Mechanic Removes Tires On A Subaru. Then He Realizes The Driver Never Cleaned Them: 'Do Car Washes Get Most Of This Off?'

A mechanic is going viral on Facebook after using a recent repair to show why something as simple as cleaning your wheels actually matters.

Aaron (@autotechaaron) shared a video from his shop featuring a Subaru he said hadn’t been properly washed. The buildup wasn’t just cosmetic.

“You might not think it’s a big deal to wash all of this mud out of your wheels,” Aaron says in the clip.

He then shows what can happen when that grime sticks around. Over time, he says, the debris can start wearing down parts like the brake calipers.

To drive the point home, he compares both sides of the car.

“Here’s the other side that’s not as bad,” he says, noting that viewers “can still see the Subaru logo” on the cleaner wheel.

In the caption, Aaron said it was the first time he’d seen a case where the buildup had gotten bad enough to affect the calipers themselves. As of this writing, the video has more than 956,000 views.

Can This Really Happen?

Indeed, what Aaron is showing can happen, especially if that buildup sits there long enough.

All that dirt packed into the wheel isn’t just mud. Over time, it mixes with brake dust, which Bendix says is “the combination of friction material from brake pads as well as the iron particles from the surface of the rotors" that’s released as heat and friction build up during braking. That combination can turn abrasive, and it starts wearing on the parts around it.

That’s where the calipers come in. If enough grime builds up, it can interfere with their movement. Parts inside the brake system are supposed to slide smoothly. And when they don’t, you can end up with brakes that stick, drag, or wear unevenly.

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If it gets bad enough, according to Car Parts, that buildup can hold onto moisture and start causing rust. That’s when parts can begin to seize up or wear out faster than they should. It’s not instant, but it builds over time if you never really clean the wheels.

It can also affect how the car drives. If one side is sticking more than the other, braking can feel uneven, and parts can heat up faster than they should.

The fix is pretty simple: regular cleaning of your car’s wheels. You don’t have to do anything extreme, but actually rinsing the inside of the wheels—not just the surface—makes a difference.

Dr. Beasley’s said that, for most people, cleaning the wheels whenever you wash the car is enough. But if you’re driving in harsher conditions or letting a lot of dirt build up, doing it more often helps keep things from getting as dirty as the car Aaron serviced.

Viewers Advocate For Cleaning Your Wheels Regularly

People who came across Aaron’s video didn’t just focus on the calipers. Many pointed out that letting that much buildup sit can cause other problems as well.

“Not only that, but your wheels are immediately unbalanced with that mud,” one person wrote.

“That unbalance[s] the tire and make[s] your car a lot less gas efficient,” another added.

“Wheel wobble, too,” a third viewer chimed in.

Others were more focused on how it even got that bad in the first place, questioning what kind of upkeep the car had seen.

“Do carwashes get most of this off, or do you need to get down in there with a hose?” one commenter asked.

“People who submit their vehicle to those conditions deserve the costs of resulting repairs,” another said.

A few viewers just reacted to the visual itself.

“Wow,” one person wrote.

“Don’t think I’ve audibly gasped at a video in a while,” another said. “This one got me.”

Some, though, suggested the condition might have more to do with how the car is used than neglect.

“Farm rigs, they don’t care lol,” one viewer wrote.

“Weight saving, race car,” another added.

Motor1 has reached out to Aaron via direct message on Facebook. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

 

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