5 exterior shampoos - my observations

CharlesW said:
Anyway, thanks for an interesting thread gewb. :applause:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words. I also liked the other suggestions but can't justify the expense for more shampoo ESPECIALLY since last evening...

...when a truck in front of me (on the Interstate) had a fuel leak and sprayed diesel all over my clean Nelly! A nice mist that covered much of her lilly white skin. Made me ill to watch the diesel crawl up the windshield in the wind, not to mention getting ill from the SMELL for the last 25 miles before reaching home.

I knew she needed some serious attention right away. As the weather was warm yesterday (broke a 127 yr record), very windy and DRY, as in 7% humidity, using a hose and shampoo was out of the question. Had to wash Nelly in the garage. Time to see if the DP 4 in 1 would impress me again - it did! This stuff is great.

Following the rinseless wash I applied Wolfy's Paintwork Polish Enhancer with my FLEX DA using a Cobra blue cross groove pad. Had to work small areas and kept the pad moistened with distilled water (I use a very fine spray spritzer) because everything dried out sooo fast (including my hands!) in 7% humidity air.

Topped off with a coat of Fuzion - my first time to try it. Went on like warm butter and left a beautiful shine. I'm happy with the look on a white car - wonder how a second coat will look?

Regards,
GEWB
 
I added another shampoo product today: DP Xtreme Foam Formula High Yield Foaming Auto Shampoo. I used the same hand wash two bucket method and the same sponge as the original post.

The product foamed nicely but not excessive and was long lasting. It did a very good job of cleaning general road film AND a good job removing the road tar “whiskers” with little effort - almost like the DP 4-in-1. Left a nice shine when done.

The car did not have mag chloride on it so I don't know how well it does on that nasty stuff.

Of the five true shampoo products tried, this did the best job. Not as luxurious feeling as the Pinnacle but still pleasurable to use.

So, this takes top honor of the shampoos I tried and 4-in-1 retains top honor of all six products I tried but only by a nose.

Regards,
GEWB
 
I also use the two bucket method and Z7. Depends on the amount of dirt on the car if I use a mitt or a boars hair brush.
 
Too bad I can't change the thread title as I'm now up to seven shampoo products.

In the first part of the thread CharlesW posted:

"Maybe you could send him some samples and he could report back his findings." :grouphug:

...And OGauge4Me came through with a sample of Zaino Z7 for me to try :awesome: ...so today was the day.

My Nelly wasn't too dirty but she did have a few streaks of mag chloride, bug guts and tar whiskers - a good mix of daily driver junk.

Weather was cool ( around 50F) and the humidity was fairly low (mid teens). I used the same methods and tools as with the previous products.

My observations and impressions:

Zaino Z7 felt luxurious, about the same as the Pinnacle and almost as silky - a pleasure to use. It created nice suds that lasted through the entire wash.

The Z7 did a very good job on general road grime, a better than average job on the tar whiskers and an admirable job on mag chloride (which I didn't expect). Zaino left a very nice shine, almost like the Fuzion wax was just applied (this is the second wash since waxing).

Two areas were unexpected:

1) it did only a fair to below average job on bugs - a modest disappointment, but

2) the big surprise was the low amount of spotting on glass!

This was very noticable and what spotting occured was easily removed during drying with a MF cloth.

To me the Zaino Z7 "feel" is just a hair below the Pinnacle - but that is splitting hairs; it was better on tar whiskers than the Pinnacle but not as good as the DP rinseless; best-in-class of true shampoos regarding glass clean up ( I don't consider the rinseless a true shampoo); falls behind in removing bugs.

Regards,
GEWB
 
Nice review Gewb, good work my friend. I would also recommend looking into z7 as its one of my favorites of all time.

Pinnacle is such a nice shampoo its tough to beat. Another some of you might want to look into is tol's bubble bath, after years I still find myself ordering a gallon to make sure its always on hand. Most of the cars I work on are protected w a synthetic in which case z7 is my starter in my shampoo bullpen.
 
You get the gold balls award for your endeavors (no blue coral included)
 
I would have used Meguiar's Gold Class or Shampoo +. The deep Crystal is an entry level wash.
 
Brian_Brice said:
Nice review Gewb, good work my friend. I would also recommend looking into z7 as its one of my favorites of all time.
Click to expand...
He did.

culinarian said:
I would have used Meguiar's Gold Class or Shampoo +. The deep Crystal is an entry level wash.
Click to expand...
Send him some. He is still washing cars.

Excellent review and I have to admire your patience. I would have long ago just settled on one and given the rest away. :)
 
culinarian said:
I would have used Meguiar's Gold Class or Shampoo +. The deep Crystal is an entry level wash.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but it was free and it isn't a bad product, especially for otc mass market.

Regards,
GEWB
 
img said:
You get the gold balls award for your endeavors (no blue coral included)
Click to expand...

Thanks! (I still have enough Blue Coral for all of the next winter.)

Regards,
GEWB
 
Thanks for all the reviewing GEWB. Something thats been bothering me though What the hell is a Nelly? Is that just your pet name for your car or what?
 
MS3FTW said:
Thanks for all the reviewing GEWB. Something thats been bothering me though What the hell is a Nelly? Is that just your pet name for your car or what?
Click to expand...
Correct - Nelly is my Pearl White '07 Sonata daily driver.

Regards,
GEWB
 
OGauge4Me said:
Gary:
:righton:

Nice job on all the reviews.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I try...

Nelly (my '07 Sonata) is filthy after the blizzard last Thursday (yeah, I still drive 200 miles in that - lucked out and missed being in a 40+ car pile up by about 15 minutes). Light snow today, more coming on Wednesday.

Need to give her a bath next weekend. Not sure what I'll use.

Regards,
GEWB
 
most of the sexterior shampoos I use my wife picks up at Bed, Bath, and beyon--great lotions too
 
img said:
most of the sexterior shampoos I use my wife picks up at Bed, Bath, and beyon--great lotions too
Click to expand...
Sounds like my wife!

Looks like my wash this weekend may get delayed as Saturday looks like we could have another heavy snow (maybe another blizzard). We need the moisture...

Regards,
GEWB
 
The DP Xtreme Foam is easily the best wash ive used and Ive used a good amount (megs, PS21, etc). The foam lasts throughout the wash and hten some, and really sticks to the car. Car comes out very clean and shiny and it smells real nice. Noticibly better then others. Im really falling in love with he DP line of Products. Priced rite and quality shtuff. Oh yeah, I used the DPs Xtreme wash in a bucket, not a foam gun.

gewb said:
Sounds like my wife!

Looks like my wash this weekend may get delayed as Saturday looks like we could have another heavy snow (maybe another blizzard). We need the moisture...

Regards,
GEWB
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top