Optimum Car Wash - Review

[Eldorado2k]

I was going to post this in another thread, but it got long so I went ahead and made it a dedicated review... Lets get right into it shall we.

I’ll preface this by saying that my expectations were very high. I’ve heard so many good things from so many people, many of them who I consider very knowledgeable. I was about as excited as I could get to finally try Optimum Car Wash.

However, I can’t believe how underwhelming this Optimum Car Wash turned out just now...

You can see right off the bat that these suds are what I used to think were the mythical so called “small bubbles” or whatever term that guy RussellBack always used to use to describe alot of the hundred or so car soaps he reviewed on youtube.

The moment I layed my mitt on the car I instantly knew.. This soap isn’t going to be good. I couldn’t believe it. The suds are like non existent.

This is what my roof looked like about 30 seconds after washing it with 2 mitts.

I didn’t waste any time... I immediately reached for reinforcements. 1st time ever using the Blackfire Foam Booster.

I added a real small amount of the foam booster, less than .25 oz. because I didn’t want to overdo it. It initially seemed to make an immediate difference in the bucket.

But there was no real breathing life into this car soap. It’s like 1 step up from washing with a bucket of plain water. Super weak suds.

I’m shocked. I was expecting so much more from this car soap. It turned out being in the conversation for least favorite soap I’ve ever used, next to Gyeon Bathe+. Very very similar actually.

Scent is ok but I could bearly tell it was there. Rinsing was good because there was no suds to rinse off. Based on this 1st use I have a hard time seeing myself wanting to use it again unless maybe I need to use 5oz. per bucket in order for it to be normal.. But I don’t see that happening because the suds are so thin with this soap.


....Now just before posting this I wanted to make sure my 1st experience wasn’t somekind of weird fluke. So I decided to make another fresh bucket, this time measuring out exactly 3oz. of Optimum Car Wash, which should be more than enough under any circumstance.

Here I had just finished wringing out about 12-14 wash mitts from the previous wash bucket they had been sitting in for the past hour... Notice the foam mountain, or rather the lack of foam mountain that wringing 12-14 Incredimitts left behind on the grass. Keep in mind that these mitts normally hold a ton of suds!

Begin adding water...

And now I add 3oz. of Optimum Car Wash.

Hit it with the jet.

Suds... After a full 3oz. here’s the suds. Don’t mean to compare but if I had added 3oz. of lets say Megs Hyper Wash my feet would probably be covered in suds right now. Lol.

Now I need something to wash... I go out front and wash the side of the Kia, along with the side of my neighbors Toyota 4 Runner without even letting him know. Lol.

I dunno how much you can tell, but 4 mitts into the washing and the suds are already starting to wilt.

For a full 3oz... I’m not seeing anything that would indicate great suds, cleaning power, even the lubricity is average to be honest.

Here’s a final shot of the bucket after removing all but 1 mitt..

My honest review of Optimum Car Wash? Most underwhelming car shampoo I’ve ever used. And that’s putting it nicely. I don’t think I’ll use it again.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Bill D]

Thanks for your honesty. I don’t use buckets to wash, I use a foam gun, so I wonder how Optimum would perform in one. I’m betting also underwhelming.

 

[PaulMys]

I will say that I also use a bit more than recommended. Like 2oz's for 4 gallons.

But, wow. That is crazy about the lack of suds. I'm not going to speculate about your water, or anything else because you certainly know what you're talking about.

But OCW always suds up like crazy for me. I just used it Friday night.

Bad batch? Only thing I can think of........ Man, sorry this happened Ric.

 

[Eldorado2k]

The liquid in the bottle looks & feels good. No reason to think it’s old or off in any way.

 

[PaulMys]

The liquid in the bottle looks & feels good. No reason to think it’s old or off in any way.

I actually just went out and grabbed my bottle. It's almost dark here, so I brought it inside. Holding it up to the light, I can barely see through the product.

Your bottle looks like it is a bit more clear blue. Did they change the formula? Mine is a bit over a year old.

 

[spazzz]

This is a shocker.

It feels slippery when I use it and does it's job.
I do all my car washing in the garage so the sun never plays a role.
I never really pay attention to suds unless of course I am doing laundry in the HE front loader.

Good (negative)review on one of my favorite products.
I don't use the foam cannon much but OCW works great in it. Well at least for what I want it to do.

I will keep buying it. For me there is no need to switch,although I almost bought Hyperwash a couple times.

I am surprised you don't put the soap in water first before the mitts. That would trip me up with some mitts holding more soap than others.

 

[Eldorado2k]

I actually just went out and grabbed my bottle. It's almost dark here, so I brought it inside. Holding it up to the light, I can barely see through the product.

Your bottle looks like it is a bit more clear blue. Did they change the formula? Mine is a bit over a year old.

It definitely looks appealing. And it did come with a tamper seal intact.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Bottle has a date stamp of 08/27/18 so I think it’s safe to assume it’s fresh.

 

[PaulMys]

Great pics.

I will still say that your bottle looks a little more translucent blue than mine.

I will post up a pic next Saturday of the suds I get with my bottle.

Sucks you didn't get a good experience with it.

I will say it isn't the foamiest soap I've ever used, but the results you got from it are pretty much in no way what I have found.

 

[SWETM]

Interesting and a honest review. I'm to surprised at your experience with Optimum Car Wash. And also like you know some that has it valued high rated. That there is not so much of suds from it is not so big for me. But when you mentioned not so great of lubrication and cleaning ability from it. That's what I would consider the most important in a car soap. Suds and smell for me is just a that is there and don't effect the washing for me. It could be a bad batch or a recipe change. And would be awesome if someone sent you a sample from their Optimum Car Wash that they are satisfied with. So you could see if there is any difference from the bottle you got. Just to rule out the possibility of a bad batch or a recipe change.

 

[Eldorado2k]

That there is not so much of suds from it is not so big for me.

Personally suds are very important when it comes to a car shampoo. If there’s no suds there’s no action and if there’s no action then I may as well be doing a rinseless which is a completely different approach altogether.. It feels so unrewarding trying to wash a car with a soap that’s weak on the suds.

I’m willing to trade this entire bottle for 8oz. of your batch of this same soap if anyone’s interested... Because I will not use this again.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Or how bout I just send it to PaulMys and he can give us an update once he uses it? How’s that sound, Paul?

 

[AZpolisher15]

Just curious- why is suds so important to you? For me, it's all about lubrication between the mitt and the paint surface + ability to break down the grime. Suds doesn't play any role whatsoever in what I'm trying to achieve. Suds provides a nice visual, but in itself it doesn't "do" anything.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Just curious- why is suds so important to you? For me, it's all about lubrication between the mitt and the paint surface + ability to break down the grime. Suds doesn't play any role whatsoever in what I'm trying to achieve. Suds provides a nice visual, but in itself it doesn't "do" anything.

Many years ago a co worker of mine said the same thing and we had a minor debate regarding adding soap to create suds or not while filling up the sink in the meat dept. where we worked... He was like as long as the soap is in the tub is all that matters. I was like just let me do it my way, I need for the soap to mix and create suds in order for this to be effective. Lol.

It just doesn’t feel right. The lather from the suds creates a much more substantial washing experience.

This feels like trying to take a shower with a bottle of body wash you knew you ran out of yesterday but forgot to stop and buy more of. Lol. You ever have that happen? Trying to shower with those last few drops from an empty bottle? It sucks. Lol.

 

[Coatingsarecrack]

Mine looks similar to eldo’s. I agree not much suds but I felt it had good lubricity. Glided over paint (pre coating) and felt good on mitt. Bought reset but debating trying another standard soap. Might give Adams or Griots a try. Other than hyper wash, anyone recommend a ph neutral soap good for coatings. Looking to alternate from Reset and different soaps


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[DBAILEY]

Did it clean the car? Not much opinion expressed about its cleaning ability.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Did it clean the car? Not much opinion expressed about its cleaning ability.

I honestly couldn’t really tell.. With it just having rained all night combined with the color of the paint, it was sort of 1 of those times where you just go over the paint and call it a done deal.

And I wasn’t even going to mention it, but I did wonder if that tiny bit I felt on the baggie test could’ve been due to the light uneventful wash I gave it. I doubt it, but I have been doing a baggie test after everytime I clean the car for the past 2 months and this is the 1st time I’ve felt even the slightest bit of contaminants.

I also gave the side of the Tacoma a quik wash with the same bucket that the 3oz. went into and it wasn’t able to wash off these black streaks.

FYI I polished that Tacoma just recently too.

 

[camaro2ssblack]

I thought OCW was decent but it doesn't hold a candle to Adams.

 

[bofh]

This is exactly how I felt about P&S Pearl, no suds / no lubricity. Went back to Adams blue.

 

[Eldorado2k]

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier... Duh.

I’ll report back and turn this into a 2 birds 1 stone review.

Do you hear that music playing in the background?
It’s the Bud Light Real Men of Genius music.lol.