Preview to ClearKote`s new fabric/upholstery cleaner...

**SickOfItAll** · 07-11-2003, 04:30 PM

I bought a number of items from Everett Glass the other day, and as I was about to head back to his car, he mentioned that he had also added in a bonus - his new Carpet cleaner, which wasn`t on the website yet. So, before anyone asks (since I saw the horror that abounded from Scottwax`s review of ClearKote`s carnuba) - YES, he gave me a free can of it, with the only request that I post a review of the product here on Autopia (an honest review!) I am not receiving any dividends or financial gains from Mr. Glass - just a free can of carpet cleaner.

So - on to the item!

The can itself is a normal carpet shampoo foam can - no huge surprise there. It is an aerosol, so if you ship it you`ll have to go by ground.

Instructions are simple and straightforward, and similar to basically every other carpet shampoo I`ve used:

Vacuum thoroughly before using.

Test for Color-Fastness

Spray from approx. 2 feet

Scrub in until the foam disappears

Let dry

Vacuum again (2-3 hours later)

Pretty simple - Following the directions to the letter, the results were good. Scrubbing it in was more difficult than on some carpet shampoos I`ve used (though, those have always been on indoor carpets, these were on floormats). I tested this on a pair of front floormats out of a Suburban, and a floormat out of my own MR2 that had a particularly nasty stain (this one had been sitting in my garage for the past 10 months, it`s been replaced but I never threw it away). Scrubbing it into the stain took a fair amount of elbow grease - expect to sweat a bit if your carpet has real problems. Drying took less time than the can said it would, but I also left the mats out in the sun while I detailed the Suburban, so that probably affected it. Vacuuming before and after was about as easy as vacuuming usually is - but be sure to do a thorough job. If you use it on floormats, I would suggest beating them before vacuuming both times.

Overall results: Good, but not incredible. It took out 95% of the stain in the MR2 mat (you can see it in the top right corner of the first pic below). If you`re looking for a carpet shampoo - this stuff is definitely worth a try. If you already have one that you`re supremely happy with (or if you`re blessed enough to own a steam cleaner), you probably wouldn`t see any marked improvement by changing to the ClearKote product. My only gripes are that it`s an aerosol (which makes it hard to ship), it took more scrubbing than some products I`ve used, though the results were good. The can also seemed to feel like I`d go through it pretty quickly - but I may have overapplied. I`ll continue to use this once it`s released on the market, as it DID work well on that nasty stain on the black MR2 mat (it actually restored it enough to where I can use that mat again - I hadn`t been able to lift that much of it before).

Instructions: 4/5 - Simple and to the point, but could have been a little more detailed

Ease of use: 3/5 - More scrubbing involved than some other products I`ve used, but that could also be attribute to it being a somewhat milder shampoo

Color fastness - 5/5 - Actually made the MR2 mat

Results - 4/5 - Returned the Suburban carpets to as new as I`ve seen them since the car was bought, lifted all but the nastiest stain on the MR2 mat, and even that was 95% gone, so not perfect, but as close as I`ve seen without using a steam cleaner or something similar

Overall - 4/5

Note about the pics: I am NOT a great photographer. My finger in front of the lens should be strong evidence of that. The different lighting conditions is because I was finishing up the car at dusk, and the pics were all taken outside. I also decided to let Autopia admire my pedicure in the last picture :p It`s hard to tell the results from pictures, as most minor stains don`t show up very well (and my camera is fairly old) - but the carpets turned out quite nicely.

http://www.photohost.org/gallery/dat...eforeblack.jpg

http://www.photohost.org/gallery/dat...afterblack.jpg

http://www.photohost.org/gallery/dat...eforedrive.jpg

http://www.photohost.org/gallery/dat...afterdrive.jpg

http://www.photohost.org/gallery/dat...beforepass.jpg

http://www.photohost.org/gallery/dat...9afterpass.jpg

Edit: I linked the pics, my uploader is being weird and giving me an error - but be forewarned, they`re pretty big.

Any questions, feel free to ask here in the thread or by PM

**chris0626** · 07-11-2003, 05:26 PM

Any questions, feel free to ask here in the thread or by PM

Yowza! OK, my question is: Can you resize those pix so I can view this thread without needing a 48" screen?? :shocked

**SickOfItAll** · 07-11-2003, 05:33 PM

sorry, I forget not everybody has their detail set the same as me - I`ll have to do it a bit later, but check back tomorrow

**Scottwax** · 07-12-2003, 12:06 AM

I`ve tried it too. It isn`t a Clearkote `original` product, but Everett plans on being a distributer for it.

It is a pretty effective aerosol, but like SickOfItAll says, it probably won`t be a replacement for an extractor. For the average enthusiast though, it is simple to use, does a nice job and leaves a nice minty scent behind.

I don`t have these pics hosted, so I`ll have to attach them one by one.

Before:

**Scottwax** · 07-12-2003, 12:09 AM

During...nice and foamy. Used a small plastic bristle bush to scrub the dirt. Now that I have that B&D Scumbuster, it would be even easier.

**Scottwax** · 07-12-2003, 12:12 AM

And after. I took the pics on a partly cloudy day, so that is why the pics don`t all have the same brightness.

**Fr0zen** · 07-12-2003, 12:22 AM

Well Scott the results look amazing in those last pics. Its still a really nice carpet cleaner even if you dont have the money or dont want to invest into a Extractor. When Will all of these products be avalible to purchase IE Clearkotes Carnuba,Carpert Cleaner. ?

**Scottwax** · 07-12-2003, 12:32 AM

Originally posted by Fr0zen

Well Scott the results look amazing in those last pics. Its still a really nice carpet cleaner even if you dont have the money or dont want to invest into a Extractor. When Will all of these products be avalible to purchase IE Clearkotes Carnuba,Carpert Cleaner. ?

The carnuba should be available sometime during the week of July 21st (don`t hold me to that though, it`s out of my control!) and I`m not sure about the cleaner. I think the new wash mitts will be out soon also. From the description, they sound like they are the size of a catcher`s mitt!

**SickOfItAll** · 07-12-2003, 01:54 PM

Carnuba should be out soon - when I spoke to Everett on Monday, he told me he was expecting about 2-3 weeks.

As far as the wash mitts - I saw one of them while I was picking my stuff up and they are *HUGE* and very VERY nice looking - I thought about offering to buy that one, but didn`t do so - my current one works and I dont` need to be spending any more money than I have to :p