Stoner Products

**Shawn F.** · 10-18-2008, 12:37 AM

I hope this is the place to put this and that it`s not too dumb of a question. Anyways, I am starting to try and change my ways of detailing and going more "green" as some of you call it by doing ONR and using safer products and/or chemicals. I am using mostly Optimum Products, Stoner, and will then be using ValuGard. Right now it`s mostly Optimum and Stoner. What do you guys think about Stoner products being somewhat safe and not as high in bad chemicals as other products? Their Degreaser or All Purpose cleaner is water based and gives this description:" All Purpose Cleaner

Time saving concentrated, water-based cleaner for tires, wheels, engines, vinyl, machinery, and more. Powerful, high pH concentrate removes grease, oily dirt, bugs, brake dust, and road film. Also effective as an interior carpet and upholstery cleaner. Also used in degreasing applications."

Their Trim Shine is supposedly good with UV protectant and water based as well. Instead of buying tire shine, interior shine, More shine and then trim shine I bought Trim Shine in big bulk to use as everything from tires to interior to trim, etc. It says it can be used for all of these things so not sure why they sell Tire Shine and Interior Shine as well...??? I have heard of people dilluting Optimum Power Clean or Stoner Degreaser and then adding some Stoner Trim Shine to it to wipe down interiors to clean and shine in one step which saves money, time and dilluting the chemicals saves product.

Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated guys! I am very open minded to anything and always keep my eyes and ears open and willing to try new things. I know there are some here and detailers in general that dont believe or care for things like ONR or Eco Friendly and I am not a big "tree hugger" if that`s what you want to call it, but figured I might as well try to help where I can and doing this should help sell my services as well.

Thanks!

**longdx** · 10-19-2008, 11:04 PM

I have a Stoner Kit. I really like the trim shine as it imparts a long lasting shine on exterior plastic parts. ( I also really do not know why there are so many variations of trim/tire shine). I do like the Speed Bead/More Bead, but the vehicle does need to be cleaned first (either QD`d or washed) for it to work properly.

Many localities are limiting water usage and runoff. It is definitely an option to help sell a low runoff/zero runoff service. I have not tried Optimum No Rinse, but other seem to really like the product. That might also be an option for vehicle cleaning.

**critical_level2** · 10-20-2008, 05:47 PM

I have used the Stoner Trim shine on my old explorer and it worked out nicely. I use the Stoner Invisible Glass all the time. They even make them in the wipes now. They work great on the car and for the house windows. I have not used ONR, but I have used the DP 4-in-1 Rinseless Wash (same thing), and it worked great.

**Robb** · 10-20-2008, 06:18 PM

I love stoner IG, it works great on glass

**imported_Bradfordp2612** · 10-20-2008, 06:23 PM

I have experience with the Stoner Invisible Glass and I would A+ for instantaneous glass cleaning.

**Shawn F.** · 10-20-2008, 08:33 PM

I use ONR by optimum and it works great! Give the vehicle a nice shine and does not scratch the surface with dirt on it.

**BigAl3** · 10-20-2008, 09:35 PM

IG = :up ...

**Shawn F.** · 10-21-2008, 09:41 AM

Well my huge order from Stoner just came in today. I will be testing just about everything they have to offer besides their polishes and compounds today and throughout the week and post my results. I will be doing a E320 Mercedes today with faded paint that needs some paint correction and sealer. I will be using a mix of Optimum Products and Stoner and post results of before and after.

**longdx** · 10-21-2008, 02:41 PM

I am interested in your results. I may do a similiar thing with my fathers car. It hasn`t been detailed in over a year.

**Shawn F.** · 10-21-2008, 09:39 PM

Well I did the Mercedes today and will post results tomarrow and pictures sometime this week. In short, I am happy with all of the products from Stoner and Optimum!

**johnbrown1500hd** · 10-22-2008, 07:48 PM

megs glass cleaner is better and cheaper than IG go MEguiar BABY yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aa:nono:nono:nono:nono:nono:nono:doh:doh:doh

**Shawn F.** · 10-22-2008, 08:27 PM

Not if you buy in bulk like 12 cans at a time or a 5 gallon bucket of it like I do.

**Shawn F.** · 10-22-2008, 08:58 PM

Ok results! I almost forgot them but luckily I remembered. I did not get the photos loaded onto my PC yet but give me a day or two and I will. I will post my oppinions on each product (if I can remember them) and then photos later on and tell you what I liked and did not like about each one...

First off, I`ll tell you what car I started with, the shape it WAS in, etc.

It is my girlfriends 1995 E320 Mercedes that she bought a few years ago in GREAT shape when she first purchased it. The interior is like brand new and the paint had faded and chalked up pretty badly from oxidation. It is white in color with a light grey bottom rocker. Anyways, I started by doing a regular wash on this not ONR (I know, this is Eco section sorry). I used Optimum Car Wash on a friends vehicle before this but did not like how much I had to use to get any suds in a 2 gallon bucket and it just didn`t work as well as I`d like. On this car I used Stoners Foaming Wash which is orange in color and as thin as water and smells like candy! Only a few capfulls of this stuff and it suds nicely and VERY slick. Before washing I pre-washed with Stoners All Purpose Cleaner which did a great job at breaking up the bugs, tar, grease and dirt. After washing the exterior, door jambs and engine compartment I of course dried it off and got it ready for buffing, polishing, Sealer, and finally the wax. I use a DeWalt buffer and used Optimums Compound on the entire car which took me hours to do because of the oxidation, scratches and hard water spots. Optimum Compound works great, doesn`t take a lot to go a long ways and does NOT dust which is very important to me. To make this job easier I think their heavier compound would have sped things up quite a bit. To get the swirls out and bring some shine back to the car I used Optimums Poli-Seal which works great and actually removes the swirls instead of filling them in and leaves a nice sealer on the paint. This not only looks good but saves a step by removing swirls and sealing all in one. After going over the tight areas by hand I went ahead and used Opti-Seal by Optimum as well. At first I was using it wrong by pressing hard to rub it in but found that it takes VERY light pressure. Once I figured that out it went on great and leaves a slick paint surface. I followed that up by Optimum Spray Wax which again, works wonders and is easier to use than a paste or cream type wax.

In the process of washing the car I used Stoner Tarminator which IMO is just a paint reducer (smells exactly like it) but it of course worked great for the lower rocker panels, front bumper, and anywhere else that bugs tent to hit or dirt shoots up at. One thing I was impressed with is Stoner Trim Shine for the tires, engine compartment, rubber and interior. One coat on the tires gives it a new look, two or three coats and it looks nice and glossy plus NO SLING. I was using Tire Shine by Castle and it would sling like crazy and I used it on my vehicles once to twice a week and I noticed discoloration and cracking so switching to this was a big step for me. Plus Stoner Trim Shine is a water based dressing. Optimum carries a Tire Gel which is diluted and supposedly works great and I will try it one day but for now Trim Shine works good enough.

Stoner also makes a Tire Shine and More Shine for interior but I dont see a reason to buy all these different ones when Trim Shine works for tires, interior and exterior and does a great job. Another product by Stoner is Trim Cleaner which really is like a foaming glass cleaner (could have other ingredients but I dont know) but it sticks to the surface without running and does a good job at cleaning. Then of course Invisible Glass which is a good glass cleaner that works fine for me. For the interior leather I used Optimums leather car care stuff which worked fine for very light cleaning and conditioning the leather but I`d like to find something more for cleaning the leather and then use this stuff for the conditioning. ValuGard supposedly makes a great leather cleaner so I will try this.

As you can see I use mainly Stoner and Optimum now which is a BIG change for me. Before, the only Stoner product I used was IG, and never used Optimum until Yvan here told me to try their ONR and I looked into the company. I used to use Ardex, Castle, PRO and 3M products. 3M products are still one of my favorite but they are more for the body shop for me when I do paint work, etc and as for the others I wont really comment. They did fine for me for basic cleaning and degreasing but for high end cars and hot rods they are not my choice, especially for compounds and sealers. Chaning to Stoner and Optimum has also helped me eliminate a lot of products and steps on paint repair.

Well sorry for such a long post, it`s late, I`m tired and rambled on so hopefully this all makes sense! Pictures comming soon!