How to Clean a Muddy Truck with Tough Mudder Truck Wash


Trucks get dirty. It’s just what happens. But removing the caked-on mud and grime shouldn’t be difficult so long as you use the right tools and follow the right steps.

Here at Chemical Guys, we always recommend using the Two Bucket Method to wash your vehicle, which includes 2 Heavy Duty Detailing Buckets and 2 Cyclone Dirt Traps to filter the water used in the wash. The Two Bucket Method ensures that no contaminated water comes into contact with your paintwork during the wash process.

It’s counterproductive to wash your vehicle using dirty water so please remember to always practice the Two Bucket Method to save yourself time, energy, and scratching!

Wash the Wheels and Tires

Muddy truck tire being cleaned

Start by rinsing off the inside of the wheel well to remove any preliminary mud or grime; think of this as the warmup to the actual wheel wash.

Next, use Diablo Wheel Gel along with our Easy Reach Wheel Brush or Red Rocket Wheel Brush to scrub the wheels clean and reach all those hard-to-get spots normal cleaning tools just can’t reach.

Follow this up with our Soft Flagged Tip Bristles Green Brush in order to clean the face and outer barrel of the wheel. The tires themselves can be cleaned using any premium Chemical Guys wheel or all purpose cleaner; just spray the areas you wish to clean and scrub the tire down using our heavy duty Stiffy Blue Brush.

For the best results we recommend starting from the top and working down!

Wash the Body of the Truck

Muddy Truck being washed

For the body of the truck, we recommend using Tough Mudder soap as it is formulated to break down stubborn mud and grime.

To begin, start by rinsing off the truck as a preliminary step to remove any loose dirt, mud or grime. For trucks and larger vehicles, it is best to use the Big Mouth Foam Cannon as this will create tons of foam to wash off all the contaminants.

Mix about 1-3 oz of Tough Mudder soap with water inside the foam cannon and make sure to shake it up. After the initial rinse off, spray the truck with the foam cannon from top to bottom covering the entire surface of the truck.

Really make sure to cover the ENTIRE truck, including all the hard to reach spots and crevices. Rinse the truck off after the first foaming.

Reveal a Super Shine!

Truck all cleaned and polished

Now, foam the truck again but this time leave the foam on and start agitate the truck with a Premium Microfiber Chenille Wash Mitt to really agitate and remove the mud.

In order to keep the wash mitt as clean as possible, insert a Cyclone Dirt Trap into one of your buckets along with more water and about 1 oz of soap. The Dirt Trap ensures that the wash mitt stays fresh as it pulls the dirt and mud off the mitt and keeps it at the bottom of the bucket.

The soap helps lubricates the wash mitt as you scrub it against the dirt trap. After scrubbing the truck down with the wash mitt, you can now give it a final rinse off.

The final step is to completely dry the truck off with either a Waffle Weave Drying Towel or an ultra-plush Wooly Mammoth Dryer Towel. Your truck should now look pristine and ready to get back to work!

Back to Exterior How-To's

Shop the Products