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- May 10, 2007
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You know, I think I'm going to agree with you.
will use what's left in the wheel wells and tires...
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You know, I think I'm going to agree with you.
Chemical Guys Mat Renew
This is a case of “I should have known better” type of disappointment.
Back in late 2020, I decided to have a look at the selection of Chemical Guys products available in Australia. Compared to their home market, the Australian Chemical Guys range is considerably smaller, and that’s probably a good thing. At the time, the brand was offered at a couple of online stores only, compared to now where they are carried by a large automotive chain store (Supercheap Auto). So, the 49,753 product range was whittled down to the basics and their more marketable items.
Chemical Guys VRP, Barebones and Mat Renew represented products that I wanted to try (VRP) or were product categories that were missing from my arsenal. Except for the yellow brush, all of these products were given away. VRP was actually very good, but not a product that I liked enough to justify taking up space in my cabinet. Barebones was absolutely terrible, like spraying engine oil inside your wheel arches, and all the side effects from doing so. Mat Renew was the most disappointing though.
Cleaning rubber floor mats can be a pain, especially if they are older or have a lot of ingrained dirt. Compared to using an APC, what drew my attention with Mat Renew were the claims of breaking down and releasing that ingrained dirt, while also reconditioning the rubber to a “deep-black like-new appearance”. It also contains UV blockers to prevent any further fading. However, NONE of that transferred from written words to the real world.
Following Chemical Guys recommend application, the mats are rinsed prior to cleaning, the product is then sprayed on agitated with a brush. Rinse clean, dry and reinstall into the vehicle.
Under agitation, Mat Renew foams up very well, giving the impression that it’s actually doing something. But when dried, the mats looked the same as before cleaning. In other words, I had wasted the time and money to nil effect. Despite the claims, what annoyed most was the product did absolutely nothing to “revive”, “enhance”, “renew”, “restore” or deliver a “like new appearance”.
Other than it being a Chemical Guys product, I think where this product goes wrong is it’s trying to do too much in one step, as in clean and protect. As a cleaner, it’s compromised by the protectant, and as a protectant, it’s compromised by the cleaning element.
Of course, a lack of real performance is not unheard from Chemical Guys. The company is more focused on selling as many differently named and brightly colored products as possible at the expense of developing their products to be high achievers. It’s then up to the marketing department to convince consumers why they need every one of their 16 different soaps or 17 different tire dressings (those numbers are real by the way!). And in Australia, they really don’t have a price advantage, a 473 ml bottle of VRP costs $17 more than a 500ml bottle of Carpro Perl. And considering Perl is dilutable, the high end Carpro product is even better value.
Chemical Guys Mat Renew is firmly at the top of my list of dud products. I don’t know who I’m more annoyed at though, Chemical Guys for the crap product, or me for falling for it. :doh:
In terms of a better product, I have been using McKee’s 37 Floor Mat and Cargo Liner Rejuvenator to great success. I then combine that with Koch Chemie Guf, which enhances and protects without adding a slippery surface.
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-Honorable mention: Optimum Car Wash. It felt like I was washing with almost plain water with this soap. Underwhelming cleaning power, lubricity, and suds.
That's odd, I have an older version (translucent bottle), I wonder if they changed it? Mine is thick and sudsy, I mean like really sudsy, like they are still there in the bucket the next day sudsy.
That's odd, I have an older version (translucent bottle), I wonder if they changed it? Mine is thick and sudsy, I mean like really sudsy, like they are still there in the bucket the next day sudsy.
That's my experience too. Long after I put all my equipment away I'd still have little tufts of suds hanging around my driveway and lawn. Lubricity was pretty good too; a bit better than Hyperwash.
Megs Citrus Power Cleaner Plus.
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After trying it @10:1 the same way I use Megs D101 it simply isn’t up to par and seems as if they intended this product to appease the snowflake, aka Gen Z detailer, the guy who wears nitrile gloves to wash his car and a full body condom in a wheel cleaning video, aka the guy who says “Roo Pez” for the sole purpose of not getting canceled.
It feels like a “safer” version of D101, yet along with being “safe” forgets to be as effective at cleaning. I’ll stick with D101.
Here’s the rest of the wall of shame.
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-McKee’s Graphene Deep Gloss Ceramic Sealant. I had high hopes for this product. It turned out to be a dud. I can’t believe I paid almost $60. Ouch.
-Carpro Clarify. Quite possibly the worst automotive glass cleaner I’ve ever tried.
-303 Metal Polish. This might be the worst metal polish I’ve ever bought. It just plain isn’t very good at anything. Don’t ask me how I wound up with 2 bottles of it.
-Wolfgang Concours Metal Sealant. I really wanted to like this product, but it just doesn’t seem to be worth the time it takes to use it, especially when there’s many other products that can do what it does and be applied much faster. I never noticed a difference with it.
-Dr Beasleys Glass IQ. That’s a pretty funny name they decided to give this product, considering only a fool would actually believe the hype on the label of this product.
“Beads off water”
“Resists dirt & smudges”
“High gloss finish”
They’re all lies.
-Honorable mention: Optimum Car Wash. It felt like I was washing with almost plain water with this soap. Underwhelming cleaning power, lubricity, and suds. I finally gave it away last week to my neighbor who needed a proper car shampoo after I applied Cancoat to his vehicle.
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I almost forgot… This damn drill brush.
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It took less than 30 seconds to be blown away at how horrible the user experience is. Not to mention I can do a much better job at scrubbing by hand. It’s amazing how lazy this drill brush approach actually feels while in reality being more work due to the awkward position you have to maintain in order to hold it straight while trying to apply enough pressure to actually scrub anything properly.
I had very high expectations for this 1, and it turned out to be more work, time, and effort than simply scrubbing by hand. The so called influencers should be ashamed of themselves for recommending these drill brushes. Lol. They’re terrible.
i take really good care of my MFs
they get washed only with Rags to Riches, air dry only, no heat
at first I really loved my red trimmed chinchilla MFs from Cobra
i have other MFs that are mint and have been used many times but these just don't seem to be holding up, they aren't damaging the clear coat, but they are coming apart and leaving lots of lint, this was particularly problematic when using to buff out a QD....left little MF hairs all over the surface...another spritz of QD and a different MF and it all buffed out perfectly
trying to eliminate other possibilities, but at this point, the only variable is these MFs...and when i first got them, I bought a bunch, I liked them so much
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