Taking Care of Your Equipment

You've got all the products and the car is all cleaned up.  You're done right?  Almost...now comes the clean-up portion.

I'll begin with a list of common tools used and how I personally clean them as well as possible issues that you may face.

Towels

For basic cleaning of towels after using them I will bring them in soon after I'm done and they go straight into the wash.  Now right now I've been continuing to use 3D Towel Kleen (you can find my review here).  I find that it works great, gets them clean, and fluffy.  This is not a requirement as I used All Free & Clear for a few months and found no detriment to using them but I do find that a dedicated microfiber cleaner does bring them moderately softer.  It is extremely important though that any cleaner that is not created with a microfiber cleaner purpose is dye free, scent free, and is not a fabric softener.  The issues that could arise should you do this are clogging towels, possible marring of your paint, and just degraded performance overall.

Here is a possible scenario, you wash your vehicle and just don't have time to wash your towels for a day or two, what do you do?  Well two options, which I have used both, and found worked just fine.

The first is for those of you that do rinseless washes such as myself, for this I will put all the used towels back in the bucket of water and rinseless wash solution.  

Option number two is for when you don't have a pre-mixed solution to store the towels until you can wash them.  For this situation I will mix 1-2 gallons of water and 1-2 ounces of APC (all-purpose cleaner).  This varying on how many towels you have and how soiled they are.

Common issues that you may run into after using towels for quite a while are lack of absorption, towels no longer as soft as they are when new, and after washing your towels they do not have that same feel such as washing and drying isn't fully cleaning them.  This usually occurs with towels that are used for wax buff off, unfortunately washing and drying over time isn't enough to full clean your towels.  But alas there are solutions to this.

One solution many people do and some on every wash is right in your kitchen pantry.  Vinegar.  Many people after washing their towels will put their towels in another rinse cycle but this point adding vinegar to their rinse cycle only.  The amount varies with some people using 1 teaspoon per towel, but a simple portion to add is 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup max depending on towel load.  Vinegar helps assist in removing any residue that may be embedded in towels.

The second solution involved boiling your towels.  This may seem odd and improbable to work but has been used for years.  By boiling your towels for 10-20 seconds then letting them air dry out you are doing a similar function to adding vinegar to the rinse cycle. 

Brushes

Moving on to brushes, in your detailing you will use a wide variety of brushes such as, Wheel Woolies on your rims, long fender well brushes, paint-safe brushes on plastic parts, between body creases, such as Race Glaze brushes, and numerous others.  The good thing is these can all be cleaned similarly.  For these a similar soak in water and APC followed by a thorough rinse out well get these clean and back to new condition.  Be advised that Wheel Woolies hold quite a bit of water and need to be dried out before storage or hanging.

Applicators

Whether it be foam applicators for waxing, sealants, or tire dressing applicators they can all be taken care of easily.

For foam applicators that are used for LSPs (last step products, such as sealants and waxes) I use Dawn, specifically Power Clean.  Dawn has been used for years to break down waxes and sealants.  By soaking these items submerged in the sink with Dawn and for 30 minutes or so, some items will require multiple sessions.  Soaking and rinsing has never been an issue and bring applicators fresh and clean, ready for the next action.

Now as for tire dressing applicators since these usually get extremely dirty require more heavy duty cleaning.  For these I wash and dry these specifically with my heavy duty towels.  These are the towels that I use for the grimy work, undercarriage work, wheel cleaning, etc... Since these get quite trashed working the similar areas there is no issue washing these together.  By washing non-paint safe items separate from paint-safe items you reduce cross-contamination and avoid any chance of having dirt getting stuck in your paint-safe towels.

Polishing Pads

The last item are polishing pads and I clean them in the same way as foam applicators.  Just a simple soak in Dawn and water in the sink.  It may take numerous rinsing out sessions to get all of the polishing oils, soap, and pads completely cleaned out.

And last but not least, STORAGE


For me I prefer to keep my equipment organized into totes, this lets me keep my product on shelves and be much more economical with my space.  It also makes sure that nothing comes in contact with the towels since the totes only contain what I choose, unlike wooden shelving which could have splinters and other debris on it.

Here's a few quick pictures of my collection.

Towels

Product Links

Microfiber Madness Towels
Microfiber Cleaner


Pads/Applicators/etc...

Thanks for reading! Post any comments or questions below.

Review: 3D's APC Orange Degreaser

Note: This was in accordance with 3D's promotion.

3D APC - Orange Citrus Degreaser
Price: 22oz. - $6.99 (1 Gal - $14.99)

Packaging

I recently got this in and wanted to try it out on my engine bay cover that hadn't been cleaned in a few weeks and had a layer of grime and other bits that have been kicked up from the flooding that has overtaken NW Vegas.

Quick picture of what I am working with .

And a close up

After spraying it on, letting it dwell for 15-30 seconds or so then agitating with a Mother's Detail Brush I was left with this much dirt remaining on the microfiber after wiping it clean.

And the finished product

Overall the product did what is was supposed to do, it didn't blow me away but for the price it's definitely an economical option if you can pick it up locally.  Compared to other APC's that I have used such as Adam's or Meguiar's it was about equal in terms of performance, but it is biodegradable which is always good to see and I will keep it in mind when I run out of my current stock of APC.

Thanks for reading feel free to post up any questions or tips.

DIY/Review Applying Wax and CG Pete's 53, 3D Caranuba Wax, Blackfire Midnight Sun

So before opti-coating the Jetta I had decided to leave the hood alone so I could test products on it as I deemed fit.  The Camaro is a pretty difficult vehicle to find an open panel on since the hood and trunk lid are covered in vinyl stripes.

This weekend (8/17) I went over the hood of the Jetta with 3 waxes to test application, longevity, durability, and if there was any difference in look of the waxes.

The 3 waxes up for the test are Chemical Guys Pete's 53, 3D's Caranuba Wax, and Blackfire Midnight Sun, the hood was split into 1/3's and each was applied with a Swissvax red foam applicator.  I will not be releasing which was put on which section of the hood until it's complete so there's no pre-conceptions.

First up, a bit too heavy of a swipe of wax for 1/3 of a hood section as this would easily be enough to cover the entire panel if not more.  I applied all of these by hand, but applying by machine I feel can greatly extend how far wax can go.

You can see how thinly this was applied in the very beginning, you want a very thin layer, just enough to see that product is being applied to the surface.  I personally use a cross-hatch pattern, what this means is going vertically across your working area then going back over it horizontally.  This ensures full coverage with the wax or product you are using.

Here is 3D wax, you can see how clumpy it is when trying to swipe some out of the can.  I recommend breaking these down and spreading the residue over the pad.

Now lucky enough for me just a few days later it rained while I was out.

Here is the hood

And the trunk for reference coated with Opti-Coat 2.0

Updated 8/25

Rained again, pictures are Pete's 53 / 3D Wax / BF Midnight Sun

 

Closeout.  I decided after almost 3 months it was time to clay and polish it off.  But not before taking a few pictures of the beading and sheeting that still remained.

11/13

You can find Pete's 53 on the left 1/3, 3D Wax on the Center, and Midnight Sun on the right.  Yes it's now spoiled which is which.

Final rankings, split into beading, ease of use, longevity, sheeting, and my overall thoughts.

Beading

• Pete's 53 by a small margin over Midnight Sun.  You can see slightly tighter grouping.
• 3D's had worn off much more than the other 2, but granted it's price at roughly $25 for 8 oz as compared to $40 for 8oz of Pete's 53 or $80 for 7.4oz of Midnight Sun this makes it a very economical wax.

Ease of Use

• Pete's 53 again, it swipes very easily, fits a 3" pad in the pot, and is just soft enough where it's easy to feel confident you have enough when you swipe.  
• Now this is tough because overall the next two were good but I had my issues.
• First 3D, the wax is very chunky and prone to breaking making it very difficult without boiling the container to get it uniform in the can.  Now on the other hand the large pot container allows even a 5" pad to fit in there, which is awesome for machine application. 
• Now Midnight Sun comes in a great container with an o-ring to prevent it from drying out, and is top notch quality.  But my issue was that I felt it may have been too hard of a wax out of the pot.  This is minor but I wish that the 3 oz. containers were made wider and shallower to allow a full 3" pad.  Yes you can scoop it out and apply to a pad but putting a pad in there and spinning it a few times on speed 1-2 is just much easier and economical.
• Overall Midnight Sun gets the nod.

Sheeting

•  This was tough, but I'd have to give it to Midnight Sun slightly over Pete's.  It just released water slightly quicker, but both would be fantastic choices.  Water absolutely runs away.
• Now for 3D, again much more economical but just doesn't have the same effect and durability is shortened.  Whereas I would have no problem leaving Pete's or Midnight Sun on the car for even double this time period based on this, you could definitely tell a noticeable change after around 4-6 weeks.  

Overall with everything taken into account if I had to recommend one I'd stick with Pete's 53, while it's hydrophobic properties are similar to Midnight Sun, the price and cost effectiveness overtake it.  It's a great wax, easy to use with both hand and machine application.  But I would have no problem recommending either of these.  Which leaves 3D, a good offering but there are just better choices out there.

Thanks for reading post any comments or questions or below!

Review: HD Polish

This was in participation of 3D's review program ongoing.

You may recognize this Jetta that I recently paint corrected and Opti-Coated.  There were quite a few RIDs on this car but the swirls and scratches overall were minor, I had hoped to use a 1-step paint correction to avoid taking too much clear off but in the process I received HD Polish.  I already had Optimum Hyper Polish and put them up against each other.  Note neither got the results I had desired but I did learn quite a bit about HD Polish in the process.

Setup and Step-by-Step

Began by just a quick waterless wash with UWW and claying with Nanoskin fine grade towel

Here is an example of some of the scratches found on this vehicle

And the products (Optimum Hyper Polish and HD Polish both on Optimum MF Pads)
Cars all taped up!

MF Pad after using Hyper Polish

MF Pad after using HD Polish

After using both here is my consensus


They have both have a similar level of cut but their application and dusting is what differed. In my opinion Optimum Hyper Polish is fantastic regarding dusting as there is absolutely none but to me I am not a fan of spray application after using it.  I find that when spraying it it either sprays everywhere beyond the pad or comes out in a stream and doesn't evenly coat the pad.  I've tried adjusting the spray nozzle but I can't seem to find that sweet spot, so right now when I spray the pad I do it over an empty box or in a garbage can.  Now as for HD Polish it's just the same as any other polish, easy to figure out how much, priming the pad, etc... As for dusting there was minor dusting, nothing absolutely crazy but as compared to Optimum Hyper Polish this was a negative.  One thing I did like quite a bit about HD Polish is that wipe-off is extremely easy it's nowhere near as oily as other polishes and just a simple wipe and buff leaves the surface clean and bare.

See:

Overall I do like having HD Polish in the arsenal and it has it's pros and cons as compared to Optimum Hyper Polish but as for now until I try it on foam pads it sits slightly below it.

Thanks for reading post up any questions or tips!

Review: 3D Caranuba Wax

I jumped on the opportunity to review products for 3D when it was offered. I got this in on Friday and decided to wash the car today. I found a few RIDS and polished them out leaving the paint needing a new LSP. Seemed like a good place to give this stuff a shot.

Beginning out here it is in the container.


Now this is going to be an honest review, so even though it was free I'll try to be unbiased and fair as possible. I did not like this container it's airtight yes but extremely difficult to open and requires a screwdriver to open but when you do it dug into the wax and caused quite a bit of wax to break. Now the size is awesome it'll fit 3" and 4" pads, I didn't try but I could almost fit a 5.5" pad into it. I went with applying it by hand.



Just a foam applicator. Probably had a bit too much on and it went on thicker than I would've liked, my fault, but I learned for next time. I worked the chunks into the applicator more evenly before applying.

Started out with the hood in a basic cross-hatch pattern.



It did wipe off extremely easy, although I did use it as a wipe on wipe off product. I couldn't find any specific instructions on the can on whether to let it sit for any amount of time. But application was easy and straightforward.

You can see the metallic flake


Overall the wax seems pretty good overall, the container was probably the main thing I didn't like a simple twist on cap with an O ring would have been better. But the size allows for easy application by machine.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for reading.

Review: 3D Towel Kleen

This was in participation of 3D's promotion of receiving products in exchange for trying them out and posting reviews.

Wow does 3D have a quick turn around, in 3 days I had already received this. Perfect as I had just finished up light polishing the Camaro after noticing a few scratches that were my fault for being a bit too aggressive on a waterless wash. Well I decided to throw this product at the wheel towels to see what it could do.

Now first off up to this point I have been using dye free scent free detergent that isn't made for microfibers specifically, I have been meaning to get some but overall it has been working fine and I've see no negative effects with it. But I will say none that I've used have cleaned as well as this has.

First off, packaging.





Overall pretty standard gallon jug. But the price is very reasonable $16 for 1 gallon and in a wash you use roughly 2 oz. So 64 washes for $16 or $0.25 per wash, not too bad. No complaints about the packaging although it would be nice if the cap could be used to measure, some other companies provide a dual spout container for you to measure. I don't know if that would work with a gallon container but a simple cap with hashed lines like clothes detergent would be helpful.

Now onto the towels, brace yourselves....





I told you I didn't take it easy. These were full of wiping down brake dusted wheels as well as brake rotors and I really wanted to give a kind of worst case scenario to Towel Kleen.

Here are the results





Overall a gigantic improvement, note these towels were placed in the wash the same afternoon they were used, no sitting around, no soaking in a bucket of water and APC which I'll do if they'll be sitting a few days. But this product worked great. I didn't expect a 100% improvement on that first towel, it was covered in oxidation, brake dust, dirt, grime, you name it it has it. The second one is darn near clean as can be. The towels did regain fluff as well so no drying out with this product.

I would have no problem recommending this product, it's a great value and does what it's supposed to. I'll be using this from now on.

Feel free to ask any questions or pass on any knowledge. Thanks for reading.