Coke should always be poured on wheels when traveling alone
Another strange rumour that was displayed in online advertisements.
A strange online advertisement in February 2022, that showed Coke being poured out of a bottle onto a car tire and rim with the caption: “Always Place Coca-Cola On Your Wheels When Traveling Alone, Here’s Why.
The ad appears on several news websites alongside legitimate news stories. This may have led some readers to believe that this was a real and genuine tip that “always” needed to be done, perhaps for a safety reason.
When you clicked the ad, it led to an 81-page slideshow article on a website called Beach Raider. The headline read: “Simple And Affordable Car Hacks Every Car Owner Should Know.” On page 81, the Coke bottle wheels tip will show up:
Clean Your Wheels With Coke
You’ve probably heard the expression “use Coke to clean this” a million times, but a cola and dish detergent combination can remove all of the road dirt and brake dust from your rims and leave them shining. Some people worry that the soda would make things stickier, but the detergent you use prevents accumulation.
In fact, we did find several YouTube videos that purported to show that Coke and dish detergent could be used to clean car tires, just as page 81 said.
However, the ad was false and misleading in that it claimed drivers should “always place Coca-Cola on your wheels when traveling alone.” It never explained this because it was nothing more than nonsensical clickbait.
You might be wondering what was in the rest of the 81-page article. One tip we looked at said to use olive oil and a coffee filter on your car’s dashboard to keep it clean. Our initial thought was that this might make your car smell like an Italian dinner.
However, to our surprise, Allstate Insurance Company recommended this same tip in a video on their YouTube channel:
Allstate Insurance Company. How to Clean Your Car’s Dashboard With a Coffee Filter and Olive Oil | Allstate Insurance. 2019,
In conclusion, no, drivers do not need to “always” or really ever “place” or pour Coke on their tires and rims (or wheels) when traveling anywhere. Advertisers can apparently be fairly inventive with their clickbait these days. We rate this as FALSE. We are just glad and hope that readers do not have to click through all 81 of those pages.