Review: BLACKFIRE Paint Cleaner

JustJesus

JustJesus

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Greetings All.

A huge Thank You goes out to Meghan for supplying the product for review, and TheGuz for being the middle man in the process :)

Review of BLACKFIRE Paint Cleaner, BLACKFIRE Gloss Enhancing Polish, prewax polish, car polish - Current price: 29.99 for 32oz (as of 04/04/18)

Some snipets from AG's product page:


​
This finishing polish has a built-in glaze for the ultimate "wet-look"!
BLACKFIRE Paint Cleaner visually reduces and removes swirl marks while creating a wet-look shine. It removes old waxes, sealants, and cleans the paint's surface to prep the surface for a shiny coat of wax or paint sealant. Used before your LSP (last step product), BLACKFIRE Paint Cleaner improves the gloss and clarity of the finish. Polishing is must for a show car finish!

BLACKFIRE Paint Cleaner is a non-abrasive polish and glaze combination. Use BLACKFIRE Paint Cleaner to remove old wax, clean the top paint surface, visually reduce swirls and deepen the paint's gloss prior to wax or sealant application. It wets the surface to create the illusion of the paint being under water. BLACKFIRE Paint Cleaner helps hide minor swirls and scratches without removing any paint or clear coat. It "rounds-over" the leading edge of minor swirls which robs sunlight of a sharp edge to cause a reflection. While this visually reduces swirls, it does not remove them. This is a great product to use on a vehicle in good condition with very few swirls.



Background: With the somewhat recent revamp of the product line, I remembered that I hadn't used some of the Blackfire (BF) products I had bought in the past. I've used some, but not all the stuff I bought. Got me curious to play with what I had, and mentioned to TheGuz of my plans to do my wife's Kia (that will have to wait....can't seem to get our schedules on track) with a plethora of BF products. He mentioned Paint Cleaner and sent it over for me to review.

BF Paint Cleaner (PC), as I understand, used to be the Gloss Enhancing Polish (GEP). Having both on hand, I couldn't help but to compare!




Right of the bat, the biggest difference is the bottle size and shape. The PC is a 32oz bottle, and a basic cylindrical shape. The GEP is (forgot size! 16oz?) and has a curvy shape, for lack of better terms.

Labels are clearly different. I'm not a big fan of seeing cars on the labels of products, but the GEP label always caught my eye because of the colors. That's just me. I do appreciate a simple label approach, however, and think the current label is clean. And I'm not sure why, but I *really* dig the horizontal white stripe near the bottom. Granted, it only tells me the product number, but I just really like it.

If I had to guess, the product didn't change much, if at all. Could be a carryover from the prior gen. Not a bad thing.

On to the use of the product!!

Subject: 1996 Jeep Cherokee Sport - 244k miles
Location: Bell, California
Temp: 64* F
Humidity: 39% (low)
Time Period: End of Feb, 2018
Tool: Griot's BOSS G15
Pad: Meguiar's (thin) Yellow Foam (polish pad)
Prep: Coin-Op wash, clayed

The Jeep appears to have a matte white finish. It's not. It's just badly neglected from the prior owner. Who am I kidding? I've neglected it myself as well. It's main purpose is to be the occasional fun, weekend getaway vehicle to take out to the 4x4 trails.

Here's a couple of shots to show the condition of the paint.





After sectioning off a section of the hood, making passes til I thought the product was clear (hard to tell on white paint), I wiped off any residue. There didn't appear to be too much, which was nice. Wipe off was easy. The finish left was smooth. The result:




Next one.....

Subject: 2008 Toyota Yaris - 162k miles
Location: Bell, California
Temp: 68* F
Humidity: 59% (high)
Time Period: Mid March, 2018
Tool: Griot's BOSS G15
Pad: Buff n Shine White Flat Foam (polish pad)
Prep: Waterless wash, clayed

NOTE: When I did the Yaris, So Cal was experiencing light rains. As such, it was actually raining at the time I did this car. The work was done inside the garage, but with the garage door left open.




Much like before, I did several passes until I thought I worked it enough. This time around, however, removal wasn't as easy. Well, it was, but there appeared to be a slight film left behind. I thought maybe I worked it too long. So I added a bit more Paint Cleaner to the pad, did a section pass to wet the panel, and proceeded to wipe off. Okay, some improvement, but still a bit of a slight, hazy film left behind. I tried flipping towel, swapping towels. Huh. Weird. I finally reached for some Blackfire waterless wash, sprayed the panel, and voila. This did the trick. I'm still not sure what happened. The only variables that were changed (from using it on the Jeep) were the foam pad, a few degrees warmer, and humidity went from being on the low side, to being on the high side. Riddle me this, Batman! Anyway, the BF Waterless wiped off any remaining residue/film and I was more than pleasantly surprised with the resutls! On the Jeep, the paint was dull, scratched, oxidized, etc...The Yaris gets maintained more, waxed, etc. Yes, it has some light scratches and whatnot (it was also taken on a few off road trails!).

And a few shots that are of the "50/50" variety, from a few different angles










Final Thoughts: I like this stuff. And really am surprised by the results achieved. The older name for this was Gloss Enhancing Polish. I do believe it lived up to that name. What about Paint Cleaner? You betcha. The paint was cleaned! haha. Yeah. Cleaned and polished, and both panels I did looked much better than before!!!'

Thanks for reading!

 
Nice review and comparison. It sure did a nice job cleaning up that paint on both.
 
Didn't the old Gloss Enhancing Polish have fillers? For some reason I felt it was a cleaner/glaze-like product similar to Prima Amigo, but the product description is long gone . When I tried the two out head-to-head, I actually liked the Amigo better.
 
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Thank you all


Desertnate said:
Didn't the old Gloss Enhancing Polish have fillers? For some reason I felt it was a cleaner/glaze-like product similar to Prima Amigo, but the product description is long gone . When I tried the two out head-to-head, I actually liked the Amigo better.
Click to expand...

I believe it did. It's labeled as a polish and glaze combo. If they're using the word "glaze" to be like a true glaze, then it likely has fillers. Product description also mentions it "hides minor swirls and scratches" - so I would think it does. Haven't tried Amigo myself.

DBAILEY said:
Would this be used prior to the paint coating?
Click to expand...

Not sure. I still haven't ventured into coatings. But I know it's wax/sealant friendly (at least within BF line-up)
 
Hello Jesus,


On the yaris, you wiped off with a WW to remove the streaks. Was the glaze aspect removed as well?

On your 50/50 shots, the treated panels look polished. Were you able to remove swirl marks using PC because of the pad you used?
 
AKT said:
Hello Jesus,


On the yaris, you wiped off with a WW to remove the streaks. Was the glaze aspect removed as well?

On your 50/50 shots, the treated panels look polished. Were you able to remove swirl marks using PC because of the pad you used?
Click to expand...

Hello!

Not sure what you mean by the glaze aspect. I *think* you're talking about the glaze within the Paint Cleaner, as in the fillers/glaze part? If that's the case, then no. My mistake for not posting a pic of that film-type residue left behind. I'm not even sure I took pics of it. So caught up with the process at that point.

But the glaze was surely still there after I wiped with WW.

with the 50/50, it does look polished. I would say partly due to the polish pad used (minor correcting from the pad) in conjunction with the cleaning / filling ability of the Paint Cleaner.
 
JustJesus said:
Hello!

Not sure what you mean by the glaze aspect. I *think* you're talking about the glaze within the Paint Cleaner, as in the fillers/glaze part? If that's the case, then no. My mistake for not posting a pic of that film-type residue left behind. I'm not even sure I took pics of it. So caught up with the process at that point.

But the glaze was surely still there after I wiped with WW.

with the 50/50, it does look polished. I would say partly due to the polish pad used (minor correcting from the pad) in conjunction with the cleaning / filling ability of the Paint Cleaner.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Have you observed the durability of the glaze within the paint cleaner?
 
Not yet. Honestly, though, I wouldn't normally use a paint cleaner, glaze, etc, and not protect it with an LSP. This time I did, just to see. But I've been forgetting to check it out! I haven't washed the Yaris in some time either. I'll try during lunch.
 
Thank you!

I am thinking of getting the paint cleaner and the new sio2 spray sealant. My research led me to your review of PC.

I dont have a DA and I dont want to remove paint since my test subject is a daily driver. So i am hoping that the glaze within paint cleaner will somehow be durable.
 
No DA? By hand? that will be fun!!

With the sealant, I would suspect the glaze will hold up fine as it's being protected by the sealant.

edit: What does TheGuz think? :)
 
I always felt that the removal of the older BF GEP was not exactly easy. Doesn't sound like they improved upon that aspect. I feel that a paint cleaner should remove easier and not leave any ghosting or film.
 
JustJesus said:
No DA? By hand? that will be fun!!

With the sealant, I would suspect the glaze will hold up fine as it's being protected by the sealant.

edit: What does TheGuz think? :)
Click to expand...

I will not be removing paint so i think my hand can work lol

Its good exercise
 
DBAILEY said:
I always felt that the removal of the older BF GEP was not exactly easy. Doesn't sound like they improved upon that aspect. I feel that a paint cleaner should remove easier and not leave any ghosting or film.
Click to expand...

Maybe the film is the glaze component?
 
Most likely it is the glaze component. I think the GEP used to say that it used some sort of micro-crystalline polymer to fill. So it didn't seem to have a high oil content. Not like the older 3M type of glazes. It was supposed to be okay to put BF sealant on top.

It just didn't make sense that I would need something to 'clean' the 'paint cleaner' off with.
 
DBAILEY said:
I always felt that the removal of the older BF GEP was not exactly easy. Doesn't sound like they improved upon that aspect. I feel that a paint cleaner should remove easier and not leave any ghosting or film.
Click to expand...

Have also used the GEP, didn't have issues with it.

With the current use, I'm not sure why it was a tad different experience from the Jeep, to the Yaris. On the Jeep, it was so easy to work with. I probably used too much product on the Yaris. Looking at the pic, that could be it. I doubt it would be the different pad choice (both were "polish" pads).


DBAILEY said:
It was supposed to be okay to put BF sealant on top.

It just didn't make sense that I would need something to 'clean' the 'paint cleaner' off with.
Click to expand...

Correct on the sealant. I did just that on the wife's Kia. I used the older GEP, went over it with the sealant, then topped it off with Midnight Sun. Have only done the liftback on hers.
There was no issue whatsoever with any of the 3 products on the Kia.

The Yaris was the only time I had any issue. I'd be happy to say it was "user error" that time. :)

.........

At any rate, it's hard to tell from the pics, but the side with the Paint Cleaner is still looking better than the swirley side. The Paint Cleaner was applied on March 10, so just shy of 2 months later.






EDIT: It's actually easier to see the difference with video. Check it out in HD.

 
Once i got the “approval” to buy more products from autogeek, i will probably try the paint cleaner + sio2 spray sealant combo

BUT i also like the one step!

Now i am confused!!! Lol
 
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