product review: "spinning orb sponge cleaner"

[oaklandopen]

sorry for the ill-worded title, but i had thrown away the packaging and forgot what the real name was. anyway, i have been wanting to do a general write-up for some product for a while and i finally did one on a cleaning tool.

for those of you who may still be having a labor intensive time cleaning your wheels (i know i did), i think i've found a product that can help. it's not hard to find, i got mine at pep-boys and for around $20.

the thing i bought is at the top of the pic, and i use a regular car wash soap for the wheels. the other thing is a cordless hammerdrill that i still had from my work with comcast (i used the hammer drill setting for the speed, but changed the setting near the bit end so it wouldn't create the "hammer" effect)



as you can see it's just a bunch of tiny sponges put into an orbital shape. they have the same characteristics of a dish sponge so they won't scratch your rim up at all.



it came with 2 bits, a short one so the sponge can sit right where the bit goes into the screwdriver/drill, and the one im using which is a 6'' extension that has a plastic tube surrounding it that you can hold onto while it's spinning

 

[oaklandopen]

i started with the face of the spokes, then lug nut area, then inside the spokes.



this was the only crud left behind. the orb couldn't quite get to it, so i used a microfiber towel with the car soap to get the inner corners



be carefull the metal TPMS valve stem. the sponge probably wont damage it, but the stems sharp edges ripped off a couple of the sponge squares on the first wheel i did, so i avoided that area with it altogether

 

[oaklandopen]

and voila




my thoughts: the wheels isn't per se actually any cleaner than the way i used to do it (big sponge), but the process was easier. the fact that there are so many spokes on the stock wheel, and im too nervous to use any kind of spray wheel cleaner makes this a difficult job. but with this, the only hard part left was just gettting those last little corners. not to mention the extension can greatly assist in cleaning the inside of the rim as well, which is a neglected area on every tire.

i would say if you already have some type of drill, the $20 is worth it. and it also has refills for the sponge part (don't know the price). and after this first time the sponge doens't look too beat up so it should last a little while. hope this will help someone out there

 

[Moultese]

Not bad. I don't mean to sort of steal your thunder, but I tried a new method today for cleaning my wheels. Before I'd just take a towel and wipe them off. Today I used dishwashing detergent and hot water and a microfiber towel. I'd make sure the towel was nice and rinsed out and wipe away, then use a clean dry towel to dry off the wheel. Worked magnificently.

 

[ZooMIN3]

cool! i was looking into getting one. i'll probably get one and try it out soon. Looks like it does make the job go by faster if anything. thanks for the write up!

 

[PCspeed3]

i just use my fingers, pleasure the spokes and finger the other parts, its basic car erotica.