I’m not here to ding on any one person. In particular scottwax, He is far more knowledgeable about detailing than a handful of us put together. That being said this is my area. So let me move on and try and address these points in fashion and with reasoned factual comments.
I've been using Woolite/water on cars for 11 years now. If there was a problem, I'd know about it. I used to use Magnum Upholstry Shampoo on carpeting and fabric and it suds a lot more than Woolite, plus it flat didn't clean as well. Say what you want but I stand behind using it and I don't hestitate to recommend it to others.
BTW, are you aware in a Lexus owner's manual, the recommended leather cleaner is a 5% wool safe detergent solution (20:1)? I highly doubt Lexus would recommend that if they felt it would damage the leather and cause warranty issues down the road. Cadillac specifically recommended using Woolite on a leather tag attached to the headrest on a Caddy I did years ago, now they just say to use a mild detergent and water. What could be more mild than Woolite?
I can see why you’d be that way. And when you get down to it I am doing the same thing. Our experience is leading us into this conversation. It is my experience that this is a far more expensive and inferior product with detrimental side effects. Specifically the ones I listed above in my other posts.
On to the lexsus and Cadillac owners manual. As some one said already are these the same owners manuls that tell us we do not need wax on our modern clear coats. The owners manul is for end product consumer. It is to give instructions on how to deal with something in terms that the end user would recognize. In the case of cleaning they must also give the end user a product to use, In this case the product is woolite. However it is also likely if it also says something like “if the product fails to be removed, consult a professional� In this case you are the professional.
Here is the pivot point. I’m noticing as an industry many detailers will search out info, guidance for the perfect exterior. Yet they leave the interior to “what ever� works syndrome. I’m here to tell you you need not do that. Solid training, for fabric, upholstery, Leather and tufted fibers is available. Training that with the right tools and chemicals will vastly increase your interior car cleaning work flow.
I’ll start by making my case for training.
http://www.iicrc.org/home.html This is the basic governing body that provides training and standards for quality carpet, upholstery, restoration, odor, and leather techs. They have regional units, and do trainings throughout most of their regions. Here in the PNW it is CCINW. The trainings bring in certified instructors who teach the classes, go over each of your own business and how the procedures, processes, chemicals, and equipment can best be applied to your style of work. Some of the basic classes I would suggest are. Basic carpet tech, Basic upholstery tech. and then If they have it by now Basic leather tech. If not then use one of the leather manufactures Tech courses provided. (ie, leather master.) These classes will teach you fiber identification, soil identification, stain identification, spotting techniques and the proper procedures of how to remove soils quickly and cost effectively.
Now on to woolite. Besides the posts I have made above:
First, Woolite is not a good product on manufactured fibers, let alone tufted fibers.
2nd It's not made for carpets or seating fabrics or leather.
3rd It contains way to much detergent even at a 60:1 ratio for seating fabric and tufted fiber. Unless you are using a 18-25k truck mounted hot water extractor there is no way for you to remove all that detergent. That same detergent will continue to attract dirt after the car leaves your car. Do you want the carpet in that car re-attracting dirt? Is that honestly part of your business practice? You may not have know it will do that, but you do now. Consider the products you use wisely. You should use carpet products on carpet, fabric product on fabric, leather on leather.
4th water based product dry leather out, requiring you to put much more conditioner on the leather than if you had cleaned it properly. Also if not properly cleaned out you will have the same resoiling as in fabric, and in some cases it will even prevent the leather from absorbing the proper conditioning agents.
5th Woolite contains optical brighteners. They falsely brighten fabrics and tufted fibers. Any potential proper cleaning you gain is highly influenced by the optical brighteners. What do optical brighteners also do? When exposed to large amounts of UV light, say through a car window. They fade, degrade, and destroy fibers. yes, By using such a product you are actually in the long run causing harm to your customers car. I ask again is this something you want to do? Even solution dyed fibers are susceptible to fiber damage and dye loss.
Beyond this I mentioned cost and time. Using scottwax’s 8:1 recommendation you’d use 1 woolite 50z container per 5 gallon bucket, making 5 gallons of product for use at 5.89 dollars for a 50 oz bottle of woolite. Woolite’s cost per gallon not including man hours =1.178 cents per gallon
By comparison a traffic lane cleaner spiecifically made for high traffic tufted fibers cost 25 dollars for a 128 oz (1 gallon can) Here is the kicker for High traffic areas the dilution is 32:1 for lower traffic areas the dilution is 64:1. Using the 32:1 formula as cars boats rv’s are usually very high traffic areas you will produce 4096 gallons of product to use. Yeah. Traffic lane cleaner cost per gallon not including man hours = 0.006 cents per gallon.
Now lets talk time , Since I have no idea how much time people invest into woolite cleaning I’ll only be able to provide the time that a traffic lane cleaner can provide.
Here is the process and relevant times of each:
Pre-vacuum carpets and seating areas. 15min 95% of all soils are particulate dirt, this is best removed by dry vacuuming. Remove it here at this stage, and your chemical use is less and you are less likely to need to make multiple passes.
Prespot or Precondition fiber surfaces with traffic lane cleaner, or appropriate spotting chemical. 3 min.
Lightly brush in chemical to besure it has reached all of the fiber surface. 5 min.
Wait 20 min while you clean leather and dash surfaces.
Extraction process using a small protable machine. 20 min.
Total time not including waiting time. 43 min.
If that number seems high to you, then I would guess you focus mostly on the exterior portion of detail. This process time will come down with exp and refining of your work flow. It will re attract far less dirt, it is far less labor intensive than scrubbing with woolite and removing with shop vac.
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