Duel Autocare
Plush Microfibre Wheel MittSafe On Alloy, Chrome & Painted Wheels
Wheels have flat faces and awkward gaps, and most tools only handle one of them. Brushes get into barrels and behind spokes but skate over a face; a cloth cleans the face but can’t reach anything. This is a mitt, so your hand goes where the tool goes — flat across the spoke faces, then folded and pushed through the gaps to reach the parts nobody sees but everybody knows are filthy. Plush microfibre, safe on alloy, chrome and painted wheels.
At A Glance
Why You'll Love It
A mitt bends, folds and squeezes in a way a brush handle can't. Fold it over and push it through a spoke gap to clean the back of the spoke properly, by feel.
A brush rides across a flat spoke face on its bristle tips. A plush mitt lies flat with full contact, which is why faces come up cleaner and quicker with a mitt than with a brush.
Deep soft fibre with nothing hard in it, safe on alloy, chrome and painted finishes where a stiff brush would be a risk.
The pile holds contamination rather than spraying it back at you and the paintwork — something anyone who has used a stiff brush with a strong wheel cleaner will appreciate.
What Does A Wheel Mitt Do That A Brush Can't?
Wheel cleaning is really two jobs pretending to be one. There is the face of the wheel — flat, visible, and the bit that makes the car look clean. And there is everything behind it: the back of the spokes, the inner barrel, the awkward pocket where the spoke meets the rim. Brake dust collects worst in exactly the places you can't see.
Brushes are built for the second job. A long-handled brush reaches deep into a barrel and that's genuinely hard to replicate any other way. But a brush is a poor tool for the first job, because bristles contact the surface at their tips — a small amount of the tool actually touching the wheel, riding over the face rather than cleaning it.
A mitt inverts that. It lies completely flat against a spoke face with full contact and a deep pile carrying cleaner, so faces clean faster and more thoroughly. And because it is fabric rather than a fixed shape, you can fold it, push it through a gap and clean the back of a spoke by feel — which is a genuinely different capability, not a worse version of what a brush does.
The honest position is that these are complements. A mitt will not reach the deep inner barrel of a concave alloy the way a proper barrel brush will. What it does is the faces, the spoke backs and the areas a brush skims — which on most wheels is the majority of the visible surface.
"A brush touches the wheel at the tip of its bristles. A mitt lies flat against it with your hand behind. That's why faces come up cleaner with a mitt and barrels come up cleaner with a brush."
— Duel AutocareIs It Right For You?
- Spoke faces and the backs of spokes on multi-spoke alloys
- Anyone who finds a brush skims the face without properly cleaning it
- Polished, chrome and painted wheels where a stiff brush is a risk
- Working alongside Axis or Toxin
- Exhaust tips and lower areas where brake dust settles
- Anyone building a wheel kit who already has a barrel brush
- You need to reach deep into a concave barrel — that wants a long-handled wheel brush; the mitt won't replace it
- You're scrubbing tyre walls — that's the Tyre Scrubbing Brush; tyre grime will wreck a plush mitt
- You want one tool for the whole wheel — realistically you want a mitt and a brush; see the mitt vs brush comparison below
- You're washing paintwork — this must never be that tool. See the warning below.
- Alloy wheels
- Chrome & polished lips
- Painted & powder-coated wheels
- Exhaust tips
- Lower sills & arch lips
- Paintwork — permanently once it's been on a wheel
- Tyre walls — will destroy the pile
- Very hot wheels straight after a drive
- Fabric softener and dryer sheets
- Same wash load as any paintwork cloth — ever
Brake dust is not ordinary dirt. It contains hard metallic particles that embed in a microfibre pile and do not reliably wash out. Once this mitt has cleaned a wheel, it is a wheel tool for the rest of its life.
Do not use it on door shuts, even if they look clean. Door shuts are painted surfaces, and a mitt that has touched a wheel is carrying contamination you cannot see. Use a general purpose cloth for door shuts and keep this mitt for wheels only.
How To Use It
Never put a mitt onto a dry, gritty wheel. A thorough rinse takes off the loose material that would otherwise be dragged around the face. Read: How to Clean Alloy Wheels Properly.
Spray Axis and give it the dwell time. A wheel mitt is for agitation and reach, not for scrubbing baked-on brake dust off by force.
Lay the mitt flat against each spoke face and work across it. This is where a mitt beats a brush, so start where you have the advantage.
Fold the mitt over your fingers and push it through the gaps. Clean by feel — the back of the spoke and the inner face of the rim are where the dust actually lives.
Rinse the mitt out completely between wheels. Machine wash at 30°C with Duel Laundry, on its own, never with paintwork cloths. See the Beginner's Guide To Wheel Cleaning.
Wheel Mitt Or Wheel Brush?
| Wheel Mitt (this one) | Wheel Brush | |
|---|---|---|
| Contact with the surface | Lies flat, full contact | Bristle tips only |
| Best at | Spoke faces, backs of spokes, rim lips | Inner barrels, deep recesses, behind the hub |
| Reach | Anywhere your hand and a folded mitt will go | As deep as the handle is long |
| On polished or painted wheels | Plush pile — low risk | Depends entirely on the bristle |
| Brake dust | Trapped in the pile | Often flicked back at you and the car |
Products That Work With The Wheel Mitt
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a wheel mitt used for?
Can I use a wheel mitt on my paintwork?
Is a wheel mitt better than a wheel brush?
Is it safe on alloy and chrome wheels?
How do I clean the mitt afterwards?
Can I use it on tyres?
Care Instructions
Wash 30°C
No Bleach
No Tumble Dry
No Iron
No Dry Clean
No SoftenerNot classified as hazardous. No SDS required for textile products.
- Rinse thoroughly between wheels and again after use
- Machine wash at 30°C with Duel Laundry microfibre wash detergent
- Wash on its own — never with cloths or mitts used on paintwork
- Do not use fabric softener or dryer sheets
- Air dry — do not tumble dry
- Do not bleach · Do not iron · Do not dry clean
- Once used on wheels, keep it for wheels permanently
Technical Specification
| Product type | Wheel Cleaning Mitt |
| Construction | Plush microfibre pile |
| Pile weight | 1000 GSM |
| Size | 16 × 16cm |
| Colour | Black & White |
| Fibre blend | 100% polyester pile · 100% foam inner |
| SKU | Plu/Whe/mic/mit |
| Suitable for | Alloy, chrome, polished and painted wheels · Exhaust tips |
| Not suitable for | Paintwork (once wheel-used, permanently) · Tyre walls |
| Use with | Axis Acid Free Wheel Cleaner |
| Wash | Rinse between wheels · Machine wash 30°C with microfibre detergent, separately from all paintwork cloths · No fabric softener · Air dry · Do not tumble dry, bleach, iron or dry clean |