The ilogikal1 test thread

[ilogikal1]

And now for something completely different the same as usual.

 

In what seems to have become a pattern, I did gone done forgot all about Nanowax. So that might follow at another time. Or it might not. Who knows.

 

Anyway, in the mean time, have some Car Chem stuff.

 

The roof and painted trim that goes from the A pillar to the boot was treated first to Car Chem Pre Wax Cleaner - if you've used Werkstat Prime you'll know how good that is and subsequently the bar that's set for all paint cleaners that follow (in my mind at at least). You may also be aware that Werkstat have gone on an indefinite hiatus so Prime is impossible to get hold of at the moment, so it was great to discover that the Car Chem Cleaner is actually very good. I'll be pitting it head to head with Prime at some point in the future, but so far I'm happy with it.

It's every bit as easy to use as Prime is with its simple wipe on, work in, buff off job. It's very easy to work, even if over-applied it's easy to remove without any real effort and it leaves a good, slick finish.

 

Car Chem say;

CarChem Pre Wax Cleaner is the final stage before waxing for maximum gloss and reflectivity. Rich handpicked polishing oils add a deep, rich, wet look to the paint, suitable for all colours of paint work. For best results this should be followed by CarChem Carnauba Polish Glaze, CarChem PTFE Polish or CarChem Hydro Coat. Alternatively if you are looking for a long term sealant you can apply CarChem Nano Shell for a 3 year protection.

 

So I duly followed the Cleaner with PTFE Polish Glaze which is an AIO glaze & sealant product. Again, it's incredibly easy to use - apply, spread thinly & evenly, allow to cure & buff. Again it's very easy to spread and remove, even if it's over-applied. It leaves a good finish too, as you'll see shortly.

 

Car Chem say;

CarChem PTFE Polishing Glaze is a PTFE-based glaze that really brings out the brilliance and clarity of all paint types. CarChem PTFE Polishing Glaze can be layered to build up additional gloss and protection, and can also be topped with further coats of wax protection to give an even deeper shine if desired. CarChem PTFE Polishing Glaze effectively adds a layer of PTFE armour to painted surfaces to protect against elements for three to four months at a time. For extended results this should be followed by CarChem Hydro Coat

 

So for the roof, I did just that; topped it with Hydro Coat (the pillar trim was left with just the PTFE Glaze as the LSP though).

As previously mentioned on this thread, Hydro Coat can be applied in two ways - either diluted 39:1 & sprayed onto a wet car before being rinsed off, or as I have done here by wiping it onto the paint (using cotton make up pads), allowing a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 10 minutes to cure & finally buff off.

It's very easy to apply & spread. The website says "10 [minutes] maximum", but it was cold so I expected to have to leave it a little longer... and then I got distracted anyway. So 20-25 minutes later I buffed it off with no problem at all. This can also be used on plastics too, so unlike more traditional sealants or wax you don't have to be so careful which is always good news on the 350's roof because of that black seal running the length of the roof on either side as well at the seal at the front and back!

 

Car Chem say;

CarChem Hydro Coat paint sealant is an easy on easy off sealant for those who want nothing but the best protection, durability, shine and beading. CarChem Hydro Coat offers a hydrophobic guard and will help protect your car's paint from bird droppings, acid rain, bugs, road salts and other elements. For extended results CarChem Hydro Coat can be layered with a 8 hours gap between applications or add 25ml of sealant to a 975ml of water to make a very effective spray sealant to use after washing which will keep your CarChem Hydro Coat topped up. CarChem Hydro Coat can be used on the entire vehicle including glass, plastics, alloys, steel and rubbers.

 

Although both PTFE Glaze & Hydro Coat can be layered, I've settled for just the one of each. This is partly to test out the durability of a single layer and partly because I only want it to outlast winter. Once winter's gone, I'll be doing the summer prep at some point which will inevitably mean stripping whatever LSP(s) are still going so there's little point in having a billionty months worth of protection on now.

 

Anyway, pictures!

 

Reflections;

 

 

 

 

 

[ilogikal1]

What, you wanted beading pictures? Well tough, have some anyway!

 

PFTE Glaze;

 

 

 

 

 

Hydro Coat;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both;

 

 

 

 

 

That is all for now.

[ilogikal1]

Good info, there's sh!tloads of MFs out there and it's good to find some that someone else has tried and tested for you I demand all mine are hand made in South Korea, natural home of the microfibre worm

 

Glad to be of assistance.

I'm lead to believe most of the South Korean microfibre worms are actually escaped North Korean microfibre worms, but that might just be propaganda.

 

Another style here. I think these microsuede babies are pretty cool, they love dust and glass. I keep a few for delicate non-car jobs too (iPhone, iPad, iMac).

 

http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/B004GU5276

 

I have a couple of tiny suede cloths - most came with the screen protectors for my phone - and they're great for removing fingerprints, dust, etc. from smaller screens (like a phone, for example ). They're also very good for the interior mirror on the car but because I've not got any mansized versions, I've never used them for more than that really. They are perfect for applying coating's though, which is probably why most coatings will come with a few (equally as miniature!) for just that.

[Stutopia]

The DJ microsuede linked are 40x40cm so a proper size for doing things like decent expanses of glass and not full of grease after 2 minutes, like I find with the tiny glasses case type versions. I keep one in the arm rest with some glass cleaner, so I can do my dash, stereo, mirrors whilst sat in traffic

 

If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean.

[ilogikal1]

I didn't notice they were proper sized... I may have to invest now.

[ilogikal1]

Nanolex Nanowax content was threatened. Now it is delivered.

 

There were a few fairly minor swirls, especially towards the lower sections of the rear bumper so I thought it was as good an excuse as any to break out the Nanowax and see what sort of corrective and/or filling abilities it actually has, having only used it on a freshly polished surface previously.

I applied by machine with a green Lake Country Constant Pressure spot pad at speed 3-4 with moderate pressure, only a couple of fairly quick passes - I did work the Nanowax, but not to be honest I could have been more thorough and worked it a while longer bur it was cold, my back hurt and I'm lazy. Mainly the lazy thing really.

 

Anyway the results;

 

 

Yes, I'm aware of the damage to the lacquer in the numberplate recess - behind the numberplate is a mess but it's not a high priority to get sorted as it's hidden when the plate is on.

 

I'm also aware that the Velcro tape is coming off. That's only there for my "show" plate (the proper plate is screwed on) but the glue wasn't as strong as the Velcro when I took that plate off this time. It will be sorted by time you read this though.

 

In case you were wondering about the plate, it was purely for this shot;

The trouble I go to just for Instagram.

 

 

Anyway, back to the Nanowax. As you can probably see (or not, as the case may be), the swirls are gone... for the most part.

 

 

Not quite all gone though;

 

 

Having inspected the rest of the bumper, the majority of the remaining swirls are located in this area - there's a few RDS and the occasional swirl here and there but this is the worst of it - so it's probably more half-arsed application method more than anything.

 

 

 

 

For a change of pace, no beading shots this time, so that's all... until the postman arrives with my Waxybox.

Edited February 1, 2015 by ilogikal1

[ilogikal1]

Another style here. I think these microsuede babies are pretty cool, they love dust and glass. I keep a few for delicate non-car jobs too (iPhone, iPad, iMac).

 

http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/B004GU5276

 

Just in case you (or anyone else for that matter) wanted to pick some more up at a bargain price; whilst stocks last.

[Stutopia]

Were you expecting any corrective action from a wax? Also what backing plate do you use?

[ilogikal1]

Were you expecting any corrective action from a wax?

 

From a typical wax? No. From Nanowax? Yes.

 

Despite the name it's actually an AIO polish coating-based-wax. In fact it's probably the least waxy product to contain the name wax. It''s really just about every post-wash stage in one product (to a degree) as it contains diminishing abrasives, gloss enhancers and leaves protection. Polished Bliss state it doesn't contain fillers so it should have corrected my swirls (the ones I did manage to hit at least) and whilst I've never had cause to doubt them, I've not checked this for myself with an IPA wipe down purely because that would mean having to reapply it again for the protection. PB seem quite keen on it (see the "we say" section here) and I have to say I'm more impressed with it myself each time I use it.

 

 

Also what backing plate do you use?

 

I use the Flexipads DA plates (from here) - 70mm for the spot pads & 125mm for the larger pads myself; the required size will depend on the size of your pads though (that's not a euphemism ).

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see if PB are paying me commission yet.

[ilogikal1]

A few more bits done yesterday & Friday - excuse the photo quality, these were all taken with my phone.

 

This (eventually) arrived on Friday - I'm sure my postman deliberately leaves my post 'til last on Waxybox day.

 

 

Which contained...

 

 

... a lot. In this box is; Frost Onyx (tyre dressing), Madcow Ultra Violet (QD/sealant), Poorboys Super Slick & Suds (shampoo), Glimmerman Prestige Gloss (rinse aid), Stoner's Invisible Glass (glass cleaner), Slickrims (wheel sealant), Chemical Guys Diablo (wheel cleaner), Lexol pH Balanced Leather Cleaner (leather cleaner...), Waxaddict Development Wax (a... er... wax...), Mothers Magnesium & Aluminium Polish (it's just getting silly now...), a pair of Tigergrip gloves, 2x "detail sticks" (foam tipped swabs), a Waxybox air freshener, 2x Hibkote air fresheners, a sticker, a dual pile microfibre cloth, a foam wax applicator, a foam tire dressing applicator, a discount code for Frost, the usual product information card and instructions for Slickrims. So I set to work.

 

First up;

 

 

Yep, it's in the boot. I can't stand things dangling from the more traditional interior mirror placement, so I use the handy fixtures under the strut bar for hanging air fresheners.

Sadly, not the HubiFresh scent, which is one of my all time favourites. Luckily it is a very nice scent still.

 

Next up, I applied;

 

 

Very easy to apply, it spread really well and was a very nice consistency being neither too hard nor too soft. A couple of swipes with the small applicator was all it took to coat the entire front bumper (not including the badge, by the way). There were no instructions with this one, so I resorted to the swipe test.

 

Whilst that was curing, I moved onto this;

 

 

I initially thought this was an outright sealant from both the description on the Madcow website and the description from Waxybox. It seems I have actually misread both because I've since been informed that it's a QD*... in the same way that Sonax BSD is a QD it seems - i.e. it's marketed as a QD, it's designed to behave like a sealant. That said, having used both, I'd have little issue with UV as a QD unlike BSD (other acronyms are available...). Having re-read both sources again armed with this knowledge, I can see where my misunderstanding occurred.

*Apologies to harryjackson for confusing matters when discussing this on Instagram, fortunately Madcow were on hand to provide useful information based on actual knowledge whilst I was in the pub getting drunk.

 

Anyway, now that, that is cleared up... it's a very simple WOWO product, so I cracked out the (now washed) orange Rag Master cloth previously mentioned for this. I first sprayed direct onto the panel and found it really easy to spread with it's very reasonable work times before it flashed off, turned the cloth over and buffed to leave a lovely, slick, glossy panel. I also tried it by spraying onto the cloth and wiping over the panel which I preferred and equally as easy to use. That left me with front wings that look like this;

 

 

Incidentally, that 500gsm cloth was ideal for this purpose; soft enough to minimise the risk of marring, a pile deep enough to hold a good amount of product to spread over a whole panel whilst also buffing to a great shine easily, quickly and safely. Also, you might remember that I was a little concerned that the Rag Master cloths so "fluffy" that they might leave lint behind - as you can see, no lint there. It's a very nice cloth at a reasonable price.

 

With that done, I went back to check the wax. It wasn't quite ready at that point. So I waited longer. About 10-12 minutes (at prexactly 2°C by the by) after it was applied, it passed the swipe test so I set about buffing it. It was very easy to buff off - we're talking Poorboys Natty's or FK type of easy here! It was almost wipe off it was that easy. An absolutely delightful wax to use I must say.

 

When buffed, that looks like this;

 

[ilogikal1]

More pictures;

 

 

 

Spot the Z.

 

 

 

For those keeping track, the car is currently wearing;

 

2 coats of Gyeon Tire on the tyres.

Wolf's Nano Clean & Coat on the wheels.

Maxolen Multimax on the boot & rear light plastic trim, door sill plastics, front badge and engine cover.

Auto Finesse Spritz on all other engine bay plastics.

FK1000P on the exhaust, topped with Dr Beasley's Wheel Sealant, just for lolz.

Nanolex Nanowax on the rear bumper.

A small strip of Nanolex Reactivating Shampoo on the boot

Gyeon Cure on the passenger side boot, rear quarter panel, door and wing mirror.

Dodo Juice Supernatural Acrylic Spritz on the driver side boot, rear quarter panel, door and wing mirror.

Car Chem PTFE Glaze on the painted A pillar trim (both sides).

Car Chem Hydrocoat on the roof.

Madcow Ultra Violet on the front wings (both sides).

Waxaddict Edition 18 on the upper driver side bonnet.

Waxaddict Edition 19 on the upper middle bonnet.

Waxaddict Edition 20 (x2) on the upper & lower (respectively) passenger side bonnet.

Waxaddict Vitreo on the lower driver side bonnet.

Waxaddict Graphite (beta version - previously "that little unlabelled pot") on the lower middle bonnet.

Waxaddict Development Wax (from box 21) on the front bumper.

Nanolex Trim Rejuvenator on the passenger side of the front grille.

Hubikote HubiTrim on the driver side of the front grille.

GTechniq G1 on the glass.

 

I still need to chose something for the side skirts. And then start on the interior.

Edited February 11, 2015 by ilogikal1

[350zedd]

Ever thought of making a musical "Ilogikal1 and The Amazing Waxybox Dreamcoat" based on the story of......"The Coat of many Waxes"

 

 

........ it just came to mind

[ilogikal1]

 

I'd never find the time... I'm too busy buffing waxes off the car.

[Stutopia]

In line water filters - any good or is it just a case of getting the big tank things?

 

Compressed air for the irritating bits - badges, wing mirrors, lug nuts - is it just a case of buying a small cheap compressor, I guess huge pressure is neither necessary nor desirable for detailing?

 

Ta

[ilogikal1]

In line water filters - any good or is it just a case of getting the big tank things?

 

In short - big tank thingy.

 

There are pros and cons to each;

Either is only as good as the resin it's filled with.

In-line jobbies are a cheaper outlay but due to the smaller size are used up much sooner so need to be replaced more frequently.

The vessels are a bigger initial outlay but are refillable, the resin works out to be about half the price of a replacement in-line filter (25 litres of MB-115 resin is about £75 but will fill an 11 litre vessel 2.5 times over).

 

In my experience with the Aqua Gleam vs. the Daqua vessel with 330odd ppm hard water; the Aqua Gleam lasted about two months (8-10 uses maximum), the Daqua is still going on the original resin from last April (used almost weekly). There's some more detailage in this thread but if there's anything I've not covered, feel free to ask.

 

 

 

Compressed air for the irritating bits - badges, wing mirrors, lug nuts - is it just a case of buying a small cheap compressor, I guess huge pressure is neither necessary nor desirable for detailing?

 

Ta

 

Firstly, the 350Z wing mirrors are b*****ds! Now that I've got that off my chest...

 

This is perfect for those areas (except the wing mirrors. You can send those ******* to the surface of the sun and they'd still come back with water in them!). It's a bit pricey but having played with one a few times they are second only to the Air Force Blaster (which is much more expensive and complete overkill unless drying the whole car, but still bloody brilliant!).

I don't have any experience using anything else (other than a towel of course) but if you can find something with a similar spec to the Sidekick I imagine it'd be equally as effective, that is essentially just a compressor after all - slightly heated air like the Sidekick would be a bonus but I wouldn't say it's essential really.

[ilogikal1]

Before I start; SuperStu, you might want to skip this one seeing as I've only recently convinced you to part with some money in exchange for WetCoat...

 

Right then,

I've already done the HydrO2/WetCoat comparison but I've now run out of HydrO2. I might do a WetCoat/Hydro Coat comparison in a couple of weeks though - the Impreza could do with a wash I guess.

 

...so that happened today. I found a little bit of HydrO2 left in the bottle I used last time, so I figured I'd throw that at the car whilst I was at it. And by little bit, I mean exactly this much;

 

 

So this is what I started with;

 

 

WetCoat is used neat.

HydrO2 was already diluted 3:1.

Hydrocoat needed to be diluted 39:1, so this happened;

 

 

The Car Chem instructions state to add 25ml of Hydrocoat to 975ml of water. So I measured out exactly 1litre of water, marked the level on the bottle on the left, removed exactly 25ml with a syringe, topped up the water to the markings with Hydrocoat. I then decanted 500ml (ish) into the smaller bottle on the right for easier use and usage comparison at the end.

 

That done, I went outside and made it snow. When that was rinsed off the car I was left with;

 

 

I'm fairly sure there's 4 waxes on the spoiler, but other than that I have absolutely no recollection of what product(s) was/were on there but there was something;

 

 

 

So I figured I'd crack out the clay cloth in the hopes of removing whatever it was. Having gone over the car twice with the clay cloth and still seeing some protection on small parts, I resorted to cracking out the Tardis to kill off what was left. Which left me with this;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's probably the remnants of something still on there but for the most part it's near enough unprotected at this point.

 

More to follow...

[ilogikal1]

I used up the dregs of HydrO2 on the rear end - with the small amount that I had left I could have covered about double the area but I wanted a three way comparison on the boot so I only did the rear facing vertical section of the boot & bumper with HydrO2 allowing both WetCoat and Hydrocoat on the rest for that comparison.

 

Anyway, HydrO2 when rinsed off left it looking like this;

 

 

 

 

Hydrocoat was applied on the driver's side of an imaginary line down the middle of the car and then rinsed - I was as careful as possible to spray & rinse away from that line to avoid cross contamination as much as possible. This was followed by doing the same with WetCoat on the passenger's side.

 

They left the car looking like this immediately after rinsing;

 

 

 

WetCoat side;

 

 

Hydrocoat side;

 

 

And more of the Hydrocoat side;

 

 

 

 

 

 

WetCoat side;

 

 

 

 

 

And some more of both again;

 

 

 

WetCoat on the roof;

 

 

 

Hydrocoat on the roof;

 

 

 

Useage then ammounted to this much;

 

 

Plus all of the HydrO2 of course. Although it should be noted that I was intentionally using more than I needed on some panels; in truth I'd probably use about a quarter less than that (total) amount on the whole car.

 

Also, because the Impreza is the very definition of a garage queen (it's not seen a road or been further the drive in 5 years!) there will be no durability test on this occasion.

 

Conclusions;

 

... well, semi-conclusions as there's a caveat (at the end).

WetCoat and HydrO2 comaprisons are fairly well documented on this thread so I'll concentrate on how Hydrocoat compares to WetCoat. Hydrocoat works quite well and clearly adds effortless protection to the paint. However it's not performed quite as well as I'd hoped to be honest.

Whilst WetCoat offers very consistent beading/sheeting throughout, Hydrocoat was less consistent on both counts - WetCoat offers tall, tight beading and very quick sheeting whereas Hydrocoat offers some very good, tall, tight beads surrounded by some very poor, flat patches and some areas of very quick sheeting and others of slower but more thorough sheeting. Which brings me to that caveat - the paint on the Impreza is ******* dreadfull, at best, with a very compromised top coat which may be affecting things.

 

I intend to further test Hydrocoat - on better paint and playing with the dilutions perhaps - but at the moment, in terms of a spray on/rinse off sealant I'd have to recommend WetCoat as the best option with Hydrocoat being an acceptable, cheaper alternative (however it's worth remembering that Hydrocoat can also be used neat as a WOWO sealant too, which it is [so far] very good at).

[ilogikal1]

Incidentally, I should probably add that the reason I'm entertaining the idea of the **** poor paint on the Impreza influencing the outcome is largely because of this, shamelessly borrowed from a guy I follow on Instagram which shows very little difference between the two in his test;

 

Edited February 7, 2015 by ilogikal1

[Stutopia]

So, having read that, I think we all need to know; why hasn't the scooby had a run out in 5 years?

[ilogikal1]

Partially because it's broken... ish, partly because my next door neighbour is a massive end of a bell. So now that, that's cleared up...

[ilogikal1]

Okay it's largely because it's broken... ish - after throwing literally thousands of pounds at it, the fly wheel which was only skimmed when the engine was rebuilt started to make broken noises, but it still runs so it went into the garage before it broke properly and until I could stomach throwing more money at it. Before that happened, I devised a cunning plan which meant more money. Whilst waiting for that money to magically appear, I devised another plan and so on and so forth. Now it's 5 years later and I've done nothing with it at all.

 

At roughly the same time as it broke (again), my next door neighbour had been complaining to the council about anything he possibly could, the short version is that council decided the cause of his complaint was the Impreza so it's now technically illegal for me to start and/or run the Impreza on week days within an undisclosed distance from my house in case the noise "disturbs" the precious little ****wit. So I've been even more reluctant to throw money at it.

[Stutopia]

That sucks, sorry mate. Shame as it's a classic motor.

[ilogikal1]

One of my plans involved re-shelling it (that bodywork needs some serious attention really) which would negate the ****head neighbour issue because the issue is with that specific car... until he complained about the "new" car at least.

Another one was to turn it into a track pig but funds haven't allowed thus far.

With my current job-search, relocation is almost certain which would resolve the ****-next-door issue permanently which would just leave the finances to resolve, and man-maths will justify that.

 

I've resisted selling it for 5 years with the thinly veiled intention to do something with it, I can resist a few more. It might still make it back on the road one day... possibly.

[ilogikal1]

I remember when my Z looked like this

 

 

A mere 140 miles later though

 

 

Sigh.

 

Anyway, before most of that filth happened, this happened on the boot;

 

 

Micro-beading! You (well, I) can still see the Nanolex stripe. The difference between DJ Acrylic Sptriz (right) is more pronounced than with Gyeon Cure (left) but there is still a noticeable difference in the beading.

 

 

Below is Cure on the left, Nanolex on the right (with DJ AS sneaking into view on the far right);

 

 

Nanolex on the right (Cure on the far right), DJ AS on the left;

 

 

The beading from both AS & Cure is fairly similar with the Nanolex offering longer, flatter beads, however the Cure side seems to blend into the Nanolex more than the definitive line at the edge of the DJ AS.

 

Cure left, Nanolex right;

 

 

Nanolex left, DJ AS right;

 

 

 

Elsewhere;

 

 

Car Chem Hydro Coat & PFTE Glaze getting in on the action.

 

PTFE Glaze (below the black trim);

 

 

Hydro Coat (above the black trim);

 

 

There's not a huge difference, but the PTFE beading seems a little tighter and taller to me.

 

That's all for today.

[350zedd]

Unfortunately, living in the back of beyond in Wales, you only have to drive 5 miles for it to resemble your 140 mile trek.

What with all the cow $hit on the road and added salt, every journey beyond the gate, results in a very dirty zed.

I'm glad I don't have to travel every day in her, as it would be really frustrating keeping her clean.

Ahhh well, spring will soon be here with salt free roads, but still trying to dodge the cow $hit