Dan
Well-known member
So in another thread I had posted about reconsidering my approach to the standard practice of using an LSP every few months followed by claying and polishing twice a year. I love the results from clay and polish but I have less and less time to do it. With two cars that are parked outdoors 24/7 and one that is garaged but a DD, keeping all of them at their best gets to be a bit too time consuming. While not getting a lot of love on any forum, the All in One, cleaner, polish and protectant is the workhorse of a good detailing arsenal.
Until the past five or so years, you would be very hard pressed to find an AIO that would last past a few months. Protection and looks were always compromised. There are now quite a few products that move past these issues. I chose three products that have a very strong following and one that sparks some serious controversy. A staple in my arsenal has been Optimum's Poli-seal. It is a fantastic product. It works well as a cleaner and provides some minor correction when used with a PC or rotary. It is also very operator and surface fault tolerant. I have also been very pleased with its looks. Its very deep and wet looking for a sealant. My absolute favorite part is how cleanly it finishes by machine. Almost no dust or residue, it just seems to melt into the paint.
Two other products in the durable AIO segment that always get attention are Zaino's AIO and Finish Kare's FK215. ZAIO has a reputation for its strong cleaning properties and its long lasting beading. I have had some waterspotting issues with Z2, so I was curious to see how Zainos AIO product would work. Another contender that gets a lot of positive feedback is FK215, strengths seem to be true correction power and looks that rival true sealants.
The red herring in the mix, something almost universally hated by the detailing community, you can find it in most grocery store, the one and only NuFinish. Its an old product, it comes in a cheesy orange bottle and worst of all, it claims to last a year. Comments vary from delivering on that promise to claims of overly harsh abrasives. I wanted to see how a product so widely available (and hated) stacked up against the boutique brands.
My goal is to find a product that keeps the finish at its best with minimal work. I would like to avoid using a traditional polish all together. I would also like to avoid claying as long as possible. I thing many folks end up topping AIOs. In my routine, I find this to be very wasteful, if I am doing two steps, its going to be a polish and LSP as the results are superior to AIO+LSP. There are so many good one step polishes that using an AIO as a polish doesn't make sense. For this test, its going to be AIO only.
The testbed will be an 05 Audi that is parked outside 24/7. Since I was familiar with Poli-seal and didn't have great expectations for NuFinish, I chose to test them in a limited capacity. I am very familiar with the use of Poli-seal but I seem to always top it. For this test I will leave it alone. I confined those two to the trunk and hand application. The real battle is between ZAIO and FK215.
My test criteria in order of importance:
-visual appearance of paint over an extended time period. I have said this countless times, water beading does not equal paint protection. If a surface continues to bead, but dulls and is subjected to environmental damage, it is worthless to me.
-paint cleaning. While an LSP may protect against UV damage and other contaminants, they do not prevent various particles from settling on the finish and bonding. Prior to the popularization of clay in the mid 90s, chemical cleaners were used to get that smooth paint feel back.
-defect removal powerful enough to remove wash and clay induced marring
-ease of use, time is a huge consideration.
-immediate looks, I'd like for it to look great, but its not an immediate concern, as long as it doesn't dull the appearance of raw paint, all is well
Prep work
The paint has not been clayed in 6months and not been polished in a year. I washed with CG citrus wash & gloss at paint cleansing mixture (2oz to 2 gallons). I did not clay the vehicle because I wanted to judge how well each product cleaned. I applied FK215 and ZAIO using a PC on speed 6 with a Megs Yellow 6.5 pad. The Poli-seal and NuFinish were applied by hand since it was such a small area. Since I was applying by hand, I did two passes to assure good coverage.
The perliminary results:
ZAIO
-Visually, it looks a bit boring. Its shiney but lacks depth.
-Excellent cleaning ability, possibly best of the bunch. Smoothest surface.
-Abrasive appears to be fairly mild, minimal correction
-Product is thin, I ended up using more than the others and after waiting 30 minutes to dry, I wiped it off. It kept re-appearing on the surface, a major bummer as this is a big time waste
FK215
-Visually, quite the surprise, this stuff looks great. Candy shell look, great depth, a little bit of glow, looks leader of this bunch. Slickest surface of the bunch, but not smoothest.
-Mild cleaning ability, definitely left the most surface contaminants of the four products tested
-Strongest abrasive of the bunch, moderate level of correction on this hard clear
-A little goes a long way. Easy on, long working time and easy to wipe off. An absolute pleasure to work with
Poli-seal
-Mid pack lookswise, has more depth than ZAIO but a little bit less shine
-Excellent cleaning ability
-Mild abrasive package
-Very easy to use, it melts into the paint, very little residue, what is left is very easy to remove.
NuFinish
-Suprizingly good looks, the last time I used this "stuff" it made the paint more dull, I'm guessing it has been reformulated. Nice and crisp look, compared to this, Zaino looks a bit sterile.
-Mild cleaning ability, though it smells solvent rich, it doesn't seem to clean better than average.
-Very mild abrasive package, this stuff used to be rocks in a bottle, it almost feels as smooth as suntan lotion
-Probably the hardest to use of the bunch. Goes on a little rough but comes off very easily. Dusts much less than I remember, its on par with Megs OTC stuff.
Comparison of ZAIO vs FK215 polishing ability:
ZAIO
FK215
So there are the initial results. They are just that, initial. I plan to keep this test going and post up pictures as soon as a product fails. At that point, I'm also going to re-apply the product (and that product only) and keep the project going. After a year I will assess the situation and see what really performed and what didn't.
One Month Photo Update
Snapped some pix while doing the second wash at the one month mark.
FK215 is now sheeting very strongly on the hood, look at the surface, it is almost dry, especially towards the center of the hood (hottest part). Both still bead pretty well after rain.
Poliseal (left) seems to be on its last legs, it still beads when it rains, but this is after being rinsed. NuFinish seems to be holding up strong.
Until the past five or so years, you would be very hard pressed to find an AIO that would last past a few months. Protection and looks were always compromised. There are now quite a few products that move past these issues. I chose three products that have a very strong following and one that sparks some serious controversy. A staple in my arsenal has been Optimum's Poli-seal. It is a fantastic product. It works well as a cleaner and provides some minor correction when used with a PC or rotary. It is also very operator and surface fault tolerant. I have also been very pleased with its looks. Its very deep and wet looking for a sealant. My absolute favorite part is how cleanly it finishes by machine. Almost no dust or residue, it just seems to melt into the paint.
Two other products in the durable AIO segment that always get attention are Zaino's AIO and Finish Kare's FK215. ZAIO has a reputation for its strong cleaning properties and its long lasting beading. I have had some waterspotting issues with Z2, so I was curious to see how Zainos AIO product would work. Another contender that gets a lot of positive feedback is FK215, strengths seem to be true correction power and looks that rival true sealants.
The red herring in the mix, something almost universally hated by the detailing community, you can find it in most grocery store, the one and only NuFinish. Its an old product, it comes in a cheesy orange bottle and worst of all, it claims to last a year. Comments vary from delivering on that promise to claims of overly harsh abrasives. I wanted to see how a product so widely available (and hated) stacked up against the boutique brands.
My goal is to find a product that keeps the finish at its best with minimal work. I would like to avoid using a traditional polish all together. I would also like to avoid claying as long as possible. I thing many folks end up topping AIOs. In my routine, I find this to be very wasteful, if I am doing two steps, its going to be a polish and LSP as the results are superior to AIO+LSP. There are so many good one step polishes that using an AIO as a polish doesn't make sense. For this test, its going to be AIO only.
The testbed will be an 05 Audi that is parked outside 24/7. Since I was familiar with Poli-seal and didn't have great expectations for NuFinish, I chose to test them in a limited capacity. I am very familiar with the use of Poli-seal but I seem to always top it. For this test I will leave it alone. I confined those two to the trunk and hand application. The real battle is between ZAIO and FK215.
My test criteria in order of importance:
-visual appearance of paint over an extended time period. I have said this countless times, water beading does not equal paint protection. If a surface continues to bead, but dulls and is subjected to environmental damage, it is worthless to me.
-paint cleaning. While an LSP may protect against UV damage and other contaminants, they do not prevent various particles from settling on the finish and bonding. Prior to the popularization of clay in the mid 90s, chemical cleaners were used to get that smooth paint feel back.
-defect removal powerful enough to remove wash and clay induced marring
-ease of use, time is a huge consideration.
-immediate looks, I'd like for it to look great, but its not an immediate concern, as long as it doesn't dull the appearance of raw paint, all is well
Prep work
The paint has not been clayed in 6months and not been polished in a year. I washed with CG citrus wash & gloss at paint cleansing mixture (2oz to 2 gallons). I did not clay the vehicle because I wanted to judge how well each product cleaned. I applied FK215 and ZAIO using a PC on speed 6 with a Megs Yellow 6.5 pad. The Poli-seal and NuFinish were applied by hand since it was such a small area. Since I was applying by hand, I did two passes to assure good coverage.
The perliminary results:
ZAIO
-Visually, it looks a bit boring. Its shiney but lacks depth.
-Excellent cleaning ability, possibly best of the bunch. Smoothest surface.
-Abrasive appears to be fairly mild, minimal correction
-Product is thin, I ended up using more than the others and after waiting 30 minutes to dry, I wiped it off. It kept re-appearing on the surface, a major bummer as this is a big time waste
FK215
-Visually, quite the surprise, this stuff looks great. Candy shell look, great depth, a little bit of glow, looks leader of this bunch. Slickest surface of the bunch, but not smoothest.
-Mild cleaning ability, definitely left the most surface contaminants of the four products tested
-Strongest abrasive of the bunch, moderate level of correction on this hard clear
-A little goes a long way. Easy on, long working time and easy to wipe off. An absolute pleasure to work with
Poli-seal
-Mid pack lookswise, has more depth than ZAIO but a little bit less shine
-Excellent cleaning ability
-Mild abrasive package
-Very easy to use, it melts into the paint, very little residue, what is left is very easy to remove.
NuFinish
-Suprizingly good looks, the last time I used this "stuff" it made the paint more dull, I'm guessing it has been reformulated. Nice and crisp look, compared to this, Zaino looks a bit sterile.
-Mild cleaning ability, though it smells solvent rich, it doesn't seem to clean better than average.
-Very mild abrasive package, this stuff used to be rocks in a bottle, it almost feels as smooth as suntan lotion
-Probably the hardest to use of the bunch. Goes on a little rough but comes off very easily. Dusts much less than I remember, its on par with Megs OTC stuff.
Comparison of ZAIO vs FK215 polishing ability:
ZAIO
FK215
So there are the initial results. They are just that, initial. I plan to keep this test going and post up pictures as soon as a product fails. At that point, I'm also going to re-apply the product (and that product only) and keep the project going. After a year I will assess the situation and see what really performed and what didn't.
One Month Photo Update
Snapped some pix while doing the second wash at the one month mark.
FK215 is now sheeting very strongly on the hood, look at the surface, it is almost dry, especially towards the center of the hood (hottest part). Both still bead pretty well after rain.
Poliseal (left) seems to be on its last legs, it still beads when it rains, but this is after being rinsed. NuFinish seems to be holding up strong.
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