheel acids that were really unsafe to use
for health and on the wheels and whatever, there were times I had to go back for a second
dose.
I had to go back and get his thoughts of the wheel.
So if you get like crazy soiled wheels, I don't want you to think there's a such thing
as a safe magic acid that you may not have to go over and touch up a little bit.
That, that, that can absolutely happen.
Well, and I think that word right there, there's two words, I guess, if you hyphenate it, they
can become one, but the touch up is where a lot of people differ in that moment.
There was a time where I'm a three to one guy.
That's what I told you and I sprayed and I put on my, my BW wheels and my Jeep wheels.
I don't clean every week.
Right.
The paint, the glass, that stuff gets cleaned weekly.
The wheels, nah, those are maybe every two, three weeks is probably more like it.
You know, like they get cleaned about every three weeks and, and I'm a three to one guy.
So I spray it on, I let it sit and I, I let it sit around all of them and then go and
spray it off.
But the best part to do, which you'd mentioned is the TRX at the same time, make sure you
get all that around to the rubber.
But what I wanted to make sure that I talked about is, is it's okay if you, if you figure
out how often you get the wheels cleaned, then getting the right dilution that meets
where you're going to be.
Because I sent what to you is like, yeah, because I don't mind when I go then put on
my tire shine, I'm going to already grab a towel.
I'm already going to wipe my wheel face.
So it was okay with me if there was just a hint, just a hair of something left over
because I'm going to wipe that up with my towel anyway.
I don't need a hundred percent wheel.
I'm going to get it with that white front.
I know you are right.
Like that's why I was bringing up that story because it was a real story and it was a real
moment where he was like, hell no, I'm not doing that, I'm like, okay, I don't mind it.
Yeah, so I tell people that, like, I wanted this wheel acid, especially when it came to
maintenance, I wanted it to be as touch free as possible.
Because I think that's going to get people to maintain their wheels more.
I think, like you just said, you know, part of the reason you probably don't maintain
your wheels more is because you got to go back and touch them up and you got things to
do and whatever for me, it's, you know, blow and go, like, let's, let's get it off.
Let me, so where you might be three to one, I'm comfortable at two to one or I'm comfortable
at one to one because I'm thinking to myself, I want everything off of here.
I'll rinse more, which is important.
I'll take more time on the rinse.
I'll take more time on these things and you'll take more time on the other side.
It's all about what you want to do personally.
But I think the most important part here is, is that we've built an acid you don't have
to be scared of.
I don't think we have to, you know, really go much deeper than I'm just glad that I
can use an acid.
Yes, I have to pay attention, but no, I don't have to worry about it, like burning my
hand off, which by the way, for anybody, it was with around those old assets.
Boy, there were, you'd feel it for days and nights.
But again, I'm going to say use some gloves, switch.
You should do with any acid, but there, there's, there's a good mixture here.
And I think that's what's important about these products.
When we started talking to other companies who had bailed out of the acid market,
which I did a lot at SEMA, I think they bailed out in their words.
I'm not giving just my opinion.
They bailed out of the acid business or stayed in the acid business for the very,
very tiny amount that do for a lot of the same reasons, right?
They thought that you, the customer couldn't handle acids anymore.
I think that's wrong, because they were looking at acids from 10, 15, 20 years ago.
I think we came from this of, I want the power of an acid.
I want to use acid, but I want to rethink acid, right?
Into our way, into things that fit sort of the modern detail type of guy.
And DIY professional, now DIY would have to have some experience cleaning up their
vehicles, they can't be a newbie.
I wouldn't give an acid to a newbie ever.
Even back in the day, we didn't give acids to the newbies like, because you knew
you were going to see them burn something, right?
You would monitor that back in the day, I should say.
This now, I'm very comfortable and we sent it to DIYers and professionals and
testers and all different climates, all different types of detailing that they do.
And I think everybody comes away with the same thing is that this is incredibly
useful to have, you're going to find the ways that you want to use it and the
situations you want to use it.
But the most proud thing is that it's not just some traditional acid.
You know, that to me was not really an option.
Health reasons, physical reasons, I don't want to cough when I'm cleaning up my
wheels and feel like I'm going to die.
You're not going to feel any of that.
And I show it in the YouTube video, guys.
I specifically don't want a lot of cuts in our YouTube videos.
I don't want anybody to think like we're doing something crazy that you can't see.
I don't cough.
I don't have an issue.
This is a really enjoyable experience, but one you need to pay attention to.
Oh, I'll take my tip of my own hat on that.
Yeah, like we did.
We really wanted to work on that.
It's not only do we need it to clean, but we had to do it in a newer way.
And then we wanted to figure out how can we not have it be so obnoxious?
Yeah, right?
I mean, acid can be obnoxious.
Yes, it really can.
It can be, I mean, like I mentioned to you a second ago, like, and I'm glad we're
bringing this in.
We want to make sure people understand it's steel acid.
I mean, I spent a weekend of coughing my lungs up and I had to come back on a
Monday and explain to Nick, yeah, I didn't wear enough protection when I was
like, here's the deal, just so everybody doesn't get freaked out.
It's because we were working with the raw material, not what's actually in your
bottom. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was me, yeah, me in the lab.
Like I did not do the right thing.
Like I, I, I did not take care of myself.
And so I'm saying, Hey, all I took that into right.
And we mentioned at the start of the episode, there's people that we've
also always put into cleaning wheels.
Nick mentioned you didn't give acid to newbies.
Well, he didn't.
Yeah, well, we didn't.
I might have.
We didn't tear up.
I might have been that idiot.
Yeah.
Okay.
He wasn't, but I was.
So I wanted to also make sure like, listen, if you get it on you.
Yeah, I mean, it's acid.
So you do need to put on gloves.
If you got to cut, it's, it's gonna, it's acids.
You got to be careful, right?
Like, but it's, it's, it's not like, Hey, if it just touches your skin, your
arms going to fall off.
Yeah, like, like it's not that way.
But if you get it in your eyes, you got to get that washed off, right?
Like acid and eyes, they don't work, right?
So don't just think you can freely spray it around.
Okay, you do need to care for yourself.
Don't get freaked out.
We just saying, Hey, we took all this into, took all this in the thought
process, it's kind of what I, and this is what I kind of talked about on SEMA
with a lot of different companies that, that are in the chemistry
business in one way or another.
I just found they were looking at it 20 years ago.
I didn't say that to them.
Like it's not my place.
But I just go, I think you guys are, are, are thinking about traditional acid.
I think you got to rethink it, you know?
And that's what we came to is like, Hey, can we find our way, right?
Can we do it our way?
The things we would like to use.
And I'll say this, any vehicle I touch at the shop, I don't have a problem
putting it on there.
Now, again, stay away from carbon ceramics, stay away from raw finishes,
all the stuff that is true about acids, but it comes down to this.
We now as a group have an acid, we can all feel comfortable using.
And that is a huge accomplishment for me, for us, for all of us to go, man,
I don't really want to have to sweat using an acid.
I know I have to pay attention.
That's what we're saying here.
And the thing is, you guys are going to find uses and your delusions
and the things you come across, it's just going to make things better.
Again, a tool in a toolbox.
I still use flago all the time.
I still use TRX on every car.
None of that changes.
I've just found ways of mixing this in to make my life easier.
Absolutely.
I love it.
I love it.
All right.
Well, where do people, when we are ready to go, we're going to be able to go
onto hyper clean store, going to be able to go right there and get it purchased.
And then we can go over to the hyper clean specialist group and show everybody
our results and interact.
And if we got any questions, listen, there's plenty of people there.
We're going to grab the acid.
They're going to show other people.
A lot of people are going to want to explain and show how they use it.
It's such a cool moment.
Really is like it's, it's a cool moment for our community.
This is an old school thing that we're now birthing into 2026 and making it new.
Love the AWX acid wheel cleaner.
Yep, guys, we're looking forward to it and head on over to hyper clean store.
Head over to the YouTube channel, hyper clean store.
We show using it.
We'll post some things in the specialist group for everybody in there.
So it's all of our socials will have stuff.
So you guys will be able to see it in action.
Talk to you guys soon.
About this episode
The podcast dives into the challenges and evolution of wheel cleaning in auto detailing, focusing on the launch of AWX, a new modern wheel acid cleaner. The hosts discuss why wheels are often the toughest part to clean, the misconceptions and dangers of traditional wheel acids, and how AWX uses advanced chemistry to be both effective and safer. They emphasize the importance of proper use, dwell time, and how this product fits as a powerful tool rather than a replacement for other cleaners. The episode blends practical advice with insights into chemical formulation and detailing techniques.
Original notes
In this episode, Nick and Marshall discuss the modern approach to wheel cleaning, focusing on the innovative AWX acid wheel cleaner. They cover safety, application techniques, dilution ratios, and how this product fits into the professional and DIY toolbox, making wheel cleaning faster, safer, and more effective.
Chapters
00:00 The Art of Wheel Cleaning
02:49 Modernizing Wheel Acid: A New Approach
05:46 Understanding Acid Wheel Cleaners
09:11 The Importance of Dwell Time
11:56 Dilution Ratios and Application Techniques
14:48 Safety and Best Practices with Acids
17:51 The Role of Acid in Detailing
20:55 Final Thoughts on AWX Wheel Cleaner
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast
Nick Walters and Marshall Hill
0:00
36:04