 |
 |
| Last Step Process/Protection In order to protect all your hard work and to keep your vehicle looking like new it’s important to know how to use a wax/sealant properly. Do you have a question about a wax or sealant? Do you have a unique way of applying wax? Feel free to post here. |
 |
|
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
07-03-2008, 07:11 PM
|
|||
|
|||
AIO Shootout Part 1
Many will remember the test I did a couple of years back comparing various products for the removal of swirls by hand... well, this is a follow on from that test but based more around the capabilities of all in one products which a those which offer to enhance the finish, help with swirls and protect the paint all in one easy step. This test aims to review four such products, on the following categories:
> Swirl Reduction and Finish > Ease and speed of use > Water beading (purely cosmetic) > Water sheeting Part 1 of this test is conducted by hand only. Please note that the results here represent only what I was capable of achieving with the products and the review here simply represents my personal opinion...  The products chosen. Well, first of all, the king of AIOs in my book: Autoglym Super Resin Polish. Here to defend its crown from me from last time and show that its just as capable up against some new blood. Speaking of new blood, we have Dodo Juice Need For Speed, a nice smelling cleaner wax designed for ease and speed of use... can it steal the AG crown? If it can't, then surely BiltHamber Autobalm can. A product I've been impressed with of late for curing light swirls and its durability on my test car is leaving pure waxes in the shade easily. And finally, a wild card entry: Turtle Wax Original, one of the old school cleaner waxes here to see if it can still compete in the modern market. So: on with the show. Severe to moderate swirls were inflicted to really test these products out to their limits by hand, so full correction would be very unlikely but it gives an indication to just what each product was capable of with me using them. Turtle Wax Original  This is the old school member of the test. A product that has been around for many years and kept many the average punter in Halfords happy... but just how good is this product? First of all, the test panel complete with swirls:    The product is a fairly runny consistency with a pleasent clean smell. It was applied using a foam applicator pad, and worked in straight lines with medium to firm pressure until the residue became sticky - about a minute or so until the applicator was dragging and the residue was sticky and dry. The residue removed with relative ease (but was the hardest of the four on test), and the results:   Little difference made to the majority of the swirling present here, with only the lightest of marring dealt with successfully. An enhancement to the gloss was observed however as the cleansers in the product worked well to cleanse the paint and bring out the colour nicely. After a further two applications, we get the following results:    Still, little real effect made on the swirls inflicted and the gloss enhancement was limited to the first application. Looks wise, an enhancement was made to the finish, however the swirls were not very well dealt with. Water beading was impressive from this product with tight small beads after spraying with a fine mist:   Water sheeting was quite fast and complete with a stream of water:  All in all, a decent performance all told from this old school product which will serve to enhance the finish reasonably and bead and sheet water well, indeed the only disappointment from it was its lack of swirl hiding ability. Autoglym Super Resin Polish  The title holder! Well, from my test at least! This product is well known for its abilities to deal with swirls effectively by hand. The panel before:    The product was worked with a foam applicator pad, in straight lines with firm pressure for a good two to three minutes before the residue dried and went tacky to the point where you could work no further. The residue was then buffed off with a microfibre towel, with ease (only Dodo Juice was easier to use). Results after one hit:    Most of the deeper defects remained, but a good amount of the lighter marks have been knocked out by this stage. After two more hits:    Now, a great many of the defects have been removed by SRP - the most impressive of the whole test in fact, with only the deeper marks not remaining. Looks wise, a subtle wettness was added to the finish in the flesh, not quite the gloss of Turtle Wax but a wetter look and far better swirl correction which made for a superior overall finish. Water beading:   Here we see decent beading, but a wider and flatter bead forming... typical of the sealent that SRP is compared to the waxes on test. Water sheeting was complete, slightly slow compared to all of the competition, but still quite complete and effective:  All in all, we see the excellent swirl masking performance we come to expect from SRP after its first test, and this is combined to general very good paintwork preparation. Slightly flat water beads may disappoint some, and the water sheeting slower than the competition but still effective and the overall finish very impressive. Bilthamber Autobalm  A very well regarded product this one and one I know for a fact from my own experiences with it has durability that lines up and indeed beats most other LSPs on the market - which for an AIO is hugely impressive indeed... Alas, this is not tested in this review, so we'll see what results it can deliver. Panel before:    While its recommended to apply AB by cloth, I actually prefer a dampened foam applicator pad as I find it is easier to spread this way and I get slightly better filling as if I am working the product a little better. Working time was quite short, between a minute and two minutes of working with medium pressure in straight lines. The residue was removed by microfibre towel and it removed very easily indeed - equivalent ease of use to SRP, but a wetter product in use which felt nicer to use. Results after one hit:    Here, the light marring has been easily knocked back but as expected and as for all the products, the deeper marks remain. After three hits:    The lighter swirls and marks have all been knocked back but the deeper marks remained more notably than with SRP, however the product knocked the marks back better than both the Turtle Wax and the Dodo Juice. Water beading from this product was very much like SRP - larger, flatter beads as typified by a sealent:   Water sheeting was very quick and complete from this product and the beads also didn't stay on the paint long:  All in all, this product impressed most with the glossy edge that it left on the paintwork - looks wise, forgetting the correction factor, this was the best product of the four for prepping the paint and delivering a notable enhancement to the finish. Correction was effective on light swirls, but the deeper marks gave the AB more trouble than it gave the SRP so it looses out to SRP on this front - I wonder if this is down to the abrasives in SRP giving it a little extra edge of a product that is more predominantly fillers. Still, effective correction of light marks and very good water performance see this as a highly rated AIO. Dodo Juice Need For Speed  Last but not least, the new boy. A very pleasent smelling product from the Dodo out to show that it too can produce a good AIO to compete with the rest on the market for those wanting to correct and protect in a hurry. The panel before:    This was the longest workin and most pleasant of all the products to use, partly because of the pleasant scent and partly because of the oily nature that never went sticky in a good three or four minutes of being worked with medium to firm pressure. Residue was the easiest of the four products to remove also. Results after one hit:   Lighter marks quite well removed, but all of the deeper marks remain. After three hits:    A lot of the lighter marks removed but again all of the deeper marks remain, correction level slightly better than the Turtle Wax Original but behind the SRP and the Autobalm. A slight wettness added to the finish, good preparation and effective cleansing but in this company, outclassed in terms of swirl removal. Water beading was a little tighter than the sealents, but not as tight as the Turtle Wax:   Water sheeting was very quick, likely the quickest of all the products here and very complete too:  All told, as you would expect, a good product from the Dodo that seems to put ease of use very much at the forefront of its purpose... correction levels achieved not quite up to the best of the competition but it still delivers some, along with a nice finish and very good water performance. A good product. Summary Correction 1. Autoglym 2. BiltHamber 3. Dodo Juice 4. Turtle Wax AG retains its crown for me here with its ability to correct not just the lighter marks but deal with the deeper marks well too, something none of the other three could really do... perhaps this is down to the abrasives in SRP combined with the fillers but it does seem to have an edge in this department that I'm yet to find a product that can beat it. Look 1. BiltHamber 2. Autoglym 3. Dodo Juice 4. Turtle Wax A very subjective result this, but for me the gloss added by the BiltHamber takes the edge here, similar nuance from the Turtle Wax but far less of an effect sees it brining up the rear here. Water Beading 1. Turtle Wax 2. Dodo Juice 3. Autoglym 4. BiltHamber An aesthetic feature, and a top result for TW with tight beads not matched by the other products here. Water Sheeting 1. Dodo Juice 2. BiltHamber 3. Turtle wax 4. Autoglym The Dodo Juice product here giving the fastest and most complete sheeting though it is very closely followed by BiltHamber, AG bringing up the rear in this instance. Ease of Use 1. Dodo Juice 2. Autoglym 3. Bilt Hamber 4. Turtle Wax Dodo Juice winning here, lovely to apply, smells nice and dead easy to remove residue... Slightly tricky to remove residue sees TW bringing up the rear here... Overall 1. BiltHamber 2. Autoglym 3. Dodo Juice 4. Turtle Wax If this was a test of correction only, Autoglym would win hands down. However, when all is said and done here, the greater durability of Autobalm and superior water repellancy see it edge the top spot in this test. Performance wise, both are very similar bar durability, where the SRP needs EGP to match it. An ideal combo may be to use SRP followed by AB, as although AB will cleanse some of the fillers, it will still allow the abrasives of SRP to do some work and deliver the best of both worlds. Dodo Juice is many plus points here, and on the above results, would win if all the areas above were weighted equally... but focussing this on performance the only place where DJ excels is water performance. Very easy and pleasant to use for sure, but correction level really stops it from getting a higher result from me here compared to the SRP and AB. Still, its a very nice product, cleanses effectively and does a little correction by hand... perhaps though, this needs a machine polisher to really get the best out of it. Brining up the rear - Turtle wax Original. Dont be fooled here, its not a bad product. Works well, and water beading wise it is the best product there is here... but correction was low and ease of use the worst here which sees it running behind its competition. 
|
| The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Dave KG For This Useful Post: | ||
911Fanatic (07-09-2008), sly (07-04-2008) | ||
|
07-03-2008, 10:28 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
07-04-2008, 03:27 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
Linear Mode
