Here’s my review of products on my 1993 Chevy Stepside work truck. The paint is not 23 years old. It has been repainted and it looks good. I’m guessing at maybe 4 to 6 years - bought it 3 years ago. No oxidation. I live in DC area and it’s not garaged so it gets the full snow and rain on it. Not detailed or waxed but it has a nice shine from the local Exxon carwash. I’m serious, it does!
MF=Microfiber
1. Gloves - Although Dollar Tree nitrile gloves were thicker, Wal-Mart nitrile gloves held up better/longer.
2. Rigid Wet Vac 16 gallon, 6 hp with detachable blower. I love this machine! But that could also just be the guy in me I read some good reviews and saw the demo video on the Home Depot site: fishbowl full of liquid gets suck up immediately as well as golf balls in another bowl. Has great suction. The Accesory Kit comes with a suction brush that is hard bristled for doing carpets and did well so I could vacuum and scrub the carpet prior to cleaning. Also has a flexible crevice tool extension which I like as oppose to just the hard plastic. Two other attachments – suction brush for dashes and cap with smaller orifice for blowing – which I didn’t use. Drain at the bottom. And if you are not wet vaccing a lot of straight liquid, you can leave the filter in place for light duty (as in carpets that are damp) but you just want to clean it beforehand. A really cool feature is that the motor is a leaf blower so you can just detach it from base, attached leaf blower wand and blow dry your car with 180 mph air. Or, attach hose to blower while on the base and blow out the vehicle. Very sweet!
3. Bought Autotopia Tampico brush to use on upholstery. Saw the Wal-Mart Tampico Brush which has the shape of a brush used with a dust pan. Black bristles. Thought it would be great for hard to reach places like between center consoles and seats. The black dye from the bristles ran and got into carpet. At least I know APC+ is working great - lol. And it took the black dye out of the carpet. The Autotopia brush worked great and you could see the dirt being absorbed up into the bristles. Oh, did not use Horsehair brush for testing on upholstery – next time!
4. Bought actual detailing brushes and they performed as promised, especially the little toothbrush-type. One thing, though, is the AC vents could not get cleaned. They still look like they have a layer of dust on them. I even went a little heavy with APC+ and let it sit for 5 minutes or so and nothing really could get that. Fairly confident that all the vents are not stained due to age or time being ignored. More elbow grease?
5. Interior feathered brush worked great on dash and radio front.
6. Febreze original scent was an excellent recommendation. Truck smells great.
7. MF Cleaning Towels for interior or non-paint surfaces: They both worked really well. When I went to wash them I rinsed them out first and WOW! That was a lot of dirt they were holding. But I'd stick with Home Depot towels as they are cheaper and the blue color may hide any slight stains during the life of the towel. Realize the polyester content is high but for now it’s what I am willing to spend until work becomes regular.
Wal-Mart - 63 cents each / White:
Microtex MF Towels 8 pack (80% Polyester 20% Polyamide)
Home Depot - 41 cents each / Blue
MF Towels - 24 pack [65% Biconsituent Fiber (79 polyester/21 nylon) 35% Polyester]
8. Megs APC+ (10:1 dilution) worked GREAT on carpets and seats. Misted on and scrubbed with Tampico brush, wet vac, and rubbed down with MF towel. Removed old/new stains utilizing the stiffer Vinyl & Leather Scrub Brush and a little more solution. Excellent scent. For some really tough stains I used Tuff Stuff and small nylon brush from 3-pack Wal-Mart set and it did the job. Still want to try Folex. Keep in mind I did not soak carpets as it was not required. I have the hard plastic floor mats that catch everything. The exposed areas – seats and area in front of center console – were dirty and came out looking like the covered areas in carpet. Stains in seats – upholstery – from cokes, coffee and cigarette ash were removed.
9. For the cleaning of interior plastic Megs APC+ (10:1 dilution) did fine. I had to use the stiffer Vinyl & Leather Scrub Brush for most areas. I don't know if it is any better than 409 or other cleaners for plastics –beige micro-grainy plastic is the majority of the interior of my truck. The effort required was no different than other products used in the past. It did clean and leave a nice looking surface. Maybe I need to step up dilution ratio for plastic and hard carpet stains? The next day all upholstery felt normal - no stiffness but the scent did wane unfortunately. Ultimately, I am impressed and will use this product. Great versatility.
I did try using both MF scrubby’s from Advance Auto/Wal-Mart and they did lackluster work – too soft. I do realize that this isn’t the proper application for them as their package reads “bug scrubber.” This was just a test and now I know.
10. Tire cleaning using Megs APC+ (4:1 dilution) was excellent. Cleaned rubber and removed all brake dust with ease. I used short bristled scrub for rubber and the exterior feathered brush for wheel. The exterior long handled feathered brush for the wheel wells work excellent as well.
11. Megs Hyper Dressing (1:1 for tires and 4:1 dilution for interior). Smells great! I started with 4:1 dilution for interior but it was rather flat so I just used the 1:1 dilution – except for the dash in order to avoid any reflective baking. It wasn’t really super shiny, more of a satin if that. Not even close to say ArmorAll shiny. Not greasy, even on steering wheel at 1:1. It pretty much was absorbed but I’m sure the interior was thirsty! Been years since any dressing applied. (It’s a work truck! lol). So you can see a little something but only if you’re looking specifically for it. No patchiness. I also used it on my door seals and it looks good.
On the tires at 1:1 ratio, it looked somewhat shiny but it was absorbed in 30 minutes and looked satin to matte.
I can appreciate the versatility of dilution but I may switch. For the cost at $37 a gallon, I would expect super shiny at 1:1 ratio. Will research to find what is best considering cost and versatility (dilution).
12. Invisible Glass - awesome as always. I'm biased if you can't tell - lol. Used it for years and I like the silky coating it leaves. Saw the thread regarding its use on the interior of windows but I've never had an issue.
13. No bugs or tar so no review on Turtle Wax nor did I have time to clean the engine.
14. Foam Nozzle and shut off valve worked great. The nozzle has an attached receptacle to add foam for car wash but I did not have any foam solution. Which leads me to ask you all: what is a good solution to use? Can I use the Megs Ultimate Wash and Wax as it was SUPER foamy but it is the car wash soap? I don’t know if that is acceptable use or a waste of my product. I like the nozzle a lot and works great as it should.
15. Megs Ultimate Wash and Wax. Awesome. Super soft and smells great. Nice and thick, lot of foam.
16. Microtex Premium Microfiber Chenille Mitt, Blue (100% Polyester). Soaked up a lot of water and foam - performed great.
Autocraft Microfiber Mitt with scrubber (chenille wash mitt: 85% Polyester, 15% Polyamide). Worked great just like the Microtex.
I will change these out for a non-polyester mitt. But could someone please tell me how really dangerous is the 100% Polyester? Understand you don’t want to create more work for yourself – swirls, scratches, etc – but are they really, really dangerous and trashing the paint?
17. Microtex Platinum XL Car-Drying Towel. Not the big one – wasn’t in stock. 21” x 29”. (85% Polyester 15% Polyamide) Didn’t soak up much water but to be fair I didn’t wash it first. Nice plush towel.
18. Meguiars #6 Cleaner/Wax. NOTE: Polishing/waxing is being done by hand.
I was hoping to get scrapes reduced but it did not happen. I scraped against a wood fence and it left brown color from the wood. Nothing close to metal beneath paint. Product was supposed to take out minor stuff and light oxidation but nothing was removed from the scrape or other minor stuff.
Oh yeah, I did not claybar. Don’t tell Junkman!!!! It needs it but I was losing light and the next day was rain so I went directly to polishing/waxing. If what I did can actually be considered polishing.
19. Meguiars #26 Hi-Tech Liquid Carnauba Wax & Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax Spray (15.2 oz.)
I did different applications on different parts of the vehicle for comparison. On the hood I used #6, #26, and then the Ultimate Spray Quik Liquid Wax, on fenders and side panels I used #6 and #26. On rear fenders just Ultimate Spray Quik Liquid Wax.
Other than having a solid shell for protection in theory, I cannot really tell the difference between each product’s performance. Sure, it is clean and somewhat smooth but the hood doesn’t look different from the rest of the truck. Well, slightly better than the area with just Ultimate Quick Wax Spray if you look real hard. I applied liberally, let it haze/dry, and rubbed thoroughly until all traces were gone. And then a little more. It doesn’t look wet or all that glossy to me. Actually, not so much more so than without the waxing. Did I shoot myself in the foot by claybarring?
I have to change to a more aggressive product to get better results for polishing. I’d like to get something a more aggressive for scratches that I can do by hand. I will eventually get a DA buffer but for now I’m looking to get something to noticeably improve/remove minor scuffs or scratches and a wax to make the paint pop so people can see what their paying for. I realize that a buffer goes a long way but the people who’s cars I will be working on are fairly new (5 years or younger) and they don’t have serious scratches but just standard wear. Do I need to get buffer and break out the 105/205 for all of them to show improvement? Or is there product that can make them pop a little? I know it all depends on the paint condition but what would you use for the run of the mill daily driver to polish out minor scuffs, scrapes, scratches and swirls and what would you follow with to get paint to pop to a noticeable degree?
Sorry if this is too wishy-washy or whiny. This is the meat of detailing and I want to get it right. Please be blunt – no offense taken. I welcome all the advice. It’s obvious I need it!
20. Polishing Towels
Wal-Mart - $1.59 each - Yellow
MicroTex MF Polishing Cloth (SUEDE) 3 pack (80% Polyester 20% Polyamide)
Wal-Mart - $2.94 each - Gray plush - for quick wax
MicroTex XL Polishing MF towels - Gray 2 pack (85% Polyester 15% Polyamide)
Dollar Tree - $1 each - Blue plush (100% Polyester)
Microtex Suede towels did a good job and left almost no dust from the Megs #6 or #26. It picked it all up and left no streaks. There was some difficult rubbing as it grabbed onto the wax.
I used the Dollar Tree plush towel and it took off the #6 and #26 with ease. I mean it just took it off with a sharp difference to the Suede towel. Light pressure and off it came. Only did a small section with this on both #6 and #26 but the result appeared the same to the MicroTex suede polishing towel and left no streaks.
The gray MicroTex XL Polishing MF towels I used with the Megs Quick wax were okay. They spread the wax but wiping dry wasn’t that good.
21. Blue Magic convertible top cleaner and protectant: I was really impressed with this. After I washed my tonneau cover it still had brownish color in its grooves/grain. This stuff worked really well in making it appear fresh and conditioned. Applying it requires hard rubbing according to directions and upon doing so a lot of dirt or grime ended up on my rags. And this was after the thorough washing with chenille mitt and super thick foamy suds. Looks excellent. I’ll revisit this in a couple days and maybe apply Megs Hyper Dressing for good measure. # days later and after light rain its looking good.
22. Tide Free and Gentle: Washed with this as per recommendations in the forum. Washed, air dried for 25 minutes in machine and then laid out to finish drying. Will see if there are any negative effects on the next job. As for look, towels are very clean – more so than I thought would happen. 99% spotless. The stains may have been from the towels I let sit overnight without rinsing or washing.
23. Safety Glasses: Had two pair - one from Dollar Tree and one from Home Depot. Albeit they are both hard plastic, the Home Depot pair sat high up on the ridge of my nose. The pair from Dollar tree fit and sat better. Plus they had coverage on sides. I guess I just got a Dollar Tree shaped noggin.’
24. Had to buy 6 sprayer bottles so I could use their sprayers for Megs APC+ and Hyper Dressing bottles. Autotopia doesn’t send sprayer with bottle. The Dollar Tree sprayers are excellent and don’t drip. Plus I was able to color code to match Megs bottles. While some may consider the Dollar Tree plastic to be too thin, I think they are just fine. They have a great measuring legend on the side of the bottle for ounces, dilution ratios, and milliliters. Megs are thicker plastic, have the dilution ratios, and bought these to have a professional look. Otherwise, Dollar Tree.
Well, that’s it for my first run. Again, feel free to give advice or comments. Back at it tomorrow on another vehicle – White Nissan SUV.
Questions:
1. Are there an advice, cautions, corrections, or tips you can share?
2. Do you think MEGS APC+ at higher concentration will remove interior dirt from plastics better/quicker?
3. Do you recommend another dressing that is as solid and versatile but has a better price than Megs Hyper Dressing?
4. What is a good foam solution to use? Can I use regular car detergent (i.e., Megs Ultimate Wash and Wax) in the foam nozzle receptacle or do I need a specific product made for nozzles?
5. How really dangerous are 100% Polyester chenille wash mitts?
6. What would you use for a run of the mill daily driver to polish out minor scuffs, scrapes, scratches and swirls by hand and what would you follow with to get paint to pop to a noticeable degree?
Please feel free to school me – I’m looking to learn.
Thanks all!
