The worst of the year?

1. Mother's (Lanka) touchup leveler (completely useless!)



2. Bon Ami window cleaner (streaks worse than anything else)



3. 3M Imperial Hand Glaze (its expensive so its gotta be good right?)



4. Simple Green (not as much of a bad product but know I know better and just use ivory soap and water to clean interiors with).



Pleasant surprises:



1. Mother's sealer glaze (outperforms IHG at half the price)

2. Satin NoTouch tire spray (who would have thought, but if you get your tires really clean first or even if you just do a rush job by spraying them with this foam, they look pretty damn good.)



3. Any no-name glass cleaner (why pay more?)
 
Odd the reviews on the zymol cleaner wax, after I buffed it with a spritz of water, I found that it looked really good. I'd say that I was very pleased with it in fact. Granted, this was before I found autopia and now when I use zymol I use the HD Cleanse followed by one of their higher-end "pure" waxes.
 
armoredsaintt said:
I third that, Zymol cleaner wax is horrible, how did they get rated #1 in a test, the tester must have been blind or the check Zymol wrote him was still in his pockets :) This is just a Zurtle Wax product.
Click to expand...



Now, wait a second. Most people never properly prepared a finish before finding Autopia.



It starts with a vague dissatisfaction with the waxes and tools you've been using, maybe Kit or TW and cheesecloth. You know that there's something better, something you don't know, but what? It must be product, that's it!



So, you look for the bestest, most expensive product you can find, with the most exotic name; ZYMOL! And you apply it, the same way you always did; you ladle it on nice and thick, and wipe it off with the cheesescloth, and... it looks & smells OK, but there's still something missing...



So some people stop there, and some people find here, and the processes and favored products. And they think of all the mistakes that they made in their previous trys at Graildom, and they remember that it culminated with the purchase of... ZYMOL CLEANER WAX. So, ZCW becomes the embodiment of all the past failures! Mostly they think of all the swirls and fading and the dissatisfaction, and associate it with the product.



Zymol is an OK cleaner wax; it's not the best (I don't hide my partiality to Meg's and Mother's), but it's decent. If you don't believe me, try it on your properly prepared finish. It looks pretty good and smells great, but it won't last long and has a lot of white dust, and watch the black trim. I tried it after #9/#7, with a PC, and it's good enough. You could do worse.



I gave mine away; at the time I was down on cleaner waxes. Now I think that they have a place. Even then, I regretted it, because it looks good and smells great. I didn't feel like I was giving seconds, like I did when I gave away the NuFinish. I even think I said, "try this, you'll like it, but watch the trim."





Tom
 
But I have been using there Zymol Carbon, Creame and Japon for almost 10 years and the whole line. It's just the rebranded Zurtle Wax that lowers the Zymol name IMHO. I was a huge fan of all there products, now it's P21S for me.
 
S100 spray wax; no place for it in my arsenal. Also Meg's Quik Wax, Stoner's Speed Bead and Bead Max. I have no use for spray waxes.



More Shine Less Time for Tires. The stuff got all over the place.



Meg's Gold Class All Wheel Cleaner. Too in-between, too mild for heavy dust, not strong enough to use without a rag or brush. .



Wheel Wax. I really wanted to like this one. It looks really good. I used it every two weeks for two months, trying to "build up" its resistance to brake dust. The last straw was driving along with the top down, going down a long hill, and smelling the Wheel Wax as it vaporized off the front wheels.



Griot's Window Cleaner. I'll grudgingly admit to using it, and that it cleans windows, but I think I could mix it up myself.



Meguiar's Clay kit. I've preferred every other clay bar that I've tried. And what to do with all that maroon bottle QD?



Armor All All Wheel Cleaner. What got into me? It ate away the cadmium plating on my rotors.



Diamond Finish Carnauba Paste. I got talked into it. You'll never find it, so don't look; some guy mixes it up in his basement. Truly foul stuff. I did get to give it to Mike Phillips, though, who is interested in things.





Tom
 
armoredsaintt said:
But... t's just the rebranded Zurtle Wax that lowers the Zymol name IMHO.
Click to expand...




Do you still have some ZCW around somewhere? Try it. It looks pretty good, actually. I've never tried the hyper-Zymol stuff, so I couldn't say if ZCW brings the line down.



If you want to try a really nice cleaner wax, try the Meguiar's. I did. The feeling I had was the same as the one I got when I disconnected my Martin-Logan speakers and hooked up my (20 year old) original Large Advents; I started laughing, and it wasn't at how bad they sounded.





Tom
 
Mosca, yeah I did use it on the hood and it left a residue that was a ***** to remove, even after spray down water and etc. I returned it the next day, I am very happy with P21S now, I use the cleaner, then the wax, awesome results! As for cleaner wax combos, the Megs professional line is better.
 
Turtle Wax Clearview Glass Cleaner. Absolutely the worst window cleaner I've ever used. Even with microfiber towels, it streaked horribly.
 
'K. I like the S100/P21S, too. I haven't tried the Meg's #6. I have it down in the garage, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll agree to disagree about the Zymol.



Meg's can be curious, with its different lines. The Mirror Glaze line will give consistent high quality results when used correctly, but sometimes the consumer lines will surprise you (the Cleaner Wax A1216, and Deep Crystal Step 3), and sometimes they will let you down (I just can't warm up to the Gold Class stuff).



But it's still all so subjective!





Tom
 
Several people listed Meguiar's rich leather wipes...



I'm just curious why. I tried them recently this summer, admittedly just once so far, and didn't think they were THAT bad. But I was using Mother's Leather Cleaner and Leather Conditioner before that and I think I prefer it over those Meg's wipes.
 
I guess I haven't had that bad of a year product-wise. Still, I've thrown some money away...



Blue Coral Self-buffing wax... :o Don't ask! It was cheap and I was curious. I actually never had the guts to use it yet, but I have low expectations. The problem is the "why?"



Various leather products that sound like they're supposed to help older leather. Yeah right.



Various towels and cheap MFs. What am I supposed to do with these misfit samples?



Sample packs of various (common!) car wash shampoos. I need more shampoo like I need some Vaseline to put on my tires.



The moral of this story is: Boredom + curiosity + pretending to be cheap = :doh
 
Scottwax



How come the Turtle Wax Clearvue came second in a well known US glass report?



We have a similar version of the TW in the UK & if I rubbed an oily rag on the inside of my windows it wouldn't streak as much. Fortunately I didn't buy it, just borrowed it from a friend.
 
Pleasant surprises...



Megs Aloe Leather cleaner/conditioner 2 stage system - not for the car but for my leather furniture in the house! Fantastic stuff



PS wax - not used a wax this good before and it's all down to Autopia and all the great friendly people here!!!
 
Mosca said:
sometimes the consumer lines will surprise you (the Cleaner Wax A1216, and Deep Crystal Step 3), and sometimes they will let you down
Click to expand...



For me, Deep Crystal step 3 was one of the worst waxes I have used; I was very let down and couldn't wait to toss it. Its not what I've come to expect from MeGuiars.



I've found Mother's pure carnuba to be far superior for a consumer grade wax.
 
Biff said:
For me, Deep Crystal step 3 was one of the worst waxes I have used; I was very let down and couldn't wait to toss it. Its not what I've come to expect from MeGuiars.



I've found Mother's pure carnuba to be far superior for a consumer grade wax.
Click to expand...



I agree. I decided to give it a try (hey, only $5) after reading its review on that Meguiar's forum, and found it to be a real disappointment. It looked the same as if I had not waxed, and the slickness and ease of use was nothing to write about. Save your money - not entirely an "honest" product.



EX: I tend to stay away from these products (adding polymer to a wax and claiming it's a sealant is like bragging about added Teflon,) but I wanted to see why it's so popular. I don't know how long its "protection" lasts, but its wetness, reflectivity, depth, clarity, slickness, and beading all faded quickly.



Moose Wax and Vanilla Moose: Actually, they're not bad... just overpriced for what it is. Six months protection? Lie.
 
One of these is the DC3, the other is the Cleaner Wax, but I can't remember which is which. I liked them both.





Tom



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Much of the "new products" I receive are test samples in small qty's so I can try them. So while I cannot say I've thrown away a lot of money (I've thrown away some), I have tried numerous new products this year.



And the LOSER's are:



1. Poorboys EX - Had to try it after the public butt whuppin' I took earlier this year. Tried it on several cars. Total garbage. I agree with BW's assessment of its shortcomings.



2. Hi Temp Grape Tire Dressing - Oh....My.....God...... this stuff is horrible! Oily, smelly, applies bad, looks bad, is bad. How it got to be one of TOL's top sellers is beyond me.



3. Hi Temp Wheel Cleaner - How they can called it "the safest" when its a highly acidic product is shocking to me. There's no reason a wheel cleaner needs to be this aggressive when there are so many others out there that work fine. If you use this stuff, be very careful and wear protection. It's that bad.



4. Duragloss polishes & cleaners - I bought #101, #111 and #652. While all were easy to use none offered much of a performance. By most all values we use here, theywere a failure. I was really high on this stuff this summer and wanted it to be a winner but it just ain't happenin'. Too bad.



5. Clear Vue aerosol glass cleaner - Not the pump-spray stuff most all of you have used but an aerosol like IG or Sprayway. I was hoping it would be a competitor to them but it sucks. Streaks, smears, does a crappy job. Now I know why its sold at the dollar store.
 
I'm suprised at the criticism of EX & VM, I have found these so easy to apply and remove and give a fantastic shine, although as I wax frequently, longevity doesn't bother me.



What don't you like about these?



What's your alternatives?
 
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