Panel wipes over hyped? My observation (likely incorrect)

N

nan_wpg

Member
So I’ve used panel wipes in the past. Eraser simply cause I like the smell of it. I guess it works but I noticed it can also be used as a glass cleaner.

now I’ve always cleaned my eye glasses, iPhones, iPad with plain old drug store alcohol. Easy peasy, cheap yet not sleazy. It’s worked fantastic for as long,as I’ve used it.

so I figure I’d try eraser on all my stuff. While it did eventually get things clean it was extremely time consuming and required way more effort.

this got me thinking have we been duped into buying this stuff? We’re told alcohol is bad, and should be left in the medicine cabinet.

The obvious critique to my non scientific anecdotal observation is that glass is different than clearcoat. Or is it? To me clean is clean, and removing oils and whatnot it’s all the same.

I learned the eye glass trick from my optometrist who also sells the fancy sprays and wipes. You can literally see that alcohol works right before your eyes.

anyways, just some random thoughts and observations.
 
It`s a good question and observation. It appears most panel wipes do contain alcohol, but also mild solvents that help breakdown the polishing oils. I have read that an IPA only solution just moves the oils around where as a good panel prep helps break them down and remove them.

I`ve used Gyeon Prep and Optimum Paint Prep and I think both are excellent but Optimum is my favorite. A bit cheaper and works extremely well on glass and interiors.

Gyeon will always usually win the prettiest bottle contest though ;) With Gyeon you`re also paying for aesthetic qualities.
 
And my observation was that the alcohol removed the “smudge” from my glass, while eraser moved it around, and eventually removed it.
not sure what difference glass and clearcoat makes. And we’re it not for car pros own suggestion that it works as a good glass cleaner I’d have never tried it.

it just got me thinking and so I tried it out. Kind of makes me think alcohol is the better choice and way cheaper too.
 
I thought all those panel wipes were mostly IPA, anyway. I think Eraser and the Optimum also have some surfactants in them. I usually just use straight IPA.

nan_wpg, you have no fear that straight IPA is going to damage the anti-glare, light-responsive etc. coatings on your eyeglasses?
 
Well,the person who sold me the glasses told me about the ipa. So I trust them. Of course you could argue they want me to use ipa so that I damage my glasses and need new ones, but I can also argue that manufacturers of panel wipes have a vested interest in telling me that I’ll damage my glasses.

Again, I’m just a dude that noticed something. That’s all.

and I honestly can’t see a 10 second spritze of alcohol wrecking anything. Been using alcohol for a long long time.

and if the panel wipes contain alcohol then won’t they damage too? The other additives help to dissolve oils, etc. they don’t counter the supposed damaging (supposed?) effects of alcohol?
 
And further thought: if eraser was more effort than ipa than how much polish oils, etc am I leaving on the car? Again: not sure if glass and clearcoat are different? In other words eraser “can” be used as a glass cleaner but it’s more effective at removing polish oil from clearcoat.
 
Interesting. I think most all panel preps contain some % and some specific type of alcohol (there are many). The manufacturers claim, well some of them do, ..that there are also mild solvents in them.

I enjoy using Gyeon Prep but part of it is the smell and cool looking bottle LOL. Gyeon knows what they are doing.
 
They all supposedly know what they are doing but are they doing what they say they are supposed to do?

im thinking maybe compare other wipes on glass to see. Maybe all panel wipes are “ so so “ on glass but awesome on clear coat? ( the intended,use)
 
My understanding of panel wipes is that they have some extra sauce in them to act as a lubricant so you`re less likely to be instilling marring into your freshly perfected panel.

I also thought that an over concentrated use of IPA can cause a negative reaction with the clear; my search game is poor otherwise I`d dig up exactly what I`m trying to remember. Something along the lines of causing the clear to soften, swell, or contract or something.
It`s one of those things where since I`m strictly hobbyist I`m not doing panel wipes often enough where I`d be trying to save a bunch of money by mixing my own - thus doing the research for it to be at the front of my brain.

Like Setec - I`d be leery of straight IPA on my glasses for their coating`s sake, but I tend to play it conservative not wanting to have to buy them again...
 
I get new glasses every 2 years through my insurance. But I have older pairs at the cottage/in the garage that are decades old. No harm no foul on the coatings. (Are there even coatings on the glasses that I paid for? Lol conspiracy)

just though I appreciated the guy telling me “don’t waste your money on the fancy cleaners” just use ipa.

‘’now clear coat swelling, etc that may be a valid arguement.
 
Oneheadlite--Mike Phillips was always a big opponent of using straight IPA, that it damages the paint. I always use straight IPA when I`m cleaning spots for touchup paint, if any situation is going to damage the paint, it`s that, when you`ve got a spot down to the metal, and you`re wetting the e-coat, the primer, the color, and the clear...and I`ve never had an issue.

nan_wpg, I was just going where Oneheadlite was, that glasses are so expensive, I`m super paranoid about damaging them. Poorboy Steve used to tout using Spray n` Wipe on them, I`ve never tried that. Back in the early days of the anti-glare coating, it was very difficult to keep from getting a film on them, because they were "sticky". I found that a hand soap for contact lens wearers was able to clean them without leaving residue, so that`s what I still use, a water wash with that.
 
Actually the instructions for all chip repair says to use ipa wipe down.

I always had issues when cleaning glasses with dedicated eye glass cleaners. And again I’ve never had an issue using ipa. And I can safely say some of my eye glasses are older than some of you in these,forums, lol.

and that’s not a brag. Being old ain’t so great some,days.
 
nan_wpg said:
...Eraser simply cause I like the smell of it. I guess it works but I noticed it can also be used as a glass cleaner.
Click to expand...

You just gave me an excuse to try this.

Love good smelling products, and I hate cleaning glass. Maybe this is the answer?
 
Sometime I’m left with such a mess after polishing and compounding I wash with dawn instead and then use Megs glass cleaner as a quick prep spray to dry the car.
 
nan_wpg said:
They all supposedly know what they are doing but are they doing what they say they are supposed to do?

im thinking maybe compare other wipes on glass to see. Maybe all panel wipes are “ so so “ on glass but awesome on clear coat? ( the intended,use)
Click to expand...

Optimum Paint Prep is great on glass.
 
Oneheadlite said:
My understanding of panel wipes is that they have some extra sauce in them to act as a lubricant so you`re less likely to be instilling marring into your freshly perfected panel.

I also thought that an over concentrated use of IPA can cause a negative reaction with the clear; ... of causing the clear to soften, swell, or contract or something.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that`s what I understood. Some panel wipes, Eraser being one, have added lubrication for that reason. Some paints are way too sensitive

Also, that`s what I remember reading: can soften and/or swell the paint (if the alcohol content was too strong, and left on the panel for too long, something like that)

Setec Astronomy said:
Oneheadlite--Mike Phillips was always a big opponent of using straight IPA, that it damages the paint.
Click to expand...

I want to say Mike P shared an article (maybe no pics?) in which he described having an experience using some sort of IPA wipe and that the paint did swell on him.

I used to do my own IPA mix with DI water and 70% alcohol. A low ratio of less than 1:1 alcohol to play it safe. Once I started using dedicated panel wipes, i stopped using my own mix. It then became a case of buying a well priced, yet effective, panel wipe. After trying a few, I`ve kept Eraser on hand always. There were times where other wipes didn`t quite get it done, and Eraser came in and took care of it.
 
I have yet to try the Optimum Panel Prep ( have, but I bought it for two reasons:
1) the lubricants in it to prevent micro-narring over using 91% Iso-propyl Alcohol
2) it was developed by the same chemist who formulated/developed body shop-standard DuPont Prep-Sol (Dr. David Ghodoussi)

WHY some detailer would think panel wipes are over-hyped may be naive about what a good panel wipe does do (clean off oils from polishing or old sealants/LSPs) AND what it does not do (micro-mar, even with good microfibers). OR maybe they`ve NEVER had a bad LSP application experience attributed to a bad chemical-interaction between a LSP and compound or polish oils/colloidal suspension chemicals,
Maybe like the Indy 500 racing adage: "There are only two kinds of Indy 500 drivers: Those that have hit the wall and those that will hit the wall.`
Without using a panel wipe, some detailer WILL experience a bad LSP-Polish Oils interaction sooner or later.[/COLOR][/FONT]
 
No comparison at all between IPA and my old PrepWash stuff from TOL, but then IPA has never been a great solvent for me anyhow. Sure doesn`t clean glass worth a [darn] for me compared to glass/lens cleaners. But hey, that`s just me and YMMV/etc.

Setec Astronomy- Heh heh, shades of Barry Theal`s comments! I must be turning into the Old Man of Autopia even though plenty here are older than Yours Truly! But seriously, yeah, you`re right. it`s still just a number to me..as the song goes "..you never slow down, you never grow old" ;) or, as a nonagenarian pal recently said as we dumped our recyclables. "[screw] that aging [crap]!" 93YO and he`s still feisty as ever, wouldn`t let me help him with his stuff.
 
Accumulator said:
No comparison at all between IPA and my old PrepWash stuff from TOL, but then IPA has never been a great solvent for me anyhow. Sure doesn`t clean glass worth a [darn] for me compared to glass/lens cleaners. But hey, that`s just me and YMMV/etc.
Click to expand...

Now that I think of it, Mike Phillips used to talk about how Dr. G "invented" (I guess I should say formulated) a paint prep/panel wipe I think between PPG and when he started OPT--I`m drawing a blank on the name of it. So he ought to know a thing or two about that (not that it`s complicated, I don`t think, for a chemist). But I agree that alcohols are not great solvents for a lot of oils, but of course it`s complicated, the good solvents are gone now due to ozone depletion, global warming potential (ODP and GWP), and the replacements are too expensive/volatile for this. Or they are carcinogenic. Then other ones are too flammable, and you`re left with heavy solvents with low volatility that are probably problematic in this application because they don`t flash off fast enough and wind up leaving their own residue for a time--which is probably why these coating-prep products are mostly IPA.

Coincidentally the stuff I mentioned above is why you can`t get good brake cleaner anymore. I think the last stuff I got was perchlor, and I had a devil of a time getting it.
 
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