The ilogikal1 test thread

[ilogikal1]

 

 

I've not used mine yet, although the car's currently filthy again having actually been driven more than 3 yards since it's last clean and it's in for a service next week so I'll have to make it all clean and shiny for the guys at Atkin... even though it won't still be clean by time I get there.

 

Er, yeah, anyway, back to your question; it's a snow foam but thanks to the ever-increasing popularity of using foamer bottles rather than foam lance & pressure washers for pre-washing (and thus the tendency to use at much lower dilution ratios), things like this (TFR's more so) have come under fire a bit for their "LSP safe" claims so it seems Nanolex have gone back to basics... albeit poorly explained. Because it's possible, I think Nanolex are just covering their backs and/or making it a marketing point - truth be told, most pre washes (ones that work!) can be used to strip wax if used virtually neat.

 

 

Essentially, if you use it at "low dilutions", it can be used to strip wax. As it's a new product, there's not a lot of information about at the moment, but Nanolex claim even at 10:1 it's still "safe for [Nanolex] products" (although Florian stopped short of saying it's safe for any non-Nanolex LSP).

 

I'll be chucking it at the Z through a foam lance at 24:1 (4% PIR) as usual when I use it, I don't expect it to strip anything... except maybe the virtually dead Cure. Of course, I'll be sure to post up my findings when I do use it.

[ilogikal1]

Oh, forgot to add currently the best source of information on these products is the Nanolex section of DW. I'd provide a specific link, but seeing as I can't log in over there any more and their admin are ****, I'm sulking with the place.

[Stutopia]

This is what can happen if you spend too much time hanging around this thread...

 

 

[ilogikal1]

 

I take no responsibility for anything in that picture, Stu. You've missed the 1litre mark ( ), I spy R***-X ( ), and all the labels are facing different ways...

 

[Stutopia]

Writting on my snowfoam lance, what's next? 6 different waxes on a wing mirror

 

Ha! RainX was the first hydrphobic coating I tried, before the Gtechniq suite of goodies (which I've just remembered I applied months ago and is still going great guns) and I just can't bring myself to throw away unfinished product. TBF RainX is not that bad, so long as you top it up weekly, never want to remove it, don't get it in your mouth (I still don't know how that happened) and don't mind spending time buffing streaks. It's now exclusively used on bathroom tiles and mirrors.

 

Organisationally, this is all maintenance wash stuff (the good stuff is filed in the FatMax*) so the label rotation is unimportant as they are grouped by use case. This means I just grab something from the Exterior Trim section or Interior Fabrics area and see what surprise prodct I've got to try this week. If it's lucky, it'll get promoted to the FatMax off the wallpapering table

 

Edit: I didn't miss the 1L mark BTW, that's displacement from the scavenging tube attached to the lance head

 

 

 

FatMax*

 

http://www.amazon.co...QpOL&ref=plSrch

Edited March 8, 2015 by SuperStu

[ilogikal1]

The day you have 6 waxes on your wing mirrors is the day that my work here is done.

 

I did notice the grouping actually (I was going to poke fun at the Metal Twins being between the Xerapol and the trim dressings... but then polishes/dressings, I see what you did there. ). I'm liking the lucky dip idea though, that would solve many an hour's umming and ahhing over which product to try this week.

 

I'll also forgive your questionable product ownership... largely because that description is awesome. Although I am slightly concerned by you tasting your products; I know the first thing I do with most products is give it good whiff and some of them do smell nice enough to eat, but Stu, you need to restrain yourself man.

 

I also apologise profusely for suggesting you may have overfilled your lance bottle, this was clearly a mistake on my part for not allowing the displacement of the pick-up tube.

[ilogikal1]

The SEAT is currently being used a lot more than it was previously with regular trips across the country via motorways, as such it's also getting washed a lot more frequently. Which has nothing to do with this particular post, but I'm mentioning it for those keeping track of Gyeon Prime's behaviour. Anyway, having skipped last week's wash out of sheer laziness, I gave it another wash today. It had a fair film of grime covering it but still remarkably clean compared to the much less used Z.

 

There's no pictures of the Leon because it doesn't look any different to two weeks ago (either in the before or after photos actually), so I didn't bother with pictures this time. I started off with a pre-wash combination of Car Chem Citrus Pre Wash on most panels and a test panel with AutoSmart G101 (as I'm starting to run low on citrus cleaners), both mixed at 20:1. Surprisingly G101 seemed to work a little bit better than CPW, however neither did much against the stubborn, dried on film despite pulling off quite a bit of dirt.

This was followed up with wash using the intended focus of this post;

 

 

As you can see from the instructions on the bottle, it's suggested dilution ratios is 200:1-500-1. Being a man, I didn't read these instructions first and instead opted for the much more scientific method of using "this much" in the bucket. It seems I've used about 20ml (ish) in a 12 litre bucket filled up to about 10 litres; which, as chance would have it, is about 200:1 (ish).

 

So having guessed the amount of shampoo and the amount of water and the dilution ratios, I can conclude; Nanolex Pure shampoo is fairly sudsy in the bucket, which transfer to the paint quite well. Like most other Nanolex products, it doesn't really have a fancy scent added, although unlike most Nanolex products it did seem to have a faint something disguising the usual "chemically smell" - it was very subtle and I could only detect it whilst filling the bucket inside, once outside I couldn't smell it at all. Whilst I can't place the scent (I didn't have much of chance to, to be honest) it certainly wasn't unpleasant.

 

Even at the lower dilution ratio it feels very slick on the paintwork. I didn't feel any drag at all, even the dirtier, lower sections of the car. It cleans exceptionally well too; no effort required to remove the traffic film left by the pre-wash, there was no need for any "scrubbing" to lift any of the stubborn marks either - in fact it only required an extra pass or two with the Waschpudel (backup to my preferred Incredisponge, which is still in the washing pile) and no real pressure beyond the weight of the wet Waschpudel. It rinsed off very freely and true to form left nothing behind on the paint. All in all, a very good shampoo that might become a stable product in my arsenal depending entirely on price - it is going to have to compete for space with the Car Chem shampoo after all!

 

First impressions of Nanolex Pure are very good, although it should probably be noted that it really doesn't take much to get a car wearing a Gyeon coating (albeit one that is nearing half way through it's expected lifespan) clean again, so I'll be using it on the Z with it's multi-flavoured, multi-coloured, multi-aged coats of many products soon to really test it's cleaning ability. On the topic of that, it's currently raining and I've just become aware that I've not provided any beading pictures on Nano One, Origin, Connoisseur or Citrus BSD. Despite the filth, that might change soon. You have been warned.

Edited March 8, 2015 by ilogikal1

[ilogikal1]

Having noticed that this thread is now 1 year old, to the day, I think it's only right that I mark this occasion with something different to the usual content of this thread. With that in mind, have some pictures of multiple products beading on my Z.

 

 

You're wondering how that's different to the usual content of this thread aren't you? Well, these here beads are au naturale, nature's finest, non simulated, from the sky rather than the hose... you get it, it's rain beadage. Also, the car is still dirty, that's quite unusual too.

 

The Citrus BSD hybrid stuff on the boot, can you see which bit I didn't apply it to?

 

 

 

 

Beads collecting dirt.

 

 

And just to prove the car is still dirty.

 

 

Compared to 6 week old (? Might be 5. I should check but... I can't be bothered. And I'm not even sorry) Dodo Juice Supernatural Acrylic Spritz;

 

 

Which is also collecting dirt;

 

 

Although the beading isn't as impressive any more.

 

 

 

More of the same from a different angle.

 

 

 

 

 

It's not a James Ascend or whatever it was, but a new sticker nonetheless;

 

[ilogikal1]

Meanwhile at the other end of the car, this is happening;

 

 

Far side is Nanolex Nano One, middle is Car Chem Origin, nearside is Car Chem Connoisseur, wing is Citrus BSD hybrid, front bumper is Waxaddict 21, badge is something else, headlights are something else again, glass is G1, the door is failing/failed Gyeon Cure and the wiper arms have some stuff on too.

 

Anyway.

 

Connoisseur;

 

 

 

 

Origin;

 

 

 

 

Nano One;

 

 

 

 

 

 

All beading well considering it's dirty. Nano One beads seem to be marginally flatter, which isn't too surprising considering that's a sealant whilst the other two are outright waxes. Origin and Connoisseur seem to be very similar so far.

[ilogikal1]

More from those three... although I may have lost track with which ones are which... maybe...

 

However, I do remember that this is Nano One;

 

 

 

This might be as far over as Origin... maybe...

 

 

I... have no idea which ones these are. But they are pretty.

 

 

 

 

This one is Origin collecting dirty beads;

 

 

Still Origin;

 

 

 

Connoisseur;

 

 

 

Er... Connoisseur... perhaps.

 

 

 

G1, Car Chem Hydro Coat, Car Chem PTFE Glaze, Cure and Citrus BSD;

 

 

I don't even remember what the point of this one was supposed to be, but evidence that the car is dirty at least;

 

 

That's your lot for now, I'm off to toast the anniversary of this thread... which is as good an excuse as any to crack open a beer or twelve.

[ilogikal1]

Seeing as the weatherman installed a beta version Spring 2015 in Hull today (that's how it works, right?) I broke out the toys, especially as Spring will be deleted again by tomorrow.

 

So I started the day with this (click on the pictures for access to the full resolution versions if you wish);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I thought I was JJ Abrams for a moment and lens flair happened;

 

 

But I soon realised I wasn't that **** and things returned to normal;

 

 

I then fetched the toys, starting with this;

 

 

... which was mixed with water 2:1 in a foam lance bottle. The lance was measured and then adjusted to give a PIR of 20:1 (give or take a decimal place or two). And then I did this with it;

 

 

Above it about a two minutes after application, below is closer to three;

 

 

By which time it had already pulled off a bit of muck, like this;

 

 

That was given whole 10-11 minutes to dwell, then some water happened and after that was allowed to dry for 5/6 minutes (ish) I was left with this;

 

 

If you look closely you can still see a layer of dirt on there.

 

 

And if you look really closely here, you might be able to see some dirt that was left on the skirt (which I intentionally didn't rinse off as thoroughly)

 

 

It did a better job where rinsed properly, but again you can still see dirt on the paint;

 

 

 

Notably better than it was though;

 

 

 

But still some dirt left all around the car;

 

 

 

 

And then the Red Arrows flew over...

 

 

... eh, Red Arrows... Eh! Ah forget it! Pointing out the remaining filth on the roof there. Similar dirt remained on the horizontal parts of the boot, like this;

 

 

And it was a similar story on the bonnet too. But I didn't get any photos of that, so like one of JJ Abrams' plentiful plot holes, you're simply supposed to overlook that.

 

All in all, it's a good snow foam at exactly half way between the "maximum" and "light" clean dilutions. Aside from the skirt that I didn't rinse all that well, I was quite happy with the cleaning that it offered knowing that it still had more to offer at a lower dilution. It worked at a reasonable rate - none of the 30 minute dwell time nonsense. It didn't hang around on the drive forever - it was virtually all gone by time I'd finished the wash.

 

It's fairly comparable to the Car Chem and Bilt Hamber offerings (which are two of the best) at similar dilutions in terms of cleaning, thickness of the foam and dwell time. The likelihood of me buying this over either of the other two will depend entirely on price, however with one source selling it at £17/litre, it's a full £5 more than Car Chem for a litre (or £5 less than 5litres of Car Chem) and actually 4p more expensive than 5litres of Bilt Hamber.

 

 

 

(And yes, I dislike JJ Abams' "work")

[ilogikal1]

After all that up there happened, I finished washing the Z with Nanolex Pure and then inspected the current round of LSP's water behaviour.

 

Nanolex One. The beading isn't all that good to be honest but the sheeting, my word the sheeting. It's not particularly fast, but it does leave the entire panel bone dry. Here I was largely trying to make it bead but you can see the area where sheeting was induced;

 

 

The unimpressive beading;

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the whole bonnet looked like this;

 

 

I draw your attention to the Origin section in the middle though. What does sheet, sheets very quickly however being a wax it tends to achieve beading rather than sheeting. And the beads are... well, this;

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connoisseur on the other hand... is currently virtually identical to Origin; very quick, but not thorough, sheeting.

 

 

But with awesome beading. As such;

 

 

 

 

At the other end of the car, we have this happening;

 

 

And then the sun broke my ability to focus;

 

 

But you can still see that the Citrus BSD hybrid maintains BSD's beading whilst Dodo Juice Supernatural Acrylic Spritz is on the home stretch. It does still sheet quite a lot of the water off eventually, but it's clearly slower than it has been up to this point and the beading is just rubbish at this point, frankly. The Acrylic Spritz on the side panels was, if anything, worse especially lower down.

 

Citrus BSD hybrid whilst attempting to induce sheeting;

 

 

 

Interestingly (maybe, to me at least) when I induced the beading on the boot, the tape line for Acrylic Spritz is still visible;

 

 

For reference, it's about here;

 

 

Citrus BSD induced beading (because it needed help with that, obviously...);

 

 

Compared to the (older) Acrylic Spritz side;

 

 

If I remember rightly, Acrylic Spritz is now 6 (maybe 7?) weeks old at this point which isn't bad for a single layer of an acrylic sealant. It's dead enough on the side panels for me to top up, but the boot lid I will give another week/wash.

 

 

Acrylic Spritz;

 

 

Citrus BSD;

 

 

The beading is actually the only thing I really like about BSD, so it's good that mixing it with Citrus Bling hasn't killed that whilst making it more pleasant to use (albeit less pleasant to smell!);

 

 

I also applied a quick coat of diluted Hydro Coat down both sides of the car today to test that out;

 

 

Whilst it did improve the water behaviour of the dying Acrylic Spritz on one side and dramatically improved the water behaviour of the dead Cure on the other, I'm not overly impressed by the beading of the diluted version - especially compared to that of the neat version. I don't know if I was expecting too much from it (I was hoping for a WetCoat kind of transformation) but the beading was, frankly, poor. The sheeting on the other hand was massively improved, very quick and very thorough, so it's definitely added something to the LSP. I'll be playing around with the dilution rates (this was just 25ml of product in a litre of solution after all - having used it twice now, I've still got over 750ml of that solution left!) until I find something I'm happy with it because used neat I bloody love this stuff so far, but to be honest this just doesn't do it for me;

 

[ilogikal1]

It was so beautifully clean when it left the drive this morning.

 

 

[ilogikal1]

Oh yes I forgot to mention; regarding my disappointment in diluted Hydro Coat above, it occurred to me at some point that the Hydro Coat I used that I had mixed up a month ago. I've not found (or got round to asking Car Chem for) any details of how long it can be stored when it's mixed, but I do know the similar HydrO2 loses potency when it's stored pre-mixed after as little as a few days, certainly weeks.

 

Ergo, I will re-try with freshly mixed at the suggested dilution before I start playing with the ratios as previously pondered.

[Stutopia]

It was so beautifully clean when it left the drive this morning.

 

 

 

Could do with some tyre gel on the rears

[ilogikal1]

Could do with some tyre gel on the rears

 

The fronts are only flattered by the shadow too.

 

It seems Frost Onyx is no match for the Yorkshire moors.

[alexwitham]

Wonderful thread.

 

Recommendations on a shampoo for handwashing?

 

Whats your favorite spray on wax? I've used autoglym aqua-wax and meguiars ultimate quik-wax, I quite like these, both are very similar.

[ilogikal1]

Wonderful thread.

 

Thank you.

 

Recommendations on a shampoo for handwashing?

 

A couple of options depending on what you're after really;

If you want a "pure" shampoo that doesn't add and protection/wax/gloss enhancers then for it comes down to either Gyeon Bathe or Car Chem 1900:1 (well, personally I'd spend the extra £1 and get that personalised. ).

 

If you're after something that adds protection and gloss, you simply won't find better than Gyeon Bathe+.

 

 

Whats your favorite spray on wax? I've used autoglym aqua-wax and meguiars ultimate quik-wax, I quite like these, both are very similar.

 

In short, none.

I'm not really a fan of spray waxes to be honest as I don't find them to be at all durable. For no extra effort you can you can apply just about any acrylic spray sealant or for less effort you can apply Gyeon WetCoat for better protection with similar durability.

 

For me, the only advantage to wax over a sealant is the difference in finish, but I've never got the same deep, wet look from a spray wax as I do from a paste wax so if I was going for spray on/buff off LSP then I'd opt for a sealant and AM Seal would be my choice.

If, however, you just want something quick and easy then I'd recommend what I'm going to deem "the Gyeon regime"; I.e. Bathe+ and WetCoat, applied alternatively once a month (after an initial coat of both for month 1, Bathe+ month 2, WetCoat month 3, repeat) with a pure shampoo for the other washes.

[ioneabee]

I've just clayed the bonnet & front wings of the volvo

applied dodo lime prime light

 

using my dodo DA

applied Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish

applied Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection

 

mmm looks nice - didn't take any photos though

 

will continue with some more tomorrow, wonder how long it will last ............ bloody cow @*!# roads

[Stutopia]

... i.e. Bathe+ and WetCoat, applied alternatively once a month (after an initial coat of both for month 1, Bathe+ month 2, WetCoat month 3, repeat) with a pure shampoo for the other washes.

 

Penny pinching aside, why not use Bathe+ everytime?

 

I really like to get layers of protection down and keep topping them up.

[ilogikal1]

Penny pinching aside, why not use Bathe+ everytime?

 

I really like to get layers of protection down and keep topping them up.

 

Strictly penny pinching to be honest, there's really no other reason not to use it more often besides cost.

 

Because of that though I probably wouldn't use it more than every other wash (assuming weekly washes), which should be plenty to keep the protection up. Certainly will be if you use WetCoat occasionally too and/or have a good base protection on. You could even introduce Cure into the regime for added protection, that can be diluted 1:1 and used as a drying aid whilst adding another layer protection if you really wanted.

[ilogikal1]

Right then, anyone have any experience with Slick Rims? I plan on using this on my wheels shortly and wondered if it was worth doing a test against FK and/or the HubiRims I have still to use up. Thoughts anyone? If no one's interested I'll just slap Slick Rims on everything this time round.

[ioneabee]

ok - a few photos this time of the Blackfire product

 

I hope you don't mind me adding these to your thread ilogikal1

 

this is how it started

 

 

and this is how it ends up - silky smooth

 

 

 

it sheets off very well too

 

 

treated wing - untreated door

 

 

 

shiny

 

 

 

[ilogikal1]

I hope you don't mind me adding these to your thread ilogikal1

 

I do mind, you're just taking liberties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only joking, you're most welcome to really.

 

Nice reflections, and good strong beading too. I do like me some good beading!

[ilogikal1]

Shamelessly stolen from my own Instagram today.

 

 

Make of this what you wish.