For years I've been using a sheepskin wash mitt for cleaning wheels. It has a lot of advantages: it's thick enough to protect from sharp edges, the thumb can get into lug holes, it's soft but abrasive enough to scrub the brake dust out of the inside corners.

The problem is, the quality of sheepskin mitts has gone way downhill. I had a Viking brand mitt for years, but when I went to replace it, it's not available. I tried the Mother's brand, the Eurow brand, and an unbranded one from Autogeek. After a few months and a dozen washes, they all ended up the same way (see below).

Is there a quality mitt out there, anywhere, or should I just buy them a few at a time and treat them as disposable? Or maybe there's another type of mitt that's tough enough (not microfiber) to stand up to wheels?

 

You might try the cotton chenille mitts. Cheap, thin enough to get your hand inside the wheel. Abrasive enough to get dirt off but won't scratch. I have had success with them. I use the sheepskin for the body paint.

 

I've been happy with the mitt from Griots although I've only used it two dozen times and its a couple of years old.

 

I usually end up using several things: a dedicated wheel mitt from Griots, an EZ wheel brush, and a couple of wool-like smaller brushes on plastic handles. It seems that no matter what I use, I always miss spots.

I think your comment about the declining quality of wool mitts is accurate. The thing about using Griot's stuff is their guarantee: I imagine that if a mitt from them came apart after a year, they would replace it.

 

Have you thougt about getting a soft green bristle tire brush? Then a lug nut brush an i dont know if you do or not but a daytona wheel brush for behing the wheels? Its more more stuff to bring out when your washing your car but its sometimes good to have seperate brushes for your wheels mitts like to hold onto old grime an dirt. Imo

 

I love my lambswool mitt from Griot's (but it's disappeared somewhere and now I use an old cotton sock) and wheel woolies from detailer's domain. Use the big wheel cleaning brush from Griot's as the first pass, then the woolies, then the sock for missed spots and behind the spokes.

 

Griot’s Garage Micro Fiber Wash Mitts - allows the mitt to hold more water yet rinses totally clean with a quick shake in your bucket. Hundreds of tightly-twisted, super-soft strands are extremely gentle on your paint; while the extra amount of water provides more lubricity across the paint. Plus it's machine washable. It doesn’t have a thumb area so it rotates in your hand to use both sides. Measures 8 x 11-inch

Griot’s Garage Lambskin Four-Finger Mitt - specifically designed for cleaning wheels. It's sewn so you can fit four fingers inside and maneuver in and around tough-to-clean wheels. Soft and gentle for today's nice finishes. Also works great on valances and lower panels where lots of dirt and grime tends to gather. Measures 5 x 6-inch with a 3 ½-inch wide opening



TOGWT® Autopia Detailing Wiki - “Wheel Surface cleaning”- http://www.autopia.org/forum/guide-d...-cleaning.html


If you have any questions about this article or the techniques used, please let me know or feel free to send me a PM

 

There is and you don't even have to spend big coin on them at a specialized car products store.

I use a micro-fiber wash mitt from Harbor Freight. They were on sale ($2.99 I believe), so I bought one to try out. It was so good, I bought more and have a slew of them as spares. Unfortunately, I don't see them listed on their site, but they may still be available in-store.

The micro-fiber wash mitt has a short pile and is fluorescent orange in color.

They are well made and I'm still on the first one that I bought over two years ago.

 

Don't use the polyester brush suggested above, they will leave scratches. Try Griot's Boars Hair brush. Soft enough to not scratch, firm enough to clean, gets into spaces around the lugs and dirt shakes right off. Great alternative if you can't find another good mitt.