What do commercial car washes use to clean wheels with?

My truck and wheels were especially nasty today so I took my truck to a commercial wash today. I paid the extra $3 for the "wheel job" and fully expected them to have to work at them for some time. They were especially crappy.

The guy took a sprayer (like a bug sprayer with the pump) and sprayed a substance on the wheels then hosed em down. All the stuff came off and they were instantly sparkling clean and the white letters looked new. I tried EVERY product I have and a 1500psi p-washer and nothing even touched it.

I MUST know what the mystery substance was. I asked, but they smiled and said that's why they are the professioals and if they told me then I'd have no reason to pay them. They're right, but there are other ways

Surely, someone knows what that stuff was.

 

It's Miller High Life in a pump sprayer... that's about all that stuff is good for if you ask me. LOL!

Seriously though, it could be any number of chemicals. Just about every manufacturer that makes a 'professional' line will feature some sort of wheel cleaner/tire cleaner product. Generally speaking, what they use is a dilutable chemical and is pretty darn harsh and very acidic.

While I doubt a 'volume' car wash type of place is using higher end pro-products, a chemical that many of us here have used and like is Meguiar's Wheel Brightener however; for some reason, I don't see it on their website...

 

Is that a bad thing, really? I mean, lets be honest, the pH of the rain falling from the sky is probably just as bad sometimes

What amazed me about this was it was a TRUE spray on rinse off solution. Even the Meguiers whould have needed a hand scrub on this job. I've never seen a so called "spray on rinse off" product that really worked.

 

Poorboy's have what they call Spray and Rinse. You rinse your rims off with cold water, make sure that they are still hot from driving/braking. Spray it on the rims, walk around and do the other three. By the time you come back, you can rinse off the rims with the hose. Poorboys recommends to dilute it with water for regular maintenance. Also, rinse out the spray head with clean water after every use.

I have been using this since it came out. I think that Boss_429 may have been one of the tester's of this product before it was released. He can give you some more input.

Recommended for clearcoated rims only. PAC's carries this product.