Looking for the best tire cleaner for your car? You've come to the right place!
In this ProperMechanic.com guide, you'll learn:
- What tire cleaner is
- The different types of tire cleaners
- How to choose the best tire cleaner for you
And much more!

Let’s face it. A vehicle’s wheels and tires are among the first items to receive a glance by any inquiring eye.
You can have spent countless hours and endless elbow grease detailing every other square inch of your vehicle’s exterior, but if your vehicle’s wheels and tires do not shine to the same degree, your efforts are without merit to many.
For that reason, the bulk of all home detailers have graduated past the ranks of just simply washing their wheels and tires with soapy water, brushes and a microfiber cloths.
Our automotive society has moved far beyond this point, with several manufacturers offering their own line of tire specific preps and washes.
But with so many purpose-specific tire cleaners on the market today, how does one decide which cleaner is right for them, let alone the best wheel and tire cleaner on the market?
Luckily, we, as fellow car owners and enthusiasts, have been faced with the same questions ourselves, and are here to provide you with the necessary information needed to make an informed buying decision.
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Our Top Pick
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Our Top Pick
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Eagle One Triple Cleaning Foam Spray
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View on Amazon |
Best Budget
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Best Budget
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Adam’s Tire & Rubber Cleaner
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View on Amazon |
Best High End
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Best High End
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CarGuys Premium Wheel/ Tire Cleaner
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View on Amazon |
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Griot’s Garage Rubber Cleaner
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View on Amazon | |
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MEGUIAR’S Non-Acid Tire & Wheel Cleaner
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View on Amazon |
Overall #1 Rated Pick
Updated As of 5/14/2020
Top Rated Overall: Eagle One Triple Cleaning Foam Spray
- Safe for factory coated wheels
- Foaming action cuts through dirt
- Comes with easy application nozzle
Our top pick is this amazing tire cleaner from Eagle One because, quite simply, it's an incredible value for your money.
Not only does is this jug bigger than most of the tire cleaners on the market, but this stuff cuts through dirt like no other!
It's safe for factory treated tires, which means you won't melt off that protective coating, but you'll still get an incredible shine.
If you want a long-lasting, hard-working tire cleaner, this is the one for you!
Top 5 Best Tire Cleaners
Check out our below list for a summary of our results. Keep on reading to learn more about your other options!
What Is Tire Cleaner?
Tire cleaner is a specially formulated solution that is intended for the sole purpose of restoring your tires’ factory clean appearance.
This in itself is no small task, as a vehicle’s tires do not exactly live a life of luxury. Dirt, grime, road salt, brake dust, and uncured tar all weigh heavily on a tire during its existence.
Through trial and error, automotive detailers have found that simple soap and warm water car washes were not enough to shed the years of abuse that a tire wears daily.
This led many to demand more. From this demand came tire cleaner, one of the industries most valued car care products for detailing your tires.
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What Are The Different Types Of Tire Cleaner?
Tire cleaner comes in several different forms, with the biggest difference between these forms being their intended use. These cleaners can most simply be divided up into two forms, pure cleaner, and cleaner/shine.
Pure Tire Cleaner
Pure tire cleaner is a product that is designed solely for the purpose of washing contaminants from the sidewall and other exterior segments of your tires.
These products are also known alternatively as tire prep products.
These products do not provide a shine to the tire itself, and instead, require the use of a separate tire shine product to complete the detailing task itself.
However, using this two-step combo approach to tire detailing has often been cited by many professional detailers as providing a better-finished result.
Cleaner/Shine
Tire cleaner/shine accomplishes exactly what the name suggests.
These one-stop-shop products eliminate the need for two separate compounds to complete the task of detailing your vehicle’s tires.
The majority of these products are simply sprayed on and wiped off to remove road grime, and apply a lasting shine, all in a single application.
However, some automotive detailers claim that attempting to complete both tasks with a single product provides less than adequate results on both fronts.
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How Does Tire Cleaner Work?
Tire cleaning products utilize specialty detergents, degreasers and conditioners to remove even the most stubborn of contaminants from a tire's exterior surface.
This is accomplished by loosening the bond between these contaminants and the tire’s rubber structure, making it far easier to wash or wipe the filth away.
Although different chemical compounds are used within the ingredients from one cleaner to the next, the bulk of these products are all engineered to penetrate into a tire’s nooks and crannies, to ward off even the most stubborn of caked of grime.
The use of tire cleaner restores a tire’s rich, black appearance, and eliminates the worn and tired look that most tires display after only a short time on the road.
These cleaners also prepare a tire’s surface to accept the application of a quality tire shine, to further bolster its replenished look. For more on detailing your car, including your tires, check out this article.
What Do You Look For In A Tire Shine?
There are several qualities that any detail-minded individual should consider when purchasing a tire shine.
One such factor that should weigh heavily into any buying decision is whether or not a particular tire cleaner is safe if any overspray onto rims or painted surfaces were to take place.
While this might not seem like an issue that is likely to be encountered on the surface, the truth is, it happens far more than you would think.
Despite our best efforts, the application of any spray based product does not always go as intended.
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Whether it be an ill-timed gust of wind or a thumb that is absentmindedly placed in a way that partially obstructs the nozzle itself, tire cleaner will likely end up other than where desired during the application process.
Another factor worthy of consideration is whether or not a particular tire cleaner can, in fact, double as a wheel cleaning solution.
While the overspray of some products can be harsh to a wheels coated surface, others are completely safe and consumers are encouraged to use these products on wheels in much the same manner as you would tires.
This can come as an added benefit to your purchase because it is not only efficient but cost-effective as well.
Anytime that a single product can be used where two products would generally be used in tandem, but also do a quality job in both regards, the consumer wins.
Also not to be forgotten, is the fact that any form of car care product is typically best purchased from a reputable, well known, long-standing company within the industry.
Your vehicle is an investment, and so is your time. Therefore it is never wise to risk either on a product that comes from a fly-by-night, obscure company, of which no one is familiar.

Best Tire Cleaners Reviewed
When striving to provide your vehicle’s tires with a fresh off the showroom floor look, only tire cleaner of high-quality will do. Here is our buyer’s guide for the best tire cleaner to top off your car’s freshly detailed appearance.
Pick #1 - Eagle One Triple Cleaning Foam Spray
Eagle One is a name that is synonymous with car care perfection.
Their long history of bringing pro-grade detailing products to the masses is well recorded, and the Triple Cleaning Foam Spray is another solid offering in the company’s storied line.
Eagle One Triple Cleaning Foam Spray utilizes an easy to use spray nozzle to deliver cleaner in a foam form, directly to the surface of your tires.
This equates to a product that will dig deep and reach all those hard to reach places that many others would miss.
Of added benefit is that this tire cleaner is wheel and clear coat safe, eliminating any worries of damage at the hands of unintended overspray.
Pros
Cons
Pick #2 - Adam's Tire & Rubber Cleaner
Does the smell of your other detailing chemicals give you a headache that lasts for hours, and burns your sinuses to no end?
If so, then Adam's Tire & Rubber Cleaner is just what you have been searching for.
Not only does this product dig deep to remove stubborn tire discoloration, but it has a pleasant citrus scent that no one can hate.
However, do not let the product’s citrusy-sweet aroma fool you.
This is a product that is renowned for its effectiveness and made to pull off even the most stringent of detailing jobs.
In fact, Adam’s backs this tire cleaner with their “110% satisfaction guarantee.” If for any reason you are not satisfied, give the manufacturer a call and they will make it right.
Pros
Cons
Pick #3 - CarGuys Premium Wheel/ Tire Cleaner
CarGuys is quickly gaining traction as one of the top tier manufacturers of any and everything imaginable that is needed to detail your vehicle to showroom quality.
Their Premium Wheel Cleaner comes as no exception to this trend, as it is specifically designed to restore your tires’ rich, black finish of old.
Another key point regarding the value of the CarGuys Premium Wheel Cleaner is that it is harmless to any variation of wheel finishes and wheel types, OEM or otherwise.
Aluminum, anodized, chrome, and alloy wheels are unaffected by any overspray that might occur.
CarGuys is so convinced that this product will be your new favorite tire and rim cleaner that they offer a “no fine print to read, no gimmicks” 100% money-back guarantee.
Pros
Cons
Pick #4 - Griot's Garage Rubber Cleaner
The Griot's Garage Rubber Cleaner is truly revolutionary in its capabilities.
This product is robust enough to remove tough stuck-on road grime and other contaminants, while also being gentle enough to leave a tire’s base coat of tire shine in place.
This makes Griot’s Garage Rubber Cleaner a wonderful choice for anyone that is looking to complete a quick touch up on their tires, without expending time above what is necessary.
Simply mist the cleaner on by way of the products convenient spray bottle applicator, give it a light scrub with a brush and spray it back off.
With the application of a light outer coat of tire dressing, you will be back on the road once more.
This product also has the distinction of being one of the only products on this list that is advertised for additional usage on trim and molding.
Pros
Cons
Pick #5 - MEGUIAR'S Non-Acid Tire & Wheel Cleaner
MEGUIAR’S is a name that is nearly as old as the detailing industry itself, with the company owing its survival to an outright refusal to provide customers with anything but the absolute best.
MEGUIAR'S Non-Acid Tire & Wheel Cleaner upholds this tradition by giving detail-minded individuals all they need to bring their tires back to life in vibrant fashion.
This acid-free product offers a 2-for-1 proposition for all who purchase it, as MEGUIAR'S has engineered this solution to offer superior cleaning power for all tires, and is also renowned as one of the best wheel cleaners on the market.
This saves a consumer both time and money, which will come as a substantial benefit to most.
MEGUIAR’S Non-Acid Tire & Wheel Cleaner is also designed to simply be sprayed on, lightly scrubbed about, and removed by rinsing, making wheel and tire detailing into a sub-10 minute affair.
Pros
Cons
Our Top Pick: Eagle One Triple Cleaning Foam Spray
Eagle One is a name that is synonymous with car care perfection.
Their long history of bringing pro-grade detailing products to the masses is well recorded, and the Triple Cleaning Foam Spray is another solid offering in the company’s storied line.
Eagle One Triple Cleaning Foam Spray utilizes an easy to use spray nozzle to deliver cleaner in a foam form, directly to the surface of your tires.
This equates to a product that will dig deep and reach all those hard to reach places that many others would miss.
Of added benefit is that this tire cleaner is wheel and clear coat safe, eliminating any worries of damage at the hands of unintended overspray.
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