I've been very fortunate to have been sent a selection of Bilt Hamber products to sample.
I've been using Bilt Hamber Surfex for a while now and have been very impressed with the cleaning ability, but until now I haven't delved deeper than that. That's mainly because of Bilt Hamber's convoluted dilution requirements that require more than a simple ratio calculation. I'm not the first to make that comment either. But, I think there is some interesting products within the range that warrant the math.
First of which is Touchless.
Confession, I tried this on the Ranger yesterday and was less than impressed, in fact, I sort of had a little tantrum. Some of that was from being extremely tired after working 6 days straight, some of that was then spilling the foam cannon bottle and its contents over the bench (again, tired), and some of that from sub-par results. In truth, I probably shouldn't have been messing around in the garage in that state of mind.
Today, I upped the concentration of product in the foam cannon and got better results..............much better results!
And no, that was not my Ranger. With mine having a service, this filthy loan car was the perfect gunnie pig for the test. This Ranger XL was covered in mud, bugs and road grime.
Check out the puddle of brown dripping from the vehicle.................
Touchless is a very high alkaline soap, sitting at around pH 12.0, so I would be cautious with what you use it on. If your car is ceramic coated, then this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. It also doesn't produce shaving cream-like foam, producing a runnier fluid film that drags contamination off the car as it drips down the panel.
I foamed Touchless on from dry and allowed to soak for several minutes. I then rinsed the car and watched in amazement at how most, if not all, contamination rinsed cleanly from the car. Was it 100% perfect, no, that would be wanting too much. To be fair, most people would be more than happy with the result, however from my perspective it provides a cleaner surface to perform the contact wash on to get that last 10% remaining.
I actually stopped right there, blew the car down and called it good. Lets just say the service advisor was impressed with how clean the vehicle was from nothing more than a foam and rinse.
Something you will note with Bilt Hamber products is a lack of scent. Touchless and AutoFoam are no different, having that rather distinct detergent smell to them, not pleasant, not unpleasant. These are workhorse chemicals, designed to perform and nothing else.
Next was Atom Mac, an anti-corrosion agent.
I've been using Hydes Serum Rustopper for brake rotors for a while now, Atom Mac is a similar product that is sold in concentrate form rather than RTU. Application is the same in that you spray the rotors after washing to prevent the film of rust forming as it dries.
Atom Mac seems more effective here than Hydes, but I still need more time with it. As you can see above, the rotors are largely rust free after treatment and drying. Compare that to below for an untreated rotor.................
Some would question what's the big deal with rusty rotors, that they only stay that way for a few seconds. However, that rust has to go somewhere............all over your freshly cleaned wheels. On black or dark coloured wheels, you will notice this instantly.
Interesting to note that the above Ranger XL was the 2WD model with the base powertrain, a single turbo 2.0 diesel with the older 6R80 6-speed automatic. Till now, I've only driven the 2.0 in Bi-Turbo and 10-speed format. I was set to be disappointed but...................I think I like this powertrain more.
A lot of that centers around the 6-speed gearbox shifting in a more normal manner, as in not skipping gears. As such, it seems to shift smoother, both up and down the ratios, nor does it have that "busy" sound and feeling of the 10-speed. It's also seems better at auto rev matching when manually downshifted.
Up until this point, I've been set on ordering an XL 4X4 to get access to the Bi-Turbo and 10-speed if I ever did decide to update. But after this, maybe I don't need the Bi-Turbo after all?
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