What's In DFB's Cabinet?

[50ALM]

... I didn’t catch if he said anything like that in his new video, it’s over an hour long and I was starting to glaze over after a while.

Yeah, I struggle with his long videos too. Either start jumping through them, or never make it to the end.

This guy does have the gift of the gab, and could talk underwater.

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[MrMike]

He basically said “I’ve been testing my products for over year so I know how they are compared to these others”. He really should’ve done a side by side like he’s done with other products.

Translates to, "Please buy my crap."

 

[MAGS1]

He basically said “I’ve been testing my products for over year so I know how they are compared to these others”. He really should’ve done a side by side like he’s done with other products.

Agreed. I think he turned off a decent chunk of his subscribers when he threw his products at the top of his annual rankings without doing a proper demo or side by side like he’s done with other products in the past.

I wish him well, it’s always good to have competition in any product market but I have to wonder if he shot himself in the foot a bit.

 

[DFB5.0]

I just can't fathom how stupid Pan was thinking that this stunt wouldn't turn sour, you could see it from a mile away. And the thing is, prior to that awards video being posted, his whole product line had sold out within a day or two! To then go on and do that video like that was pretty foolish.

There is something else I have noticed in regard to The House of Rags, which launched in tandem with Pan's product reveal. One of the figured heads, known as Jamie the Cleaner, rose to such prominence via The Rag Company. His channel and social media efforts led him to becoming a "Gram-bassador" (a brand ambassador that is chosen and sent a bunch of free towels and products to feature in their videos and social media), who then went on to win "Gram-bassador" of the year. He has also been a guest expert on the TRC Q&A Podcasts, as well as co-host of the annual TRCMA trade show. That also led to P&S creating a short run of his Bead-Maker/Dream-Maker concoction called "Clean-Maker", which had his logo put onto the bottle and marketing material as well as trip to see it being made. So, TRC built him up and opened doors for him to prosper.

Looking at the House of Rags webstore, there is a lot of brands missing in action..........................

The House of Rags: Your Destination for Premium Microfiber and Detaili – House of Rags

You would assume that Jamie's TRC connections would have meant TRC towels would be in the store. But no, they chose Autofiber.

You would think Jamie's connection with P&S would mean that it too would have featured, but no. Unless they are sourcing the house brand from P&S.

And on that house brand, called "Detail Co.", well in addition to the "House of Rags" store name, both are far too similar to The Rag Company brand.

Listening to the most recent TRC Q&A Podcast, when the House of Rags topic was brought up as a question, both Levi and Anthony very quickly changed the subject, and the tone of their voice was sus too.

Something is sour is going on with the whole House of Rags and Clean by Pan thing. I get the feeling a lot of people have been put offside through all this.

 

[DFB5.0]

Sanity detailing today............................

The XR8 was up first. Tyres cleaned with Wise Guy, wheels and body washed with Carpro Reset. After drying, I went over the tyres with Tarminator to give them a reset, then dressed with ADS Tire+.

But its the Amplify I want to focus on. Not sure why, but I have struggled with streaking on this car for a quite a while now, especially on the hood. And that covers a wide range of products including polymer spray sealants, ceramic spray detailer/sealants, simple quick detailers, even a rinse-less wash.

In recent times, I've had nothing but good things to say about ADS Amplify, especially in relation to its ability to wipe on and flash away to a streak-free finish. Using it on the XR8 was going to be its biggest challenge though. So, you can imagine how pleased I am knowing that Amplify passed this test and delivered a streak free finish on the XR8 for first time in ages. So, I used it on the paint, glass, door jambs, engine bay, wheels and exhaust tips.

Moving onto the Ranger, I began the testing and reassessing of a batch of box-store soaps.

The first to try however is a soap I've always wondered about but never took the plunge.....................

Nanolicious Wash - Our own dream wash. (bowdensown.com.au)

(Sorry for the US readers, as far as I know, this is not a brand offered outside of Australia/New Zealand. They are sold through large automotive chain stores, think of them like Adam's or Autoglym, not the absolute best, but a rung or two above Turtle Wax, Mothers ect. Their main claim to fame is the smutty product names such as Wet Dreams, Three-Way, Happy Ending, The Little Chubby, The Little-Stiffy, Blue Ball Big Daddy and Far-Cough.)

In the past, I guess I discounted Bowden's Nanolicious because of the conditioning agents used in the formula. Personally, I prefer a soap that is used purely for lubrication and cleaning purposes, leaving the "conditioning" or gloss enhancement to the drying aid step. However, Bowdens insist that Nanolicious is safe for ceramic coatings, so I was keen to see how that would pan out.

After it was mentioned in my soap thread, I was expecting Nanolicious to be a low foaming product. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it did..................

That looks like some pretty decent foam to me. Under the wash pad, Nanolicious is decently slick, cleans well and rinses freely. Keep in mind I was using this after the transcendent Carpro Reset, but overall, Nanolicious didn't disappoint. The scent? It's pleasant but forgettable. I would love to infiltrate the likes of Bowden's and Meguiars to freshen up their scent pallets, I guess they stick with subtle scents to offend no-one, but please no-one in the process.

Next up, I'm actually looking forward to taking a trip down memory lane by re-trying the very first car wash soap I ever used...........................

 

[MrMike]

Nanolicious is a wash and wax kinda thing yeah? I'm surprised it foams so much for being that type of product.

I would love to infiltrate the likes of Bowden's and Meguiars to freshen up their scent pallets, I guess they stick with subtle scents to offend no-one, but please no-one in the process.

I've used a pile of Meg's products and I think the only one with a smell that stood out was ultimate quik wax. Not really a relevant product anymore with SiO2 stuff out now, but they should've re-used the kool-aid scent.

 

[DFB5.0]

Nanolicious is a wash and wax kinda thing yeah? I'm surprised it foams so much for being that type of product.

Nanolicious isn't a wash and wax soap, it does have gloss enhancers and conditioning agents within the formula, much the same as Meguiar's Gold Class. Nanolicious is primarily aimed at regular bucket washing, hence the expectation it wouldn't foam. Bowdens would rather you also buy their Snow Job soap, as in foam and rinse with Snow Job, then switch to Nanolicious for the contact wash. I really dislike that method, in my opinion I want a soap to do both foam and bucket wash slickness, many manufacturers manage to achieve this.

 

[kilobravo]

I’ve washed my car in the rain before.

Down in these parts, I love washing a car in the rain because there's almost always no hot sun!

This is a shot from 2007 with my nephew washing the '05 SD and, long before I ran into DFB who taught me the proper way to duit. <BIG smile>

 

[DFB5.0]

More soap testing today, the Jaguar and Wildtrak the test subjects.

First up, a quick wash of the Jaguar, the soap chosen here being Autoglym Foaming Car Wash.

Foaming Car Wash (autoglym.com.au)

After a quick sniff of this soap, I was reminded of the cherry scented Gtechniq G-Wash. However, where G-Wash is a thoroughly competent soap, this stuff is so thoroughly disappointing! These shots taken literally seconds after application...................

I'm sorry, but if you are going to label a product as a "foaming car wash", it bloody well better do just that! I was as generous with my dose rate as I normally am, as in more is better, I even added more after using it to clean the wheels to no improvement. I think its obvious in those images that is soapy water and not "foam". Sure, its decently slick but I just can't get past it not foaming despite its claim. This soap joins a line of thoroughly average to downright horrible Autoglym products that I have used.

Unlike US and AUS tastes, the UK market seems fixated on having separate soaps for pre-washing and bucket washing. I could understand that if the products actually did what they intended to do, but apart from the likes of Bilt Hamber, I have yet to see a true benefit to this approach.

Looking at the Autoglym website, they actually offer five different soaps with far too much product overlap. Polar Blast is supposed to be their pre-wash option, but being pH neutral, I don't see how this stuff would do squat! They then have a Polar Wash, which bizarrely is NOT pH neutral. I don't get! And I suspect their typical customer base doesn't either, which in turn means they just keep buying this stuff.

Clean - Bodywork - Products (autoglym.com.au)

Considering Foaming Car Wash doesn't actually foam, I don't see why it exists alongside the also truly awful Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner, or the Polar Blast/Wash duo. I don't think I will even use this to clean the bins, it will go straight in there, bottle and all. Autoglym would be best off starting from scratch and putting their resources into making two great soaps rather than five thoroughly average ones; an alkaline pre-wash soap that foams, and a pH neutral wash soap that ALSO foams.

Next up, ArmorAll Car Wash for a quick exterior wash on the Wildtrak.

Armor All® Car Wash | Armor All - AU EN

This was the very first car soap I used, way back in the early 2000's washing my parent's cars in the driveway. So much has changed since then, but this stuff is remarkable for being exactly same as it was when I was a teenager with no clue what I was doing. Same colour, same bottle, almost the same label, same scent, pretty much the same price too.

As you can see, this stuff actually foams, it also hangs on throughout the wash rather than breaking down, which may or may not be seen as a positive. Rinsing afterwards seemed pretty good too. However, ArmorAll suggests a very rich dose rate on this soap, so the lack of concentration means you use waaaaay more per vehicle. It also has very little lubrication.

And so, this is where your money goes when buying a mid to high end soap, a more concentrated formulation and a superior user experience. For the $7.00 I paid for this stuff, I guess complaining about those two aspects is redundant. However, it has provided me a valuable insight into the difference between a $7.00 soap and a $45.00 soap of the same quantity.

 

[MrMike]

They are mostly the same thing, IronX, Gyeon Iron and NV Purify are the better ones.

At the risk of re-visiting old comments too much, are Iron X and Gyeon Iron worth a premium? Say Turtle Wax or Adam's @ $10-$15 per 500ml vs Gyeon Iron @ $25 per 500ml?

Basically I don't want to waste my time when I could be using CarPro Reset instead of meh soap again, for example.

 

[Evolvd]

At the risk of re-visiting old comments too much, are Iron X and Gyeon Iron worth a premium? Say Turtle Wax or Adam's @ $10-$15 per 500ml vs Gyeon Iron @ $25 per 500ml?

Basically I don't want to waste my time when I could be using CarPro Reset instead of meh soap again, for example.

Look at Gyeon Iron Redefined.

 

[MrMike]

Look at Gyeon Iron Redefined.

That's even more lol. Is it that much better at removing Iron in paint than TW or Adam's?

 

[Evolvd]

Go to page one in this thread, DFB tells you exactly what his opinion is on which one is best.

 

[skinnyb]

That's even more lol. Is it that much better at removing Iron in paint than TW or Adam's?

I bought a 5 liter jug of Gtechniq iron remover. It was the cheapest I could find at the time for a container that big. Got it around July 4 from the Rag Company with their Independence day discount... It works pretty well, but not as good as Iron X. I also have some Gyeon left, it is very effective. Extremely stinky, but works well. They don't mask the smell AT ALL...

 

[larr12]

Car Supplies Warehouse just posted this video on youtube of WD Detailing. I didnt know about those guys but 1.1mill subs is amazing.

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