Products I finally like enough to review: Prime/AJ

**imported_Picus** · 07-05-2006, 12:29 PM

So I`ve never done a product review on Autopia mostly because there are a number of members who do very good reviews and because I hate gushing about products. I am intimately acquainted with how Autopia can cause you to want to try "the next best thing" over and over and over. I am also aware of how "flavor of the month" products tend to come and go very quickly around here. I do admit that I have been guilty of buying some of the hyped products, and while most have been quality purchases, none have "blown me away". It`s the old standbys that you`ve been reading about for years that tend to be my `favorites" (Menzerna polishes, poorboys lsp`s, p21s, souveran, etc...). Because of that I`ve all but stopped buying "new" products lately, and have just stuck with buying the products I know and like in bulk.

That said, I recently ran out of a couple of my "stand-by" sealants, one being Menzerna FMJ and the other being Poorboys EX-P. Now I do have Z2pro, Z5pro, UPP, EX, WG DGS, etc... but I decided I wanted to try something new, so I took a leap of faith and ordered a pretty wide selection of werkstatt stuff (Prime Strong, AJ, AJT, CJ, CG, AG). Before I go on I just want to add that it was cool of them to ship USPS for international shipping; as many Canadians know this helps us avoid duty (which would be about $25 on my $80 order). It also means the order can be tracked and generally arrives quicker than with UPS. The package arrived and was well packaged and in good condition.

I like to try all new products on my car first to get an idea of how they work in terms of application, dry time, removal, etc... So yesterday after returning from muddy Vermont I washed, clayed, polished with prime strong on a grey pad, buffed off after 30 min, then applied AJ via PC and buffed off after ~1 hour. Before I get to my impressions I want to say I am probably not going to post pics. I have them and they look great, but as we all know on properly prepped paint most stuff looks great in pics. I am a decent enough photographer but my cars paint is in good enough condition that even at full resolution it`s tough to spot subtle differences in the paint. So I am going to hope you all respect my opinion enough that you`ll trust my words without needing to see more shiny pics of my car.

Here are my impressions:

Prime Strong reminds me a lot of the old AIO. It removes very light marring pretty quickly, it is also a bit tough to remove. Not "I let SG sit for 30 minutes in the sun" tough, but it requires a bit more effort than some polishes/sealants. I very much liked the finish I was left with. I did have some super light drying induced marring that it took care of, and the gloss/wetness was very nice. I did expect it to be "sealant" like in it`s reflectivity, which it was. Very reflective, super slick, almost made the paint look grey in the sun (which I typically don`t like, but know a lot of people love).

I think I`ll find myself using this relatively often. It seems to be a good "one step maintenance" kind of product, in that its of similar cut to other very light polishes like sfx3, vanilla moose, etc.. but provides some real protection. Of course it makes a great base for AJ, which brings me to AJ.

I applied AJ via PC and did it very thin per the instructions of everyone who has used it.

Two dabs, did a panel then went over the panel again. After the pad was primed I was able to use one small dab (maybe the size of a pea) to do an entire panel. Instead of immediately buffing it off I wanted to see how it would work if I used it like I use my other sealants, so I let it sit while I polished my chrome, sealed my wheels, dressed the trim, tires, wheel wells, cleaned the glass etc... After 50-60 min I then buffed it off with a dry mf. I found removal to be very easy. So up until now this review has been fairly muted, I like Prime Strong but didn`t *LOVE* it, however I must say that I was really shocked at how much I liked the look of AJ. I very much expected it to look like Z2pro (which is kind of my baseline for "sealant-y" sealants), and it did to some extent, but on my black car there was definitely a depth and darkness that I don`t see with most other sealants (aside from maybe Z5pro). It was also very, very wet looking and super slick. I was impressed. I will say that I still prefer the look of a carnauba like Souveran on black, but for a sealant AJ looked amazing imo. I then tried out AJT just to see how it applied and again was very impressed by the ease of application and the significant increase in gloss. The paint looked like a moving liquid. This morning I went down to see if it had changed at all but didn`t notice an increase in depth, slickness, gloss etc (as some people have reported). I applied another "layer" of AJT in about 10 min.

I think between the new Z5pro and AJ/CJ I pretty much have my sealant bases covered. I will keep using EX because it is so great in the sun, but I don`t see myself buying another sealant any time soon. Z5pro will likely be used on cars that need a little filling help while the jeffs stuff will be used on anything else. I am pretty excited to try CJ on my car now that I know how good AJ looks, and that I tend to prefer the carnauba look on black.

Cheers.

**awahl63** · 07-05-2006, 12:35 PM

Great review of the Prime/Acrylic Jett combo Pices

**imported_Grouse** · 07-05-2006, 12:35 PM

Thanks mate, I`ve been trying to decide between this and the Klasse line... I appricieate the imput.

**Joshua312** · 07-05-2006, 12:39 PM

Thanks for the review Picus! I also have Prime Carnuba and Prime strong and love them both. I used Prime Strong just the other day to clean my paint up nicely, its always nice to have something in your arsenal just to clean the paint up good without harsh abrasives. I do not have AJ however as I ordered the Zaino Ultimate Kit, with a second kit on the way right now. However eventually from your review looks like I will have to give it a whirl. I was also very impressed with Prime Strong and the look/feel it gave..I do however have one kind of generic question. When you said you went and applied another layer of AJ the next day, if I were to go the next day after my car sat in the garage at night, do you think if I used Z6 or Z8 I would need to use a product before to remove anything (very minor dust accumulation) or can I just use Z8/Z6..thanks for the help and the review! Look forward to your future details using this combination, you always do quality work!

**imported_Picus** · 07-05-2006, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Joshua312

Thanks for the review Picus! I also have Prime Carnuba and Prime strong and love them both. I used Prime Strong just the other day to clean my paint up nicely, its always nice to have something in your arsenal just to clean the paint up good without harsh abrasives. I do not have AJ however as I ordered the Zaino Ultimate Kit, with a second kit on the way right now. However eventually from your review looks like I will have to give it a whirl. I was also very impressed with Prime Strong and the look/feel it gave..I do however have one kind of generic question. When you said you went and applied another layer of AJ the next day, if I were to go the next day after my car sat in the garage at night, do you think if I used Z6 or Z8 I would need to use a product before to remove anything (very minor dust accumulation) or can I just use Z8/Z6..thanks for the help and the review! Look forward to your future details using this combination, you always do quality work!

Heya - I should have been more specific. I applied another layer of AJT (T for trigger), which is the spray version of AJ. The car had almost no dust on it (I couldn`t see any), so I didn`t wipedown with Spray & Wipe like I normally would. Had I applied another layer of AJ (the non spray kind) I`d have definitely wiped down with spray and wipe or a qd before hand.

Cheers,

**Joshua312** · 07-05-2006, 12:55 PM

Thanks for the clarification :ca

**Brian_Brice** · 07-05-2006, 12:58 PM

well the klasse twins are definitely not as user friendly, but if you start out with a system like klasse everything else is a breeze IMO

**RCBuddha** · 07-05-2006, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by Picus

I am immaturely acquainted with how Autopia can cause you to want to try "the next best thing" over and over and over. I am also aware of how "flavor of the month" products tend to come and go very quickly around here. I do admit that I have been guilty of buying some of the hyped products, and while most have been quality purchases, none have "blown me away".

Ain`t that the truth... :werd:

Interesting review Picus. I have been looking at the Werkstatt line, but have yet to buy any. I was thinking that the werkstatt line would work well for personal vehicles; doing an intial application of Prime/AJ, then following up with periodic AJTrigger applications.

What, no G35 Pics today?

**imported_Picus** · 07-05-2006, 01:29 PM

The thing I like about systems with a "spray" is that they make it really easy for me to do quick wash & waxes on cars I maintain for clients. The thing that drew me initially to the Werkstatt line was that they have both a carnauba and sealant spray, which is something I think is unique to them.

I always put a lot of thought into purchases because I don`t want the products to languish on my shelf like some have in the past; so when I bought into this "system" I forsaw myself using AJT or CJ after washes on client vehicles that I`d used Prime/AJ on, then periodically polishing with Prime and re-applying AJ, etc... That`s essentially what I do now with FPII/FMJ/HGAS, however the werkstatt system is even more streamlined in it`s purpose (the way prime works with AJ/AJT, so I can go right from prime to CJ or AJT); it`ll be nice to do maintainence polishing that`s a wash, prime, spray sealant or wax - talk about time savings.

**toyemp** · 07-05-2006, 05:33 PM

Hey Picus, did you get a chance to try the Quick Wash?

I really like the AJ line and while I haven`t been using it on my black cars (I save the "good" stuff for myself) I`ve been using AJ on friends & family cars. I just bought a 350z this weekend (silverstone) and used AJ on it too and so far like the look.

I bought CJ too at the same time a while back and was not too impressed with it so I haven`t used it since. The look was ok but didn`t have any slickness to it at all (almost felt like an unwaxed car). Once I applied it over #21 and the other over S100 and both times the car felt like I had stripped it down to bare paint afterwards. Oh well...

**imported_Picus** · 07-05-2006, 06:15 PM

I am kicking myself for not ordering the quick wash. I totally should have; I just zoned out when ordering and forgot it. I am a nut for waterless washes, so it would have been right up my alley.

Interesting to hear your thoughts on the CJ; I am going to give it a try this weekend and will post my results. Cheers.

**Wasatch** · 07-05-2006, 07:01 PM

The twins are great.

**salty** · 07-05-2006, 07:18 PM

Nice honest, no picture review. Might have to check out their line.

**Scottwax** · 07-05-2006, 07:39 PM

Very good and thorough review!

I`ve been very happy with the Werkstatt line. Prime and AJ are my go to sealants now unless I am working in the full sun. Once I got the process down-work Prime or Prime Carnauba via pc or cyclo over a few passes until it disappears and apply AJ thinly and knock down any high spots, application and removal is a breeze. Prime is really clear, wet and reflective and AJ adds very noticable depth and wetness. Look from panel to panel and the difference really jumps out. Deep enough I have been using AJ Trigger on my car since the application is so fast and durability is so good since I have so little time to clean my own car regularly.

Carnauba Jett is a bit tricky at first since it is a somewhat thick liquid for a spray, but like the others, work into the paint until it looks nearly gone and it comes off easily. For me, the slickness is really good too. About 10 weeks of beading on a black truck that sits outside 24/7 and sees a lot of weekend travel and 12-14 weeks on another black truck that is garaged at night. Even as the beading grows larger and slickness drops off, the darker look CJ adds is still apparent. BTW, both trucks are washed conventionally.

**imported_hooked** · 07-06-2006, 02:14 AM

Some questions about the application of Prime (Strong) with the PC:

Scott mentioned here and in other posts that it takes just a few passes for Prime to disappear. But I had also read that you had to make sure you work the product in to ensure that the polish was breaking down properly and allowing it to do its job. I applied the Prime: Strong with the PC and an Edge 2K Blue Pad on speed 5 and I was getting some wicked dusting. I had read that Prime doesn`t dust.

1) Was I working it in too long?

2) Was I putting too much product on the pad or maybe not enough? I was putting 4 or 5 drops less than the size of a pea to cover a 2x2 foot area.

3) Does Prime: Strong dust more because it has more polishing agents?

4) I was hoping P:S would reduce some fine scratch marks so I wouldn`t have to use a separate polish, but no luck. I used an Edge 2K Blue (mild) pad. Would moving up to a more aggressive pad have helped? I also didn`t put much pressure on the PC as I was buffing.

BTW...This was my first time using the PC (if you couldn`t tell!)