The ilogikal1 test thread

[ilogikal1]

9 hours ago, Stutopia said:

Good write up, thanks.

 

Thanks.

 

9 hours ago, Stutopia said:

I do want a short gun, but I don’t know why.

 

Treat yourself, you deserve it. Honestly, so much better than the standard gun, I can't express it enough.

 

10 hours ago, Stutopia said:

P.S. Shampoos should have some suds, I hate ones that don’t, even if they clean and lubricate well. It ruins the whole fun of it.

 

I don't disagree with you actually. Suds don't serve any practical purpose in shampoos, but I do feel better if I have some visible evidence that I'm not just throwing (more) water at the car in a highly inefficient way.

 

10 hours ago, Stutopia said:

Hmmm, reminds me, I should try my mystery box stuff a bit more.

 

Yes, you should... you'll never get rid of your waterless wash if you don't.

[Stutopia]

4 hours ago, ilogikal1 said:

Yes, you should... you'll never get rid of your waterless wash if you don't.

 

Other outdoor items (than cars) will benefit from that. I don't believe in WL washing.

[ilogikal1]

12 minutes ago, Stutopia said:

 

Other outdoor items (than cars) will benefit from that. I don't believe in WL washing.

A man after my own heart!!

[ilogikal1]

I promised (threatened) updates, so have another one.

 

Apparently I start updates with this photo now, so...

 

 

Up next we have VP Dirt Magic.

 

VP market Dirt Magic as a "Dirt Magic Spray Bike and Motorcycle Cleaner", that is to say,

Quote

This amazing product makes cleaning your bike safe and easy and we believe it is more effective as the market leader. It has an amazingly effective cleaning formula which cares for your bikes finish. Dirt Magic is totally safe and contains no Acids or solvents.

 

The also go on to say:

Quote

The product is completely safe to use on brake pads, paintwork, rubber, suspension seals and all anodising.

 

So it's a Cleaner. That's safe for many Purposes. One might even say All purposes. A multi Purpose Cleaner, if you like. Or, stretching it a little bit, an All Purpose Cleaner....

 

So here's my issue with APC's in general. Like buckets, there is usally a hefty "detailing" (or "valeting") tax. Case in point; buy a bucket, that'll be £1, sir. What, you want to wash a car with it? Oh that'll be £10.49, sir! Oh, sorry, you want to use the word ceramics on your bucket? That'll be £12 then, mug!

Ahem... anyway.  APC's: same thing. Almost literally. APC, £1. APC for washing cars,   £10.49  . APC with Megs branding, £13.

That said, compared to anything you'll pick up in Halfords, £4.99 for Dirt Magic is pretty good value, it's almost exactly half the price for the comparible volume of product. That notwithstanding, go to a supermarket. Even the branded stuff is £1.50 per litre instead of £8.99. However for the extra £7.49, you do get "1 litre PRO". Whatever that is.

 

Pricing aside, a good APC is useful to have because they can be used for... well, All Purposes. Well, not ALL purposes, they're no use for fetching you a cold beer for example. Yes, I've tested that... moving on. For All Cleaning Purposes, they're handy.

 

The instructions are easy enough:

Quote

Application is extremely easy, simply spray the product on the entire bike

 

I'm not a power ranger, so I don't actually own a crotch rocket. Instead I decided to test it on two wheels of the car instead. Same thing, innit.

And, what's more, photos are back. Sort of. But we'll come back to the sort of later on.

 

I started with this.

 

Looks like a bike to me... anyway. It's not the dirtiest wheel in the world, but it's not clean either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructions say:

Quote

Application is extremely easy, simply spray the product on the entire bike, leave for 1 minute and then blast off with clean water. It will cut through dirt and grime quickly and safely leaving your whole bike sparkling clean.

 

So it's designed to be used neat on your bike, so I used it as such. On my "bike". Sprayed on, took some pictures;

 

 

 

Initial impressions; Dirt Magic has a very pleasant, strong cherry scent. It foams a little bit and seems to turn the dirt darker... almost like it's wet. But anyway, after about a minute or so-ish-that-might-have-been-two-or-three, I rinsed off with the pressure washer (15 degree nozzle if you're interested). Then took some more pictures.

 

 

Whatever's on the calipers is surviving well. Shame I have no idea what it is!

 

Meanwhile, the "bike" looked like this:

 

 

 

For a tocuhless wash, that's not a bad result, it's lifted a lot of the heavy dirt, but obvioulsy that's not clean.

So ignoring the instructions almost entirely I;

• Sprayed on (okay so far) to the wheel (not bike),
• Sprayed onto a wash mitt (also not a bike),
• Wiped over (that's not in the instructions at all!),
• Left for zero minutes (that's less than 1 minute),
• Rinsed off with the pressure washer (that could be considered blasting with clean water, I'll allow it).

Which left me with;

 

...okay, so that "sort of" I'm coming back to, that's happening now. I might have taken photos after the wiping over, but before the rinsing and not taken any of the actual finished result because... well, I'm sh*t and out of practice at all this. But clearly I care so much that I'll definitely try harder next time. Probably.

In the meantime, here are the almost-but-not-quite-finished pictures.

 

 

 

 

When I did rinse the "bike", it did remove all of the dirt. I can't prove it with pictures though.

What I can do though is give you my final impression of Dirt Magic... sort of. I'll come back to that.

 

It's a pretty good cleaner when used neat, but does need to be wiped over to properly clean - so it's not the illusive miracle touchless wash!

It's safe to use on everything - again, no pictures of this (I don't even care anymore), but I have tried it on paintwork, on the lower panels, with similar results (although wipe over follow up on the paintwork). The cherry scent makes it very pleasant to use.

 

So that other sort of then. This is marketed for a specific purpose (rather than All Pur... you get the idea!) and is therefore advised to use neat. I don't like to follow rules, so at some point I will check if, and if so how far, it can be diluted. Price wise, it comes in around about the same as Autosmart G101, which I just happen to have a container of, so I will be using that as a benchmark. And I'll put it up against the £1 supermarket offering. If I remember to do those things.

 

So would I buy it? Probably not, based purely on price. There's a huge price difference between this and supermarket APC's and not enough of a performance difference to warrant that.

Would I use it again? Absolutely. I wouldn't be disappointed to receive some more of this. If the price was more aligned to even the branded non-detailing APC's, I would actually prefer the cherry flavoured APC over the typical lemon flavoured you tend to get for domestic purposes in supermarkets. That said, if Sainsbury did a cherry version for £1...

 

To close, I guess I just don't care enough about APC's to pay more than I absolutely have too but I am bored of lemon flavoured APC. Not £7.99 bored though.

 

Also, if someone could remind me what the hell is on the caliper, I'd appreciate it, plzkthx.

[ilogikal1]

Right boys and girls, strap yourselves in, for I am about to bring you a terribly exciting update about...

 

 

...stuff I've reviewed before. Yay, I hear you all say. Well the super exciting stuff is that today's rereview comes in the form of plastic trims. Woohoo!

 

I started off with a filthy engine bay that hasn't been cleaned, much leass detailed, for an exceptionally, somewhat embarrassingly, long time. For reasons that may become clear at some point, I didn't wash the bay first. I did, however, take pictures and we all love pictures.

Because I didn't wash anything first, I needed some cheap microfibres that could be disposable if required. For reasons, I ignored the Amazon offerings which I could have received weeks ago and on time, instead I threw some into my ECP order. Now, I've said it before (in this thread, no less) and I'll probably say it again; ECP are f**king useless. What I won't ever do is order anything from ECP again. Full details can be declaired upon request but in the interests of getting on with it, I'll move on.

 

I started with this:

 

 

I threw some of this at it:

 

And did a bit of wiping over, which did this to my brand new, cheap, disposable and totally-not-worth-the-f**king-effort-to-obtain-it cloth:

 

Which did this:

 

 

Which is a bit more siliconey shiny than I was hoping for based on my previous useage.

 

So, I won't be using this on my dashboard after all. I would be happy enough to use it on the kick plates and under the bonnet (or as a very short lived air freshener. I still very much love the smell of this stuff).

It does a decent job of lifting loose dirt and dust though, so if you're happy with the siliconey shininess of it, it would be a decent product for interior trim. Would be, execpt for the fact that you can't actually buy it anymore. But aside from that small detail, it'd be perfect.

 

Not content with that, I moved on to another part of the engine bay which is as much of a t**t to clean as ECP are to buy things off. Get used to it, it's a theme throughout! Anyway, this:

 

Is what I started with. I sprayed product both directly on the trim as well as the cloth, wiped over thoroughly with various clean sides of the microfibre until no more dirt came off, then a final wipedown with a clean cloth and more product.

 

50/50, untouched section on the right.

 

And then after a few minutes once the Silicone Dash Spray had dried:

 

Told you it was a t**t to clean. Two observations on SDS;

1) It's done nothing to clean the bolt.

2) It's done a better, but not great, job on cleaning the trim but done a great job of making the trim shiny, shiny. Which I don't particularly like.

 

Thus, Silicone Dash Spray is good enough to remove light, loose dust and dirt, but not heavier dirt. It gives a more uniform finish on textured plastic than it does on shiny, untextured plastic.

 

The other side started with this:

 

Then I threw some of this at it:

 

For those not paying attention, this is would be the reasons, and this may be the point at which they become clear. Anyway, that stuff did this.

 

And here's as close as I could get to a 50/50 without any tape to it all proper like.

 

 

There's a line there somewhere. It's not straight, and it's not in the middle of the car, but it's there. The finish is s**t on both sides, much like ECP's service, although in slightly different ways but I've long since given up trying to get a good finish on that particular trim without some very specific equipment and a good amount of time to concetrate on it. Before it gets filthy again 18 minutes later. But that's detailing for you. Am-I-right?!?

 

Not content with the equally-as-s**t-as-ECP's-customer-service panel (to give it the technical name), I moved on. To this:

 

Which got Silicone Dash Spray on the left of the bend and Waterless Wash Neutral Enhance on the right of it.

 

Giant scratch aside, the left is shiny. The right is not. And here that is at a different angle.

 

And here's this picture  because... er... I dunno, but here's this picture anyway.

 

Like I did from my f**king woeful experience of ECP's customer "service", I moved on. To this.

 

Now I'm pretty sure the last time I cleaned this was when I changed the (original) battery on my Z. Which would have been between 4 and 6 years ago. Let's call it 5. I'm pretty sure I've not had the trim stripped away since then and now. Anyway, I dampened another fresh cloth with Waterless Wash and wiped over, to leave this:

 

I then wiped over the rest of it, rather than just the top, and... didn't take a picture of that. But it happened. The internet says so (now), so it must be true.

 

And this;

 

Was sprayed with Neutral Enhance and then wiped with a clean coth dampened with more Neutral Enhance (y'know, what like the instructions did gone done say). And that, became this;

 

Who new it had writing printed on it?!?

 

Feeling braver, I manned up and moved onto paintwork.

 

Now, I know what you're thinking, but bear with me on this.

 

Okay, I don't know what you're thinking. But I'm willing to bet it something along the lines of "waterless wash on paintwork? You're either mad or brave".

 

And you're right.

 

I'm brave.

 

Although....

 

If you know me, you're probably thinking something more along the lines of "he's got something up his sleeve here."

 

And you're right.

 

Unlike ECP, who struggled to get much right. Again.

 

Anyway, this happened.

 

 

What? You didn't really think I'd attack proper paintwork with waterless wash did you? Who do you think I am?!?

 

It's a 50/50 of sorts. This side of the wiring has been cleaned (mostly) with waterless wash, the other side has not been.

Now, it's lifted the loose debris and dirt and left the rubber trim looking pretty good, but it's done literally nothing to lift the more stubborn dirt.

 

Anyway, I then ran out interest in taking photos (actually, that's not true, but it's largely just more of the above as I went back to the plastic scuttle panel). I did, however, finish cleaning all the bits that I started cleaning, even those bits where I stopped to take pictures half way through, like the fuse boxes. At some point I'll do a proper job of it, with the right products and equipment, but for now a filthy car is actually quite useful for testing products. Who knew that either.

 

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode. I can't promise it'll be anything new. Or interesting. Or spelt correctly. But that hasn't stopped you reading this before - and if you're prepared to enable, I'm prepared to be enabled. Or something.

 

 

 

Oh wait, a summary. Okay then, to summarise:

ECP customer service is non-existent. S**t would actually be an improvement.

Silicone Dash Spray smells delightful, does light cleaning and leaves a siliconey shiny finish, albeit not super glossy. I will happily use it, just not on my dash!

Waterless Wash Neutral Enhance is a pretty standard waterless wash. Seems to work quite well on under bonnet plastics and rubber, lifts loose dirt and... won't ever be used on anything with a polished finish on my car. Ever. And is no substitute for actual, proper cleaning equipment under the bonnet.

 

So there you have it, completely new information that no one could possibly have predicted I would have summarised before today. Or something.

Edited June 20, 2021 by ilogikal1
For editorial reasons

[HEADPHONES]

That was a great write-up which brought out a guilty giggle or two

 

[ilogikal1]

I had a whole "bit" about starting with this picture:

 

But I ruined that by failing to follow through (grow up at the back there, less sniggering please!) in the last update. So instead, today's intro is this. Sorry.

 

Also, sticking with the whole not-really-new-content thing, back on the last page (specifically here), I did a thing with the green stuff. Today, I did another thing with the green stuff. The thing I did today was like the thing I did the last time, but today I did the thing properly.

 

 

Now, I know you're all following that and not one single person is thinking "what the f**k is this guy banging on about?". So because no one is thinking that I don't have to explain that today I used Ceramic Suds in accordance to the instructions... well, more in accordance to the instructions that last time.

Said instructions being:

Quote

1. Rinse your car first to loosen any dirt, alternatively, you can use our Pre Soak Snowfoam as a pre-wash.
2. Add 50ML of Ceramic Suds to a 10L bucket and top up with warm
3. Using a wash mitt, apply the solution to your vehicles surface to clean, working from the top down, making sure all areas are covered.
4. Finally, rinse before the product dries.

 

If you haven't clicked on the link already and don't remember a specific post from nearly 3 months ago, here's a breif recap; I fired Ceramic Suds at the car with a foam lance and didn't like it.

Well today, I:

1) Alternatively used their Snow Foam as a pre-wash.

2) Then I went off-script slightly. The script telling me to add 50ml of shampoo to a 10l bucket. I have a 15l bucket. But I'm good at maths. So I added 100ml to my 15l bucket. Then topped up with 12.5l (ish) of warm. I chose water to add my warm.

3) Using a wash pad, I applied the solution to my vehicle's surface to clean, working from the top down, making sure all areas are covered.

4) Finally, rinsed before the product dried.

 

As mentioned, I pre-washed with Snow Foam first. To give a base line, this is several minutes after rinsing the foam:

 

 

Now, either the LSP's added last time are either comepletely worn off or completely clogged up. Or possibly a bit of both. Personally I'd attribute it to approximately 73.09% to column A, 26.91% column B. One thing is for sure following today's wash, the car is in dire need of a claying and probably a deep clean, paint cleanser, the lot. But I'm dealing with limited supplies here, so that'll have to wait. Instead, today was just a wash and quick LSP coat (which I'll come to later).

 

I'll try to refrain from treading too much old ground from just one page ago. To demonstrate my determination to stick that very empty promise, I'll immediately follow that sentence by discussiong the scent. Again.

I still wouldn't call it lemon scent (iced or otherwise); it's more checmically scented than citrus, unique, not unpleasant... but not lemon!

 

For those who have tried Bathe+ (yep, I'm even making the same comparisons again.) Ceramic Suds foams up a fair bit in the bucket, more than Bathe+ does initially but like Bathe+ the suds do die down quite quickly. For those who haven't tried Bathe+, you clearly don't follow my recommendations anyway so it doesn't matter what I say.

 

Ceramic Suds does feel quick slick on the surface and, similar to the other aforemoentioned measuring stick, it adds instantly noticeable protection. The water sheeting just from wiping the wash pad over the surface was quite impressive. Whilst the other product beads amazingly, Ceramic Suds sheets impressively instead. Like this (for transparancy, "this" is after the rinsing the first 3rd of the bonnet):

 

 

 

 

As I said, instant protection. I fully intended to test it's durability, having done the same with that other product. So I did. And I can comment on the (apparant) durability... which should tell you something in itself.

I also mentioned that I cleaned the car from the top down. That meant starting with the roof. I also mentioned that I rinsed before the product dried. Because I started with the roof, that got rinsed a fair bit more than other areas (because, thorough... is not the right use of that word, but let's pretend it is), and by time I'd finished washing the car and gave everything one last rinse, the roof was showing no signs of protection anymore.

I then wiped over the roof again with a clean wash pad and it did again.

So I'd estimate 5, maybe 6 rinses (with a pressure washer) and it's gone.

I might do a proper durability test for it one day, but I'm not convinced it's going to hold its own against Bathe+.

 

The other thing I noticed today is a lot of streaking. Now there are two likely cuprits for this; too much product (despite my awesome maths skillz) and/or I was working in direct sunlight. I did rinse more regularly after I first noticed it, but that doesn't seem to have made much difference, and the streaking is just as bad on the shaded side of the car as the suuny side. So my primary theory is too much product. I'll try less next and forget to report back.

 

Also, I did notice that whilst Ceramic Suds adds instant protection to paint, it doesn't do anything at all on plastic. The badges and wing mirror bases showed no sign of playing well with Ceramic Suds. Although I can't remember any such issues with Bathe+, I also don't specifically remember it working well either, so it could be more general than just a Ceramic Suds issue.

 

That's your lot for today. I might update you on the LSP(s) tomorrow, if you're good. If you're not good though, I'm going to turn this forum around and we'll just go back home... no, wait, that's something else.

Move along.

[HEADPHONES]

I feel your pain about streaks.

Amazing how product can kinda "melt into" the paint and cause streaks.

Must be a nightmare for our brethren with black cars.

I've never seen streaks on my white Kia or Mini nomatter how overzealous I am with product application whereas even on sunset orange I can't unsee the damn things when I get them.

However, knowing I can get them gone with some paint cleanser means I can leave them there without letting it stress me out too much.

 

[ilogikal1]

Some of you might want to make sure you're sitting down when you read this one...

 

Streaks aside - which is no easy thing with limited products - there was one other significant problem I encountered. Now, I'm not saying I live in a hard water area but the police use tap water to draw chalk outlines of bodies around here, used car dealers use tap water to write prices on windscreens, pubs use tap water to advertise on blackboards and... some other uses for liquid chalk that exist.

 

So, I'm dealing with streaky shampoo and fresh water spots that look more like someone's trying to repaint the car in white. The water spotting is fresh enough that normally I'd expect both streaks and water spots to be dealt with easily enough with a good wash. Except that's what caused both, and I don't have an alternate shampoo nor a water filter here. But I do have this...

 

 

...for all intents and purposes, a shampoo without the water; should solve both. So I actually used this, a waterless wash, on the paint of my own car.

 

Take a moment to let that sink in.

 

Right, now that you've taken a minute, I'll include the following caveats; firstly, I used it very carefully and very liberally. Secondly, I was exceptionally careful not to apply any extra pressure with the cloth at any time. Thirdly, all of my cloths were clean and damp before use - I also used a fresh cloth for every panel and didn't touch the lower panels. Finally, I used it on as damn-near a clean surface as could be (aside from the water spotting). Oh, and one panel had some overspray on from a spray sealant that was sprayed near the pane just as the wind blew in the wrong direction mere minutes before.

 

So that said, in conclusion to this waterless wash thing; the water spotting was hit and miss. Most of the deposits were removed except for the outlines. So not great.

The streaks were... not touched. At all. So not good.

It didn't seem to make the slightest bit of difference on the sealant overspray either (which was later removed with a microfibre cloth just dampened with liquid chalk... sorry, tap water).

 

Now, obviously, the glass was subjected to the streaking and water spotting as well. Bring not paint, I was much more comfortable applying more pressure and even scrubbing, so I tried both, just to see... Nope. Granted, it removed more of the water spots but didn't remove them entirely.

 

All in all, I think I'd have been no worse (or better) off with a quick detailer.

 

Or much better off with filtered water.

Suffice it to say, I'm not converted and the waterless wash will be resigned to underbonnet plastics or non-car duties. I'm not even tempted to use it up on door shuts. Unfortunately I had 1.5 litres of this stuff...

 

Coming up in the next exciting episode, an sealant I've used before and a sealant I haven't. Don't tell me that's not enough to tempt you back!

[Ekona]

You used a waterless wash on the exterior paint. I am so disappoint it hurts. 
 

My brother, it feels like you’ve stolen one of my children. But worse. 
 

 

[ilogikal1]

6 hours ago, Ekona said:

You used a waterless wash on the exterior paint. I am so disappoint it hurts. 
 

My brother, it feels like you’ve stolen one of my children. But worse. 
 

 

 

If it helps, I'm not even sorry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Okay, I am, but in my defence the car needs a polish (and a proper detail) anyway and it was literally a last resort.

 

To make it up to you all, there's a new test underway. A write up is coming when I'm not spending my entire day waiting for the Spa Speedboat Racing to get under way.

[Stutopia]

This feels wrong. Maybe its time for a change when you start doing this sort of thing to your car.

[ilogikal1]

Look, sometimes sacrifices have to be made in the name of science. I'm not proud of it. I'm not happy about it. Mistakes were made, lessons were learned and things will most definitely improve going forward. Now we all just have to accept this and move on.

 

 

 

Also,

 

Really, this is all your fault(s)...

Edited August 30, 2021 by ilogikal1
Reasons

[Ekona]

You’re dead to me. Soz. 

[ilogikal1]

Fair.

[coldel]

I thought we were friends. That we had an understanding. I feel alone. Lost. 

[ilogikal1]

Let me (try to) make it up to you, to myself and to the inanimate object that literally could not give a toss either way.

By which I largely mean, ignore the whole incident and pretend it didn't happen.

 

The first step of ignoring it and pretending it didn't happen is to reference the post where I publicly documented the thing that didn't happen. Specifically the bit about a sealant I have used before and a sealant I haven't. Because there was nothing before that bit to reference. Obviously.

 

Having washed the car with Fairy washing up liquid and a scouring pad to get a good, deep clean (I didn't), and having no SRP on hand to make the surface dusty I moved straight onto sealing in the swirls instead. I have two sealants to hand, a blue one and a white one.

 

Starting with the blue one, otherwise known as this;

 

A redefinition of tradition. Or Super Polish Pro Hydropel. About which, the website did gone done say:

Quote

Our Hydropel Formula is the perfect ‘last stage protection’ sealant to complement the Waterless Wash & Wax.

 

Ahem.

 

Erm, I mean the website says this:

Quote

Hydropel repels water instantly, seals and protects from road salts for up to 6 months. It is simple and fast to apply.

 

Benefits & Features include:

Quote

Seals Surface
Hydropel can be used on most materials including paint, glass, alloys and rubber ensuring that your entire car will be protected from all manner of tougher winter elements. Hydropel will not remove any existing wax or sealant. In fact, existing protection will be enhanced.

 

Materials tested on include paint (check) and polycarbonate (whatever the opposite of check is... uncheck I guess) "ensuring" that enitre parts of my car will be protected from all manner of autumn elements. Hydropel could not remove any exisitng wax or sealant, because there wasn't any (Fair washing up liquid, yo). In fact, existing protection from Cermic Suds could be enhanced.

 

Also

Quote

Protective Forcefield
Hydropel provides a premium barrier against contaminants like road salt, acid rain, bird droppings and other elements. For extended protection, the formula can be applied regularly and layered with a minimum 8-hour gap in-between applications.

 

The premium barrier was applied in single layer. Partly because 8 hours is a long time. Largely because I'm half-arsing it. Despite it being simple and fast to apply.

 

And

Quote

Hydrophobic Barrier
The unique formula acts like a liquid force field creating a remarkable water beading and surface glaze that bonds to the surface of cars like an invisible clear coat.

 

Not so sure about the surface glaze - although, as previously mentioned, the car is dire need of a deep clean so gloss was limited. However, it does specifically state that it creates a surface glaze, which I cannot say I noticed at all. And this is a guy who regularly applies very similar waxes side-by-side to spot the visible variables, so I unless you're a gloss-meter, you probably won't notice the claimed surface glaze.

 

But then I applied waterless wash to automotive paint, what the f**k do I know anymore...

 

Anywho, the instructions (which I totally read before use, obviously) on the website say:

Quote

Directions for use:

1. Make sure the surface of the vehicle is cool to the touch before applying. 

2. Spray Hydropel directly to any surface then use a clean Microfibre cloth to gently wipe the area clean. 

3. Use a 2nd microfibre cloth to lightly buff any residue. 

4. For better results apply Hydropel after every wash to ensure a perfect finish with long-lasting protection.  

 

Whereas the bottle label shouts:

Quote

SPRITZ HYDROPEL ACROSS

YOUR PANEL AND ONTO

YOUR MICROFIBRE.

WORK INTO THE PAINTWORK

IN A CROSS HATCH MOTION.

ALLOW A FEW SECONDS TO

HAZE.

BUFF TO A GLOSSY

PROTECTED SHINE.

 

Now, it turns out I'm (currently) the kind of guy that follows the instructions on the bottle... when I'm conducting a head-to-head test and want to make sure I'm applying the product in the way the manufacturer wants me to rather than however the hell I want to, which is typically how I apply products. Also I'm not the (currently) the kind of guy who checks the instructions on the website until writing about it on the interwebs.

 

So anyway. The website insists on a cool panel. I did not check for that because the bottle suggests no such requirement.

 

The website insists on spraying Hydropel directly onto the surface whilst the bottle demands I SPRITZ HYDROPEL ACROSS MY PANEL AND ONTO MY MICROFIBRE. I will admit, I spritzed the panel but sprayed the microfibre.

 

The website instructs that I use a clean Microfibre cloth. The bottle shouts... well, that thing I just said that equates to a primed microfibre, not a specifically a clean one mind you. Also as mentioned, I loaded the microfibre with product. I'm not sure if that counts as clean or not at this point. Technically it's unclean with product.

 

The website did gone done say to gently wipe the area clean. The bottle yells to WORK INTO THE PAINTWORK IN A CROSS HATCH MOTION. I gently wiped in a crosshatch pattern.

 

The website then directs to use a 2nd microfibre cloth to lightly buff any residue. The bottle, meanwhile, bellows to ALLOW A FEW SECONDS TO HAZE. BUFF TO A GLOSSY PROTECTED SHINE. I allowed a few seconds for Hydropel not to haze (that I noticed anyway) and lightly buffed with a fresh cloth.

 

Now, the bottle mentions nothing about 8 hours between layers (or layers... or anything else barring a warning about serious eye irritations for that matter) and neither bottle nor website mention anything about curing time before getting it wet. So, like Gizmo, I figured there was no timeframe to introducing water.

I also didn't feed it after midnight. But this is Hydropel, not a Mogwai, so I have exposed it to sunlight. I can confirm, sublight does not kill Hydropel, which makes it less high maintenance than the (literal) monster from the 1984 comedy horror film.

 

Topical references aside,  I can tell you the following things about Hydropel.

It's a blue liquid that smells rather delightful actually.

I have resisted tasting it. So far.

It spreads very easily across the surface.

It doesn't seem to haze, but does buff quite nicely.

It's really easy to use and seems almost impossible to overapply. I say almost because if you over apply you just spread it further until it dries out, so unless you're pouring this stuff over the panel it's virtually foolproof.

I'm not convinced by the claims of adding gloss (or glaze), but it does add protection.

 

Pictures will follow after a brief interlude and a message from our sponsors.

[ilogikal1]

By which I mean the white one. Otherwise known as this;

 

Car Chem Lockdown. About which, the much more concise website says:

Quote

We are excited to launch our new sealant, Lockdown.

After a very successful sample campaign we had thousands of valued positive feedbacks from our loyal customers.

Lockdown Sealant is designed to form a glossy protective barrier on car bodywork which will protect paintwork for up to 12 months.

This product easy to apply and remove and offers incredible beading.

 

I have to admit, following the rather emphatic marketing campaign surrounding the "sample campaign" and subsequent launch of this (it's fair to say Car Chem are somewhat proud of this product), that I was excited about testing this. Also, I will be testing it all proper like when I've managed to give the car a proper detail as well, but for the time being it's put head to head with Hydropel for literally no other reason than I happen to have both sealants to hand.

 

Again, there's a claim of forming a glossy protective barrier. Whilst not hugely glossy, this did seem to add something - not much, but not nothing either.

There are, again, claims of easy application and removal.

 

The website instructs:

Quote

How To Use:

1. Spray Lockdown directly to a polishing pad or ceramic sponge.
2. Work in a cross hatch motion, one panel at a time.
3. Allow to cure for approximately 1 minute. Do not let the product fully dry.
4. Buff using a clean microfibre cloth.

Top Tip:

For an even stronger bond apply a second coat. Leave at least 1 hour in between coats.

 

Whereas the bottle instructs:

Quote

How To Use:

1. Spray Lockdown directly to a polish pad or ceramic sponge.
2. Work in a cross hatch motion, one panel at a time.
3. Allow to cure for approximately 1 minute. Do not let the product fully dry.
4. Buff using a clean microfibre cloth.

Top Tip:

For an even stronger bond leave to cure for 1 hour and apply a second coat.

 

At least there's some consistency here.

 

Now, obviously I followed the instructions to the letter...

I sprayed Lockdown directly on a microfibre cloth.

I worked in a cross hatch pattern, one section of a panel at a time.

I allowed to cure for approximately 1 minute. I did not let the product dry fully (before buffing. I did after buffing...).

I buffed with a clean microfibre cloth.

I left to cure for 1 hour 48 minutes before applying water and taking pcitures of beading. Becuase I didn't apply a second coat.

 

Again, very easy to apply - just keep buffing until all (non-shampoo) streaks are worked out before moving on and it's straight forward wipe on buff off sealant. I can only imagine it'll easier still applying with a ceramic sponge, because they make application of anything easier. By spraying onto a pad, cermic sponge (or even a microfibre cloth) means it's quite difficult to over apply, but even if you do manage it you just keep spreading and/or buffing.

It doesn't smell as nice as the blue one though - Lockdown is very checmically with no added scent. It's not solventy, like coatings are though, so it's not unpleasant to work with.

 

In an effort to maintain complete transparancy, I also didn't feed this after midnight either.

 

And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

[ilogikal1]

Firstly, I simply must provide a caveat, because that's the world we live in these days. Also, it's kinda what I do in these posts now...

 

As I may have mentioned, the paint isn't especially clean right now, which is likely to affect durability and potentially beading as well. However, I have plenty of both left to do a proper durability (and beading) test following a full detail.

 

For reference, two thirds of the bootlid is currently wearing Hydropel over Neutral Enhance, one third has Lockdown over Neutral Enhance.

The bonnet is a similar mix and match; one third (passenger side) is wearing straight Hydropel, one third (middle section) is wearing Hydropel over Lockdown and the final third (driver side) is wearing straight Lokdown.

The rest of the car is wearing lockdown.

 

Roughly 1 hour 48 minutes after application, the garden hose did a thing that looked like this:

 

Hydropel sheets a fair quicker better than Lockdown, hence there being more beading on the Lockdown topped section. That said, Lockdown sheets quite well itself.

Gloss-wise, Lockdown definitely added more gloss (or glaze) than Hydropel did, although it's difficult to show on the pictures.

 

This angle also shows the sheeting difference.

 

 

 

Lockdown

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydropel

 

 

Still Hydropel

 

Back to Lockdown

 

 

 

 

That's your lot. I'm done. I know I've let you all down, but in the incredibly unlikely (!) event that it rains during a British summer, I will probably spam with beading pics, just because I can now.

I will also update as and when the sealants fall off.

[Stutopia]

A return to form. This is suspiciously close to the useful product tests you used to do. Like it.

[ilogikal1]

I spent this morning mostly having a lie in. All hail annual leave! But after the lie in, I revisited Car Chem Ceramic Suds and SPP Hydropel; this time on my sister's family wagon - a Renault Grand Scenic. It's not grand but it is f**king big. This is relevant.

 

The car wasn't filthy, but it's a done a few journies up and down the motorway more recently and therefore had a traffic film and some bug splitter on it. I did the usual snow foam pre-wash - note to self, one's foam lance is in dre need of a tear down and thorough clean before the next use!

 

I then moved onto Ceramic Suds. Now, Car Chem have been known to "bribe" (or reward me, depending on how you see it), but then I'm a proper Gyeon fanboy. So naturally I want Car Chem's Ceramic Suds to be every bit as good as Gyeon's Bathe+. So this time, I went a bit easier on the Ceramic Suds and used the recommended 50ml (ish) in 10 litres (ish) of warm (ish) chalk... sorry, water. I say "ish" because nothing was measured.

Standard 2 bucket wash, but this time I also rinsed regularly - and by regularly I mean almost panel-by-panel; although I did do the sides in top half and bottom half rather than by panel and the windows were done seperately first. In fact, for those interested, I did the roof (in left and right halves) then rinsed, entire back end then rinsed, side windows, a pillars and windscreen then rinsed, etc, etc.

 

The sides were done down to the swage line first, rinsed, then below the swage line and rinsed again (the lowest, dirtiest part below the silver trim - effectively the sills - were done seperately and last, for those interested), and it should be noted that rinsing was thorough, using a pressure washer and the 15 degree nozzle.

I mention all of this because the intention was to avoid streaking. For the most part, I succeeded as well. For the most part - I noticed a little streaking on the bonnet when drying the car (yeah, I do that again now) but it was a vast improvement over the Z. I'm not what the difference was on the bonnet - it was the same shampoo mix, it didn't dry out at all, wasn't in direct sunshine (certainly less than other panels which didn't streak), the panel wasn't any warmer than others or anything tangible that I can place. Fortunately I still have plenty of product left to experiment with!

 

I also mention it because of the durability. The sudden drop off in protection was all the more noticeable on the vertical panels - the top half of the doors were noticeably slower to sheet than the freshly treated lower section of the panel, so I can conclude, categorically, that the protection Ceramic Suds adds barely lasts longer than the wash. Which is disaapointing.

It's true that Bathe+ isn't durable enough to be considered an LSP in it's own right, however it's sufficient to last a few days at least. Ceramic Suds, however, seems like it would struggle to outlast the first shower even if you don't rinse it all off when washing.

 

I alsomentioned that I've resorted to drying the car after the wash again - this is more due to the liquid chalk that comes out of the taps around here than anything else, the intention was to minimise water spotting, which sort of worked. I wasn't quite quick enough to eliminate all water spots, but they were limited and the residue was minimal - similar to swirls, the majority of the population wouldn't notice them, but if you look they're there. Ideal world, a quick pass with a paint cleaner would have done nicely, but meh.

There's also a reason why I mentioned this.

That reason being that on the lower panels, my drying towels picked up some dirt. Now it's absolutely true that I could have been more thorough when washing (inasmuch as there are dirt traps that I really didn't hit thoroughly) but I was vigilent enough that the dirt picked up calls into question the cleaning ability of Ceramic Suds. Which, again, is disappointing.

 

As mentioned, I have plenty of Cermic Suds left to test further, so I'll continue to play with it and will report back. Hopefully, durability aside, everything else (streaking, the cleaning issues) come down to user error and I just wasn't as thorough as I thought I was. It's possible after all.

 

However, interim conclusion: stick with Bathe+.

[ilogikal1]

Part 2 also comes with no pictures - although that may change if it rains soon!

 

I also revisited Hydropel on the Renault. It has been applied to some of the car, including paint, plastic trim, chrome plastic trim, glass, gloss plastic trim, polycarbonate and exterior rubber seals. Well, it did suggest it can be used on most exterior surfaces, so let's see. I did reserve some control areas, for testing purposes (and because it's f**king huge, the roof is a pain to reach in its entirety - mainly that, actually).

 

I basically made up my own method of application for this - namely, spray directly onto the panel, spread with a damp microfibre cloth, repeat panel-by-panel, then buff the entire car with a fresh damp cloth.

I still observed no hazing. I still wasn't able to over apply. I still think Hydropel smells delightful. I still haven't noticed much added gloss (although I may accept the argument that my expectations have been set unrealistically high by SiO2 coating-based LSP's, such as... well, almost everything Gyeon related actually).

What I did notice with this method is that Hydropel doesn't exactly leave a slick feeling finish - it's not grabby (it's nowhere near as bad as Sonax BSD, for example) but the surface felt a little rougher when buffing treated sections than untreated. Visibly, there's no noticeable difference in appearance though so it's something I can easily live with.

 

Depending on how I feel in 8 hours (or tomorrow) I may or may not apply a second coat to random areas. For testing purposes. Unless it rains first, then I won't. But you might get pictures instead. If you're really lucky, I might do a 2nd coat before it rains tomorrow and you get the best of both worlds. Or I might not and it might not rain at all, then you get nothing. Except more words. But that's the chance you take by visiting my thread.

[Stutopia]

Eeeeuuuuwwwww towel drying!

 

On the positive side, you’ve definitely inspired me to break out the hydropel for the rims. 

[ilogikal1]

18 hours ago, Stutopia said:

Eeeeuuuuwwwww towel drying!

I know! I was sorely tempted to buy another DI filter, but I’m moving (hopefully very) soon - to a place where washing the car at home will become infinitely more difficult, so my current filter might be re-homed to my sister’s place instead 

 

In the meantime, I’m just making do with what I can really.

 

18 hours ago, Stutopia said:

On the positive side, you’ve definitely inspired me to break out the hydropel for the rims. 

At least I’ve achieved something then. 

[Stutopia]

5 hours ago, ilogikal1 said:

I know! I was sorely tempted to buy another DI filter, but I’m moving (hopefully very) soon - to a place where washing the car at home will become infinitely more difficult, so my current filter might be re-homed to my sister’s place instead 

 

In the meantime, I’m just making do with what I can really.

 

At least I’ve achieved something then. 

Defo have. Used hydropel on the door, boot and frunk shuts and the rims today. Nice an easy to work with, there’s enough of it to last a lifetime. Also, I don’t know if you noticed, but it smells amazing.

 

Without wanting to highjack. Have you tried any of the Soft 99 waxes? Tried Water Block today after some recommendations. Looks amazing but a PITA to remove, super grabby, not sure if I left it on too long or too short. Was working two panels at a time.