ilogikal1

Right then, having survived the wildlife and natives of the other side of the world I've settled back into life in this ridiculously cold and miserable country. So to cheer myself up I gave the Z a wash today (simple things and all that). The car was rather filthy as it had it had been treated to a jaunt down to London, left parked up outside in the elements for two weeks and then a return jaunt up the motorway in torrential rain (yep, the day I flew back from sunny Australia via equally sunny Dubai, it was pissing it down in the UK. Sigh.) and has seen several wet/dry cycles, so the dirt was fairly thoroughly attached to the car by this point. Things to report; BSD is a bit mixed this time - Prior to cleaning, the lack of dirt repellency was duplicated again. After cleaning, bizarrely both the rear wheels were showing little (still some, but noticeably weakened) protection whereas the both fronts were showing much stronger (but obviously not fresh) protection still. I would have expected it to be there way around but what is life without it's little mysteries? I used Koch Chemie (I've never heard of them before either) Reactive Wheel Cleaner from Waxybox. It is a "Reactive, acid-free rim cleaner with performance indicator (red indicator) and gloss additives", according to their website, along with "With gloss and lotus effect". Firstly the "red indicator" is in fact purple. Think fallout removers, it's the same bleeding purple reaction. Now Koch Chemie don't state that this is a fallout remover itself, but I thought I'd test it against the two I had to had to hand anyway (Gyeon Iron and Auto Finnesse Iron Out) because... well, that's just the sort of thing I do. I can confirm that it is not a (good) fallout remover - both Iron & Iron Out reacted after using RWC. Which to me makes the "indicator" a complete gimmick. More so than in fallout removers . Which is also a bit of a gimmick itself really. Anyway, it did a fair job of cleaning the face of the wheels in a touchless manner but the wheels weren't left clean enough for my liking so I got the AF Imperial and Wheel Woolies out. It's also quite expensive (£19.96 for 750ml compared to £12.95 for 1 litre of AF Imperial concentrate from the same source) considering it's a ready-to-use dilution in the bottle. For reference, it's priced closer to fallout removers (£19.95 for 1 litre of AF Iron Out from that same source), which I mention only because I'm not convinced it's not supposed to be a fallout remover... albeit a pretty bad one. Furthermore, the "lotus effect" unless that's a reference to Colin Chapman's "add lightness" (by removing the heavy dirt) then that's pretty poor too. Not sure about the gloss that's apparently "with" this product but there was no real evidence of this gloss on the wheels to be honest. So, would I buy Koch Chemie Reactive Wheel Cleaner? No, not at all. There is an upside to that wheel cleaner though, it has demonstrated to me that BSD has stood up to 700+ miles of use, 2 wheel cleaners, (at least) 2 fallout removers, 2 snow foams, Citrus Power and whatever else I've thrown at it previously too. The two fallout removers were only tested on one wheel (50:50 rather than overlapping layers though) but it was a front wheel which showed better protection, even after, than the rears and there appears to be very little difference on one side to the other after. So BSD is pretty chemical resistant. That said, I still reapplied it anyway. Hubikote HubiTrim is going strong. Still no hazing on the headlights, but then still no sun (whilst I've been here anyway, there could have been 2 weeks of unseasonal sunshine whilst I was away for all I know!). The water behaviour was obviously compromised before the wash but returned after.Mirror trims haven't faded at all and whilst the beading isn't all that impressive the sheeting still is. Nanolex PSS is still disappointing me to be honest. If anything the improvements it was displaying last time have disappeared this. There's been no evidence of self-cleaning. When dirty the beading was poor on the higher, cleaner panels (I've seen worse, but it's not good) and terrible on the lower panels (as I'd expect), when clean it poor all round. Sheeting is painfully slow but thorough - the panel will eventually sheet itself virtually dry but it'll take between 5-10 minutes to start to do so. The improved sheeting on the lower panels last time was not evident this time. So disappointed am I by this LSP that I have resorted to topping it up with HydrO2 from the glass down - I have resisted applying it to the roof so that I can keep an eye on how PSS goes as I'm still hoping it's going to improve at some point - which has completely transformed the water behaviour to what I would have hoped for from PSS in the first place. I probably should point out that I did try BH Surfex HD & AS G101 on small areas of the rear bumper whilst doing the exhaust as the first advice to those "my coating's broken" questions is to try an APC wash to revive it, both were applied before the pre-wash and whilst they both did a great job of cleaning neither affected the water behaviour of PSS. So Nanolex Premium Spray Sealant then, would I buy it? No, absolutely not. I place PSS squarely in the "it's not for me" category; I'll accept that it might work for some people but it's not worked for me for some reason. AW H2Go is still going. It's strong on the side & rear glass, it's still good on the windscreen - that return leg in the torrential rain that I mentioned; I barely used the wipers on the motorway at all (generally only when overtaking lorries) but I had to use them getting to the motorway. Going back to the wheels briefly, I've reapplied BSD to two wheels (front passenger & rear driver's side for those keeping track... namely me when I've forgotten this next time I wash the car) and applied HydrO2 to the other two for comparison. And finally, there's no pictures here yet because it's not rained here today and it's dark here now, so I might have to resort to staged beading tomorrow.

You can try your luck with them, but if they deny responsibility you've got no hope of pursuing it any further as you yourself aren't even sure it was them, you won't be able to prove anything. They might offer something by way of a good will gesture if you're lucky though - if you don't ask....

Not to mention cause a big streaky mess all over that bit of the car that you look out of from time to time....

Do it, it's great doing those tests (and it'll save me doing it).

Nice pic and great beading, Stu. It's not my fault I'm too impatient to wait 4 minutes for the next rain shower. Regarding Glacier Wax, I did like Pure but not enough to pay that for it. Even if they do rebrand it as Frost instead.... For no other reason than their outrageous pricing scheme, I've simply not bothered with the rest of the range. That bundle does seem like a fair deal though.

Oh now you're just spoiling us.

You know what, that P clip brings it all together nicely. I was sat here thinking "Meh, is that it?" before, but once I saw that P clip... I get it now! Bravo, Granville. Bravo.

I have no reason for choosing this name.

That's kind of the point though, it rewards consistency over one "lucky" result. Because I'm terribly sad and have far too much free time tonight, I've done the driver's Championship using the points-per-place template (max. 22 points per race). The current standings would look like this; Hamilton - 398 Rosberg - 394 Ricciardo - 362 Vettel - 350 Alonso - 341 Bottas - 331 Perez - 307 Massa - 305 Hulkenberg - 297 Vergne - 296 Button - 292 Grosjean - 281 Kobyashi - 276 Sutil - 274 Raikkonen - 270 Magnussen - 269 Kvyat - 267 Maldonado - 252 Gutierrez - 250 Ericsson - 230 Bianchi - 227 Chilton - 208 So really, it's both McLaren drivers that would lose out massively doing it this way; the top three wouldn't actually be any different (despite Riciardo having one disqualification and one DNF to his name, compared to 3 DNF's each for Hamilton & Rosberg). Oddly enough though Hulkenberg (one DNF, the same as both Button and Magnussen) would still be in 9th anyway. Using this method it'd give drivers more incentive to finish each race too - if this were the case, do you think Hamilton would have given up at Spa or carried on knowing that every position he made up (not just above 11th) earned him points, for example? However, for all that work and effort, as Will says, it'll never happen. So this was a complete waste of my time. The money distribution is a seperate issue, and one which does need to be addressed IMHO.

Good work, Granville.

Fixed that for you.

BH Autofoam is certainly up there with Car Chem and AF Avalanche. For me it comes down to availability and price between those three.

That's fine, Bernie can pay out for the top 10, top 5 or top 1 if he wants to, that doesn't effect how points are handed out just what the points are "worth" at the end of the season. It'll actually encourage those fringe teams to keep progressing and might even reward them for consistency.

I'd rather see a point-per-place scoring system for the races - (assuming 20 car races) 20 points for first right down to 1 point for 20th sort of job; only failing to score points for DNF's. It'll encourage cars to keep racing no matter what and literally every position will count.

Only on the front of the vehicle. But it's illegal to have any coloured neons on whilst driving anyway.

That number is off by at least 2. Unless you count this one too.

3.

I know that feeling all too well myself. On a slightly different note, I washed the Gyeon car today for the first time since it was Gyeon'd in mid-September - granted it has spent the last two weeks in garage and hasn't turned a wheel in that time, but it was still dirty when it was put away. I almost regret washing it now, purely for how much better the Gyeon is compared to the Nanolex at the moment. So the process was a simple wash and consisted of Citrus Power pre-wash & rinse, followed by a good sit down after all my hard work. Well, almost. With the exception of the wing mirrors, the whole car was clean with a touchless wash (and it's a white car, remember). To be honest, I think the mirrors would have been too if I could direct the pressure washer at the correct angles between them and the car properly, but I couldn't so I resorted to a quick wipe over with a wet Incredisponge with a drop of shampoo on each mirror followed by a quick rinse. All done. I could have washed the Leon in it's entirety whilst waiting for 50Cal Ambush foam to work yesterday.

That. Don't bank it, let them know you've not accepted their offer and have destroyed the cheque (or return it if you prefer).

Much better.

Well that's a decidedly disappointing explanation.

You've also so far overlooked explaining the cabletied dipstick mod.

It's the second time I've used Ambush (both Waxybox samples). First time I found it a bit meh, it cleaned okay but was a bit too much like Magifoam - needs ridiculous dwell times to clean and just hangs around on the drive for days afterwards. This time I actually found it worse! It didn't clean too well and true to form it's still sat on the driveway now. The cost is just rubbing salt into the wound. It's safe to say it won't be replacing my go-to foam (nor would it replace anything else I've tried actually). ETA; I've not tried iApple foam yet but it is on my wish list as it seems to be well regarded. I might use up some of my Car Chem stockpile before buying more foams though. Tire I've found lasts longer when it's force cured, although I admit I've not tried numerous layers. The downside to force curing is you look even more mental taking a heat gun (or in this case a hair dryer) to your tyres. Also, it being called "Tire" bothers me. And I'm still none-the-wiser as to how Gyeon is pronounced either. Anyone would think it was a foreign brand or something. As for BSD, I have a little something up my sleeve regarding that... which is to shamelessly steal a now quite old idea from DW.

Right then, gave it another wash today so a few things to report; Today's method was 50Cal Ambush snow foam (from this months Waxybox), left to dwell for exactly 12 minutes and 8 seconds before I got bored of waiting (it suggests allowing "up to 30 minutes dwell time") and then rinsed. Now maybe Ambush needs 30 minutes to clean because 12 minutes and 8 seconds clearly wasn't enough - did offer some cleaning, but it's considerably less than any of my other pre-washes achieve in much less time. So I followed up with a hit of Citrus Power, left to dwell for however long it took me to go round the entire car and rinsed immediately. Then followed up with a wash using Car Chem Z Bath (Tailor Made) shampoo and a final rinse. BSD on the wheels - they were filthy again, but again cleaned up very well after the Citrus Power with a completely touchless wash. The beading is still insane and sheeting is very good, it's just the dirt repellency (or lack of) that's let it down so far, but as long as it's easy to achieve a touchless wash I won't complain too much. Gyeon Tire - again, cleaned up well with a completely touchless wash, still showing great levels of protection and good finish after two weeks. To my surprise even Britemax Final Shine is still working well on the exhaust, still beading very well after a touchless wash. Hubikote HubiTrim - on both the trim (mirror base plates) and the headlights, the sheeting is great (I'd expect nothing less from a coating), the beading is better on the headlights than it is on the trim which may be down to the trim not being as clean as the headlights when it was applied I suspect. Angelwax H2Go - it repelled 50Cal Ambush impressively well. It beads water exceptionally well. I've only driven the car once in light rain but a couple of times whilst the screen was still wet. It starts to clear the larger beads at just over 30mph but any smaller beads need higher speeds. It's not the best glass sealant I've used, but neither is it the worst, it is however the cheapest. I'd put it close to Car Chem Ultra Glass Sealant - Car Chem performs slightly better but also costs slightly more. Durability yet to be determined. As for the Nanolex, well the sheeting was almost non-existent... on the roof. Almost everywhere else it was slow and pretty patchy. However, on the skirts & lower parts of the panels it was much, much more conducive to what one would expect of a coating. I also remembered that the numberplate plinth was coated with PSS but wasn't given a FF wipedown so I paid more attention to that today and it too shows very good sheeting. This is enough to convince me that the poor water behaviour so far is a result of Final Finish failing rather than the underlying Premium Spray Sealant and FF seems to have worn off the lower panels but is still hanging on, on the roof. Hopefully I'll be down to the PSS by time I get round to giving it another wash (as I'd like to see how that compares to the very impressive Gyeon Prime currently on the other car as much as anything), but I also have enough FF to play around and experiment with at a later date.

I see the cat's still not too impressed though.