CarPro HydrO2: Seal Your Wheels in Less than 1 Minute
by Zach McGovernWheels are exposed to an awful lot of dirt and contamination throughout normal use. Dirt from roads and brake dust start to build up on your wheels the minute you pull your vehicle out of the garage. These contaminates can damage wheels, therefore the wheels need to be protected to keep them looking their best.
Products like Poorboy’s Wheel Sealant are a typically a great choice for sealing and protecting your wheels. My only complaint about these traditional sealants is that they can be quite time consuming to apply, especially when dealing with more intricate wheel designs. Thankfully, this is no longer a concern when using HydrO2 as a wheel sealant!
HydrO2 has already developed a fantastic reputation as being one of the quickest and easiest ways to seal your paint, however it can also be used on just about every other surface of your vehicle. If you are not familiar with HydrO2, it is truly a revolutionary product. It is a touchless spray sealant that requires absolutely no wiping, spreading, or agitation for application or removal. It is as easy as spray on, rinse off, and you’re done.
The following video shows a quick demonstration of how to use HydrO2 on your wheels. Remember, the wheels should be thoroughly cleaned before applying HydrO2. Make sure the surface is cool to the touch, and you are not using the product in direct sunlight. Simply mist a small amount of product onto a wet wheel, then immediately rinse with a strong stream of water, you will notice incredible beading immediately upon rinsing. Check it out!
Video: View full screen in HD!
HydrO2 makes it incredibly quick and easy to seal your wheels, no matter how complicated the design. HydrO2 will work its way into all of the cracks and crevices easily. Notice the excellent beading on every part of this wheel and brake caliper. In my personal experiences, I have found HydrO2 to perform well for 1-2 months on wheels. It simply doesn’t get any easier than this!
Couldn’t agree more. HydrO2 really is a fantastic product. My car has been opti-coated, but I still apply HydrO2 every few washes for an extra added layer of protection. I want to try their Reload product as well, even though it is a spray on/wipe off process. It certainly doesn’t get any easier than HydrO2 though…and it is actually fun to spray it off and see how everything instantly beads.
HydrO2 and Reload are both fantastic products. While HydrO2 is certainly incredibly quick and easy to use, so is Reload. I highly recommend it!
To sum it up in one word. AMAZING!!!
If you need two words: Try it.
Well said, Stan 🙂
How well does it work on polished/brushed aluminum wheels that are not clear coated?
Ben, to be completely honest, I do not have any experience with HydrO2 on bare metal wheels. There is no substitute for clear coat when it comes to protection, and HydrO2 works great at adding additional protection to the clear coat. In your situation, I would assume HydrO2 will add some protection, but I would not be surprised if you still needed to polish the wheels regularly to keep them looking pristine.
Great review Zach!
I use Hydro2 all over my Suzuki DR650. The controls, plastics, wheels, even the engine. Hydro2 can surprisingly take high heat. Engine beads as much as everything else. Makes it so much easier to pressure wash mud and dirt off. Quick foam cannon dwell rinse and blow dry.
Zach- Great review, thanks for sharing. Outside of sealing wheels, when would you use HyrdrO2 vs Reload? A little fuzzy when to use either. Just got a new car and had it sealed with 22ppl, wondering which would be a better choice to keep it looking good. Thanks again for your great review and advice!
Hey John Paul, HydrO2 and Reload are both great products. To highlight the key differences: Reload is applied by hand with a wipe on, wipe off method while HydrO2 is simply sprayed on and rinsed off. Reload has a greater durability than HydrO2. It really depends on your preferred use of each product… for instance, if you want to apply protection as you are washing, it doesn’t get any easier than HydrO2. If you want to apply protection quickly and easily after washing (or even after doing a full correction), then Reload is a great choice. I would personally recommend Reload on top of coatings because HydrO2 requires a nice, wet surface, and as you are probably noticing, it is difficult to keep a coated vehicle wet as all of the water simply beads up or sheets off of the surface. Hope that helps!
Zach- Got it! Thanks again for your help and advice…
Looks like a great product Zach, but I wonder if it’s safe to get it on the calipers, brake pads, and rotors? I think I’d be more comfortable using a spray-on product like that with the wheels off the car (which then eliminates the advantage of it being so fast to apply).
Hi Paul, what exactly is your concern for getting this product onto the components of the brakes? If any of it should get onto the faces of the rotors or pads, it will surely be removed almost instantly due to the tremendous amount of force and friction created when the brakes are applied. As far as the product getting onto the face of the calipers, I see that as a plus as it will help to make them easier to clean.
Hi Zach. I guess it was just the idea of a sealant type of product getting on the pads and rotors that I was a bit leery of , but you’re right the friction of applying the brakes would quickly remove it. As far as the calipers, I was probably thinking more of the CarPro Iron-x which they recommend not getting on the calipers. But of course that’s a completely different type of product.
Hi, recently bought an SUV with Lexani LX-7 alloy chrome wheels with black inserts. Had aftermarket chrome wheels on a previous vehicle and didn’t take care of them as I should have and eventually they ended up rotting out and the tires didn’t hold air any longer. I want to take care this time around. I live in Tennessee, so no salt on the road issues (although I do travel to Michigan for 2 weeks over Christmas). Looking all over for info on cleaning and protecting. Overall in pretty good shape…some pitting, a couple small rust spots……wondered if this would be a good sealer for this type of wheel? So much info out there…hard to figure out what to use…..not opposed to spending money for a good product. Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks
This product works well to provide a temporary layer of protection on any surface. The key to avoiding damage is simply routine maintenance. You do not want to allow any amount of contamination to sit on the surface for longer than it has to… especially if the wheels are uncoated chrome. If they are clear coated, then the paint will help to protect the metal surface as well as the sealant on top of the paint. You may also consider a wheel coating like 22ple or CarPro DLUX for more durable protection.
If this sealant lasts 1-2 months, what do you recommend for cleaning the wheels during a weekly wash? I’ve been using “Griot’s Garage Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner” on my weekly wash. Is that product, or other similar products that change color as they work, strong enough to strip away the sealant or reduce it’s durability? If so, should I just use car shampoo on the wheels and then follow-up once a month with the stronger wheel cleaner and then reapply CarPro HydrO2 on the wheels?
If you do in fact clean your wheels on a weekly basis, you most likely will not need a dedicated wheel cleaner. I simply use shampoo and water in my wheel bucket for my weekly cleaning. In any case, I have used Sonax and P21S Gel on HydrO2 and it hasn’t effected it. In fact, I see 3+ months of good beading on my wheels, however my vehicle does not put off hardly any brake dust so that helps considerably. Environment will play a big factor in the durability of any product. Hope that helps answer your question.
Appreciate the quick response! You made me think 🙂 I live in the NE and between Apr-Nov, I try to wash the car weekly or bi-weekly if it’s still clean enough. I have a German car (daily driver) and the wheels get dirty with brake pad dust very quickly, which is why I thought I had to use a dedicated wheel cleaner to prevent residue of that dust from getting encrusted over time if I used only gentle car shampoo. Now in the winter it’s a different story… I don’t have a usable garage to clean the cars inside and I’m trying to stay away from car washes as much as possible, so they may go SEVERAL weeks between washes.
Its amazing at how fast this works. Would allowing it to dry, and hand drying it with a microfiber towel make the protection last longer?
Wiping the product away is not recommended at 3:1 dilution. HydrO2 is activated by water pressure. The product starts as a hydrophillic chemical (attracted to water), which is why you must apply it to a wet surface. Water pressure then causes some sort of chemical reaction and then creates a hydrophobic (repels water) surface. Also, if you tried letting it dry and then buffing it off, you would definitely see streaking… perhaps not something that would be noticeable on the wheels, but it would not look pretty on the paint. Hope that helps.
Hi. This site is great and I haven’t tried this product yet.
So I can tell my daily driver customers they can expect 1-2 months of coverage/beading if they ask ?
Thank you.
CarPro indicates up to 3 months of protection. This can depend greatly on the environment the vehicle is exposed to, how much it is used, etc. I have seen HydrO2 bead water very well for over 3 months and also less than 3 months. It just depends. In general, it is an outstanding product and I highly recommend it.
Bottle says “Dilute 1:6 Minimum” Why cant you state Something regarding YOUR
dilution ratio when applying to painted or powder coated wheels ????
Chuck – You want to dilute 1:6~10. Find a dilution within that range that works best for you. If you do not want to dilute, the CarPro Hydro2 Lite is the RTU option.