Wash & Go products

[WhipLash]

Always wanting to save time cleaning my car, I investigated Wash & Go products yesterday.

I found this interesting review article on Autoexpress (http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/guest/carcare-newsection/print_carcare.php3?id=5), which reviewed some of the products available.

So I called in to an auto shop on my way home and found a good array of products, including what looked like a full selection of the Autoglym car care products. The Autoglym products look impressive, and always appear to get good reviews. However, they also appears to be at the top of the price range, and I'm not convinced that it means they are necessarily the best.

I was about to purchase the Simoniz Max Wax, which was £4.99 for 500ml. Then I spotted what I saw as a good bargain - 2 litres of CarPlan TripleWax for £9.99.

The packaging claims that 120 washes are possible from the 2 litre bottle, but I don't think I'll be reporting on that claim for a good while yet!

I'll give it a go over the weekend (weather permitting) and see how much wax it actually appears to leave on the bodywork, if any. I'm sure there will be rain around at some stage to test the beading :rolleyes:

So has anyone got an opinion on the Wash & Go products? Are they better than a simple car shampoo? Do they leave any wax on the car at all? And would one get a better shine if a wash and go product was used prior to applying wax?

BTW, I did see a car wax which claimed to be a speciality wax for metallic paint only (on the back it also said suitable for pearlesent paint). Does metallic paint need such a specialist wax?

[BrianS]

Oddly enough, I bought a bottle of Simoniz MaxWax a few weeks ago. That was because the Auto store had an offer on it and the label was covered by a big price sticker! I gave up on these type of products a long time ago. The only good thing about the MaxWax is the smell !! I found that when I dried the car, it was streaking across the roof and bonnet.(It looked like Swirl marks) I also found that dirt was sticking to the windscreen a lot quicker than usual. Feck dat! Back to the store for a new shampoo! (Anyone want to buy a nearly full bottle of MaxWax?)
There was a stand of new products in the Store - I can't remember the name now, but the shampoo was only £3.99 and claimed to be pH balanced and had a nice little measuring unit built into the top of it. I don't think its that great, however I think the water is fairly hard out where I am, so suds are a struggle. ( I have to use a filter for drinking water).

Anyway, my preference is to keep the products seperate. Wash / Wax products are short term products, designed for cosmetic rather than protective purposes. With a separate wax, you get a far better appearance and a far better protection. I like the Autoglym products indeed, but I don't think the Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner is worth the money. I would always recommend their Wax products over most of the others. A good car shampoo will be a very neutral detergent which gives loads of suds - the thicker the better. I don't think you need to spend more than a fiver on a bottle of decent shampoo.

Wax for Metallic Paint? Don't see how there should be anything different. Even Metallic Paint has a Clearcoat over it. If they added some Carnauba resin to it, it will give a deeper shine. (I'd buy that for any car because its great stuff.) I must check out this product, Whiplash. Do you remember the brand? However, to answer your question, does Metallic Paint need a special Wax, the answer would be definitely not !! Its just the manufacturer controlling the relationship between their product and your wallet! Seriously, its a cut-throat business and there are loads of bath-tubbers putting out low quality products. They don't give a sh!t about your car, they just want money.

[WhipLash]

Yeah Brian, as far as I can remember, I think it was a Carplan product. They had a 'original' wax product, and another bottle with some blurb on the back explaining why metallic paint requires a specialist wax. It sounded convincing, but I cannot remember the exact details!

BTW, is Carnauba wax edible? Just curious, as I think its an ingredient in Tic Tacs!

[WhipLash]

I also bought a synthetic chamois. Are these better than real leather ones? The price difference is quite considerable, and I’d be interested in knowing if the leather ones are a waste of money in comparison.

What the correct way to use a chamois anyhow? Its supposed to be wet before use, right?

[BrianS]

TicTacs??? I don't know about that. It comes from a Brazilian Tree called "Tree of Life" of all things! The resin is really hard so when mixed in with a car wax it formulates to give a deep shine. Its expensive though. You get some companies putting in 1.5% and claiming great things. You want about 4 to 6% for good results. The Yanks love it on their cars but it never took off over here because of the price. I think I have only seen maybe one brand with it and that disappeared! (low % anyway).

Supposedly, Synthetic Chamois are better than the real ones. They hold more water. I could never get the hang of using them. No matter how I used or wiped it, there would still be loads of water left behind. They tend to trap dirt though and its a pain shaking them and picking out any bits of grit that are gathered. The real leather ones have an oil in them that strips wax a little bit. All in all, I found that buying a good sized 100% cotton towel specifically for the car was a far better investment than the Chamois.

I think the best way to use a chamois is to lay it flat and rub back and forth, from bumper to bumper. Not circular actions. Give it a shot and let us know what you think yourself.

[WhipLash]

Yeah Brian, I had found a chamois hard to use in the past too. It seems to take a lot more work then just using a cotton rag, but I thought I'd give it another try anyhow.

I suppose I was overwhelmed by the rather large selection of car care products in the shop and felt I needed to buy more than just the wash'N'wax shampoo. I even bought a rather large sponge too! :D

[BrianS]

Get a payrise???

You're really splashing out these days!!!;)

[WhipLash]

I tested out the Carline Triplewax car wash yesterday. I have to say that I was impressed by the product.

The first thing that I noticed was that thickness of the liquid. And none of this fancy pink, blue or orange (which, surprisingly enough, smells of oranges!) fancy stuff, just a plain white shampoo that actually smelled quite good.

The water in my area is actually quite hard, but the car shampoo created a generous amount of suds, nearly too much, which lasted all the way ‘till I emptied out the bucket. And this was with only using the recommended one-quarter capful, which, admittedly, is quite big on a 2-litre bottle. The suds also remained clean, even when the water was filthy black by the end of the wash. And not only did I get one car washed, but two! The dirt cleaned off the car with a minimum effort required.

OK, so the shampoo worked very well IMHO. But this is also a wash and go product containing wax. I used the synthetic chamois to clean off the residue and polish whatever amount of wax there was. I actually found the chamois quite easy to use, and definitely better then genuine leather one. It certainly got all the water marks off the car. I’ll be using the chamois from now on.

And the result? Two very clean and shiny cars. I'm not sure about the amount of wax that remained on the cars as it hasn’t rained yet to check the beading (makes a change, eh?). However, this morning the cars were covered in dew, and I could definitely see a coating of wax, thin though it maybe.

So overall I found the product to be very good. I paid £9.99 for a 2-litre bottle, which works out very well considering a lot of other similar products are £3.99 for 500ml’s. If you don’t have the time to wash and wax your car, then this is probably the nearest thing which will save you time. Would I buy Carline Triplewax car wash again? Yes, without a doubt. But then again I won’t have to do that for a considerable amount of time, as the bottle claims to last for 120 washes. My Rating? 8 out 10.

[BrianS]

Good Man, Whip! Sounds like a satisfied customer. If you were doing two cars though, you could have compared by using the two stage, (wash then wax) on one, and then use the 2-in-1product on the other. Oh Well.... How will you be washing next time? Bucket & Sponge again? Maybe you can try a comparison next time and let us know.....


I washed herself's car at the weekend. I didn't wax it as it's doing fine just now. I did clean up and degrease the engine compartment though. Took me an hour or so and I didn't dress any of the "black" components because I forgot that I ran out of the stuff. As a result, I'm smothered with a cold now. Serves me right for going out in just a t-shirt. I'll put the engine cleaning detail in another thread.

Later folks,

Brian

[WhipLash]

Yeah Brian, doing a such a comparison sounds like a good idea. However, when you have to wash two cars one after the other, the incentive to do a full 2 stage wash and wax quickly goes down the drain, especially since the two cars were filthy! Perhaps that would make good test for a TV car program!

I’d imagine the 2 stage would give a lot more protection as you are adding a proper wax coating. However, I wonder what type of result one would get from using the wash and wax 1 stage product, then adding an additional coat of wax over that? Perhaps that would give superior results over the wash and wax 2 stage process? Would there be any harm applying a different brand of wax over the wash’N’wax one?

Anyways, I’ll probably invest in an Autoglym wax, or maybe I’ll try the Carplan Triplewax wax product since I found their wash’N’go product so good. Carplan is the brand who has the metallic paint specific wax – I wonder if that is a load of baloney? Carplan also claim that the Triplewax Shampoo is the best selling brand in the UK.

[BrianS]

I'll give it a test myself. I bought the Simoniz MaxWax by accident, so I went back and bought one called Flowes car shampoo. They claimed ph balanced and it has a nice little in-built measuring cup - you just squeeze the bottle so the cup fills and then pour it into the bucket.

Next weekend, I'll do the comparison. After that, I might try the MaxWax followed by the full Wax. I'm getting curiouser and curiouser!!!!

I think I'll head home now - Bed & Lemsips is what I need right now! I can't take any more sneezing and my monitor is starting to look a bit gross :sick:

A Domani !!

Brian

[littlefitzer]

Saw this thread yesterday....mostly about Carnuba Wax!! Supposedly great stuff, but hard to get in Eire! But I just happened to have a packet of Tic Tacs out in the car and guess what one of the main ingredients is???? Carnuba Wax!!!
You have to admit though...Tic Tacs do have a nice deep shine to them, whatever about the taste!!
I wouldn't fancy being the poor sod in the factory that has to buff each individual Tic Tac! ;)