Review: Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner

**4u2nvinmtl** · 11-09-2015, 07:11 PM

Review: Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner

Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner (Autopia store link)
Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner (Autogeek store link)

Price: $24.99 for 16 oz.

Details:

The Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner was generously given to me by PBMG via a pre-SEMA online giveaway on the condition of an honest review. This couldn’t have come at a better time as I’ve been looking for something to clean and protect my trim in one step after another product left less a than desirable white reside. In the past, I’ve painstakingly cleaned the trim with small firm toothbrushes and plastic razor blades and really didn’t want to go that route again (very time consuming). The weather (rainy and 35-40f) and other priorities have prevented me from being able to apply a trim coating so this product really fit the bill perfectly in all aspects of the products description.

Review:

As usual I started with a full detail and visually inspected the all the plastic trim and rubber weather seals. All of the trim had a lot of residue from the previous trim product and there was some wax in the grill and around the antenna. I figured I’d test this product out on the rear step first as that is the main problem area for any trim protectant. I cracked the bottle of Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner open and noticed the liquid was white in color and has a very pleasant coconut smell. The spray gun head has a really nice spray trigger feel (long precise travel) coupled with stream setting and spray setting on the sprayer tip.

Trim before:

I sprayed a healthy amount of product on the bumper as I needed it to clean and then condition. I stopped to take pictures mid application.

This is the trim just after a generous application and vigorous scrubbing using a microfiber towel saturated with product, to ensure the trim was being cleaned.

After 5 minutes of letting the Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner air dry the white residue came back! I figured I would try an even heavier application directly on the problem areas and let it just sit.

After letting it soak for about 5 minutes, I spread and buffed it again. I let it sit another 15mins or so while I did my interior. There was slightly less residue, but it was still clearly visible.

After about 1 hour, the plastic started to get un-uniform in appearance in the area’s I had let the Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner soak.

Tried a third time and got the same results again…

Conclusion:

Clearly Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner didn’t perform as I had hoped, and unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend it to others who are in a similar situation (that need to clean and condition trim in one step). It did restore some of the trims appearance but as seen in my pictures above it quickly faded except in the areas I let the product soak heavily. I’ve never had an issue with my trim until I switched to water based products so I’m going back to oil based dressings or a coating.

Regardless, I’d like to thank PBMC for the opportunity to review this product!

P.S. Yes I see the dirt in the corner of the paint near the trim... It`s normally behind the trunk hatch and just I hadn`t gotten around to using a brush there yet (took care of it) OCD crisis averted

UPDATE:

As others pointed out I didnt review the product fairly as it`s not intended for exterior use. I`ll redo the review on the interior plastics of my trunk that are in need of a mild cleaning and conditioning.

Sorry about that...

**Ronkh** · 11-09-2015, 07:17 PM

What kind of vehicle. Cuz I know that nothing works on Jeep plastics well.

**SYMAWD** · 11-09-2015, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by Ronkh

What kind of vehicle. Cuz I know that nothing works on Jeep plastics well.

Guessing Jeep SRT8, but I had similar results. Not really a cleaner just an okay dressing.

**Pats300zx** · 11-09-2015, 07:34 PM

Nice review. Interested to see how it holds up on the exterior plastics....

**4u2nvinmtl** · 11-09-2015, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by Ronkh

What kind of vehicle. Cuz I know that nothing works on Jeep plastics well.

My beloved Jeep SRT8.

I feel bad not giving a positive review but, it-is-what-it-is (rather not lie). None of the water based dressings have worked for me and I`m starting to think it`s the near 32f conditions (water freezes and contracts likely causing the white residue)

The good news is I have something that worked and I`m going to do a write-up in a separate thread...

**GearHead_1** · 11-09-2015, 07:42 PM

Sad to see that it didn`t live up to your hopes. That said, nice review, good pictures and thorough description.

**Marc08EX** · 11-09-2015, 08:58 PM

Great review 4u2nvinmtl! Thanks for the honesty.

**Mp0wer** · 11-09-2015, 11:43 PM

Hey 4u2nvinmt, great review, didn`t you have the same problem with perl?

Sent from iPhone 6

**4u2nvinmtl** · 11-10-2015, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by Mp0wer

Hey 4u2nvinmt, great review, didn`t you have the same problem with PERL?

Yeah, all water based dressings seem to act the same way. I`m starting to think that if the product is white in color and water based it will leave a white residue eventually in the rain with cold.

I also really should have reviewed this on the interior as it`s not intended for the exterior. I figured plastics are plastics, but I`ll give it another go in my trunk area plastics inside as their in dire need as well. Maybe things will go better if I use the product as intended.

In hindsight I feel I didn`t review this product correctly after reading the description (intended for interior). So I`ll rereview on this post according to the instructions.

**Bunky** · 11-11-2015, 11:24 AM

Thanks for the review! Look forward to your second review!

**Ccrew** · 11-11-2015, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by 4u2nvinmtl

I feel bad not giving a positive review but, it-is-what-it-is (rather not lie). None of the water based dressings have worked for me and I`m starting to think it`s the near 32f conditions (water freezes and contracts likely causing the white residue)

I for one appreciate the honest review. Personally I`ve had the best luck with Meguiars Ultimate Black, versus things like Mothers Back to Black, etc. Real test for me is when it sees water. Lots of products you can see runs in after getting wet. Looking forward to what you`ve found that works. My next direction was DLUX for a coating.

**rlmccarty2000** · 11-11-2015, 08:32 PM

I appreciate an honest review. I bought a large bottle based on the Pinnacle name. I was hoping to be able to drop the APC step, but I was probably asking too much. I`m going to give it a try this weekend. I`ve always been happy with Meg`s APC followed by 303 Protectant. If the new Pinnacle doesn`t work I`ll go back to my old combo.

**BSkip333** · 11-11-2015, 11:46 PM

I have had good results with the Blackfire All-In-One Tire and Trim Protectant to clean and treat and hold up pretty well in the elements. May want to give it a try.

**4u2nvinmtl** · 11-12-2015, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by rlmccarty2000

I appreciate an honest review. I bought a large bottle based on the Pinnacle name. I was hoping to be able to drop the APC step, but I was probably asking too much. I`m going to give it a try this weekend. I`ve always been happy with Meg`s APC followed by 303 Protectant. If the new Pinnacle doesn`t work I`ll go back to my old combo.

Thanks

Yeah, that`s my go-to combo (megs APC followed by 303)

Think found something else that worked in one step for my exterior trim but it might be solvent based. I`m just waiting to see if the trim turns white again (raining/snowing until Sunday).