There was a time when protecting your wheels meant sitting down on the floor with a container of wax, an applicator pad, and a few towels.  Intricate wheel designs meant that cramming your finger into tight spots was inevitable.  The job was not a glorious one, and needed to be repeated regularly to help make wheel cleaning easier… it was enough work to make you wonder if it was really worth it in the end.  Well, thankfully those days are long gone!

We have been using CarPro HydrO2 for spray on, rinse off wheel protection for the past couple of years (See existing article: Seal Your Wheels in Less than 1 Minute with CarPro HydrO2).  Quick, easy, and it works!

The spray on application with no need for wiping is literally effortless… as long as you don’t consider repeatedly squeezing the trigger on a spray bottle to be manual labor.  If you do, Sonax has come out with a new product to make application even easier with their aerosol wheel sealant, Sonax Wheel Rim Shield.

The SONAX Wheel Rim Shield allows you to protect your wheels with one fast and easy to use spray!  From road grime, dirt, oil, bugs, and brake dust, it is easy to see how your rims get filthy so fast. This contamination is not only ugly, but a pain in the you know what to remove.  The Sonax Wheel Rim Shield is your answer for not only protecting, but helping you clean your wheels easier in the future! With an easy to handle aerosol can, you can spray Rim Shield directly to your rims in a matter of seconds.  After your wheels are dry, just point, spray, and walk away. It is that easy!

Before we applied the Sonax Wheel Rim Shield to the trident wheels on this 2014 Maserati GranTurismo, we made sure they were completely clean and dry.  Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus helped to get these dirty wheels all cleaned up and ready for protection.

The product was shaken for 30 seconds or so, and then sprayed liberally onto the wheel.

Application was a lot like using spray paint.  I did my best to create a light, even coat.  The sprayer seems to dispense a lot of product quickly, leaving the wheel noticeably wet with product after just a quick pass.

Immediately after spraying, Wheel Rim Shield left a wet layer of product on the surface.  The directions state that you should not wipe the product, and that the vehicle needs to remain stationary for at least an hour after application.  So despite my urge to wipe away the wet product, I followed the directions and allowed it to dry overnight.

Once the product had dried, there was no visible residue on these silver wheels.  They looked great!

According to the manufacturer, Wheel Rim Shield can be used on all light-alloy, steel, chrome plated and polished wheels.  I attempted to use this on a satin black wheel, and it resulted in an uneven finish that needed to be thoroughly cleaned in order to remove the streaks, so I would recommend using this with glossy wheel finishes.  This product has an estimated durability of 6-8 weeks, but I plan to do some testing and head-to-head comparison between this product and our current favorite, CarPro HydrO2, so stay tuned for that.

In the end, when it comes to saving time, this aerosol spray was incredibly quick and easy to use.  The fine mist made sure every nook and cranny was covered.  I spent less than 30 seconds per wheel applying this product, and seemed to have used very little out of the can, so if you’re still applying your wheel protection by hand, you’re certainly missing out!