Finally Jumped on the Bandwagon - NanoSkin AutoScrub Mitt (Fine Grade)

[zmcgovern45]

Clay alternatives have been taking over the market for what seems like the last couple of years. I first remember seeing the Speed Prep Towels, but just couldn`t justify spending the price when I really had no major complaints about "traditional claying".

As more and more of these products have been introduced, my curiosity had finally peaked and I decided to purchase the Optimum Opti-Eraser (Fine Grade and Heavy Grade) earlier this year (February?). I decided to give these a shot for one main reason - it was cheap. (Bear with me... this all leads to the NanoSkin Wash Mitt review) I felt like if I bought it and didn`t like it - oh well, only a few bucks wasted.



I tried it out on my wife`s car which we had just bought. It was a 2010 Mazda CX7 that had probably never been decontaminated. The Opti-Eraser "worked" - I mean it removed the contaminates from the surface, but I didn`t like using it.


^After a few swipes on the hood (I tried both fine and heavy - I had the same impressions about both of them).

The opti-eraser was extremely "grabby" meaning it did not slide across the paint, and believe me - I was using PLENTY of clay lubricant. The Eraser provided no feedback (sound or feel), so you could not tell if the contaminates had been removed. It didn`t seem to leave any marring behind, but my wife`s paint is relatively hard so I wasn`t expecting it to. I tried it again later on a Jet Black M3 and that was a different story, but as we all know - that paint can be a nightmare no matter what you touch it with.

Long story short - I did not have a good time with my first "clay alternative" and left it sitting on the shelf for the past 8 months or so. I occasionally use it to remove contaminates from glass, but that is about it.



Now on to the NanoSkin...



A couple of weeks ago, I was working on a gigantic Lexus GX470 - some of you may have seen the Show N` Shine Thread: One Giant Lexus Gets a One Step Correction & Opti-Coat Installation - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum.

This car was ridiculously contaminated, and I finally felt myself "hating" the claying process after 2 hours of working on it. I rarely work on anything larger than a large sedan, but this SUV pushed me to my limits when it came to claying. Afterwards, I began looking into clay alternatives again. I really liked the idea of the NanoSkin mitt so I decided that would be my next attempt to conform to the `clay alternative ways of detailing`. After browsing several threads, I decided the fine grade mitt seemed to do the trick for the vast majority of the population so that is what I chose as well.

My first (and only - so far) victim would be a jet black Toyota Avalon. As many of you probably know - this is super soft, finicky paint. For this reason, I was expecting the mitt to leave behind some marring. I was planning a full correction on the vehicle, so I was not worried about any minor defects that it might leave behind.

Prior to using the mitt, the vehicle was foamed with a heavy concentration of CG Citrus Wash, Rinsed, Washed with a similar mixture of Citrus Wash, Blown mostly dry, Iron X`d, Rinsed, and then I went to work with the Nanoskin Mitt. I decided I wanted to try to use the mitt using only a concentrated shampoo mixture as lube, so I mixed 4oz of CW&G into my gilmour foammaster II and sprayed the windshield - I broke in the mitt on the glass, as recommended by the manufacturer. Apparently there is a thin film that covers the "clay" surface that is used for protection before the product is used - this film needs to be removed before rubbing the mitt on the paint, and the best way to remove it is to rub the mitt on a glass surface.

After `claying` the glass, I moved to the hood. I sprayed 1/2 the hood with foam, dunked my mitt in a clean bucket of soapy water for additional lubrication, and gently started rubbing the surface. I used little to no pressure - just the weight of my hand, and moderate speed as I waved my hand side to side. I worked in sections about 2`x2` and would dunk my mitt back into my soapy solution to rinse it off before moving to another section (I would apply foam to the surface as needed).

I was very pleased with the feedback that this product provided as I was working. I could easily hear and feel the contamination as I was rubbing the mitt on the surface, and I could just as easily hear and feel when it had been removed. The larger area of the mitt (compared to traditional clay) produced much quicker results that were equal to (if not better) than traditional clay in terms of decontamination removal.

I made my way around the car - working on horizontal surfaces and then vertical surfaces, rinsing each section as I went so the soap would not dry on the paint (although it was night time and rather cool out - better safe than sorry). I then dried the car off and pulled it in for inspection.

As expected - the mitt had marred the surface. As I already stated, the Toyota Jet Black Paint is some of the softest paint I have ever touched so I was actually surprised at the minor amount of marring that was there.


^I circled the areas where you can see the marring left by the mitt. (yes the rest of the paint was destroyed, but the mitt did not do that!) Just for the heck of it, I decided to see how light this marring was - I was able to remove it with Menzerna SF4500 on a white polishing pad (I did not try any less aggressive pads), so that goes to show it was very light.

*Note: I should have also tried a section using my NanoSkin Glide lubricant instead of the foam solution to see if that made a difference in marring, sorry!


After a quick baggie test on a few random areas, I confirmed the mitt had done its job and removed the vast majority of bonded contaminates from the surface.


Pros
- Excellent Feedback (you can hear and feel the contaminates being removed)
- Works well at removing bonded contaminates
- Quicker than traditional clay due to the larger surface area
- Supposedly lasts longer than traditional clay
- Can simply be rinsed off if you drop it on the floor

Cons
- Somewhat pricey (more of a concern for enthusiasts/hobbyists)
- Can leave more marring that traditional clay, therefore I would only recommend using IF you have time to do a light polish afterwards

Overall I was extremely pleased with the product and plan to use it on any vehicle that will be receiving a paint correction to help speed up my decontamination process.

I was able to clean wheels and tires, foam, rinse, wash, iron x, rinse, autoscrub in 2 hours... I would estimate that the autoscrub portion only took 20-30 minutes, and a Toyota Avalon is NOT a small vehicle.



Complete write up of the Toyota can be seen here: http://www.autopiaforums.com/forums/...ed-coated.html


Thanks for looking!!!

-Zach

[512detail]

nice review..i have been thinking about the nanoskin mitt as well

i totally agree with your observations on the opti-eraser...i purchased the fine grade earlier in the year because it was a good deal compared to the other ones and i got tired of my butterfingers dropping the clay bar and having to throw it away or spend time cutting around
while it does a decent job it is very grabby and after about five or six uses the outside of it started coming off of the foam inside...and if you snag it on an emblem or something like that you will easily tear part of it off as well

im not saying it wasnt worth the small amount i payed for it because it has saved me lots of time but i just would not be interested in picking up another opti-eraser

and btw that avalon looks great-nice job

[ca.detailchick]

Thanks for the great review!

Just wanted to let you know I cut my opti eraser in half and it took care of the grabbiness.
http://www.autopiaforums.com/forums/...tailchick.html

[zmcgovern45]

I have considered cutting mine in half... maybe I`ll give it a shot. Thanks for the idea!

[Todd@RUPES]

Nice review, thanks for sharing!

[Brunkel]

I`ve used the speedy prep mitt (fine grade) on two vehicles now and absolutely love it. Just to be safe I still use a clay lube in addition to the soapy wash water if I`m claying as a part of the wash. I`ve also dried the car completely and just used a clay lube with the mitt and still got fantastic results with zero marring.

[512detail]

Thanks for the great review!

Just wanted to let you know I cut my opti eraser in half and it took care of the grabbiness.
http://www.autopiaforums.com/forums/...tailchick.html

thats a good idea...i think im going to do that this afternoon because i have a detial lined up and all i have is two bars of clay and the opti-eraser, which i should give one last chance to do its thing

just curious but did you cut yours into equal squared halves or two rectangle halves?
im thinking about the two rectangle halves for more length on the surface area side of the equation

[ca.detailchick]

thats a good idea...i think im going to do that this afternoon because i have a detial lined up and all i have is two bars of clay and the opti-eraser, which i should give one last chance to do its thing

just curious but did you cut yours into equal squared halves or two rectangle halves?
im thinking about the two rectangle halves for more length on the surface area side of the equation

Two rectangle halfs.If you look at the link I show pictures. Let me know how it goes and hope it works for you too.

Also in the review you will see to not use it flat but with a curve to it.