Need advice on scrubbing muddy wheel wells

My neighbors and I recently sprung to have our dirt right-of-way graveled. Now that I'm no longer driving through dirt & mud, I'm inclined to clean out my wheel wells. They are pretty dirty.

I just did a deep clean/clay/was on the exterior, and tried an undiluted multi-purpose cleaner and a hand brush on the wheel wells. The crud did not budge, so I punted to leave them for another day. They now stick out like a sore thumb since the rest of the care is detailed so nicely.

The space in there is tight. I'm thinking I can jack up the car so as to get more room to work (really don't want to take off the wheels).

Does anyone have a favorite heavy duty cleaner they can recommend for something like this?
I don't own a power washer.

I was looking at this Mother's brush set, but everything is (understandably) soft bristles...I'm not sure that soft is gonna cut it.

I'd go to a car wash place and use the high pressure nozzle. Ed

erhayes said:

I'd go to a car wash place and use the high pressure nozzle. Ed

Click to expand...

Yeh, I was thinking that.

Scrape off as much as I can at home, and take a cleaner with me to try to power wash it.

I've used a power washer to clean cruddy wheel wells...maybe a neighbor has one to borrow if you don't own one. You might want to start with a less powerful nozzle and work up to stronger ones, to avoid potentially damaging anything beyond the wells themselves.

Key will probably be to pre-treat with some type of cleaner to bust up the old dried on mud. A quick online search shows that people have found success cleaning wheel wells using degreasing products designed for vehicles.

Simple Green

power washer using hot water from your house - not too high a pressure

catch the mud so it doesn't run down into the rivers & streams where you fish and your kids swim

I love having a pressure washer at the house, but if you don't want to buy one, I believe you can rent one at a tool store like Home Depot. Most washers come with differently sized nozzles, usually a 20-degree and a 40-degree. Just a word of caution, don't let the stream hit your skin with the 20-degree or lower nozzle, the high pressure can break the skin. Pick up a stiff-bristled nylon brush at your local dollar store.

What I'd do is put the car on jackstands, remove the wheels (if you want), then use the pressure washer to blast out the majority of the mud. I think the CX-5 has felt liners in some areas, so the mud is more likely to stick there, even after being pressure washed. At that point I'd spray the liners down with a cleaner like Simple Green and scrub down the stubborn stuff with the nylon-bristled brush. You can also use the Simple Green and the nylon brush to clean the tire sidewalls.

Once that's all said and done, as a finishing touch, you can grab a can of tire foam and spray down the liner. It'll leave the liner looking brand new (just don't get it on the tire treads). I don't get a lot of mud here so I can get away with a pressure wash and some tire foam.

Avoidin Deer said:

My neighbors and I recently sprung to have our dirt right-of-way graveled. Now that I'm no longer driving through dirt & mud, I'm inclined to clean out my wheel wells. They are pretty dirty.

I just did a deep clean/clay/was on the exterior, and tried an undiluted multi-purpose cleaner and a hand brush on the wheel wells. The crud did not budge, so I punted to leave them for another day. They now stick out like a sore thumb since the rest of the care is detailed so nicely.

The space in there is tight. I'm thinking I can jack up the car so as to get more room to work (really don't want to take off the wheels).

Does anyone have a favorite heavy duty cleaner they can recommend for something like this?
I don't own a power washer.

I was looking at this Mother's brush set, but everything is (understandably) soft bristles...I'm not sure that soft is gonna cut it.

Click to expand...

At the motorcycle shops and dealers they have cleaners made specifically for cleaning the muddy dirt bikes. I wonder if that might work well here for this purpose>? That weird felt stuff in parts of the wheel wells is the unknown for me... maybe a laundry soap?

@smike: Good advice. I*ve used a pressure washer when preparing my new deck for stain. The high-power setting actually etched the wood!!! It sounds like you pressure-washed the felt liner without damaging it*that*s good info to have. You know, I really did not want to yank the wheels in order to do this, but since this is a one-time shot (as mentioned, I now have gravel over the dirt), I may just go ahead and do it.

@mazdadude: That dirt bike thought it a good one! I*ll make some phone calls.