ilogikal1

My last official day of work was 24th November.

Also said on the news yesterday that the price of oil was becoming too cheap and hundreds of people throughout the industry are being laid off because of it (not to mention the little independent, rural fuel station sulking because they aren't competitive), which basically means the oil companies won't allow it get to much cheaper and there's only so much profit even the supermarkets can squeeze in the name of a "price war". Or, in short; don't count on it.

Hey, fake beads are beads too y'know. Stop being so beadist!

I eventually made some sort of effort to obtain some beading pictures of the various LSP's on the Z. I think I must have been drunk though because most of them came out like this; Also, by time I got round to that it was dark and the lighting in the garage isn't exactly studio quality. In fact it's quite ****, however I'm doing the Christmas rounds starting early tomorrow morning so I won't get another opportunity now for over a week. Hence these will have to do. Bottom mystery wax; Top mystery wax; Unlabelled tiny pot of stuff; Edition 19; Edition 20 (top) Edition 20 (bottom) What I'm calling BSD-Wipe That is all.

Today I turned my attention to the Gyeon Prime coated Leon. I believe this may actually be the first wash it's had since Prime was applied 3 months (and three days) ago, although it may actually be the second. Either way, the Leon has been somewhat neglected of late and it showed; Obligatory 350Z content! So yeah, it kinda needed a bit of a wash... My fellow Instagram followers might have seen my latest raid of Car Chem's stock but for those who haven't, I've got some new toys to play with. One of which is Citrus Cleaner so I opted to test this out against Auto Finesse Citrus Power, as such here's a review. AF CP is £10/litre (or the more economical £35/5 litres... unless Amazon have it on offer still, then it's less than that). CC CC is £5.99/500ml (or the much more economical £27.99/ 5 litres), however CC CC is dilutable whereas AF CP is designed to be used neat. Car Chem say; "Recommended dilutions: Very heavy soiling - use neat / Heavy soiling - 10:1 / Medium soiling - 50:1 / light soiling - 100:1.", so by that you could have 505 litres for your £27.99. Or you could have 5 litres for your £27.99. Or anything betwixt. Anyway, I decided to mix up a "medium soiling" dilution... ish and then chucked 50ml of CC CC into to a litre of water anyway. And then I decanted out a litre of AF CP. And then proceeded to attack the filthy, filthy Leon with it. They each got two wheels (one each side, one front and one rear each) and associated arches. On the sides of the car I did the front wing and door with one and rear door and quarter panel with the other on one side and then reversed that on the other. On the front and rear I simply did one half with CC and one with AF. Everything was left to soak whilst I set up the pressure washer and was then thoroughly rinsed as usual. I have no pictures of the during, but both visibly removed a certain amount of dirt but neither was a completely touchless was by any means - it's almost as if the car hadn't been cleaned in several months... oh wait! In my opinion AF CP cleaned a marginally better on the tougher dirt, however CC CC was diluted 20:1. That said, the entire car needed another hit of pre-wash regardless of what was used where, so I guesstimated some volumes and chucked in some more CC CC concentrate to give a dilution close to 10:1 and went around the car again. This time there wasn't much difference in cleaning power between the two but both did pull off more dirt again. I'd be happy to suggest that CC CC at 10:1 is just as good as AF CP neat, so from a financial perspective £5.99/5.5 litres compared to £35/5 litres is a fairer comparison. Or £27.99/55 litres if you prefer. Quite economical then - moreso if you wash your more than once every 3 months, however I'm not sure 100:1 dilution would be much use as part of a touchless wash but it may be possible for cleaning door sills and the likes or with some agitation - which is very much something you don't want to be doing during a pre-wash! I will, at some point, be trying the lower dilutions as a wheel cleaner. So with that out of the way, I then proceeded onto the wash - 2bm with today's shampoo of choice coming in the form of Bathe+. Even before the pre-wash Prime was showing no signs of wear at all and was even beading through the dirt after the pre-wash so Bathe+ was chosen for it's cleaning abilities and lubrication rather than to top up the protection (and I've run out of normal Bathe). I also agitated the face of the wheels with a Valet Pro brush but did nothing more to them than that and the pre-wash/rinse, partially through laziness but also because I have a longer term plan in my mind which will be revealed when I can be bothered to do it. In the mean time, have some after pictures. And finally; beading (sorry Stu, it's the trademarked "Ilogikal1 simulated beads" again). Nanolex Rejuvinate & Bathe+ Prime & Bathe+

In short, because technically there isn't such a thing as a 350Z GT. It's a 350Z with the optional "GT Pack" fitted.

And it's barely been up 3 hours too.

I'm just going to leave this 'bargain' here (although it should probably go in the "spotted on ebay" section, but I'm rebelling against the system, man! ). http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=352540

The wax is on the bonnet. Apologies for the phone pictures & the water spots caused by laziness and procrastination when washing. They are all Waxaddict offerings from the last 3 Waxyboxes (Edition 19 was from the Halloween box, not the one from box 19). The two on the left are from the Christmas hamper so in case anyone is waiting to open theirs I'll keep the identities disguised until after Christmas - if you don't want to know what they are then don't look in this; The other four are Edition 19 (top middle), a whole new blend from box 20 (bottom middle), Edition 20 & Edition 20 with a different scent (I think that's the only difference between the two) on the right. Edition 19 is not solid but not quite cream-like consistency in the pot so it's easy to over apply. It's quite easy to apply once you take that into consideration though, it spreads well and has about 8-10 minute cure time. Upon removal it's a little bit oily so needs a more thorough buffing but it's still quite easy to remove too. The new blend in the tiny little pot was applied with my fingers because of the tiny little pot, as such the layer wasn't quite as thin as I would have liked. That said, it did spread well (again, the size of the pot limited how much could I apply at any given time though). I gave it 9 minutes to cure and it wiped off completely effortlessly with minimal buffing. The two "mystery" waxes (which you might be able to guess the identity of), without going into too much detail, were both very easy on & off and very nice to work with. Those four look like this after buffing; And on the other side, the two Edition 20 blends. As previously said, I believe the only difference in the blend is the scent, however there is a slight colour difference too - one is a shade or two of green darker than the other. Or one is a shade or two of green lighter than the other. Depending on your philosophical stand-point. Anyway, moving on... Both were almost identical to work with; the top one of the two (the lighter green) was a little more difficult to load the applicator - it took a couple of swipes rather than just the one. Aside from that, both were very easy to apply, spread easily, have an 8-12 minute cure time (I allowed about 10... ish) and both wiped off very easily with little buffing. Edition 19, the tiny little pot of wax and Edition 20's, once buffed, look like this; Now I know there are some people on here, myself very much included, who have not got on with previous blends of the Waxybox development waxes - whilst I found some to be a bit awkward to apply or curing times being awkward to say the least the one consistent problem for was was that removal was difficult in almost all cases. These 5 blends are all very different. Whilst Edition 19 was the tricky one out of this lot and the one I liked the least, it was not by any means a pain to work with. They do demonstrate just how far the development has come with these waxes though, culminating with Edition 20 which is right up there with some of my favourite waxes for ease of use - it's not quite Poorboys Natty's or FK1000P though but that's only because the Waxaddict blends are more time sensitive whereas PB & FK you can leave for days before buffing easily (trust me on that, I've tried it! ). Just a quick note on those two "mystery" waxes (Christmas hamper spoilers contained within - you've been warned!) That's your lot for now.

I... yeah, no defence to that one.

Funny you should say that, I dropped my mitt more often than I've dropped my Incredisponge (yep, I'm weird)... all of once.

Pretty much, yep.

Scammer using someone's "legitimate" business and feedback score to lure in the gullible. Either that or someone's gone off their meds.

I'd guess a hacked ebay account. None of the suspiciously priced cars appear on their website at all and there's a lot more "stock" listed on ebay than their own site too.

Currently using a Microfibre Madness Incredisponge which I really like, I'd only consider changing it for the Incredipad - they do a mit as well but I found I tend to use mits like sponges or pads rather than as a mit anyway; I'm so over mits.

As do you. I'm glad people are finding some of it useful, I always just think of this thread as somewhere for me to witter on about detailing without the bored faces of my friends.

I do, I used the very imaginative username @ilogikal1 on there. I must admit I've not really looked too much into Fusso but I had the impression from DW that it was quite durable - I may be thinking of something else actually, thinking about it... or it could just have been the rampant fanboism that's misled me. I would (now) be tempted to test it on it's own first and see what sort of durability I would get from it with Amigo. There's no harm in topping it with something, if durability is the aim then something synthetic should bond better I would have thought but then you'll lose the water behaviour of Fusso.

Try a lower dilution - I tend to use it neat in the bottle and adjust the dilution with the foam lance these days. I've calculated the PIR (panel impact ratio) on mine to be at about 5-6% which I find works well on a filthy car. Personally I wouldn't top Fusso with anything myself unless I wanted to add to the finish - a carnauba wax should add a bit of warmth and depth that Fusso might lack on it's own, but I understand that Fusso gives a decent wet-look finish on it's own so I wouldn't say it was necessary. I don't think there's anything to gain in terms of durability or water behaviour either as Fusso is supposed to be great on both counts itself. As I say, you could top it with either Colli or a carnauba rich wax (or both of you really wanted to), but I probably wouldn't bother myself*. *Actually, that's probably not true. I probably would, but more out of curiosity rather than need... like the wax test I'll be conducting tomorrow, for example.

That's odd, it works very well for me. What dilution are you using it at? Do you know at what ratio it's hitting the panel? Colli will happily sit over Fusso, but they're quite similar products so I'm not sure there's much point in layering them really - they're both hybrids, although I think Colli is more wax and Fusso more sealant if I'm not mistaken. There's nothing to stop you using both but personally I'd go for one or the other.

Nice pictures, Graham. It does raise a couple of questions though; who's Araf and why is the road bullying this person?

Not used Fusso, no. I have used Prima Amigo in the past though, it's a very good glaze. Snowfoam I recommend Car Chem (or 5 litres) Bilt Hamber AutoFoam or Auto Finesse Avalanche - depending on which is cheapest (don't forget delivery charges), they all clean very well. Shampoo would depend on what you're after ultimately - whether you want a "pure" shampoo or one to top-up protection and/or gloss. For a pure shampoo I recommend either Car Chem 1900:1 (or 5ltr, or that with your choice of name & scent) or Gyeon Bathe. If you want a top-up shampoo I recommend BriteMax CleanMax or the absolutely superb Gyeon Bathe+ which, if used regularly, can be used as an LSP in it's own right.

Despite being quiet on this thread for a couple of weeks, if you're reading this there's a fair chance that you might be interested to know that experimentation has continued behind the scenes. Before I go into details though I just want to point out to any fellow Waxybox subscribers that some of the following may contain spoilers from the Christmas hamper/boxes. I know some people are saving theirs for Christmas whereas I'm far too impatient - and if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that Rich and the team made it very easy for me to break into mine... although if you don't and/or didn't then you won't have a clue what I'm talking about - but I'll do my best to avoid posting any spoilers. Firstly, that Nanolex PSS on the roof. I'm done with it. I've given up. This time. I'm always one for a second chance and I've got enough PSS to test on a section against some Gyeon Prime and... A.N.Other (which will be named at a later date...). However, for now I'm calling time on it. Allow me to explain why with some pictures; This is the panel with just PSS on it at the time. Looks good for a dry panel, right? Good, crisp reflections, nice and glossy? Here's the problem; Not sure if it's clear (it was surprisingly difficult to photograph actually), but there is still a film of water on the surface. To put this into context, this was 3+ hours after washing and this was a panel protected with HydrO2 taken at the same time; As you can see, PSS currently offers absolutely no beading nor any sheeting so I have concluded that it's completely failed already. This means that my roof and most of the boot (some of that has got the "over spray", such as it is, from the HydrO2 on) was completely unprotected and I can't be having that in winter so I've been playing... As I mentioned before I'm open to second chances so I've taken this opportunity to re-visit some previously tried products that I wasn't fond of. First up is Dr Beasley's Plasma Coat on (some of) the boot. Last time I tried this, I struggled with the consistency of the product, I found it all too easy to over apply and difficult to buff as a result, whilst the finish was quite good I found the durability to be disappointing. Armed with slightly more experience of this kind of "face cream" consistency product these days I found it much easier to get the right amount of product on the applicator - essentially with a typical paste wax a single swipe enough to load the applicator whereas with Plasma Coat it's more of a dab... and then using the side of the pot scrape off any product you can actually see on the applicator, then you've got enough for a section. Then you just need to keep spreading it as far as you possibly can to get a thin a layer as you possibly can (a damp applicator helps) before buffing off immediately. Now, if you've got a thin enough layer you might notice it almost evaporating into the paint a bit, this is what you want and if you get it this thin it's an absolute breeze to buff off (even more impressive given it was about 4 degrees here at the time!). The finish is much better than I remember it from last time too - although that might be because I enjoyed using it much more this time, so it may all be in my head. Durability remains to be tested as it was only applied today. So that took care of the boot (and I'm not even sorry for starting this sentence with "so") and left me with just the roof. You may be aware that I'm not a huge fan of Sonax BSD, but for those of you who aren't I don't like because I find it's a bit difficult to work with, however Waxybox insists on replenishing my stock at every opportunity so I'm either going to have to use it, give it away or bin it. It's not so bad that I'm going to bin and I'm not nice enough to just give stuff away so I'm going to have to use. Now I am aware of various suggestions of using it on wet paint or with a wet applicator or just generally diluting it with water. I've tried that, it works okay but I'm still not fond. I'm also not a big fan of QD's in general, I very rarely use one and yet almost every Waxybox (at least every other box) contains a QD of some description... can you see where this is going yet? Yep, I've been making a Franken-detailer (...'s monster). I've tried a few variations of products and dilution ratios of a few of them on various things, but I've now narrowed down the options to start trying a few on the car. The advice I'm comfortable offering on this front, if you wanted to try this yourself, is because BSD isn't really a QD but rather a spray sealant; avoid carnauba based QD's when mixing as they don't play well together. The first one to make it to the car is a 50/50 mix of BSD and Chemical Guys Speed Wipe. The SW gives BSD the slickness that it lacks which made it much more pleasant for me to work with and I found it much easier to get a streak-free finish, even with slight over-application, without adversely affecting the flash time. I'll be testing to see whether diluting it affects the water behaviour and/or durability and report back accordingly. There's no photos as yet because I'm applying G1 to the windows - the H2Go has started to fail on the wiped sections of the windscreen and I'm doing a tour of the UK for Christmas so wanted to refresh the glass sealant - which needs time to cure properly before it gets wet, so pictures will follow when that can happen. Also I've been informed that waxes can be applied on top of coatings, so having a pseudo-coating-based-type product on the Z currently and a backlog of Waxybox waxes to test I thought 2 stones and all that, so the bonnet will be duly divided and waxed (again) tomorrow too.

Looks like a straight swap to me.... (please do it anyway, OP, I'd love to see that engine swap done!).

You could always sleep in the car, thus also saving on rent so more money for mods. Win, win.

If that's the worst insult I get today (especially by proxy), it's a good day.