Even with all the new paving slabs in the back garden I still manage to come in with manky tyres. We get an lot of wildlife in the garden and therefore a lot of poo. The crows, magpies and jackdaws all sit on the various surrounding trees dropping the inevitable all in the same space, whereas the wood pigeons and pheasants wander all around dropping as they go. I can’t go around the entire garden hosing it all off every day, and I can’t always dodge in between the poops, so I will end up running through it now and again.  Wheelchair tyres pick up all manor of garden debris and you don’t want to be wheeling it through the house.   Even when I am in the garage potting up seedlings etc I end up with compost in various nooks and crannies of the wheelchair.  

 At the top of the ramp to the conservatory I keep a small wooden plant-pot stand with a collection of old, folded up towels ready to wipe down my tyres.  I also keep two brushes to remove ‘stuff’ from the tyre treads and from the brakes (wheel-locks).  The tough, green floor scrubbing brush gets into the treads and the narrow grouting brush can be used for the brakes and other harder to access areas of the wheelchair.

Manky wheelchair tyre and brakes (wheel-locks)

Scrubbing brushes

In the past people have suggested to me that coir mats (coconut mats) would help but I actually find them very difficult to push the chair over as they have a deep pile and you cannot drive in a straight line over them.  These mats would need to be cleaned quite often too.  We have carpets throughout our house which are either multi patterned or brown and these don’t show the dirt as much as other plain colours would.  

If you have a small area at your entrance that can get wet then you could try using a Muddaddy.  This is a tool that is used to wash down dirty dogs before they get in the car but can be used on your wheelchair and tyres.  However you may have a job getting your wheelchair tyres dry enough to enter your home without dripping on your flooring.  As I am often in a hurry to answer a call of nature or the door bell, then a quick scrub with the brush, or rub with an old towel is usually all that is required.

Wheelchair gardening tip – cleaning your dirty tyres:

• keep old, small towels at the door
• use a tough scrubbing brush for getting debris out of the tyre treads
• use a grouting brush for reaching harder to access areas like brakes, crossbars, foot-plates etc