Beautiful, shiny wheels on a car are like the icing on a cake -- they have the ability to make your automobile look fabulous!

You may think that cleaning your car’s tires and wheels is too much of an effort for a small payoff, but you needn’t fear the process. The effort involved isn’t as great as you may think and the payoff is huge.

In order to do the most effective job, you should clean your tires and rims after you wash the rest of your car. Before you tackle your wheels, be sure to double check what kind of style you have: polished aluminum, or chrome.

Grab your hose, attach a sprayer, fill a bucket with soapy water and get a brush that is small enough to fit between any hard to reach areas your wheels may have.

After you remove any plastic cover or hubcap, take your hose and rinse the wheel thoroughly. Then grab that sponge and wash it well with your soapy water. Use the brush and a little elbow grease to remove any dirt that wasn’t removed when you used the sponge. You might even need a toothbrush to really get at the grime between the spokes.

If the dirt is particularly tenacious, use a strong degreaser you may also want to head to your local auto parts store or go online and order some cleanser/soap specially formulated for the oily, gritty dirt that makes its home on your cars wheels.

Spray the soap from the wheels. Wipe them dry and, if your wheels are made of aluminum or chrome, wipe on some wheel polish and then buff the polish off. Use a clockwise circular motion to put the wax on and use a counter-clockwise motion to buff it off. Again wipe on in a circular motion when you place it on; remove and buff with a soft cloth in the opposite direction.

When cleaning your tires, you don’t need to use soap and water; a degreaser will work just as well. Unless you went off roading and have mud caked on the wheels then you may use soap and water. To do this, take a good, strong brush to clean the dirt from the tire’s sidewalls, if necessary. Take your hose and spray clean water on the tires to remove the soapy water. A tire dressing will also be a good idea -- it helps keep the tire’s rubber in good shape and brings out a nice shiny finish.