Experienced opinions needed on this controversial video on car soaps!!!

[JCDetails]

I hate when people think they're right about something and demand other people think its right too. This guy seems like he would get offended if you disagree.

It's exactly what happens, look in his youtube comments. People present valid, fact-based points and his only response is "this is what works for ME in MY WORLD, figure out what works for YOU"


The guy's a clown, point blank period. All his videos now are nothing but clickbait and him preaching as if he's god's gift to the industry with regurgitated ideas that he tries to present as revolutionary.


I can count on one hand the number of detailers whose opinion I actually trust on youtube, and he ain't one of them.

 

[juvefan30]

Never heard of this guy, clearly a hack. I'm sure that purple power soap is slightly better at cleaning superficial road tar, but even using that soap every week, one eventually would need to clay. Nothing is gonna stop super hot brake dust from bonding to your paint even with wax on it. He must be insufferable to be around judging on that video.

 

[KirkH]

Purple Power has lye (sodium hydroxide) in it, which is why it is so alkaline. I don’t like to get it on my hands, it peels my skin. I have some of that soap. I will test the pH.


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

 

[chet31]

Swanicyouth posted:

Lol. Doesn't matter if the soap if pH neutral or not. Guess what? If you are diluting the soap in 5 gallons of water - the pH of the washing solution you are using is impacted minimally

This is correct. Also, anything pH 4 to pH 10, unbuffered, is essentially neutral and harmless. There are not enough H+ or OH- molecules present to do anything. They get bonded, overwhelmed, and neutralized by any dust or dirt on the car's surface.

A polar solvent like an acid or base is not a good solvent for a non-polar solute like road grime. Long story short, the pH of the soap doesn't matter much when cleaning road grime. The soap component of the cleaning solution is much more important.

BTW, waxes and sealants are non-polar. Therefore, a polar solvent like an acid or base won't do much to them either. A non-polar solvent, for example, any petroleum product - paint thinner, acetone, WD-40 - WILL try to dissolve your wax/sealants.

 

[Klasse Act]

Forensic Detailing is awesome but I feel I need to take some classes when I watch him, very articulate!

 

[Calendyr]

I agree with him if you are working a on new client's vehicle and you will be applying a good quality protectant once you are done.

There is no reason to use a PH Neutral soap that will not disolve heavy dirt and grime if you are gonne replace the LSP anyway.

I have not tried the product he is using, it is not available in Canada (nothing new there) but I do use a mix of 50% car soap and 50% dawn for both my Foam Lance and my wash bucket for all new client vehicles. The idea is to get a good degreasing action from the dawn soap and good lubrication from the car soap. So far I have had no reasons to change that.

For regular customers, since you know how often the car is washed and when the Sealant was last applied, a regular car soap is probably a better option, unless you see a serious contamination on the lower body and front of the car. So it's a case by case.

 

[Calendyr]

Never heard of this guy, clearly a hack. I'm sure that purple power soap is slightly better at cleaning superficial road tar, but even using that soap every week, one eventually would need to clay. Nothing is gonna stop super hot brake dust from bonding to your paint even with wax on it. He must be insufferable to be around judging on that video.

Well nobody is perfect. I am sure you do things others would not agree with. And so do I.

I have been watching Scott for about a year now. Most of the time I like his approach and reasoning. I have seen videos from him where I disagreed with him and posted a reply with my objection. This is where I don't like the way he sees things. He clearly takes it as an attack when you object to something he says. And this is not a good way to go about it. He should give a reply with his reasoning why he feels your object is not valid instead of using canned answers like "Do what works for you" or "It works well for me".

As far has his personality, I think he is very no-nonsense and honest. So for me, that is a very good thing. But again, not everyone will like that personality type.

Scott reminds me a lot of Darren Priest, they are both very long winded, they use the same expressions, and have the same approach to detailing. I would not be surprised if Scott watched Darren for a long time before starting his channel, the similitudes are too great for him not to have been inspired by Darren.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Well nobody is perfect. I am sure you do things others would not agree with. And so do I.

Exactly. Well said.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Scott reminds me a lot of Darren Priest, they are both very long winded, they use the same expressions, and have the same approach to detailing. I would not be surprised if Scott watched Darren for a long time before starting his channel, the similitudes are too great for him not to have been inspired by Darren.

They’re actually friends and Scott’s mentioned how they talk on the phone quite often, like several times per week.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Just to chime in...


I watched the video, as far as washing cars with high pH chemicals to remove road film and embedded dirt stains on car paint, my comment would be,

There's a million ways to skin a cat


I don't think from experience washing cars with high pH soaps to remove road film and embedded dirt staining is my preferred method. I would use one of these methods as they will not only remove road film and embedded dirt on the paint but also remove defects at the same time as well as restore a smooth surface which is where we get gloss.

Over the years I've written a number of articles that explains the cause and problem of road film on paint and also shared plenty of pictures documenting the issue, here's a few...


This one is from 2013 - 5 years ago


Here's why you need to polish paint...

Video showing before and after​

My buddy Mike owns this really cool 1932 Ford Phaeton with yellow paint that to the average person looks pretty good. But a little polishing using a tape-line shows why all of us need to periodically polish the paint on our cars, especially our daily drivers, and the reason for this is because the paint becomes stained with a film of dirt that clouds the true color of the paint.

Here's a section I've taped off on the cowel because me and one of our forum members already buffed out the hood when he stopped by to test out polishers.

On the left I've clayed the paint and then machine polished it twice and then applied a coat of wax. You can clearly see the left side is now a brighter color of yellow and the right hand side has what appears to be grayish film over the paint.

Here's the same picture above with graphics....

Of course I finished polishing the rest of the car to test out some new products...

Products worked well and now the dirt staining has been removed off the entire body and a coat of Max Wax has been applied.

The paint on your car gets dirty too...

The car in the pictures above is a garage-kept, sunny day only street rod, yet... the paint was still stained with dirt.

If the paint on a car that is always stored in a garage except for sunny days gets dirt stained paint, what do you think happens to cars that are daily drivers?

How about cars that are daily drivers but are never parked in the garage?


That's right... the paint gets a dirt film over it and for this reason in order to maintain the paint and see the true color you need to periodically deep clean the paint with some type of paint polishing process. Any of these approaches will remove the dirt staining over the paint,

• Using a one-step cleaner/wax
• Using a paint cleaner also called a pre-wax cleaner.
• Using a compound followed by a polish
• Using a medium, fine or ultra fine cut polish

If the owner of the above car had not used one of the above and instead used a finishing wax, or a finishing sealant, that is a product with no ability to clean the paint, what they would have done is simply "sealed the paint" and continued the staining problem.


Medium to dark colored cars
It's pretty easy to use a tape-line to reveal dirt staining on white and light colored cars but if you were to do this on a medium to dark colored cars, chances are good your eyes would not detect the change in color to the paint.

That doesn't mean the paint on dark colored cars isn't covered with a film of dirt, it just means you and I can't see it. It's there however, and it's important to periodically polish the paint to remove the built-up film of dirt and other contaminants.

Polishing the paint will restore clarity to a clear coat and it will restore the full richness of color to a single stage paint.

It will also prepare the paint for your choice of a wax or sealant.

If you choose to use a paint coating, you'll need to do an extra step to prepare the paint for the coating and it's always a good idea to follow the manufacturer's directions.



Now that you've read this article and looked at the pictures...

When is the last time you polished the paint on your daily driver?


It's probably polishing time...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

This one is from 1997 that would be 20 years ago....


The Lesson White Paint Teaches Us

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

From this year...


Dirty Paint - Paint gets dirty - You might not see it but your cars paint gets dirty- Impacted dirt on paint




Below
The front portion of the fender was machine polished. The rear portion is how the paint looked when it arrived.

The difference is the front portion is now vibrant in color because the portion of paint that had become stained over time with dirt was abraded off the surface.

The paint on most daily driver cars that have NOT been polished or have not had a good one-step cleaner/wax used on them in the past year probably look like the back portion of the paint on this car even if your eyes cannot see the dirt build-up.

I thought I created a dedicated article using the pictures from this project but I can't find it? Hope this isn't a duplicate but regardless, the pictures just have too much impact, (no pun intended), to drive the point home.


Paint gets dirty

You can't always see the build up of dirt that impacts ONTO your car's paint. This is especially true for any medium to dark to black paint jobs but it's still happening.

The visual effect of dirt stained paint is it creates a cloud or grayness to the paint diminishing the true original vibrant color.

It's easy to fix. Simply do one of the below things,

1: Use a one-step cleaner/wax. The cleaners and/or abrasives in the cleaner/wax will remove the dirt stained paint.

2: Use a dedicated polish followed by a dedicated wax, sealant or coating. The polish will abrade off the dirt stained paint.

3: Use a dedicated compound followed by a dedicated polish followed by a wax, sealant or coating. The compound will abrade off the dirt stained paint.

4: Use a dedicated paint cleaner followed by a wax, sealant or coating. Paint cleaners are traditionally chemical only in their cleaning ability but in most cases are enough to remove the dirt stained paint to reveal a bright clean finish. Always follow a dedicated paint cleaner with a wax, a sealant or a paint coating.


Comments...

Out of all the above options the first option is the easiest, fastest and most effective option for anyone that doesn't want to do a 3-step process. Find and use a great one-step cleaner/wax.

The last option is my last preference because if you're going to go through all the time, work and energy to apply a paint cleaner you might as well apply a cleaner/wax and get more benefits from your time, work and energy.



Here's the original project where these pictures came from...


1955 Chevy & 1947 Buick Slantback - Show Car Makeover! - Pictures & Videos

Right after Mike arrived we did a Test Spot on the driver's side fender. While most people would look at Mike's 1955 Chevy and think the paint looks GREAT in reality, the paint was completely stained with embedded dirt.

The thing is you can't see the dirt until you buff on a section to remove it. MORE IMPORTANT is it's really only easy to see embedded dirt on WHITE CARS.

But think about it... if the paint on Mike's hot rod has embedded dirt and you can see it... don't you think all colors of car paint gets dirty BUT YOU CAN'T SEE IT?

The answer is YES and that's why periodically, especially if your car is a DAILY DRIVER, besides claying the paint you want and NEED to use some type of paint cleaner to remove the embedded dirt. If you don't remove it, then when you wax you simply seal the dirt into the paint.

The more time that goes by and the more you just wax the paint, the cloudier and cloudier it will get as you continually seal in more and more dirt.

Make sense?

Now let's take a look. Here's Mike's car and in this picture it can be kind of hard to see where I buffed on the top of the front driver's side fender.

It's still hard to see the before and after difference, but for reference, I've taken the same picture above and placed an arrow pointing to the tape-line where I buffed on the front edge of the fender and left the back side of the fender along.

Now look... see what I mean by embedded dirt on and to some level, "in" the paint.

To get a GREAT one-step cleaner/wax, compounds, polishes or paint cleaners... call Autogeek's customer care staff


1-800-869-3011

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

.


From 2013


Dirt in Paint or DIP - Stained Paint - Dirt Embedded Paint


Here's an example of what dirty paint looks like, note how where Marius has been machine polishing the green paint is now a lighter, brighter color of green while the un-touched paint has a darker, cloudier look to it.


Here's Marius showing Brandon how use the Porter Cable with Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish to "carefully" clean and polish the original paint after we first rubbed the paint down with #7

I used MS Paint to draw a line around the section to make it easy to see the before and after difference where Marius has buffed and where the original dirty paint remains. This is an example of DIP or Dirt in Paint also called,

• Dirt Staining
• Dirt Embedded Paint
• Stained Paint

Here's the picture, not the difference in the color of green on either side of the black line...

Yes... that's Wayne Carini's car...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

.


From 2012


How to remove stains and embedded dirt out of paint


Paint Staining
Sometimes you'll hear the word stain or staining when talking about the condition of the paint. Another term would be embedded dirt.

The 1963 Galaxy has a modern basecoat/clearcoat finish. After using the Nanoskin Autoscrub Pad over all the horizontal surfaces I removed any and all above surface contaminants. In the video I repeated the baggie test multiple times to check and ensure all the contaminants were removed and in fact they were.

So where does the dirt come from? It's embedded in the microscopic surface imperfections of the paint. Here's a brand new white foam polishing pad next to the single pad I used to machine apply the Optimum GPS.

Purpose and Goal = Restore Clarity & Full Richness of Color
So even if your car's paint looks clean and clear, if the car is a daily driver, parked outside at least for some portion of the day, chances are very good that over time the paint will become stained with embedded dirt and this is why periodically you want to use a cleaner/wax also called an AIO or All-In-One product. A pre-wax cleaner, also called a paint cleaner. Or a dedicated polish as all three of these categories of products will effectively remove any embedded dirt.

The effect of removing embedded dirt is to restore clarity to the clear coat so you eyes can see through the clear coat to the beautiful color underneath.

If you're working on a single stage paint, the effect of removing embedded dirt is to restore the full richness of color.



Quickie Detail

After I decontaminated the paint I did a "quickie" machine wax using a Porter Cable 7424XP with a white foam Lake Country 5.5" polishing pad and Optimum GPS. I don't do a lot of quickie details, especially for cars like this but I was limited with time. Big picture though is the paint was cleaner, more clear and protected when it left.