tom p.
Active member
This is one of the more interesting detailing experiments I have embarked on. I swapped a bunch of products with a fellow Autopian this week and figured that putting them to the test would be the only fair thing to do. I decided to do a single panel on my daily driver with a preferred product combination and I’ll let it age for 3 months or whatever and we’ll see what’s left standing.
Products tested:
*indicates my initial experience with this product.
Test bed:
My daily driver, 1995 Buick LeSabre with Medium Garnet Red Metallic. The paint is original on the side I worked on. This car sits out 24/7 and hasn’t had any attention since this past Thanksgiving when I applied Poorboys to the hood and trunk lid.
The car gets hand washed weekly and still looks very decent. I call it a good "10 foot car" - - it looks nice when you are at least 10 feet away.
Grunge:
Oh, looks the the eCWB (evil Cali Water Blade) has been here:
While the paint is far from perfect, I felt this test would be far more challenging for the products so I could identify which of the pre-cleaners could deal with basic surface flaws and scratches. I think this will be interesting over the next few months.
Process:
It was fairly cold today and ice was forming on the driveway as I rinsed the car. Lots of wind, too. I put the car in the garage and dried it. All “paint cleaners� were applied with the PC and a clean pad. All “sealants� were applied by hand with a disposable applicator.
I used the Wolfgang paint cleaner first. It went on pretty well but was a bit more of a challenge than the others. I then moved to the rear door and applied the Platinum cleaner. Both of these products did little to relieve basic surface scratching and flaws. These two panels would have benefited from a lot more effort but that was not what I was after. I just was trying to determine how these various combinations could do on their own - - no 2nd chances.
I then went for the front door attacking with Vanilla Mouse. It did a terrific job hiding surface defects and left the slickest, glossiest surface of the lot.
Then it was the front fender with DACP. I had used this product once or twice before and was not that impressed with it. Today was different. It was the only product that left what I would describe as a near perfect surface…all scratches were gone and the paint had a wonderful shine to it. This was the winner of this portion of the test. I was really surprised. It’s a powerful product and I will certainly make it a point to use it again.
I buffed everything out and moved on to the sealant application. I put the heat on in the garage to bring the temp up to 60F to be fair. I let the products sit somewhat longer than I normally would since Wolfgang says he needs more time.
All the products have left a great finish but this is really a case where the preparation makes or breaks a potential 1st place finish. It’s my feeling that the Wolfgang has tremendous potential but their pre-cleaner was not as good as the DACP, for example. I think the Wolfgang might be a stellar performer assuming it had superior preparation meaning multiple polishing stages. The stuff is the slickest of the lot. I took an MF towel and walked up and down the car over and over in an attempt to determine which panel was the slickest. I have to give the nod to Wolfgang with the NXT taking 2nd place. It would be a tie between Blackfire and the Platinum products.
There were no loosers in this test, at least not yet. Each panel has a slightly different appearance. Of note was the Platinum products which are super-easy to work with. The finish would bring complaints from no one except the paint cleaner isn’t as successful as DACP for dealing with moderate scratches.
The Blackfire left a great finish. I never had much interest in the product but it left a very uniform surface...looks real nice!
The DACP did a superior job on prepping the finish and the NXT looks just fine on top of it.
The small test patch I did on the roof with DACP + Blitz Wax looks very nice, very rich…as carnaubas always do. Buffing out yields far more dust/residue than any of the others in this group.
The Wolfgang sealant left a wonderful clarity to the paint that none of the other products could match. I’d like to do more work with this product but need to determine what other pre-cleaners are fully compatible with it. I think the Wolfgang will be a product not soon forgotten.
I’ll try to snap a few pictures in the daylight tomorrow. I ran out of time tonight and it was dark. I’ll try to update this thread montly to let people know how these products survive in the real world.
Products tested:
- Wolfgang pre cleaner* + Wolfgang paint sealant* (rear fender)
- Platinum paint cleaner* + Platinum paint sealant* (rear door)
- Vanilla Mouse* + Blackfire* (front door)
- Meg’s DACP + NXT (front fender)
- Meg’s DACP + Blitz Wax (small spot on roof ) to be used as reference
*indicates my initial experience with this product.
Test bed:
My daily driver, 1995 Buick LeSabre with Medium Garnet Red Metallic. The paint is original on the side I worked on. This car sits out 24/7 and hasn’t had any attention since this past Thanksgiving when I applied Poorboys to the hood and trunk lid.
The car gets hand washed weekly and still looks very decent. I call it a good "10 foot car" - - it looks nice when you are at least 10 feet away.
Grunge:
Oh, looks the the eCWB (evil Cali Water Blade) has been here:
While the paint is far from perfect, I felt this test would be far more challenging for the products so I could identify which of the pre-cleaners could deal with basic surface flaws and scratches. I think this will be interesting over the next few months.
Process:
- Washed with Meg’s Gold Class car wash
- Clayed with 3M clay and Meg’s #34
- Proceed to treat each panel as noted above
It was fairly cold today and ice was forming on the driveway as I rinsed the car. Lots of wind, too. I put the car in the garage and dried it. All “paint cleaners� were applied with the PC and a clean pad. All “sealants� were applied by hand with a disposable applicator.
I used the Wolfgang paint cleaner first. It went on pretty well but was a bit more of a challenge than the others. I then moved to the rear door and applied the Platinum cleaner. Both of these products did little to relieve basic surface scratching and flaws. These two panels would have benefited from a lot more effort but that was not what I was after. I just was trying to determine how these various combinations could do on their own - - no 2nd chances.
I then went for the front door attacking with Vanilla Mouse. It did a terrific job hiding surface defects and left the slickest, glossiest surface of the lot.
Then it was the front fender with DACP. I had used this product once or twice before and was not that impressed with it. Today was different. It was the only product that left what I would describe as a near perfect surface…all scratches were gone and the paint had a wonderful shine to it. This was the winner of this portion of the test. I was really surprised. It’s a powerful product and I will certainly make it a point to use it again.
I buffed everything out and moved on to the sealant application. I put the heat on in the garage to bring the temp up to 60F to be fair. I let the products sit somewhat longer than I normally would since Wolfgang says he needs more time.
All the products have left a great finish but this is really a case where the preparation makes or breaks a potential 1st place finish. It’s my feeling that the Wolfgang has tremendous potential but their pre-cleaner was not as good as the DACP, for example. I think the Wolfgang might be a stellar performer assuming it had superior preparation meaning multiple polishing stages. The stuff is the slickest of the lot. I took an MF towel and walked up and down the car over and over in an attempt to determine which panel was the slickest. I have to give the nod to Wolfgang with the NXT taking 2nd place. It would be a tie between Blackfire and the Platinum products.
There were no loosers in this test, at least not yet. Each panel has a slightly different appearance. Of note was the Platinum products which are super-easy to work with. The finish would bring complaints from no one except the paint cleaner isn’t as successful as DACP for dealing with moderate scratches.
The Blackfire left a great finish. I never had much interest in the product but it left a very uniform surface...looks real nice!
The DACP did a superior job on prepping the finish and the NXT looks just fine on top of it.
The small test patch I did on the roof with DACP + Blitz Wax looks very nice, very rich…as carnaubas always do. Buffing out yields far more dust/residue than any of the others in this group.
The Wolfgang sealant left a wonderful clarity to the paint that none of the other products could match. I’d like to do more work with this product but need to determine what other pre-cleaners are fully compatible with it. I think the Wolfgang will be a product not soon forgotten.
I’ll try to snap a few pictures in the daylight tomorrow. I ran out of time tonight and it was dark. I’ll try to update this thread montly to let people know how these products survive in the real world.
