radarryan
New member
Many of us have had experience with SONAX products. Personally, I find them to be one of the finest car care brands available today. Their Full Effect wheel cleaner has set the standard in the "color changing", Iron dissolving wheel cleaner market.
One of the first things that struck me about using their products is the sprayer. Personally, I find it to be, again, one of the best on the market today. So, I started thinking, can you reuse their bottles? I will put everything from all-purpose cleaner to refills of anything sprayable, in these types of bottles. (Side note, I also tend to like the 1Z bottles. Maybe I just am a German sprayer fan?)
I just finished using a bottle of wheel cleaner and started on the journey to answer this question: can it be reused and would it still be effective?
First, can I get the labels off cleanly so I have a new surface for labeling what I'm putting the bottle?
As you can see in the pictures above, the labels came off very cleanly and the bottle is ready for a new label. So now we know that we won't get mixed up when we have 10 or so of these grey bottles sitting on the floor of the garage. Did I just pick up my Optimum Power Clean 1:10 or 1:3? Did I just spray Diablo Wheel Cleaner on my interior glass? Now we know this won't be an issue.
Next, and probably the biggest, is what kind of spray does it provide. For those of you who have used SONAX products before, you can ignore the next several images. What I am trying to accomplish, by spraying into the sink, is to show the spray that the head produces. I filled the bottle up with a soapy solution to act as tracers in an attempt to be able to see the spray and where it lands in the sink.
After quite a few sprays, here is the overall pattern I got in the sink:
Of course, many of us do this without having a "review" tell us which bottle is best. There are a few things, though, that would maybe make a few of us think twice before using SONAX Full Effect.
1) The smell: can you get the smell out of the bottle? From my testing yes!
2) Can it withstand chemicals? Again, yes. The sprayer had never been flushed and had Full Effect sitting in it for over 6 months. If using something strong, it may be advisable to flush the sprayer after every use. I don't know if it could be used with a strong acid, however I would venture to guess not. For chemicals like that it is usually best to use a specific acid resistant chemical sprayer.
Now, some of us like clear bottles and you're in luck, SONAX has those too. Check out their glass cleaner:
It appears to be the same sprayer as in the Full Effect wheel cleaner, which may make this an excellent choice for repurposing if SONAX does not sell their glass cleaner in bulk.
So, many of you may wonder why I have chosen to repurpose my Full Effect bottle rather than refill it with more Full Effect or throw it away. Well, first, in the interest of saving money I am trying to repurpose the bottle rather than buy bottles to dilute bulk chemicals. I will still have that dilatable bottle, which is where I will measure everything out, then transfer it to the SONAX bottle.
Another, and the main reason is, I have a lot of Full Effect bottles...
It goes several rows deep... I was able to get it very inexpensive, where per ounce it was cheaper than if I were to buy case loads of the 5L refills. In the future, I will buy these refills for the wheel cleaner but since I have so many just sitting there it will probably take me a while!
I have not contacted SONAX USA but they do not have the bottles for sale by itself on the website, but then again that was not the purpose of the review - it was to see if the Full Effect wheel cleaner could be repurposed since it is such a good sprayer. The good news - it can, and it will; at least in my case!
If you're like me you like to have the corresponding bottle for each chemical (I know it can get expensive and stupid), such as Optimum Power Clean bottles for each dilution of Power Clean. These bottles will slowly be replacing my Home Depot bottles with crappy sprayers as I use them up. Now you all know that just because it has that smell, doesn't mean it can't be gotten rid of and the bottle put to further use.
Enjoy using your SONAX sprayers (or whichever ones you enjoy) and happy detailing! :rockon
One of the first things that struck me about using their products is the sprayer. Personally, I find it to be, again, one of the best on the market today. So, I started thinking, can you reuse their bottles? I will put everything from all-purpose cleaner to refills of anything sprayable, in these types of bottles. (Side note, I also tend to like the 1Z bottles. Maybe I just am a German sprayer fan?)
I just finished using a bottle of wheel cleaner and started on the journey to answer this question: can it be reused and would it still be effective?
First, can I get the labels off cleanly so I have a new surface for labeling what I'm putting the bottle?
As you can see in the pictures above, the labels came off very cleanly and the bottle is ready for a new label. So now we know that we won't get mixed up when we have 10 or so of these grey bottles sitting on the floor of the garage. Did I just pick up my Optimum Power Clean 1:10 or 1:3? Did I just spray Diablo Wheel Cleaner on my interior glass? Now we know this won't be an issue.
Next, and probably the biggest, is what kind of spray does it provide. For those of you who have used SONAX products before, you can ignore the next several images. What I am trying to accomplish, by spraying into the sink, is to show the spray that the head produces. I filled the bottle up with a soapy solution to act as tracers in an attempt to be able to see the spray and where it lands in the sink.
After quite a few sprays, here is the overall pattern I got in the sink:
Of course, many of us do this without having a "review" tell us which bottle is best. There are a few things, though, that would maybe make a few of us think twice before using SONAX Full Effect.
1) The smell: can you get the smell out of the bottle? From my testing yes!
2) Can it withstand chemicals? Again, yes. The sprayer had never been flushed and had Full Effect sitting in it for over 6 months. If using something strong, it may be advisable to flush the sprayer after every use. I don't know if it could be used with a strong acid, however I would venture to guess not. For chemicals like that it is usually best to use a specific acid resistant chemical sprayer.
Now, some of us like clear bottles and you're in luck, SONAX has those too. Check out their glass cleaner:
It appears to be the same sprayer as in the Full Effect wheel cleaner, which may make this an excellent choice for repurposing if SONAX does not sell their glass cleaner in bulk.
So, many of you may wonder why I have chosen to repurpose my Full Effect bottle rather than refill it with more Full Effect or throw it away. Well, first, in the interest of saving money I am trying to repurpose the bottle rather than buy bottles to dilute bulk chemicals. I will still have that dilatable bottle, which is where I will measure everything out, then transfer it to the SONAX bottle.
Another, and the main reason is, I have a lot of Full Effect bottles...
It goes several rows deep... I was able to get it very inexpensive, where per ounce it was cheaper than if I were to buy case loads of the 5L refills. In the future, I will buy these refills for the wheel cleaner but since I have so many just sitting there it will probably take me a while!
I have not contacted SONAX USA but they do not have the bottles for sale by itself on the website, but then again that was not the purpose of the review - it was to see if the Full Effect wheel cleaner could be repurposed since it is such a good sprayer. The good news - it can, and it will; at least in my case!
If you're like me you like to have the corresponding bottle for each chemical (I know it can get expensive and stupid), such as Optimum Power Clean bottles for each dilution of Power Clean. These bottles will slowly be replacing my Home Depot bottles with crappy sprayers as I use them up. Now you all know that just because it has that smell, doesn't mean it can't be gotten rid of and the bottle put to further use.
Enjoy using your SONAX sprayers (or whichever ones you enjoy) and happy detailing! :rockon
