The ilogikal1 test thread

[Stutopia]

Nice one. Always like to try something new when a product runs out

[ilogikal1]

Wheels then. The following was done with some prep (fallout removed, cleaned using Blackfire Tyre & Wheel Cleaner and Wheel Woolies, then shampoo washed for good measure, but not de-tarred nor clayed because I couldn't be a*sed frankly) and then just one coat of each.

 

The contestants are;

SmartWax RimWax

Poorboys Wheel Sealant

Finish Kare 1000P

and HubiKote HubiRims (referred to in some pictures as the blind test product - that's because it was a blind test. Obviously. From one of the Waxyboxes. Hence this particular test).

 

SmartWax claims RimWax;

Cleans, Shines and Protects in one step

Reduces brake dust by upto 75%

UV protection reduces wear and fading

Prevents water spots

Accelerates water runoff

Removes minor swirls

Long lasting

Adds gloss and depth

Repels damaging brake dust and road contaminates

Easy to use - one step formula

Extreme Shine + Protection for Chrome and Alloy Wheels...

RIMWAXâ„¢ - Premium wax and polish delivers a brilliant shine and protective shield.

Formulated with non-stick technology and anti-static guard RIMWAX is engineed dark purple to deflect brake dust, dirt and abrasives.

 

 

Poorboys says of their Wheel Sealant;

Long lasting protection for wheels with brake dust problems and also provides an excellent barrier against weather on wheels of any type, including coated, chrome, painted, polished aluminium, and even plastic hubcaps. Repels brake dust and grime, making wheels easy to clean and maintain.

 

 

HubiKote states of HubiRims;

A soft wheel wax that creates a polymer based barrier to enhance gloss and protect from brake dust. The wax bonds into a flexible microcoating which gives your wheels the smoothest / deepest gloss. The bonded wax is impenetrable to the elements gives top quality beading that revives with each wash and improves cleaning times. Safe on matte finish wheels, and other finishes including polished, stainless, chrome and powder coated.

 

 

And Finish Kare says of 1000P;

... is made from a blend of synthetic waxes to obtain a high degree of consistent quality. The most important attributes of this wax blend are hi melting points and greater hardness than natural waxes. Thus, the resulting film provides not only the high gloss but resistance to wear from heat, water & other natural causes. California VOC compliant. It is great for all painted, chrome and fiberglass surfaces found on Marine, Aircraft & Automotive finishes. It is easy to use and easy to wipe off.

 

 

 

As both HubiRims & FK1000P are both polymer based sealants and RimWax and Poorboys aren't, the idea was to put Poorboys & RimWax head-to-head on the rear wheels and HubiRims and FK head-to-head on the front wheels.

 

So, some pictures then. I can't remember how many miles were covered between each set of pictures but suffice it to say the car was used.

First up is one week after application and on a dirty car;

 

 

Poorboys and RimWax already appeared to be struggling, but FK and HubiRims didn't even blink at this point. However Pooboys still sheeted just well as when it was fresh and the beading was then revived somewhat when washed whereas RimWax sheeting had slowed and the beading didn't come back at all.

 

After two weeks, it looked like this;

 

By this point RimWax had failed completely. Poorboys was struggling on. FK & HubiRims noticed no change at all. Again, the sheeting on Poorboys was still present but it was beginning to be shown up by FK & HubiRims which were sheeting noticably quicker.

 

By the end of week three nothing had changed at all to the above.

 

Four weeks on and we get this;

 

RimWax was nothing but a distant memory. Poorboys had given up at some point during the week, no beading real, sheeting poor at best. FK & HubiKote still soldiered on witout missing a beat.

 

Week 5 was more of the above.

 

After 6 weeks I was left with just the two and this;

 

The beading had started to drop off a bit on both FK and HubiRims but noth were still sheeting perfectly well - this was after a wash with nothing more than shampoo and a Wheel Woolie, by the way. There was no sign of any brake dust/dirt after the light clean but I decided to call the test to a close on Instagram as it was designed to provide feedback for HubiRims, as such the pictures dry up (pardon the pun) here. However for my own purposes I did keep note of both for another 3 weeks after this (bringing it to 9 weeks since application) and both saw a slight decline in beading but no change in beading.

 

In week 10 I had a brain fart and a new fallout remover to play with, so my first thought was to test it on the front wheels... which pretty much immediately killed of both FK and HubiRims. The good news is that there wasn't much fallout on the wheels and it was no real difference between the two.

 

As I said somewhere nearer the beginning, this test was done with only one coat of each. I know from previous experience that it's quite possible to seel 6 weeks out of Poorboys with 3 or 4 coats. RimWax sees no advantage to being layered, probably due to it's "cleaning" abilities rather than it's lack of abilities, but I've never seem more than 2 weeks out of it whether I put on one coat or 6. No, really, I tried 6 coats once. It took nearly as long to apply the f**king stuff as it did for it to fall off. FK1000P can also be layered and 2 or 3 coats is will see a good few months protection even through winter. I'm currently still testing multiple coats of HubiRims on another car, that was applied 10 weeks ago and it's still going strong at this point.

 

 

RimWax retails at £15.95 for... an amount. That isn't specified on their own website. According to the first other source I checked, that's for "256gm tin".

Poorboys retails at £14 for 227grams.

HubiRims retails at £15 for 30grams. No, that is not a typo.

FK1000P retails at £18 for for a f**k off big tin the size of a plate... sorry, that's 412grams in weight terms.

 

So my conclusion (complete with SuperStu sponsored "ilogikal1 OCD rating") then;

 

RimWax is sh*t - 0 out of 5. Or a billion. It doesn't score on any scale. At all. It only scores as high as 0 because if I did negative points I'd just be getting silly at this point.

 

Poorboys is okay - 2 out of 5. It loses points for it's poor durability compared to others and the requirement for multiple coats to make it worth taking the wheels off, but it does work.

 

HubiRims impressed me to keep up with the mighty FK1000P - 4 out of 5. It works very well, doesn't need to be layered to get good durability, but it's limited to just the wheels and is horrendously expensive compared to the alternative.

 

Which brings us too;

FK1000P - 5 out of 5. Easy to use, has multiple uses (can be used on the bodywork and even the kitchen hob too ), huge durability, incredibly economical (that f**k off big tin will last you forever. Probably.) and, as has previously been discussed on here somewhere, it has a picture of a shark on the tin. A shark!

 

 

Having said all that, I have some G Techniq C5 to go on my wheels once they've been refurbed....

[roscopervis]

Another great test and I concur with your recommendation of FK1000p. It's what I've been using for the last couple of years. Its also good on the rest of the car too, what's there not to like?!

 

Sent from my AT10LE-A using Tapatalk

 

 

[ChrisB]

I love this thread - we have experimental method, result, discussion, conclusion with control and comparative cases, variables normalised by parallel testing, peer review and publication in a forum (proxy journal).

 

Very scientific Pat on the back Dr ilogikal1 !

[ilogikal1]

I love this thread - we have experimental method, result, discussion, conclusion with control and comparative cases, variables normalised by parallel testing, peer review and publication in a forum (proxy journal).

 

Very scientific Pat on the back Dr ilogikal1 !

 

Why thank you very much, I'm glad others are enjoying it too. And to think I rubbish at science in school.

 

Another great test and I concur with your recommendation of FK1000p. It's what I've been using for the last couple of years. Its also good on the rest of the car too, what's there not to like?!

 

Sent from my AT10LE-A using Tapatalk

 

It really is very difficult to argue with the two FK waxes (not least of all because they're inanimate objects ), both 1000P and 2685 really do perform exceptionally well. The only downside to FK products is their numbering system. I'm sure there's a rationality to it, but I'll be stuffed if I can work it out.

[Ekona]

My tin of 1000P is about a billionty years old, and I've barely scratched the surface. I'll be dead before I get round to using the whole thing, it's immense.

[Stutopia]

Well I know what I'm ordering next, nice work, as always.

 

Reading your excellent and considerably more scientific reviews than others (i.e. me) got me thinking about making a list of the detailing jobs and my preferred products for each, a budget alternative, and things to try next. There's so much out there you can't try everything yourself (well I can't) so it'd be a handy list.

[ilogikal1]

Well I know what I'm ordering next, nice work, as always.

 

Reading your excellent and considerably more scientific reviews than others (i.e. me) got me thinking about making a list of the detailing jobs and my preferred products for each, a budget alternative, and things to try next. There's so much out there you can't try everything yourself (well I can't) so it'd be a handy list.

 

Thank you.

 

The most irritating thing is when you discover that one product for any given job... and then sure enough ten minutes later something else shows up on the market and claims to be better.

[roscopervis]

There's loads of hype with products, best wait to leave that die down and see some real evidence. Saved loads of money doing it that way over the years!

 

Sent from my AT10LE-A using Tapatalk

 

 

[Tigerzed]

I also only used storng hose pressure to spray off Hydr02.

Maybe with a full decon and a pressure washer to rinse it would fare better but I don't have the luxury of this.

 

I have a bit left over, so I might reserve a panel to test this on a properly prepared panel with a pressure washer and see if that makes any difference. What I would recommend though is Bathe+, it cleans really well, feels very lubricated and adds protection at the same time. It's a great maintenance product for a well protected car and it'll save you all of ten minutes of your life topping up the HydrO2/C2... Yeah, it doesn't sound that great an idea when I put it that way actually.

 

 

How about running a little of the old RainX alongside the screen protector as a baseline Mr Ilogical?

 

I don't have any Rain X, unfortunately, otherwise I would have gladly shown it what a proper glass sealant is like. I really don't rate Rain X at all, as such it is actually blacklisted (along with Rim Wax and most things Simoniz ) from my house so I'm afraid I'm even going to have to object to obtaining even a sample of this from anywhere for any purpose other than having something to throw at the neighbours intrusive cat.

 

I agree with the Rain X. It smears and leaves a film on the windscreen that's quite dangerous I found. I threw mine out and will definitely never use it again.

[gsexr]

What have you got against Rim Wax? It's the first dedicated wheel wax I bought and it's running out...

 

I thought that was known as vaseline

[Stutopia]

BATHE+ is the future. Thanks for posting it up.

 

It's the best shampoo ever!!!! The level of lubricity when mitt goes on metal is superb. I was all set to order another batch of stuff from Larry at AMMO as their Foam Paint Cleanser was my favourite AMMO product and shampoo of choice, but Bathe+ is just as lubey and seems to be good at cleaning too (hard to tell as my zed was almost dirt free before today's wash). I was a bit meh at first, because all the suds just disappeared out the bucket whilst I was foaming, but once I jammed the pressure washer in their and gave it a few bursts, it was suds central.

 

That's it, this is on my list and I'm not changing it whatever comes out

 

 

[ilogikal1]

Yeah, Bathe+ is an awesome shampoo. The normal Bathe is just as good but without the protection aspect - it's a very good 'pure' shampoo.

 

To be honest I've not yet tried a Gyeon product that I don't like. I still have no idea how to pronounce it, but their products are pretty impressive to say the least. They've got a few more coming out soon too, so that's even more of my money gone before I've earned it.

[Stutopia]

Yeah, Bathe+ is an awesome shampoo. The normal Bathe is just as good but without the protection aspect - it's a very good 'pure' shampoo.

 

To be honest I've not yet tried a Gyeon product that I don't like. I still have no idea how to pronounce it, but their products are pretty impressive to say the least. They've got a few more coming out soon too, so that's even more of my money gone before I've earned it.

 

Their other products seem a little extreme for me I'm not sure I want an impregnable crystal layer on everything!

[ilogikal1]

Their other products seem a little extreme for me I'm not sure I want an impregnable crystal layer on everything!

 

They are currently very coating orientated, and by all accounts their coatings are up there with the best but I've not ventured into coatings yet. I like to change the LSP too often.

 

Their tyre stuff is very good, not overly glossy (just how I like it) and lasts weeks. Iron's pretty good too, even compared to Iron X - I'll be doing a fallout remover test at some point, I just need to get some more Iron X.

 

They've got some tar remover and leather protector on the way too, so they're branching out in terms of what they offer. They seem to be sticking with SiO2 based products, so durability (where applicable) is a high priority with their products.

[ilogikal1]

Today's new toy is...

 

 

 

The CarPro Polyshave Decontamination Towel. There's a sales pitch/blurb here, but in short it's a replacement for a clay bar - "Like clay the Polyshave Decon Towel removes the above surface contaminants but unlike clay it is not nearly as time consuming. Also if you drop it, it can simply be rinsed off and used again. The CarPro Polyshave towel not only rinses easily but outlasts clay time and again."

 

So, is it as good as traditional clay? Let's find out... (yeah, I'll stop with the patronising TV presenter sh*t now).

 

The prep;

Foam & wash the car the evening before (left in a garage, out of the elements overnight). Attack with fallout remover & rinse. Attack with tar remover & rinse.

 

The method (in short);

Clay a bit of a panel using a traditional clay bar.

Clay the rest of the panel using the cloth.

Re-clay the whole panel using a fresh traditional clay bar.

Compare the two bars, decide if the towel works.

I'll also be noting any marring to the paint caused by either.

 

 

Or the long version of that;

Take one Dodo Juice Supernatural clay bar and cut off two pieces, which start off looking like this;

 

 

Using Chemical Guys Speed Wipe as lube and one of the above pieces of clay, clay one half of a single panel (in this the boot lid), inspect the clay, notice it's picked up absolutely nothing (from a cleaning perspective , from this tests perspective ). Repeat on the bonnet. Then the front bumper. Then the wing directly behind the front wheel and finally find this;

 

The obscure green bits would be the Tar-X I obviously missed when rinsing. As you can see, there's not a great deal there anyway, so I may repeat this comparison if I find a suitably dirty car. Ideally one whose owner won't mind me attacking it with clay...

 

Anyway, back to the test. Having obtained a baseline for the clay, I filled a bucket with Chemical Guys Mr Pink shampoo (sticking with the pink Chemical Guys products to provide lubrication, entirely unintentionally I may add). I left the clay cloth to soak in that whilst I set up the pressure washer and using Mr Pink in a foam lance, foamed a panel at a time (working in the sun today!) and then wiped the panel over with the clay cloth - I had the cloth folded into quarters, did the windows first to "break it in" on the glass as recommended before touching the paint with all four folded sections and applied no pressure at all to the cloth. I also rinsed the cloth off after every panel just to minimise the risk of marring.

 

Having "clayed" the entire car with the clay cloth, I then returned to the sections behind the front wheels with the second clay bar, again using Speed Wipe as lune (this is after re-claying both sides - the first side, predictably, picked up nothing at all but then it's been clayed with a bar already so I wouldn't expect it too);

 

I then spot checked various areas that were the dirtiest prior to washing and found... nothing at all. Although it actually looks dirtier in that picture than it does in person it should be noted that the surface isn't actually smooth, and there's some Speed Wipe residue on it there too. There's actually one little line of dirt in that clay bar.

 

Here's the before (left) and after (right);

 

 

 

A couple of things to note;

 

I had intended to do two panels with the cloth (the area on both side behind the front wheels) then check it with the other bit of clay bar, however it took so little time that I decided to do the rest of the car and then check those areas with the clay bar instead. Now, when I say it's quick to use, if you're just claying on it's own it's probably no quicker after filling buckets, setting up pressure washers and then packing it all away afterwards like I did today. However if, like most people (including me usually), you do the wash/decon stages in the same day then using the cloth is akin to the hands-on wash stage - there's no need to re-foam the car, I was just being paranoid and wanted maximum lubrication, despite intending to polish anyway, and you can use your wash bucket mixture for this too.

 

It's quite difficult to get the cloth into tall the little, tight spaces around the car, whereas it's less difficult to get the clay bar into those areas. That said, it's also quite easy to get bits of clay residue stuck in panel gaps and around badges, etc, which just isn't an issue with the cloth. Which is particularly usefull when it comes to plastic trim (particularly textured plastics) as you just don't have to make any effort to avoid them.

 

Also, as I was working in the sun today, I noticed on the hotter panels that the cloth slowly became grabby as the rubber warmed up. This was simply overcome by turning the cloth whenever it started to get warm on one side - I only mention this becuase with the cloth folded, you've got 4 working areas wheras with the mitts you'll only have the one. It should also be noted that it would have been too hot for regular clay too, so I see this as an advantage to the cloth there too as it didn't slow me down much at all (seriously, how long does it take to fold a cloth!?!) whereas I'd be constantly changing bars to keep them cool.

 

 

Summary;

It's terrible. Stick with clay bars. On a completely unrelated topic, does anyone want to by a full, unused Supernatural bar and half a Bilt Hamber bar?

 

Okay, so really... suffice it to say I'm a convert. It's not great for small spaces but for everything else it's just better. Larger working area means less time spent. There was absolutely no resistance so it really was like just washing the car. There's no obvious marring and certainly no more so than a traditional clay bar. It leaves the surface glass-smooth and the traditional clay bar didn't pick up much that the cloth didn't. I was actually very impressed with it.

Edited June 8, 2014 by ilogikal1

[Stutopia]

That is an interesting and, for me anyway, unexpected result.

 

Clay shifted my whole cleaning paradigm, can it be shifted again and I retain my sanity?

[GMballistic]

Great write up.

[ilogikal1]

That is an interesting and, for me anyway, unexpected result.

 

Clay shifted my whole cleaning paradigm, can it be shifted again and I retain my sanity?

 

I must admit before I started using it, I was expecting it to be too aggressive and leave massive amounts of marring, being rubber and all. Then When I was using it, I half expected it not to pick much up due to the lack of resistance from it on the surface. It actually managed to surprise me on both counts.

 

I can't even offer an opinion on your sanity though, I lost mine looooooooong before I discovered clay.

[Stutopia]

Found some eco-touch quick wax in a waxybox bottle today, used it instead of the Sonax Xtreme Brilliant Shine I'm trying at the minute (and which I'm quite liking). Be interested to see how it faired in an ilogikal1 LSP test as it went on nice and easy and left the paint looking swell, endurance is unknown.

[ilogikal1]

Slightly ahead of you there, Stu. I've been using it on door sills on a couple of cars, including my own today, and it'll be going on my wing mirrors when it's time for LSP's.

[ilogikal1]

Just a word of warning to anyone reading, if you've considered applying Nanolex Urban using a foam applicator...

 

 

 

... don't.

[ilogikal1]

Just a little teaser for what's coming.

 

 

 

On a side note, I think it may be about time to get the wheels refurbished. Oh yeah, here's some more shiny paint too.

 

 

 

A proper post will follow. Eventually.

[ilogikal1]

Make yourself a coffee and get comfy because this could take a while, there's a lot to get through.

 

So I've done a "big" detail and gone back to wax(es) for the summer. Usual process of snow foam using Car Chem Snow Foam this time, 2 bucket wash with Hubikote HubiWash (the "limited edition" Krypton Green if that makes any difference to anyone), dried & decontaminated using Gyeon Q2M Iron and Auto Finesse Iron Out. It was then de-tarred with Tar-X. Clayed as per the above post and rinsed off again.

The car was then rolled into the garage where it was inspected and polished - the front bumper was the only panel not polished and that's because it's got "issues". It has claustrophobia, it sh*ts itself every time it gets too close to another object... No, actually it has a patch of lacquer peel and nearly as many stone chips as it has paint and I really couldn't be bothered to spend days picking polish out of them and I'm hoping to throw some paint at it in the not to distant future. For the rest of the car I settles on a combination of Menz 85RE (or SF4000 depending on which of their numbering systems you use) on a green Chemical Guys Hex Logic pad for the large areas and an orange Lake Country Constant Pressure Spot Pad for the smaller areas (I was trialling the Hex Logic pads and only had the larger sizes so resorted to an old favourite for the smaller sections).

 

Whilst doing that, I decided it was as good a time as any to remove the windscreen wiper arms because they looked like this;

 

 

 

And so on. So off they came for a through sanding and painting. And just to demonstrate the level of OCD I've gone to this time, whilst the paint was drying on those, I cleaned and dressed the plastic washer jets and rubber lines with FK108AS "Top Kote Tire Dressing" (sic)... most of which you never see, so they looked like this after;

 

 

The wiper arms looked a lot better after too.

 

 

They're not perfect, but they are all one colour again, so that's good enough for now.

 

Whilst the wiper arms were off the car and out of the way, I took the opportunity to thoroughly clean and dress the scuttle panel. That was treated to a thorough APC scrub until no more dirt came out and then when dry was treated to Nanolex Trim Rejuvinator. And when it was all back together, that looked like this;

 

 

 

 

And whilst I was under the bonnet removing them, I decided I might as well tart the engine bay up a bit too, but I didn't got the extent of GMBallistic and paint the plenum in situ, I just cleaned it all up a bit and dressed the rubbers & plastics with FK Top Kote. And that ended up looking like this;

 

 

Back to the paintwork then. Because 85RE is a very oily/lubricated polish (therefore perfect for the Nissan soft paint, by the way) after polishing I gave the whole car a wipe down using CarPro Eraser to remove those oils. Selected panels/areas were then treated to Auto Finesse Rejuvinate as a pre-wax cleanser. These areas consisted of the rear quarter panels, roof, A & C pillars, front wings and half of the front bumper. The boot hatch, bonnet, rear bumper, skirts, wing mirrors and other half of the bumper were left with completely bare paint, partially because the products intended for those areas but on the bonnet I wanted a level playing field for all 6 waxes involved with nothing interfering with them at all.

 

AF Rejuvinate review - This is a pre-wax cleanser. It's very easy to use with a good work time, easy on/easy off even where over applied or left to cure for an excessively long period of time. It cleans well and leaves a great finish. It also claims to have a bit of corrective abilities, but this is very, very mild (considering I polished the car with a finishing polish, this at best had about half the cut of the polish). I do like this.

 

I also had some Dodo Juice Supernatural Carnauba Glaze to try, so that was applied to the rear quarter panels, pillars and arears of the front wings. This was largely applied in such sporadic areas purely to see if it made any difference to the finish or durability of what was on top.

 

Dodo Juice Supernatural Carnauba Glaze review - It's supposed to contain "mild cleaning agents" but I didn't notice any cleaning ability to be honest. Some areas it was applied by spraying onto the paint directly then spread in with an applicator, other were sprayed onto the applicator and then spread onto the paint however I started by tipping the open bottle onto the applicator. Using a spray head worked better, it uses up too much product with the pouring action really. Once it's spread onto the paint, it seems to be absorbed into the paint for the most part. Despite every effort to, I simply wasn't able to over apply it without just pouring the full sample onto the paintwork, so it's very forgiving to work with and you can be as hamfisted as you like with it. It's also very easy to spread and buffs off very easily. The downside is that I'm not actually convinced it does anything at all. I've asked a couple of people to see if they can tell which patches were treated on the front wings. Neither of them could. However, you can make your own minds up based on the photos below, if you can see any difference on the panel, I'd be interested to hear it.

 

So, onto the LSP's then. A general overview of what's where and then there's more details with the pictures;

 

Nanolex Nanowax is on both doors.

Auto Finesse Tripple is on the passenger wing mirror.

Britemax AIO Max is on the driver's wing mirror.

Car Chem Hardshell is on the boot hatch.

FK1000P topped with FK2685 (pink wax) on the rear bumper.

Britemax Metal Twins topped with FK1000P on the exhaust.

FK1000P on the underside of the rear bumper, front headlights and skirts.

Waxybox #17 version 1 over AF Rejuvinate is on the passenger side of the roof and it also tops DJ SN Glaze from the A pillar to the panel gap for the boot.

Waxybox #17 version 2, as above but on the driver's side.

Eco Touch Quick Wax is on the door shuts and front bumper - half the bumper with AF Rejuvinate under it, half on bare paint.

Auto Finesse Desire, Anglewax Desirable, Dodo Juice Blue Velvet, Dodo Juice Purple Haze, Poorboys Natty's Blue, and FK2685 on the bonnet.

Dodo Juice Hard Candy topped with Dodo Juice Purple Haze on the front passenger wing.

Poorboyrs Natty's Red topped with Poorboys Natty's Blue on the front driver's wing.

Poorboys Natty's Blue topped with Poorboys Natty's Red on the driver's rear quarter.

Poorboys EX-P topped with Natty's Blue topped with Natty's Red on the passenger's rear quarter.

 

Wheels were sealed with Dr Beasley's Wheel Seal.

Tyres dressed with CarPro Perl.

Rubber seals cleaned with APC and treated with Einzett Gummi Pfledge.

Plastic trim on the wing mirrors dressed with Auto Finesse Revive.

Plastic trim under the windscreen dressed with Nanolex Trim Rejuvinator.

Interior plastics dressed with Mad Cow Mango Sauce.

Leather seats cleaned with Dr Leather Wipes and passenger seat then sealed with Dr Beasley's Leather Lock, just because... well, I'm intrigued frankly.

Glass sealed with Nanolex Urban.

 

And I think that's everything. Maybe.

 

Pictures then.

 

Starting with AF Tripple applied to bare paint, I wanted to see what sort of duribility this offered as an AIO. I know from previous experience that it fills well and is a pretty good glaze (I'd actually consider it a competitor for PB Black Hole... and I really do like my PB Black Hole!), so it'll be interesting to see how well it lasts as an LSP too. It's easy to apply, easy to buff even if you over apply. That looks like this;

 

And beads like this;

 

Not bad at the time honoured flake pop either;

 

 

Britemax AIO Max applied to bare paint. Similar theory to Tripple, except I've not used this before but to test the durability. As it's my first time using this and having such a small working area I didn't really get a chance to over apply it so I need to have more a play with this to form a better opinion, but it was easy on/easy off this time and it looks like this;

 

 

And beads like this;

 

 

and "pops" like this;

 

 

You can also see AF Revive beading on the plastic there, but here's another one of that;

 

 

 

 

And on the doors we have another AIO, this time in the shape of Nanolex Nanowax, applied to bare paint. Now this claims to be a polish/wax rather than the other two which are more glaze/waxes. Nanowax contains abrasives but no fillers or chemical cleaners and lays down a nanotechnology based wax coating. I didn't test it's corrective abilities this time but will be doing so at some point. I did use it in two different ways though, on the driver's side I used it as more of a polish (by hand, but worked for a good length of time) and on the passenger's side I used it as wax (slap it on & spread, not working it at all). It's very easy to work as a polish with it being well lubricated it doesn't dry out or dust at all whilst working. Using it as a wax doesn't seem to have caused any marring with unbroken down abrassives though. It's very easy to buff off once cured, even where over applied although overapplication leads to a little bit of dusting upon removal. It does "require" 2 hours after buffing to cure properly and it's adivsed to allow 72 hours out of the elements for maximum durability. I've gone down this route with the car being left in the garage for the full 72 hours. And that looks like this;

 

 

Although I appear to have mislaid the beading pictures for Nanowax, so I'll get some more later. In the mean time, have this dry picture instead.

 

 

ETA, wet Nanowax can be seen in post #89.

 

Next up is Car Chem Hard Shell. Allow me to admit I'm a big Car Chem fan at the moment, everything of theirs that I've tried has worked exactly as it should so I had high hopes for this. Notice use of the past tense... I didn't get on well with this. It was applied to bare paint on the boot hatch. At first I held a foam applicator over the open top of the bottle and turned it over to load the applicator. I should point out, I had forgotten what the instructions had told by this point so I figured I could just work it out for myself. That didn't go well. This method meant that it was massively over applied. It doesn't have a long working time and it cures almost instantly which is where it caused me problems. Over application of this is a bitch to remove, I ended up having to repply a tiny amount of product (the amount I should have used in the first place!) and buff it off immediately. Even then I had to do it no more than 6 inches at a time. After removing the one swipe I'd managed to **** up so badly I re-read the instructions, which basically said to spray sparingly onto the applicator. I did this and still managed to over apply it so I switched to a microfibre cloth, lightly sprayed onto the cloth, spread it onto the paintwork, turned the cloth a buffed immediately. That worked well for the most part. The downside to this that you really don't have time to check where (or even if) you've actually applied it, you just sort of have to trust that it's there... which is probably why you're instructed to give it two coats (half an hour appart FWIW). All I can say is that for all the effort of applying it, it best last a while! Having said that, now I've got some experience with it, reapplying probably won't be quite so much hard work next time. Hopefully. Anyway, that looks like this;

 

 

 

And beads like this;

 

 

To be continued...

Edited July 24, 2014 by ilogikal1

[ilogikal1]

...right about now.

 

So the selected waxes from the other thread then.

 

As you might know Waxybox tweaked their latest development wax following feedback of it being too soft and selected members got a sample of the new version. My member was selected... or something. Anyway, I got a version 2 too, so I'm pitting them against each other.

 

I have version 1 on the passenger side, it's over the top of AF Rejuvinate on the roof and over DJ SN Glaze on the pillar trim. It's very soft at room temperature, although if you stick it in the fridge for a bit it firms up nicely. It had been in the fridge, but was left out to warm up again before use. It was very oily, very easy to load the applicator and very easy to spread. Now Waxybox suggests durability is determined by how long it's left to cure between 1 to 12 minutes before buffing - the longer it cures, the longer it lasts. I intend to test to this too, so a small patch was buffed at one minute, another at 6 minutes and the rest at 12 minutes. Buffing one minute was easy but the finish was still very oily. At 6 minutes, it wasn't easy and the finish was still very oily. At 12 minutes it was a bit of a sod to buff and the finish was still very oily. I did noticed the 1 & 6 minute areas re-buffed when doing the rest of it, so I gave it all a second buffing about 20 minutes later to remove some, but not all, of the oily finish.

 

On the driver's side is version 2. Same process, Rejuvinate & the-world's-longest-name-for-a-glaze used in the same way, staggered buffing in same areas just on the opposite side. Now version 2 is much harder at room temperate. It's almost too hard for my liking - somewhere between the two would have been ideal for me - but it was much easier to get a thin, even layer despite being slightly harder to load the applicator. Again, buffing became increasingly difficult the longer it was left but the finish was left considerably less oily. I still gave it a second buffing 20 minutes after the first.

 

Anyway, they look like this;

 

 

 

 

Notice the difference between the glazed & not glazed areas anyone?

 

And the beading looks like this;

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really can't see much difference between the two, either wet or dry, but version 2 was much easier to apply. Both were a bit of a pig to remove though.

 

Part three to follow shortly. Because it's too many pictures apparently.