{"product_id":"tuga-chemie-set-felgen","title":"TUGA Chemie \"Wheels\" Cleaning Set","description":"\u003ch2 id=\"speakable-headline\"\u003eThe wheel cleaner loosens the brake dust. The brush gets it out.\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cblockquote id=\"speakable-summary\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat is the TUGA Chemie \"Wheels\" Cleaning Set? A build-your-own kit: one of the two TUGA wheel cleaners plus, if you want, the right tool — and 20 percent off whatever combination you pick. Not meant for tyre sidewalls, painted body panels or motorbikes.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"speakable-definition\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe TUGA Chemie \"Wheels\" Cleaning Set\u003c\/strong\u003e is a configurable \u003cstrong\u003ewheel cleaner kit\u003c\/strong\u003e: you pick one cleaner — the acid-free Alu-Teufel \"Spezial\"® (green) for regular maintenance or the acidic Aluminium-Teufel® (red) for baked-on brake dust — in 1 litre or 5 litres. Then add the detailing wheel brush, the long wheel brush or both. Whatever you put together costs 20 percent less than buying the parts separately.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy two parts in the first place? Because brake dust comes in two layers. Under braking, the brake system gets up to 800 degrees hot; glowing iron particles hit the wheel and sinter into the top layer of clear coat. The chemistry dissolves that iron layer — with weekly washing, that's 75 to 85 percent of the dirt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat's left after that is traffic film: a grey haze of oil, tyre rubber and road dust that clings to the surface electrostatically and ignores every cleaner you throw at it. For you, that means the last 15 to 25 percent only comes off with bristles. That's exactly why the tool is in the set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTwo cleaners for two different jobs.\u003c\/strong\u003e The green Alu-Teufel \"Spezial\"® works acid-free at pH 7 to 8 — the range of ordinary tap water — so it's cleared for aluminium, chrome, anodised, diamond-cut, powder-coated and multi-piece wheels, TPMS sensors included. The red Aluminium-Teufel® sits at the other end of the scale with a pH below 1 and is an emergency tool with a maximum dwell time of 1 to 2 minutes. In the AUTO ZEITUNG wheel cleaner test, the green one came out on top of eleven cleaners, scoring 91 out of 100 and the rating \"very good\".\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe tool closes the gap the chemistry leaves open.\u003c\/strong\u003e One to two extra minutes of hand work per wheel sounds like more effort, but it saves you the second and third chemical pass — in practice about 30 to 40 percent of the total time and a third of the product. The long wheel brush measures 34 centimetres with a 15-centimetre Nylex head, so it reaches the wheel barrel without taking the wheel off. The detailing wheel brush, at 23 centimetres with 5-centimetre bristles, is its counterpart for spoke roots, valve and bolt circle.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOne litre covers a whole season.\u003c\/strong\u003e An 18 to 20-inch wheel needs about 30 millilitres of gel for full coverage, so a complete set of four takes around 120 millilitres. That gets you a good 8 wheel sets out of the 1-litre bottle — with a thorough wheel wash every four weeks, exactly one summer or winter season. The 5-litre canister stretches to more than 41 wheel sets and pays off as soon as there's a second car in the household.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cblockquote class=\"praxistipp\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDetailing1's tip from the shop:\u003c\/strong\u003e The most expensive mistake with wheel gel is spraying on too much. Whatever runs down the rim flange and drips out of the back of the barrel never reacted with brake dust — it's just gone. Spray enough to just cover the surface and work from the bottom up, so runs don't dry on while you're still spraying the top.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn a 19-inch spoke wheel that's around 30 millilitres, not double. Here in Nordhorn we regularly see customers who've emptied the litre bottle after four washes and wonder why it didn't last — it's almost always the amount, not the product.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eCold wheel, three minutes, then the brush\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe routine is the same for both cleaners: spray onto a cold wheel, let it dwell, agitate, then rinse top to bottom with a strong jet of water. Only the dwell time is very different.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the green Alu-Teufel \"Spezial\"® it's 3 to 5 minutes. You can see for yourself when it's done: the gel turns red-violet as soon as it binds iron from the brake dust — a chemical indicator instead of a stopwatch. In practice that means you don't rinse too early, and you don't leave the cleaner sitting there for no reason.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe gel itself is thixotropic: it thins out and atomises as you spray, then thickens straight back up on the vertical wheel face. So it stays where the dirt is instead of running off into the barrel. TUGA Chemie has been developing and bottling this formula at its own site in Osnabrück for decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the red Aluminium-Teufel® the limit is 1 to 2 minutes, and there's no colour change here — the red is purely cosmetic. With no visual cue, you go by the clock, not by feel. For the red one, the manufacturer also specifies a pre-rinse with clean water. That has a second benefit once bristles come into play: loose grit under a brush acts like sandpaper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYour choice of tool follows the wheel design, not your taste. On closed aero wheels you can't get into the inner barrel at all — there the detailing brush does the work on the face, edges and valve. Deep barrels or concave designs need the reach of the long brush. Multi-spoke and Y-spoke wheels call for both; a classic five-spoke gets by with the long brush alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth tools are resistant across the entire pH range and built metal-free — the ferrule is plastic and the wire core of the long brush is thickly sheathed. Worth knowing: there's no bare metal edge that can reach the clear coat. One user from the detailing community sums up a common worry: \"I stay away from plastic-bristle wheel brushes now, I scratched all four of my matte black wheels with one.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe answer isn't the brush, it's the lubrication. Never brush a wheel dry — there always has to be enough gel or shampoo water on the surface so the bristles glide instead of grind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eGreen for the weekly wash. Red for emergencies only.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe most important decision in this set isn't the tool, it's the wheel finish. The green cleaner is cleared for everything; the red one has hard no-go zones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003cthead\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eWheel finish\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eAlu-Teufel \"Spezial\"® (green)\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eAluminium-Teufel® (red)\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/thead\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eClear-coated, intact\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePowder-coated\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePolished or bare\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eoff limits\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAnodised\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eoff limits\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eChrome-plated\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eoff limits\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMulti-piece\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eoff limits\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eStainless steel\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eoff limits\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMatte painted\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eoff limits\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMotorbikes and scooters\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eapproved\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eoff limits\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you clean your wheels every one to three weeks, the green one is the right choice — for good. If the brake dust has been baking on for months and the pH-neutral version still can't break through on the second pass, the red one is the tool for that one job. After that, back to green.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA user in a car care forum puts it this way: \"This strong cleaner isn't for the regular-wash crowd, go for the mild green one instead.\" That's exactly how the set is meant to work — the red isn't a better green, it's a different tool for a different condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are three limits you should know about. The active ingredient in the green cleaner smells strongly of sulphur; other brands mask that with fragrance, TUGA doesn't. The indicator also reacts with bare cast iron and leaves a brief film of flash rust on the brake disc — it disappears the first time you brake hard, but it looks ugly until then.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe third limit is the spray head. The thick gel comes out of the standard trigger more as a stream than a fine mist, and after four big wheels your index finger knows about it. If you wash often, decant into a pump-up pressure sprayer. With the red cleaner, the acid also attacks the spring inside the trigger — flush it with clean water after every use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wheel cleaner kit isn't made for anything that isn't a wheel. Tar and bitumen don't react chemically with the green one's active ingredient; for that you need a tar remover. Tyre sidewalls are out as well — that's a job for a tyre cleaner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat we see day-to-day, the most common damage comes from exactly one direction: the red cleaner ends up on a polished or multi-piece wheel. The milky white haze that leaves behind can only be worked out with a sisal wheel and metal polish — around two hours per wheel, if it works at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOne litre lasts a season\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFigure on about 30 millilitres of gel per wheel and 120 millilitres per set of four. That makes the size choice in the wheel cleaner kit almost automatic: 1 litre for one car, 5 litres from the second one on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1-litre bottle comes ready to use with a spray head and, with a thorough wheel wash every four weeks, lasts a full season. The 5-litre canister is the size for multi-car households, for detailers who wash weekly and for anyone who decants into a pressure sprayer anyway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce opened, both cleaners stay fully reactive for 24 months if stored frost-free and dark. Keep the acidic red one away from alkaline cleaners and off the bare, cold concrete floor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn our shop, the Alu-Teufel \"Spezial\"® is the second best-selling \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/felgenreiniger\"\u003ewheel cleaner\u003c\/a\u003e of the last 90 days across all brands, with 42 orders. The set components have 13 verified reviews on Trusted Shops, averaging 4.8 out of 5. Jörg wrote to us after buying: \"Cleans wheels in 2 minutes and cleans the brakes too.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want less work long-term after cleaning, follow up with a \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/felgenversiegelung\"\u003ewheel sealant\u003c\/a\u003e — on a sealed wheel the brake dust just sits loosely on top, and washing drops from five to seven minutes per wheel to under two. If none of the tools in this set suits your wheel design, you'll find more shapes in our \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/tuga-chemie-felgenbuerste-felgenpinsel\"\u003ebrushes\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne moment is especially worth it: autumn, when the summer wheels come off. Stored unwashed, leftover brake dust keeps eating into the clear coat for six months — the pros call it baking in at rest, and by spring it's no longer a cleaning problem but a polishing one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd if you want to know whether your wheel is really clean, do the test that ends every debate about tools: after rinsing, run a finger through the barrel. Black finger? Chemistry did the job alone. Clean finger? You used the brush.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TUGA Chemie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58560154141007,"sku":"D1-SET-TUGACHEMIE-FELGEN","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0800\/3272\/7375\/files\/d1_auto-reinigungsset-felgen-von-tuga-chemie_lineup_c83858a0-0686-49fe-b9d4-08f2e0e60aa5.jpg?v=1787666056","url":"https:\/\/detiiling1.com\/products\/tuga-chemie-set-felgen","provider":"Detailing1","version":"1.0","type":"link"}