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Your Dirty Wheel Wells Are Ugly

25K views 129 replies 43 participants last post by  Cuda340 
#1 ·
Let's talk wheel wells people...More specifically, let¡¦s figure out why you aren't including them in your detail routine after you wash your car...cause you need to...and from what I have seen around here, most of you aren't.


Here¡¦s a few excuses I expect to hear:

ƒÞ Why would I waste my time on something you can't see?

ƒÞ It's hard to get them clean/keep them clean!

ƒÞ I never think about it.

B.S. All of them!


ƒÞ It's not a waste of time because it improves the visual profile of your car. And if you spend the time to detail it, you obviously care about how your car looks, so finish the job by detailing the wheel wells!!

ƒÞ It's only a chore to do the initial make-clean. After that, just hit them with some spray Tire Foam after each wash to maintain.

ƒÞ Stop smoking the Sticky-Icky and your short term memory will improve significantly.


There, now you¡¦re out of excuses, so just go do it!
 
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#5 ·
If you won’t do it for the sake of your own vanity, then do it for your car’s health. It’s a well known fact that a Challenger with clean wheel wells is less likely to be wrecked out and sold off for scrap parts.

If you don’t believe me, just do a quick search of your local CraigsList auto parts section, looking for any Challenger that is listed for sale “for parts only” and that has pics attached. Peep the wheel wells on those wrecked out cars, and you’ll see almost all of them have dirty wheel wells.

That’s pretty clear evidence to me. Maintaining the cleanliness of your Challenger’s wheel wells saves lives…Challenger lives!
 
#7 ·
I agree! They are easy to clean, I do mine every other wash/detail. I use mothers plastic conditioner after simple green, works wonders and they look brand new.
Hemi4us
 
#8 ·
For anyone that still absolutely refusing to go along with what I'm preaching here, allow me to make one last appeal for you to come over to our side by playing to your (hopefully) sense of patriotism:
Text Font
 
#9 ·
I remove my wheels every car wash. Take out the wheel well liners, clean every speck of mud, dirt, chewing gum, dead varmint guts etc. Wax carefully. Easier now that I applied clear film to all surfaces. Reassemble everything. Side benefit is that I don't have to do it often because I have no time left to drive.
 
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#12 ·
I remove my wheels every car wash. Take out the wheel well liners, clean every speck of mud, dirt, chewing gum, dead varmint guts etc. Wax carefully. Easier now that I applied clear film to all surfaces. Reassemble everything. Side benefit is that I don't have to do it often because *I have no time left to drive*.
I thought you were kidding at first, but a quick scan of your police department’s online crime stats prove you are telling the truth. I mean what else could account for the sudden drop-off in “Disturbing the Peace” and “Contest of Speed” citations that have been issued in your zip code this year? :wink3:
 
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#13 ·
Because as Challenger owners, we belong to a select brotherhood over which one person's negative actions can have wide-reaching consequences for the rest of us. If everybody's Challenger looks good, all of our Challengers look good. But if one Challenger is allowed to drive around in public with dirty wheel wells, the non-Challenger owning public will see that car (since it stands out now), and project that driver's actions onto all other Challenger owners.

And since we know there is a higher risk of committing a violent crime if your Challenger has dirty wheel wells, now you have a powder keg waiting for a spark. And when it explodes, the rest of us are going to catch shrapnel because that one slacker that wouldn't clean his wheel wells got liquored up one night and finally lived out his dream of firebombing all the local Donut shops because he thought their signs should spell it "Doughnut" instead.

You could give all your money to charity, defend the nation in a foreign war, or even save a person's life on live TV, but let just one Challenger owner set a bunch of strip malls ablaze amid chants of "Do-Nut! Do-Nut!", and we're all going to be no-good, donut haters because of it...

I don't know about you, but I love donuts. I don't hate donuts, or doughnuts. All unhealthy pastries are welcome in my house.

Cause, you know, 'MERICA!!
 
#15 ·
Look, I'm not trying to say EVERY Challenger owner with dirty wheel wells is a bad Challenger owner, but I will say that every bad Challenger owner I have ever known DID have dirty wheel wells.

Take from that what you will...
 
#16 ·
Every other car wash I jack up my Scat, pull the wheels/tires and wash my plastic fender liners. I quick wipe down with Armorall and all is good. I then wash and wax the inside of my rims and remount. Wheels and inner fenders stay looking good for two more washes. So, twice a month I do this routine and it adds approx 45 minutes to my detail time. Worth it in my book, wifey thinks I have a touch of dementia.
 
#17 ·
Yeah, my wife used to wonder aloud about my sanity after seeing some of the extremes I would go to while working or cleaning our Challengers, but she has recently stopped...saying it out loud that is, I'm quite certain she still has all the same doubts and fears about my mental state, but she just keeps them to herself. I do find that tact more satisfactory from my standpoint, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't getting paranoid about the reason she went from out loud to keeping quiet. I mean, is she planning on having me committed and is just biding her time now by placating me, waiting until they show up with the butterfly nets to take me away before she screams out, "I TOLD YOU THAT YOU WERE CRAZY!!! CRAAAAAZY!!!"

That's why I have taken measures to protect myself in the event someone attempts to surprise me while I'm cleaning my Challenger to take me to the puzzle factory. I can't get into specifics, but between you and me, I would avoid walking in our front yard if I were you...wait, never mind, disregard all that, I was somewhere else for a sec.

Any-hoooo, it's hot here, damned hot. Hot enough to fry people's brains if they aren't careful actually...:sunny::sunny::sunny:
 
#20 ·
Alright, before I accidentally offend anyone and we end up getting this thread closed, I guess I better go on record as saying, "It's your car, please do with it what you wish, and be happy doing it."

There, happy? And now that the disclaimer stuff is out of the way, I want to give a glimpse into my brain to explain why this topic is even something I thought to create a thread on.

It's a little counter-intuitive at first, but I think what a set of clean wheel wells will add to a Challenger's appearance is the simple fact that they (the wheel wells) are not noticed when admiring the car's appearance. And this is the context under which I am operating when I'm driving my Challenger and scanning the road for other Challengers as well.

You can't hide either, I see you out there when you're driving on the roads, freeways, parking lots, etc. Every one of you...maybe it's my affection for the Challenger's looks, or maybe I've got a mental defect which borders on As-burger's or something, but I take notice of every Challenger I see, and I will visually inspect it and make snap judgments about its driver in an instant.

And for the most part, they are all positive thoughts, like "damned nice looking car, I would love to have those rims and tires on my ride!" or "holy crap, how did he get that paint to look so damned good?!?"

But sometimes, one of y'all will catch my eye, and it ain't because your tires are shiny or your windows are clear...no, it's more because of something you aren't doing...like keeping your black plastic trim in good shape.

In those instances, I'm more apt to have thoughts like, "So much good looking about that Challenger...the rubber, the rims, the paint...yet he chose to accentuate it all with dirty, cheap plastic...poor guy, I wonder if he needs a couple of bucks to get back on his feet..."

Please don't make me turn into THAT guy...he's a real 'rick' w/a 'P', and I detest him!
 
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#21 ·
When I wash our cars, I just take the hose and spray it up into the wheel well. This gets all of the road debris, dust, dirt, whatever out of there. This does a good job without having to get in there and polish them up. I'm pretty anal about our stuff, but I can live with knowing that they're clean, but not polished.

If you use a car wash that has a wax in it, you just waxed them then too. :grin2:
 
#25 ·
I disagree. Problem hidden, and I already put over a 100 miles a day on my Challenger (40K+ in last 360-ish days), so freeing up time for more driving isn't a plus for me.

However, having said all that, I will agree that the 4x4-esque ride height of the stock suspension in 2010 should be reduced via lowering springs if possible, by cutting them if necessary. Ironically enough, that's my next major mod, I just have to get aholt of a set of spring compressors so I can upgrade the struts when I pull the springs to start lopping off coils.

But back to the orignal statement of problem resolution vs problem obscuring: even if the grayed-out trim in the wheel wells is not visible to bystanders looking at the car from a distance, it is still there and completely visible to anyone who views the car from the right angle...

For example, what happens if a crazy ex steals your car and runs you down with it, leaving you trapped underneath it, being drug around the parking lot as she aims for parking blocks trying to finish you off. Now, you know you're going to be dead in a matter of seconds, but with the adreneline of the situation and everything, your last few dozen seconds on earth may feel like an hour, or even a whole day depending upon how much agony you are in from the grevious wounds inflicted upon you up to that point.

Now, I ask youi, given all that, and knowing that the last thing on this earth you are going to see is the underside of your own Challenger, wouldn't you want those precious few moments remaining to be filled with visions of your kick-ass new tires or something like that?

I know I would...but if we had only previously hidden our dirty wheel wells instead of actually cleaned them, the last glimpse of this side before being swept up by God himself to take your spot in heaven would be spent full of regret at how ugly that plastic is when its not kept clean and shiny...and how its grey-ish color makes your blood stains really stand out from when the new tires' tread is evacuating that blood out of its treads and onto the fender wells.

And for anyone that wants to discount my hypothetical scenario I used there, I would remind you to think back to your younger years (or maybe just yesterday), back when YOU had a crazy ex that was capable of murder...so is it really that far fetched now that you think about it???
 
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#26 ·
It's difficult to say what will work best for you, there are many options though...we have notepads, reminder apps, automated emails, etc.

And if more serious attention is needed, we can even sign you up to take part in our weekly aversion therapy sessions. I will say that those can get a little intense, especially the first time you get sprayed in the face with Mace, but you will learn pretty quicklly what's right and what's wrong and won't have to worry about that happen very many times.

And for those who's lives have spiraled out of control up to this point, we do have a trained janitor on staff that can apply electro-shock therapy if necessary. Don't worry, it sounds worse than it really is. Besides, the model of Taser he is using is so old, I don't think they even allow cops to use them anymore.

Everyone's path to redemption is different. And yours may take several attempts. But you've already done the most important part - admitted your wheel wells are dirty and that you need help making them right. The rest is easy! (for us, not necessarily you)
 
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#29 ·
Pop Quiz Time

Okay, here's the real test.

Which one of these Challengers pleases your eyes more than the other:





Challenger A: Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Automotive design



or...


Challenger B: Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Automotive design



And there is no "right" answer*, so please answer honestly!


(That is NOT my Challenger (unfortunately), but it is a CT member's. I don't remember their username or I would give credit here. If this is your car, sorry I forgot your name and couldn't make note this is your car :( )

















* - there is absolutely a right choice and a wrong choice, but I need to you feel at ease while choosing...don't let choosing the wrong one make you nervous and affect how you process pleasing visual images.
 
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#36 ·
Oh daaaamn... *So if I don't wash my wheel wells I'm a bad owner?* Lol I'm in Kentucky....Muddin in a Chally challenge accepted [emoji23][emoji97]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No, no, no...I am not trying to label everyone with dirty wheel wells as bad owners. I have not doubt that there are Challenger owners that have dirty wheel wells out there and yet who are great owners. You may even be one of these mythical beings, I cannot know for certain given my geographical separation. All I'm saying is that I don't see good owners with dirty wheel wells. So when I see dirty wheel wells, there is automatically going to be suspicions of bad ownership right off the bat.

Unfair of me to pre-judge like that? Sure.

Am I going to change? Nope, too old and too obstinate.


Ultimately, I just want us all to get on the same page. And until we do, we will never be able to muster a serious effort at world domination.

After all, that's really what we're all doing by owning Challengers, right - world domination?

Who's with me?!?

<crickets>

Hello?!?!?

<crickets>

Come on, don't leave me hanging here!!

 
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#37 ·
That's really all that is required, it's not brain surgery. I keep a 20 oz can of the el-cheapo tire foam in the trunk for after car washes and any touch-ups that might be needed in between washes. So little effort, so much reward!
 
#40 ·
Ok, after 4 pages, you've convinced me. Problem is, I just don't know how and I'm a slow learner. I'm Carrollton, perhaps you'd be willing to come show me? I mean if it really means that much to you and all.....
 
#67 ·
Ironically enough, there's a nice little car wash over in your neck of the woods (Coppell-Carrollton border) that I actually hit once a week or so to wash all the crud off my Challenger that it collects from my daily commutes back and forth through all the construction zones along I-35 and 423/Main in The Colony.

Between the commute into work and the commute home each day, I will end up driving almost 100 miles every day, and with the majority of those miles being in the construction zones around here, it doesn’t take long for my car’s paint to build up a layer of dirt, grime, and whatever else is in the air at the time. And I'm here to tell ya, there ain't no road grime like the road grime that two trips a day through massive highway construction zones can build up!!

Anyway, if you ever find yourself out cruising around during lunch time one of these weekdays, cruise on by the Ultra Clean Car Wash in Coppell at MacArthur and Belt Line. If you see a giant red haired fella sweating his arse off while trying to clean up a black Challenger in there, stop in and say 'whaddup', because that'll most likely be me…and I’ll be happy to put on a wheel well cleaning demonstration for you, the likes of which is so kick-ass that it’s been banned in 23 states!!

(and if it's not too much trouble, bring a Gatorade or two along with you, please sir, as I'm finding cold beverages like that are increasingly vital to my survival during car washing sessions in the summer like this...it’s friggin’ hot out there nowadays!!)
 
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#42 ·
Back in my college days, I was well acquainted with the ways of the stoner. So much so that I once tried to argue with my English Lit professor that I deserved an A instead of a B on a paper by drawing parallels between some 19th century blow-hard’s story and the lyrics of a Nine Inch Nails song. I’ll never forget the look on my prof’s face when he looked up at me and said, “Son, you need to seek help.”

Except, at the time, with a mind that might have been slightly clouded with THC, what I was heard was, “Son, you need sea kelp.

So when I asked him what some veggie-burger ingredient had to do with my grade in this class, he just laughed and said, “Okay, okay, I give. You can have the A.”

TRUE STORY!!
 
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