all the detailing product torture test videos on YT - what say you?

[JWilliams.RadiantDetail]

I get really sucked into Brian from Apex Detailing's torture videos, I've even made a few purchases due to his results. He & Jimbo seem to do the most test videos, but it got me thinking about the methods. Product A failed when Citrol 266 was applied, Product B still was showing signs of protection. That says a lot about durability, but not so much the potential longevity under normal circumstances. And Citrol 266 is about 10x worse than anything mother nature could throw at my car. Does that speak on real world usage? Or am I off in my thinking that just because a product isn't as durable doesn't mean it can't last maybe even longer still? I'm convinced that the longevity claim a manufacture puts on a bottle is just a completely random number lol.

 

[Klasse Act]

Brian's new test are more "real world" based on what he's saying about cars leaking fluids and what's on the roads this time of the year for 1/3 of us right now. That said, the amount in the panel is a tad more than average and when I say "tad" I mean Elaine's explanation of "a tad" from Airplane II

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[Finick]

I don’t take them very seriously. I just find them fun to watch.

If someone wanted to upload independent lab testing for their durability I’d be interested in that. But even with that, the environment you keep your car in has a bigger impact than anything on the road, imo.

My car sits outside, and gets covered in pollen basically all spring, summer, and fall. My LSP is constantly beat down, even with the more durable stuff from these torture test videos.


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[Paul A.]

Good points Mr. Williams. I do watch "torture" tests however still rely on my driving conditions and environment to realistically evaluate results.

I do get some information from those tests based on controlled conditions. That is, take a bunch of products and see how they all behave to the same degradating condition. It gives you some idea of how robust each product is.

However, I still want to see how that product "winner" holds up to my environment over time. I want to see how the blazing sun with UV beats on it after a wicked rain while driving through all the road grime...and repeatedly.

My favorite tests are the one's where someone has divided up a hood into 10, 15, 20 sections and leaves it outside for months and periodically washes it and evaluates. But, again, that's a static test left in the weather and not driven around...and, that's in their weather, not mine.

 

[SWETM]

It can be transfered to how good the protection ability is on them. But mostly is on the acidic ph level in the nature. I don't see it in how long longevity it has. Often it's a kind of APC with a high ph level that gets them or a strong solvent like citrol 266. And that kind of protection is not LSP made to resist.

Something that's not mentioned is the abrasion from the contact washes. That usually takes a good hit on the longevity from the LSP. Also they who aggitate with the chemicals on the torture testing makes these very more aggressive vs just letting it dwell and rinse off. I use tar remover almost at every wash I do during the winter months here in Sweden. And since doing that the tar spots is more fresher and only needs to be dwelled and rinsed. Most of the LSP I use handle this and also the TFR prewash foams I also use during this time. If I would be working them in with a mf towel they would not stand up to it. Actually mostly I see the performance from the LSP gets revived. If it's on it's last legs it's more signs that the LSP degrades. I want as clean as possible before I do the contact wash. Tar in the wash media is not fun at all to handle.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Brian's new test are more "real world" based on what he's saying about cars leaking fluids and what's on the roads this time of the year for 1/3 of us right now.

You mean the topic of my article here?


Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film


Driving in the rain - For most of us it's unavoidable

Road Film
Road film is the oily film splattered all over your car when you drive in the rain.

Where does Road Film come from?

Oils and other fluids that drip out of cars, truck and suvs accumulate on roads and highways over time.

When it rains, these accumulated oils and other fluids mix with the rain and are then splattered all over your car in effect staining you're entire car from top to bottom. The highest concentration of road film accumulates on your wheels, tires and lower body panels.


Just look in the parking space of any parking lot...

Motor Oil, Transmission Fluid, Gear Oil and other fluids

These outlined areas show where fluids have dripped off engines and transmission, even radiators and accumulated to the point that the pavement has been permanently stained.

It's also on roads and highways...

The oil stain line that runs down the middle of the road...

The dark line down the middle of the road
It's the darker, line down the middle of roads and freeways where most of the oily fluids accumulate as car, truck and suvs drive down the road.

Now that you've read this article and looked at the above pictures, you'll remember this every time you look down the road you're driving on.


Remember, oil and water don't mix
When it rains, the cars in front of you spray the rain water mixed in with these accumulated oils onto not only your car's paint but the wheels, tires, glass, plastic, cloth tops and vinyl tops.

If it's on the outside of the car then it's getting coated with oily road film.


Road Film builds up over time..
Oily road film builds up over time and because this film is oily or sticky it attracts dirt. This can be the dirt in the air or also in rain water that's splattered onto your car from the cars driving in front of you.


Can't always be seen...
Because the dirt staining effect caused by road film build up slowly over time it's not always easy to see, especially on black and dark colored cars, but don't be fooled, if you drive in the rain your car is getting coated in road film.


The solution to the problem?
Washing your car will remove any topical road film. The problem is the dirty, oil film will tend to migrate into any voids, pits, pores or interstices in your car's paint at least to the point that normal car washing won't remove it.


It's pretty easy to remove road film, all you have to do is periodically use one of the below approaches,

Use a quality cleaner/wax or AIO. The cleaning agents and/or abrasives in the cleaner/wax will remove any road film that washing could not remove.

Use a dedicated polish by hand or machine. Any high quality polish will effectively remove any built-up road film. Just be sure to apply a wax, sealant or coating afterwards to seal the paint.


Road Film... if you drive your car in the rain it's on your car...

 

[JustJesus]

I don’t take them very seriously. I just find them fun to watch.

If someone wanted to upload independent lab testing for their durability I’d be interested in that. But even with that, the environment you keep your car in has a bigger impact than anything on the road, imo.

I watch many of those.

Unfortunately, I seen Jim bo compare two entirely different products (apples to oranges) so I don't take his too seriously. Apex and Car Craft do a better job.

Myself, I tend to test in my own environment. It takes a heck of a long time, but it gives me a good idea as to the products I'm using and how they perform in my environment. Currently, I have three different coatings on my hood. Leaving them for about a year. Daily driver that sees plenty of sun, drives 25 miles one way, and since it's all on the hood, the coatings (or whatever else I've tested) see virtually the same environmental conditions.

You mean the topic of my article here?


Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film

That's a great one, Mike. Seen that post in various threads a ton of times. It's a good one (among others) to point people to when explaining things.

 

[Klasse Act]

Not a Jimbo fan and not sure how he got the TW invite

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[Paul A.]

Yes, both frequent washings and the dreaded road film are killers of durability.

I've often wondered if less frequent washes might extend any and all LSP's.

 

[Klasse Act]

See, this is is why I buy/apply and repeat whenever I want, always fresh, always looking good, period

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[bofh]

So far, it hasn't rained APC where I live so I don't take the torture tests too seriously. The guy in Texas who coated a scrap panel and leaves it out in the sun for years really gets my attention.

 

[FUNX650]

•Unless ’The Testers’ announce that they are
going to faithfully follow established ASTM
Standards, and “torture-test“ accordingly...

-I trend toward the side of dogmatic skepticism.


Bob

 

[Don M]

The 'up side' to the torture test using the heavy duty cleaners is that it could give an idea as to how well some of these sealants/coatings or however you want to classify them will hold up against some of the car washes that use harsh soaps or detergents in the wash, the "touchless" washes, etc. since they have to use harsher soaps to make up for the lack of any kind of material physically touching the car to clean the surface.

 

[hooked]

Not a Jimbo fan and not sure how he got the TW invite

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I only know Jimbo from his YouTube videos so I have no knowledge of his industry status or connections. He has mentioned that he does testing behind the scenes for some formulators so maybe that played a part.

 

[Loach]

I get really sucked into Brian from Apex Detailing's torture videos, I've even made a few purchases due to his results. He & Jimbo seem to do the most test videos, but it got me thinking about the methods. Product A failed when Citrol 266 was applied, Product B still was showing signs of protection. That says a lot about durability, but not so much the potential longevity under normal circumstances. And Citrol 266 is about 10x worse than anything mother nature could throw at my car. Does that speak on real world usage? Or am I off in my thinking that just because a product isn't as durable doesn't mean it can't last maybe even longer still? I'm convinced that the longevity claim a manufacture puts on a bottle is just a completely random number lol.

I love watching torture tests and I love setting them up myself. Any time you have product A vs. product B that were setup under the same method of prepwork, and then placed under the same conditions of "stress" and you come out with different outcomes, this result holds some relevancy. The issue is determining the extent of that relevancy and identifying what it means for the long term capabilities of the products, and that's where it gets harder to answer.

Take Seal N Shine as an example, it's one of the best performing short term products in terms of chemical resistance. When placed side by side with Meguiar's HCW in my 5 month durability test on the ungaraged daily driver, even though HCW doesn't have anywhere near the short term chemical resistance properties, both products were practically neck in neck in performance. The short term chemical resistance advantage of SNS held no relevance in its long term performance because I was not using harsh chemicals to prep the lower panels or going through tunnel washes to wash the car over that 5 month period.

Some viewers are ranking the chemical durability statistic of the product in the short term as the end all determinant of performance. Which is fine, the viewer can determine their own weight scales in which property is the one that's going to drive their decision to ultimately buy a product. But if good products start getting hammered in reviews just because they aren't able to hold up in a chemical resistance test as well compared to other options, then we're going to lose out on some solid consumer choices that get discontinued based on an over-weighted performance stat and poor sales.

Seal N Shine has incredible chemical resistance, but it's a HEAVY spray sealant, and not my option of choice if I just spent 6+ hours on paint correction on darker paint. This heaviness makes it harder to get that crisp clean wipedown, and makes it more susceptible to streaking. Contrast that with a product like Ultimate Fast Finish, which gives a super clean wipedown and would be my choice after extensive paint correction over Seal N Shine. The last thing that I want is to chase heavy residuals after perfecting the paint. I like Seal N Shine and there are both situations where I would and wouldn't recommend it. But to discount the performance of all new products because they can't compete on the same level in chemical tests, I think this is a big oversight that some viewers are taking, especially when we're sacrificing the wipeability of the product to deliver on chemical resistance.

All else equal about a product, I would want something that does deliver on strong chemical resistance, this is why I want to see these torture tests. My unicorn spray sealant would be one that does well in that type of test, so long as it's not sacrificing on other traits that I use to drive my buying decision.

•Unless ’The Testers’ announce that they are
going to faithfully follow established ASTM
Standards, and “torture-test“ accordingly...

-I trend toward the side of dogmatic skepticism.


Bob

That reminds me, I have to go out and buy the ASTM D523 publication for gloss measurement testing. Would be interesting to see what they've got in there. You bring up a great point as well, how do we develop the parameters to determine exactly what type of chemicals and mixes we're going to throw at the products to best define and determine performance? This is why I like the variety used by both Jimbo and Brian, both switching things up to try and find the best methods, but it's going to take some time before a consistent method is determined as the most practical, or we may never get there.

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

Not a Jimbo fan and not sure how he got the TW invite

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Whatever we think of him... he’s popular on YouTube. I love how he applies products then will just start tests. Curing be damned! Plus turtle wax is trying to attain the Walmart and Oreillys crowd. The wanna sell to the masses


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[Klasse Act]

Whatever we think of him... he’s popular on YouTube. I love how he applies products then will just start tests. Curing be damned! Plus turtle wax is trying to attain the Walmart and Oreillys crowd. The wanna sell to the masses


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Well, Antonio Brown is popular too...just sayin'

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[SWETM]

Not a Jimbo fan and not sure how he got the TW invite

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To be fair to Jimbo he was the Youtuber that did the finding about the Turtle Wax ICE Seal N Shine in one of his cheap vs expensive videos. Then he was impressed with the short term chemical resistance and kept comparing it to other more expensive LSP. So he is one of them that most deserved to be invited to the TW event. As he was the one that got TW ICE Seal N Shine to be famous.

And I'm not so big of a fan about Jimbo to make that clear. He should be a little carefull with his trying to developing his Youtube channel. As many don't like the new camera mans way of filming. You gets almost dizzy just to look at the videos since he started with the camera man LOL. And it's just not that but when he started doing the review videos not so long ago. He looked like a rookie in the detailing scene. And when I got the knowledge that this is his fulltime job. I was very surprised at that. But he has done some good videos and especially his cheap vs expensive videos was a hit. And has actually made a difference in the detailing world. With opening eyes on the brand snobbs to look at the OTC products more than before. It's just in the way he is I'm not so fond of. Still I like to be up to date so look at some of his videos sometimes. He's makes a big change with getting into camera team and sound team and that was obviuos he got some heat from the others detailing youtubers on TW event. But with the series he's got the most followers from I think is the cheap vs expensive videos. And he now makes some other kind of products reviews with a so called proffessional camera setup. He looks very uninterested when he does the torture testing videos as I think that he sees these is the videos that he gets the most views on. And there has been many clickbates videos that has not delivered IMO. So it's the old trapp when you try to change the content that works to something new. That may not suit the followers he has now. Some of his podcasts can be interesting to listen to though. Then I'm a sucker for the comparison and torture testing videos which ever who makes them LOL. To be honest I don't think that Turtle Wax has been where they are without Jimbo findings on the Seal N Shine chemical resistance he found. In that they got a product that showed some extreme abilities and got the free advertising from the spread of SNS in the detailing youtubers scene. And they noticed that with a very high demand on the SNS. So the Hybrid Solution line I don't think would be here if it was not so such of success from the Seal N Shine. And that it where showing on camera time after time putting other products in the shame when it comes to the short term chemical resistance it has.

Think it where very cool of TW to do this for the detailing youtubers channels that has helped out with showing SNS and it's performance. And invite and pay up for such an event. Cause there is no way in ..ll they would get away with buying them all there to just do great videos on the products in favor for them. I would say that the youtubers is more likely to be totaly honest with their thoughts and reviews of the products to not loose their faces to the other ones that says like it is.

The bigger detailing youtubers channels that has released their own line of products. That gets complicated when they have been doing reviews after they have released their own products in the same range of products. And when you here that one just started the Youtube channel with the end goal to be release their own products. Look at the videos since the beginning of the channel and the kind of products he has released has not been in much favor for them. And then hype up their own coming products. Sure it's smart advertising and no wrong in doing a success with own line of products. But it's a thin line to walk on to succed to do it in a nice and humble way. Or going on to other channels and starts drama about competing products he offers. Then you have one who basicly says that all of the other products than his is just crap and outdated technology. Some jump up on their high horses and just looks down on what was that got them where they are now. I'm really glad that there are still some humble and nice persons that does detailing Youtube videos that's interesting and fun to look at.

Comparison videos is interesting for me to watch. It shows well the difference between products in the same setup when reviewed. And if they gets a product to come back and compared to other products again as a kind of base mark like SNS is also getting me some information on how the new product on the review does. Then that there are a slightly difference between the detailing youtubers methods to testing them gets you also more information. Than if they would be doing the exact same ways to review and testing them. Then it where not be so interesting to see more than 1 product review video LOL. And not to forget the knowledge about detailing they shareing in general.

Crap to much of text again LOL. It's like an 2 hour Youtube video LOL

 

[DMiglio]

Jimbo has been doing podcasts and videos for about 5 years now. His podcasts were shared freely to anybody who stumbled upon them and he’s made 100’s of them. That’s free info, tips, secrets etc he gave to us(me), and didn’t ask anything in return. He’s been making fair honest YouTube videos and reviews for a few years and maybe doesn’t have the production value of others, but he’s not just reading a label and telling you it’s amazing and the brand is the best out there(you know there’s a few that do it, I won’t list their names).

He’s been doing so many different things to bring traffic to his business, his brand and streams of revenue for many years now. I’m glad he’s starting to become more well known, anybody who hustles for years on end and maintaining a career(self owned business in his case), has family, kids, bills etc. deserves to be returned handsomely. I have a lot more respect for him than most detailing youtubers and brand endorsers.

 

[BudgetPlan1]

Who is 'Jimbo'?