Folex - Whats the Hoopla?!?!

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Alright guys,

I used to love Woolite OXY for stains.... but came to autogeek and everything was Folex this and Folex that. I made the change for that reason and also because I could get it in the gallon form. Well, we ran out of Folex and were in a tight jam (needed a job done NOW type situation). Out came the APC..... we have been using this APC since, for carpets and upholstery - it is equivalent if not better than Folex! We had a Hyundai Accent (which we are getting ALOT of by the way) that had horrible interior seat stains - we used Folex on half and APC on the other half - APC won by a landslide. Yes this wasn't a controlled test and yes the stains on one side may have been different compositions of the ones on the other side (for you technical people), but it was a shocking difference. So whats the deal with Folex? Why is it so great?!?!?
 
Care to delve on the APC you were using? If you do not want it public could you shoot me a PM? I am curious of your mysterious wonder solution. I have only used Folex once on a stain inside my house. It did a so-so job but I am sure I was pushing it to a limit as I was trying to get black boot polish out of light-colored carpet. I think the battle was lost before I even started haha!

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Tundra_10 said:
Care to delve on the APC you were using? If you do not want it public could you shoot me a PM? I am curious of your mysterious wonder solution. I have only used Folex once on a stain inside my house. It did a so-so job but I am sure I was pushing it to a limit as I was trying to get black boot polish out of light-colored carpet. I think the battle was lost before I even started haha!

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It is manufactured by a local company that I get many products in bulk. I get this APC by the 5 gallon bucket now and it works great. I was told by many locals that it was great on carpets but scoffed at them lol - then when push came to shove I used it and was super happy with it. It is not sold online at all - but I can maybe send you some (don't know about shipping chemicals?!!?!?). I guess its like moonshine lol - can be great stuff but made in the bathtub and not sold at the store (remember Im a Tennessean!)
 
Albeit not originally from here I reside south of the Mason-Dixon line and I totally understand your correlation and the connection. I know you cannot send flammables, I tried sending an aerosol can a month or so ago and it was no bueno

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Tundra_10 said:
Albeit not originally from here I reside south of the Mason-Dixon line and I totally understand your correlation and the connection. I know you cannot send flammables, I tried sending an aerosol can a month or so ago and it was no bueno

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I don't think its flammable - I'll go check real quick.... if you don't hear back from me then it was flammable :eek:
 
Folex leaves no residue, doesn't need rinsed, doesn't alter carpet fiber, has no scent, no bleaching properties, pH neutral, doesn't require a de-foamer if used in a machine...shall I continue?

Interesting about the boot polish comment since I was lucky enough for it to work. Then again I used it on a fresh stain.
 
Folex may not work for every stain and I understand that, but it does work for most situations. I am not questioning your method Anthony but I would like to see a situation when it doesn't work for you and how you tackled the stains. Please do not take this post or my previous in a bad way, I am here to learn like everyone else. I'm certain that other folks as well as myself can learn something from you. :)
 
rwright said:
Folex leaves no residue, doesn't need rinsed, doesn't alter carpet fiber, has no scent, no bleaching properties, pH neutral, doesn't require a de-foamer if used in a machine...shall I continue?

Interesting about the boot polish comment since I was lucky enough for it to work. Then again I used it on a fresh stain.
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It might very well have taken fresh polish out but for the past 6 months i have been polishing my boots inside the house for convenience and recently realized what i was doing, I was so embarrassed to how oblivious I was. It took out a good bit, and knew it would be a long shot but tried it due to the popularity of it.


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Anthony,

I agree with you. :props:

Because of all the talk I picked up a gallon of Folex at Lowe's. Doe it work? Sure but then again so does all purpose cleaner. You'd be surprised at how many "specialty" products are not needed especially for the additional costs...

The same goes with Amazing Roll-Off. It's works but it's very expensive. As an alternative I switched back to Meguiar's Super Degreaser for less that half the price and at 4:1 dilution it works great on tires..:props:

  1. Meguiar's Super Degreaser
  2. Optimum Opti-Clean
 
rwright said:
Folex leaves no residue, doesn't need rinsed, doesn't alter carpet fiber, has no scent, no bleaching properties, pH neutral, doesn't require a de-foamer if used in a machine...shall I continue?

Interesting about the boot polish comment since I was lucky enough for it to work. Then again I used it on a fresh stain.
Click to expand...

I use folex for all of these reasons. Are there times where Folex doesn't work and I need to step it up to something a bit stronger? Yes. When that happens it's APC. But most APCs tend to foam up a good amount which is why I really prefer Folex. Especially for spot cleaning. It doesn't foam up and end up collecting more dirt.

Just my 2 cents. It's obviously not for every stain out there, but I swear by it.
 
Is FOLEX an APC?

Both Megs APC+ and Optimum Power Clean use surfactants and are pH balanced. The FOLEX website states it uses surfactants, it's pH balanced, and can be used on multiple surfaces.

Folex Fact Sheet
 
For me, the biggest selling point of Folex is that it doesn't need to be rinsed out. I like to use it mainly on seats and headliners- 2 areas where keeping water/liquid to a minimum is important. I like to flood carpets (then use an extractor). I feel like this is important for removing the dried up dirt/mud, so I usually use an APC in the carpets.
 
rwright said:
Folex leaves no residue, doesn't need rinsed, doesn't alter carpet fiber, has no scent, no bleaching properties, pH neutral, doesn't require a de-foamer if used in a machine...shall I continue?

Interesting about the boot polish comment since I was lucky enough for it to work. Then again I used it on a fresh stain.
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Richard,

Those are important points I hadn't considered!! :props:

I dilute my all purpose cleaner 6:1 for interior use. Once I'm through scrubbing I use my Bissel ProHeat using only hot water to rinse and vacuum the dissolved contaminates.

AutoCareProHeat.jpg


I keep learning every day!! :dblthumb2:
 
The more I think about it Bobby, I believe time is the biggest factor for Anthony. APC will cut faster but the rinsing step adds time, so is it really saving?
 
Richard is right on the money. Folex is also much safer than APC and much less likely to pull color out of fabric and carpet.
 
I like folex because on light stains it almost instantly removes them, no scrubbing really. I agree apc can remove nastier worse stains and such and is cheaper. But folex def has its place!
 
I never found Folex overly great. It is definitely less powerful that Resolve carpet cleaner but then not as expensive.
 
davidc11291 said:
For me, the biggest selling point of Folex is that it doesn't need to be rinsed out.
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If Im not mistaken, isn't the purpose of a stain remover such as Folex is to pull up the stain or dirt to be removed? If this is the case, doesn't that mean that if it is not rinsed, more dirt and crud will be attracted in a short period of time after the detail because the product is now attracting dirt and crud from daily usage?

rwright said:
The more I think about it Bobby, I believe time is the biggest factor for Anthony. APC will cut faster but the rinsing step adds time, so is it really saving?
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Negative my friend. The time it takes to spray Folex on a carpet or seat is equivalent to the time it takes to spray APC on a carpet or seat lol. We work an area extensively until that area is stain free..... almost like that of a paint correction. We work small areas until the area is either clear of imperfections/stains, or until aggression level gets to high and must be passed over. With all this said - takes about the same time for each product, just noticed that the APC works much better than the Folex..... otherwise the fabrics on the surface we steam with Folex would get increasingly dangerously close to damaging the fibers. So time is not an issue, it is quality and effectiveness of product used to remove stains.

Flannigan said:
Richard is right on the money. Folex is also much safer than APC and much less likely to pull color out of fabric and carpet.
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Maybe the APC that I use is less aggressive than most, but have NEVER seen an issue of pulling color out of fabric. I have in fact seen that done with Woolite OXY, but only once (scared the crap out of me by the way).
 
B&B Tennessee said:
If Im not mistaken, isn't the purpose of a stain remover such as Folex is to pull up the stain or dirt to be removed? If this is the case, doesn't that mean that if it is not rinsed, more dirt and crud will be attracted in a short period of time after the detail because the product is now attracting dirt and crud from daily usage?
Click to expand...

With Folex it's simply spray and wipe, with APC it's spray, wipe, rinse residue. I personally have not seen dirt find more attraction to areas treated with Folex but that doesn't mean it won't happen. When an area treated with Folex gets wet it doesn't turn sticky like an area treated with APC that hasn't been rinsed, which is one of the reasons for rinsing. I'm not saying Folex is the Holy Grail and end all to spot or fabric cleaning, it just happens to be an effective product for most situations. If the product doesn't jive with you then move on to what does work my friend. No hard feelings here!
 
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