radarryan
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Scholl Concepts Rim7 Wheel Cleaning Gel Review
So I was happy to finally be able to try this wheel cleaner out since I have become a wheel cleaner junkie.
So, why did I want to try this wheel cleaner? Well, there have been quite a few color changing wheel cleaners coming on the market in the past couple years, with SONAX and 1Z being at the top of the heap. This one, though, is different than most, both with ingredients and hopefully, effectiveness. Like I said, I enjoy testing different wheel cleaners, and have used most of the various ones on the market today, both color and non-color changing.
There was also a lot of excitement surrounding this product when it was launched. Unfortunately, there are not many reviews on the product, though, which was another reason why I wanted to try it – to write a review. I think reviews are the unsung heroes of forums, and I know that I base a lot of my purchasing decisions on others members’ reviews. I hope that my prior reviews have helped people know if a product will be right for their particular needs.
So, Scholl Concepts says that this is a spray – leave – rinse – done, wheel cleaner. I wanted to test this claimed effectiveness. We know that scrubbing with various wheel-cleaning tools can make even the least effective wheel cleaners acceptable at removing most brake dust and grime. I have read that this is the first sulfur-based wheel cleaner, but I can’t find information to confirm that.
Regardless of its chemical makeup, let’s see the cleaner in action! But first, here’s the labels that are on the bottle.
Here’s the front:
And the back:
So, what have the labels told us? Well, it is a thick, acid-free gel. It also contains less than 5% Anionic Tensides, Polycarboxylate, and Phenoxyethanol, as per EU (European Union) regulations.
TESTING
So, now it’s time to see what this wheel cleaner, or should I say wheel gel, can do! The directions according to the label states to first shake the bottle vigorously. Then spray the DRY wheel with Rim7 until completely covered. Let it sit up to five (5) minutes and then rinse off with a powerful hose or pressure washer. I will not be using a pressure washer, since I want to see exactly how effective the wheel cleaner without it.
The Dirty Wheel
The test subject is my Porsche 911 wheel, which have gone a good deal of time before cleaning. A few things came up and a couple weeks passed, and then I figured since it has been that long I might as well let it get as bad as I could stand and then test the Rim7 wheel gel. I knew that this would provide a worthy test to see just how effective the cleaner is. Like various sales copy has said, Scholl Concepts is a product of Germany, so it’s no surprise that it works exceptionally well on brake-dust ridden German wheels.
Here’s the wheel:
Spraying Scholl Rim7 Wheel Gel
As you can see, I am wearing nitrile gloves, which everyone should do when dealing with any detailing chemicals.
Rim7 Spraying:
Before I started spraying, though, I remembered to shake the product vigorously. After that, you’re good to go. Immediately upon spraying the Rim7, I started seeing a reaction. Keep in mind that all of my opinions are based from using the leading other wheel cleaners, specifically the iron-dissolving ones like SONAX Full Effect and 1Z ColourTec. The reaction was quicker than I have seen on equally dirty wheels with the other wheel cleaners. These pictures are right after spraying. It was spray, then grab camera and take picture.
Pretty impressive, in my opinion… After spraying the entire wheel and grabbing my camera, this was the amount of color change that had occurred:
About a minute later, you get this:
Not too long after that, this is what I was seeing:
I was seeing the type of reactions that are seen in the sales brochures and company websites!
On the rotor, the reaction, obviously, was stronger than any other part of the wheel. As the reaction continued, the wheel cleaner started to turn a dark brown, or even blackish color.
Here’s the kicker, though: It’s supposed to! Here’s the Scholl’s Concepts website sales copy:
Right there on the website it says, “Intelligent colour change – from red to black – after spraying indicates when it can be rinsed off.” I’ll translate for those who cannot understand British English: “Intelligent color change – from red to black – after spraying indicates when it can be rinsed off.”
You’ll see that the copy also says that it has a, “Pleasant fresh fragrance,” which I can confirm. In fact, when I was using it, I didn’t notice any negative smell. I only realized this when on the next wheel I used 1Z ColourTec to compare my results of the Rim7, but more on that later.
As I started to see more of the wheel cleaner turn from that purplish red to brown, I knew it was time to start rinsing the wheel.
As I stepped back to begin rinsing, this is what I saw:
You can see the deep purple color or the reaction, especially when compared to the pink color that comes out of the bottle. I like when it is a color that you can see, like Rim7’s pink or the tracer neon yellow that SONAX Full Effect has.
Rinsing the Wheel
Here’s the stream of water that I used to rinse the wheel. The nozzle used is the one that is used with a Gilmour foam gun. Remember, I wanted to see what would happen when using a regular hose rather than a pressure washer.
After rinsing with the strong stream of water, here are the results:
And, a close up…
Looks pretty clean, right? Well, there is only one way to find out for sure, and that means I have to dry the wheel. In order to make sure that the drying process did not remove any light dirt, brake dust or grime, I am only going to blow the water off the wheel using the leaf blower.
The Clean, Dry Wheel
So, after drying the wheel with the leaf blower, here are the results:
As you can see, there doesn’t appear to be any brake dust, dirt, or grime left! So far, so good, but let’s go in for a closer inspection to really see how effective Rim7 is…
In the above picture, you can see some areas where not all of the dirt or brake dust was remove, specifically near the lug nuts. This area is traditionally a difficult area to get complete removal, and usually requires some sort of agitation to get the cleaner to the entire surface, since the spray doesn’t get into all the area. That being said, that was the first area in the pictures that there was anything left over. Again, very impressive, in my opinion.
I don’t know if anyone noticed in the prior pictures, but the area where the cleaner impacted the rotor really made its mark – literally!
Here you can see the pattern of the spray as well as the lines from the gel running. Though it looks bad, it’s not, and the cleaner impression is removed the first time the brake is applied.
But, all that being said, the wheel looks pretty darn good, especially when you think about the test being done in a manner that was a spray, dwell, rinse with no agitation.
Continued on the next page...
So I was happy to finally be able to try this wheel cleaner out since I have become a wheel cleaner junkie.
So, why did I want to try this wheel cleaner? Well, there have been quite a few color changing wheel cleaners coming on the market in the past couple years, with SONAX and 1Z being at the top of the heap. This one, though, is different than most, both with ingredients and hopefully, effectiveness. Like I said, I enjoy testing different wheel cleaners, and have used most of the various ones on the market today, both color and non-color changing.
There was also a lot of excitement surrounding this product when it was launched. Unfortunately, there are not many reviews on the product, though, which was another reason why I wanted to try it – to write a review. I think reviews are the unsung heroes of forums, and I know that I base a lot of my purchasing decisions on others members’ reviews. I hope that my prior reviews have helped people know if a product will be right for their particular needs.
So, Scholl Concepts says that this is a spray – leave – rinse – done, wheel cleaner. I wanted to test this claimed effectiveness. We know that scrubbing with various wheel-cleaning tools can make even the least effective wheel cleaners acceptable at removing most brake dust and grime. I have read that this is the first sulfur-based wheel cleaner, but I can’t find information to confirm that.
Regardless of its chemical makeup, let’s see the cleaner in action! But first, here’s the labels that are on the bottle.
Here’s the front:
And the back:
So, what have the labels told us? Well, it is a thick, acid-free gel. It also contains less than 5% Anionic Tensides, Polycarboxylate, and Phenoxyethanol, as per EU (European Union) regulations.
TESTING
So, now it’s time to see what this wheel cleaner, or should I say wheel gel, can do! The directions according to the label states to first shake the bottle vigorously. Then spray the DRY wheel with Rim7 until completely covered. Let it sit up to five (5) minutes and then rinse off with a powerful hose or pressure washer. I will not be using a pressure washer, since I want to see exactly how effective the wheel cleaner without it.
The Dirty Wheel
The test subject is my Porsche 911 wheel, which have gone a good deal of time before cleaning. A few things came up and a couple weeks passed, and then I figured since it has been that long I might as well let it get as bad as I could stand and then test the Rim7 wheel gel. I knew that this would provide a worthy test to see just how effective the cleaner is. Like various sales copy has said, Scholl Concepts is a product of Germany, so it’s no surprise that it works exceptionally well on brake-dust ridden German wheels.
Here’s the wheel:
Spraying Scholl Rim7 Wheel Gel
As you can see, I am wearing nitrile gloves, which everyone should do when dealing with any detailing chemicals.
Rim7 Spraying:
Before I started spraying, though, I remembered to shake the product vigorously. After that, you’re good to go. Immediately upon spraying the Rim7, I started seeing a reaction. Keep in mind that all of my opinions are based from using the leading other wheel cleaners, specifically the iron-dissolving ones like SONAX Full Effect and 1Z ColourTec. The reaction was quicker than I have seen on equally dirty wheels with the other wheel cleaners. These pictures are right after spraying. It was spray, then grab camera and take picture.
Pretty impressive, in my opinion… After spraying the entire wheel and grabbing my camera, this was the amount of color change that had occurred:
About a minute later, you get this:
Not too long after that, this is what I was seeing:
I was seeing the type of reactions that are seen in the sales brochures and company websites!
On the rotor, the reaction, obviously, was stronger than any other part of the wheel. As the reaction continued, the wheel cleaner started to turn a dark brown, or even blackish color.
Here’s the kicker, though: It’s supposed to! Here’s the Scholl’s Concepts website sales copy:
Right there on the website it says, “Intelligent colour change – from red to black – after spraying indicates when it can be rinsed off.” I’ll translate for those who cannot understand British English: “Intelligent color change – from red to black – after spraying indicates when it can be rinsed off.”
You’ll see that the copy also says that it has a, “Pleasant fresh fragrance,” which I can confirm. In fact, when I was using it, I didn’t notice any negative smell. I only realized this when on the next wheel I used 1Z ColourTec to compare my results of the Rim7, but more on that later.
As I started to see more of the wheel cleaner turn from that purplish red to brown, I knew it was time to start rinsing the wheel.
As I stepped back to begin rinsing, this is what I saw:
You can see the deep purple color or the reaction, especially when compared to the pink color that comes out of the bottle. I like when it is a color that you can see, like Rim7’s pink or the tracer neon yellow that SONAX Full Effect has.
Rinsing the Wheel
Here’s the stream of water that I used to rinse the wheel. The nozzle used is the one that is used with a Gilmour foam gun. Remember, I wanted to see what would happen when using a regular hose rather than a pressure washer.
After rinsing with the strong stream of water, here are the results:
And, a close up…
Looks pretty clean, right? Well, there is only one way to find out for sure, and that means I have to dry the wheel. In order to make sure that the drying process did not remove any light dirt, brake dust or grime, I am only going to blow the water off the wheel using the leaf blower.
The Clean, Dry Wheel
So, after drying the wheel with the leaf blower, here are the results:
As you can see, there doesn’t appear to be any brake dust, dirt, or grime left! So far, so good, but let’s go in for a closer inspection to really see how effective Rim7 is…
In the above picture, you can see some areas where not all of the dirt or brake dust was remove, specifically near the lug nuts. This area is traditionally a difficult area to get complete removal, and usually requires some sort of agitation to get the cleaner to the entire surface, since the spray doesn’t get into all the area. That being said, that was the first area in the pictures that there was anything left over. Again, very impressive, in my opinion.
I don’t know if anyone noticed in the prior pictures, but the area where the cleaner impacted the rotor really made its mark – literally!
Here you can see the pattern of the spray as well as the lines from the gel running. Though it looks bad, it’s not, and the cleaner impression is removed the first time the brake is applied.
But, all that being said, the wheel looks pretty darn good, especially when you think about the test being done in a manner that was a spray, dwell, rinse with no agitation.
Continued on the next page...
