DuPont Teflon Vinyl & Rubber Protectant?
- Thread starter Big Mike
- Start date
Big Mike PT said:
I haven't use the DTV&RP, but I believe it is a dedicated protectant and will have no actual cleaning abilities.
If you are looking for a one step interior cleaner/protectant, the 1Z Cockpit Premium or Sonus Cockpit Detailer are good choices. Note however, these 2 products have slight cleaning ability and leave minimal protection behind. They are intended more as maintenance products than as either a dedicated cleaner or protectant.
If you have any Woolite around, it can be diluted in various ratios w/ water (10:1, 6:1) and can be a very effective, economical interior cleaner. After using a dedicated cleaner, I like the 303 Aerospace protectant which leaves a matte finish behind, is not oily/greasy or reattracts dust, and offers good UV protection.
Ah yes, the dreaded T word rears its ugly head once again! The Dupont car care line is actually manufactured by Tenneco. They license the Teflon tag-line from Dupont. It seems that Dupont sells the Teflon branding to others. Talk about a confusing marketing/consumer strategy.
The products in this lineup may not even actually contain Teflon. But, in my opinion, this doesn't mean that their Vinyl & Rubber Protectant should be immediately dismissed and isn't an OK OTC product.On a side note for those inquiring chemist minds out there:
I did some research this weekend after a friend of mine showed me his new bottle of spray wax he had proudly purchased from QVC.:shocked
The Final Detail Spray wax label stated it contained Dupont's Zonyl (http://www.dupont.com/zonyl/flash.htm) additive which according to Dupont's website is not Teflon but is essentially Teflon's cousin. The bottle's back label stated that the spray wax had soil/water repellant properties.
Zonyl appears to be a fluorocarbon surfactant additive which Dupont markets to various coating, cleaner, paint, and wax/polish manufacturers. It appears Dupont has at least 30 different formulations of Zonyl additives. After perusing the Dupont literature, I found the chemistry presented was plausible. Dupont uses "surfactant" to mean a "Surface Active Agent"--not in the laymans sense that a surfactant = soap. Think of the Zonyl additive as millions of tiny creatures whose heads have an affinity for your car's painted surface. The Zonyl's tails (the fluorocarbon end of the molecule) orient themselves vertically and repel oil/grease stains and water. A typical silicone additive would only repel water and would perform poorly at repelling oil/grease. Zonyl may also make it easier to remove dirt from the car's painted surface since the fluorocarbon/dirt mechanical bond is weaker than the bare paint/dirt mechanical bond.
I'm not trying to sell everyone that Teflon/Zonyl should be included in all car care products, especially car wax.:argue
I'm merely suggesting that some of these additives may have some merit and shouldn't be totally dismissed as snake oil when there is plausible chemical and physical evidence that they do have unique properties. But, as always, these additives will be formulated into products that the masses will have to ultimately decide for themselves whether they perform better or worse than anything else out there.