I have become a detailing heretic…

[RPPM]

Hmm, did I speak too soon? New Years weekend, drove from our daughter`s house in Pittsburgh back to central Pennsylvania. Heavy rain the entire way home, highway speeds ranging anywhere from 45 to 70mph, 158 miles driven in the stuff. All protection from the TW Ice products is gone on the lower 1/2 of the doors and the rear of the car below the top of the trunk. The products performed great on the hood, the roof and the top of the trunk, in fact the car almost looked clean from 100` on those three areas, but the areas that got hit with the road spray have been removed. No salt on the roads last week, temps were in the low to mid 50`s the entire way home. I did not see this coming.

While I expect the protection on the sides to take somewhat of a hit, I did not expect it to all be gone. I know from past experience, Sonax PNS will hold on much better than the TW Ice Seal n Shine and Spray wax just did when driving in the rain at those speeds for that distance. I am going to pull out the Griots Ceramic 3-1 and the Sonax Ceramic Spray Coating when weather permits and give each car a quick clay and spray to see if they fare any better in this kind of weather. One product for each car. I will attempt to do two coats 24 hours apart, but might be a touch difficult during winter, even with both cars garaged. Should be a decent mini winter test to see how each will do. If nothing else, I can always go back to PNS (groan).

 

[Oneheadlite]

Are you sure the protection is gone, not just clogged? Hopefully if you were to give it a solid wash the behavior would be back to what you’re expecting? Though definitely frustrating if it’s loading up faster than what you were using before.

Though if you need some PNS/BSD, I know where to find you some…

 

[RPPM]

I gave it a good wash with Megs Hyper wash, surfaces below the mid point of the doors were still totally flat after the wash when rinsing. I agree, could be clogged. I would expect the Griots synthetic clay to remove any remaining protection if I use it to remove what has attached to the surface. Who knows? I did keep one canister of PNS, so I am ok.

 

[Larry A]

I agree with the TW Seal and Shine and Spray Wax . Why spend all that money when you dont have too. I am cheap because I only have social securty which is 1800.00 a month If you like a clean car what other choice do you have. You can also add Eagle One Wipe and Shine to the mix. Its very good and cheap. I am looking for a part time job then maybe I car move up to Groits 3 and 1

 

[Dan]

I think most of us would have to admit that most of the time, products are pretty hard to distinguish from each other.

As long as you find something you are happy with, no need to spend more.

Just having a clean car is about 95% of the look. 4% is some sort of protectant.
The remaining 1% is kind of what a lot of people spend their time trying to achieve.

Bumping this thread up again because I was thinking about it and how much truth there is here. You can probably argue a little on the actual percentages, but the reality is a washed car is the large majority of the look. That last 1% is a fools game. One which I am stuck in. I'm trying to be better and focus on results, not products, but its a hard game. The modern Sio2 stuff has really maybe bumped the numbers up 2-3% and re-ignited the look for that last percentage point.

 

[Accumulator]

That "washed car" point seems especially valid now that even carwashes are using stuff that leaves vehicles nice and shiny. While they're sure not Autopian, around here most every vehicle that isn't a total POS is decent-looking in a "20/20" sort of way, even my neighbor's work trucks all look OK.

OTOH, I still don't think that my OCW/UQW/GG 3in1 give me the same results as FK1000P, and the diff is enough that it matters to me...well, at least on the ones I really care about.

 

[Dan]

Accumulator, I think you would be surprised at some of the newer products, you know how much I loved OCW, but even that has become irrelevant to me. The spray ceramic stuff like Tec582 stuff came out of nowhere and its just making everything irrelevant, even coatings. I drove 400 miles, about 150 of it in rain and my car looked great, even the back of it. Not to pick on the GG 3 in 1, but I haven't gotten the amazing results of dirt repellency out of it, it does look nice and glassy though.

 

[Lonnie]

I can join the list of detailing heretics that this thread alludes to about using SiO2 sprays being as good as (or better) that past "traditional" sealants and waxes. I am still in the wax camp and having obtained and using an "unnamed-and no-longer-produced" concour's wax that produces a show-car shine on the few daily-driven vehicles I have detailed that the vehicle owners rant-and-rave about, at least from the initial time of the vehicle reveal when they picked it up. AND because of that, I probably will continue to use it.

That said, because of Don , the Autopian who had (past tense) a black Camaro and used Turtle Waxes Hybrid Solution car-care products on it and how great it made it look for a daily driver, his experience influenced me to try them as well. The "heresy"in all this is how bad I used to think Turtle Wax products were (or are once I became familiar with this forum). No true Autopian would use such "inferior" detailing products on their vehicles or those that that detailed for others. Such products were for the uninformed detailing hack and general public who "cleaned" their vehicles now and then. I also must admit that LONG before this forum existed, Turtle Wax was THE biggest seller of car-care products and I used many of them when I cleaned family cars as a teenager (Late 1960's, early '70's, so yes, I am old(er) because it was available and inexpensive. And as time has gone on and other car-care product manufacturers came into the main-stream market, Turtle Wax became an also-ran and back-marker in that market.
So much so, it closed its Chicago-based manufacturing facility and contracted that production out to custom makers and blenders of such products who do so for a multitude of car-care labels. And if you have been around this forum, I think we all know about the never-ending discussions of THAT topic of which custom blenders makes products for which labels and how a product from different manufacturers seem to "resemble"(IE, is identical to) the same product of that type. But I digress......
Fast forward to today. Turtle Wax's Hybrid Solutions is a game changer in main-stream car-care products. It's price point and product end results are a real value to myself as a detailing hobbyists on a limited car-care budget. And I , personally, like the way my daily-driven vehicles look from using them to the point that other individuals will comment on how nice-and-clean-and-shiny the vehicles look, which, was Don's experience as well with his black Camaro. I NEVER in a million years would I be willing to admit that I use Turtle Wax products, but here I am, the detailing heretic

 

[Accumulator]

Lonnie & Dan- I myself would kinda *like* to use TW stuff, but I went GG Ceramic instead for various reasons including product compatibility (and I order from GG anyhow, trying to keep life simple). That lack of dirt-repellency you mentioned is indeed a shortcoming, but I'm hoping their Ceramic Liquid Wax will be better.

Sigh..I'm sure not up-to-date on the latest..never heard of Tec582 until just now!

The OCW is OK on repaints and has verified UV-blockers, those two in combo were enough for me, and now I have a lifetime supply.

 

[Dan]

Lonnie & Dan- I myself would kinda *like* to use TW stuff, but I went GG Ceramic instead for various reasons including product compatibility (and I order from GG anyhow, trying to keep life simple). That lack of dirt-repellency you mentioned is indeed a shortcoming, but I'm hoping their Ceramic Liquid Wax will be better.

Sigh..I'm sure not up-to-date on the latest..never heard of Tec582 until just now!

The OCW is OK on repaints and has verified UV-blockers, those two in combo were enough for me, and now I have a lifetime supply.

I get the keeping it simple, and Griots makes great stuff.

I too tried to avoid Tec582. It sounds like one of those products with the guy yelling in the corny youtube video. Combine that with the fact that the MSDS looks like the same old bag of tricks in a bottle. What doesn't lie is all the reviews, I think its probably the highest rated detailing product on Amazon (4.8 with almost three thousand reviews.) The thing that took it over the top for me, is there are a lot of video reviews of it, with guys that have a lot of expensive products on their shelves, and its pretty well loved. Accumulator, I don't think you'd like its looks, wayyy too blingy but the dirt shedding is second to none.

And Lonnie, the Turtle Wax Hybrid line is fantastic. I fell in love with that stuff before the pandemic and continue to use it. I just got some of the paste was for fun.

 

[Accumulator]

Dan- Ah, sounds like the look of the Tec582 gives me an excuse to just stick with the GG, so I'm glad you mentioned that Like the FK, the GG is as all-gloss-look as I can take (and that's on white and silver).

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Dan--you are talking about the TEC582 Ceramic Detail Spray, right? I see (at Amazon) they also have a ceramic coating for $33, as well as the G-Max graphene coating and spray detailer.

EDIT--oh, sorry, I see the 582 IS the detail spray, I thought that was part of the name, the other products I mentioned have different numbers; they are however similarly reasonably priced

 

[Dan]

Dan--you are talking about the TEC582 Ceramic Detail Spray, right? I see (at Amazon) they also have a ceramic coating for $33, as well as the G-Max graphene coating and spray detailer.

EDIT--oh, sorry, I see the 582 IS the detail spray, I thought that was part of the name, the other products I mentioned have different numbers; they are however similarly reasonably priced

Yes, the Ceramic Detail Spray. This stuff:



And yes, it seems they didn't spend a lot on marketing. I got the ceramic coating, I have yet to use it. I passed on the Graphene spray detailer as a lot of reviews say don't waste your money, just get the Ceramic detailer.