Meguiar's Ultimate Wash & Wax

July 08, 2020 in Review, Automotive

When it comes to car soaps, I typically go with something that’s very standard and doesn’t include any additional additives to help improve gloss or protection. Over the years, Meguiar’s Gold Class Car Wash has been my go-to for this type of soap. It gets the job done at a great price. That being said, when you coat a vehicle in some form of paint protection, it’ll eventually wear off. Using a car soap with some added protection can help to extend the life of the previously applied coating. This is exactly why I picked up a bottle of Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax.

As the name implies and aside from being just a basic soap, Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax includes a hybrid blend of premium carnauba wax and synthetic polymers that help to clean the paint while leaving behind a trace layer of wax. It is also pH balanced so it won’t strip away any previously applied coatings. Looking at this product on a surface level may make you believe that this product would serve as a standalone alternative to a traditional wax application or some other form of protection but it is not. The back of the bottle itself says that “Ultimate Wash & Wax is the perfect way to clean and shine your car’s finish in-between regular waxing, boosting your protection, glossiness and shine!” This would mean that you should still apply a normal protective coating and use this product to help maintain and extend the life of that coating. The amount of wax that this product leaves behind is very minor. If you are a person that religiously washes your car then you may be able to get away with just using this soap. By constantly using it, you may be able to keep a consistent layer of wax on the surface. But if you’re the type of person that goes weeks or months without a car wash, then definitely use some other more durable paint protection coating before introducing this soap into the mix. Also, it is very likely that this soap was intended to be used on a vehicle that’s been coated with traditional wax but I personally don’t use carnauba wax anymore. These days, I either protect my paint with sealants or some hybrid ceramic products. Even so, I’ve found that Ultimate Wash & Wax helps all the same.

With some other wash and wax or additive infused soaps that I’ve tried, I’ve noticed that they can produce very little suds or bubbles. Some manufacturers state that this is because of the additives and that although the bubbles aren’t as present, the performance is there. I can’t confirm or deny this but I will say that seeing and feeling the suds really adds to the experience and peace of mind. Meguiar’s advertises that Ultimate Wash & Wax has “Incredible sudsing action” that “safely lifts dirt and grime to minimize swirling”.

From my experience, I did find that Ultimate Wash & Wax produced a good amount of suds, as advertised. However, there wasn’t a lot of lubrication. At one ounce of soap per gallon of water as directed on the back of the bottle, I can still feel the skin of my fingers rubbing against each other after running my hand through the soap. It’s just not all that slick. For me, the bare minimum is 6 ounces of soap to 4 gallons of water, but I was more comfortable with 8 ounces of soap to 4 gallons of water. This is the most among all the car shampoos that I’ve tried. On the upside, one thing that I really like about this soap is how easy it rinses off. To me, it seemed like this product required the least amount of time and water to clear the surface of all the suds. But of course, this in itself could mean that the product doesn’t really cling all that well on a molecular level.

Now, this product is not advertised as a foaming soap or one to be used in a foam cannon, but I know many of you are going to be curious so I did the test for you. As usual, I mixed 4 ounces of soap and filled my foam cannon’s container to the fourth line. I do this with all the soaps that I showcase on this channel so this will give us the most comparable results. In the foam cannon, Ultimate Wash & Wax leaves a lot to be desired. It produces very thin and runny foam. The foam is very watery and dries pretty fast. This is not something you’d want to use in direct sunlight on a hot day. That being said, I have to remind you again that Ultimate Wash & Wax isn’t advertised as a foam cannon soap so we can’t really knock it for not foaming well. It also really just depends on what you’re looking for. I think if you want a good thick foaming soap purely for use as a prewash, then there are better more dedicated options on the market. If you’re just looking for a soap to spray out of a foam cannon and used in a contact wash, as an alternative to the two bucket method, then Ultimate Wash & Wax will serve that purpose. Just remember to not go too crazy spraying the foam everywhere. Work panel by panel so the soap doesn’t dry up on you.

I decided to give Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax a try for two different reasons. First, is because of the amount of positive feedback that this product gets. On Amazon, this product currently has over 1800 ratings with an average rating of 4.5 stars. It overwhelms the competition in terms of popularity. The next reason is because of the price. A gallon of this stuff regularly sells for around $25. I think that’s a good price for what we’re getting, especially considering that this is an additive infused soap. However, if I have to use double the recommended amount to get something satisfactory, then I’ll go through that gallon of soap twice as fast. It’s more like I’m spending $25 for half a gallon of soap. Thinking about it this way, Meguiar’s Ultimate Wash & Wax isn’t all that good of a deal.

At this point, I still have quite a bit of this product left and will work my way through it. If you’re interested in trying it out for yourself, I would suggest buying a smaller bottle first and experiment with it so see how you feel about what this product gives you. Who knows, maybe one ounce per gallon will be good enough for you. If so, then awesome. You’ll have a pretty good wash and wax at a great price. If not, keep shopping around because there’s plenty more on the market.

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Ethos Car Care Ceramic Shampoo

July 05, 2020 in Automotive, Review

It’s been a week since I applied Ethos Car Care’s Ceramic Wax Pro on the Supra and it is time for a wash. So I thought what better time than now to try out Ethos Car Care’s Ceramic Shampoo.

This product is advertised to add ceramic portion with every wash, add a wax like shine, and rejuvenates ceramic coatings. Basically, if you already have another form of paint protection applied, this product will add an extra layer of protection, helping you extend the life of the original product. If you don’t have anything previously applied, Ceramic Shampoo will leave a coat of protection that will last a few weeks, possibly enough to get you to the next wash.

According to the back of the bottle, this product can be used in both a foam cannon and for the two bucket method so we’ll be trying both today.

For the foam cannon, I’ll be adding 4 ounces of soap and will fill the cannon’s water container to the fourth fill line. This is how I test every product shown on this channel so if you’d like to compare Ceramic Shampoo to something previously featured, you’d be able to get a good one to one. In terms of consistency, this product is very liquidy so it mixes with little effort. In terms of foam, I’ve noticed that additive infused soaps often have less suds and Ceramic Shampoo is no different. In the foam cannon, this product produces thin foam. But the weird thing is that this is perhaps the stickiest foam I’ve ever seen. Usually, thin foam is more watery and just drips off the panels. But this foam just clings on forever. Even in direct sunlight, the foam barely dissipates and it barely moves from the panel. I can’t even imagine how long this foam will stick around if you’re working in the shade. At this point, I don’t really know how to categorize Ceramic Shampoo as a foam cannon soap. It doesn’t provide the thick shaving cream foam, but it does cling longer so it’ll have more time to encapsulate various contaminants and help to get them off the panel. I guess this is a case of function over form.

Let’s move on to the two bucket method. The bottle says to mix 1-2 ounces of product in a bucket but doesn’t specify how much water. I contacted Ethos and verified that it is actually 1-2 ounces per gallon of water. I tested this product at 4 ounces to 4 gallons of water, again as every other product previously reviewed. In a bucket, Ceramic Shampoo provides very little suds. This is because of the ceramic properties. I was told that it was one or the other. You can’t have a ceramic shampoo that suds very well. Here, the bubbles are small and they do not stick around long. This was a bit concerning until I ran my hand through the water. Surprisingly, the solution was extremely slick. For reference, I often had to adjust and move my tripod to record this video. Before doing so, I would rinse my hands and it was still noticeably difficult because my hands were so slick. This has never happened before in all the detailing videos that I’ve made. This really caught me off guard considering the minimal amount of soap bubbles present.

At the end of the day, this product seems to work well. It’s a good addition for anyone who wants to extend the life of their paint protection coating or a good option for anyone who doesn’t want to dedicate the time to protect their paint but doesn’t mind washing the car as Ceramic Shampoo in itself is a form of paint protection.

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Oil Extractor Car Oil Change

July 01, 2020 in Automotive, Review

I previously made a video showing my first experiences with an oil extractor. In this past video, I did an oil change on my lawnmower and felt that the process went very well. The extractor allowed me to do an oil change without having to turn the lawnmower on its side and just made the process simpler.

This is all well and great but the lawnmower only holds about a third of a quart of oil. The extraction process took less than a minute. The real question is, whether or not the cheap electric oil extractor that I purchase is going to be useful for changing a car’s oil. Well, it just so happens that it was time to change the Corolla’s oil so it was a perfect time to find out.

Like before, I’m going to attach the oil extractor to an external battery. The extractor is intended to be used with the battery of the car to make everything more streamline but I played it safe and used a separate battery to not drain the Corolla’s battery too much in case the extraction process takes a long time.

Next, I put the suction end of the hose into the engine’s dipstick channel. If you’re doing this, it may not be easy to tell when you’ve reached the bottom of the oil pan and it is possible to push the tube in too deep. This will cause it to curl up and not properly suck the oil out. To help combat this, you can compare the length of the dipstick to the tube and use that as an indicator.

Then, I put the other tube into my oil collection pan.

Finally, it’s time to turn the extractor on and watch the oil flow out.

This engine without oil filter holds 4.1 quarts of oil. I timed the oil change to the point where I felt that the extractor wasn’t pulling anything significant out at about 8 minutes. This is including the time that I spent readjusting the tube to get as much oil extracted as possible. Overall, it didn’t take too long. I kept myself busy during the meantime so it wasn’t like I was overly anxious and waiting for all the oil to be extractor.

At this point, I was pretty happy with the results but the big question is, how much oil did the extractor actually leave behind in the oil pan? Well, to answer this question, I jacked the car up and pulled the oil drain plug to see what was left.

I honestly was not expecting for there to be a lot of oil left so I took a small coffee cup that holds about 8 fluid ounces when filled up to the rim. But as you can see, I completely underestimated the situation and oil overflowed the cup. Because I didn’t come prepared, there’s no easy way of telling how much oil was actually left in the oil pan after using the extractor. By roughly calculating the rate of oil flow, my guess is that there was enough oil to easily fill 4 of those little coffee cups and some change. The oil filled the cup in about 6 seconds and it continued to flow pretty well for about 24 seconds. It then continued to drip for a while after that. If we calculate it out, 4 of those cups at 8 fluid ounces each, equates to 1 quart. 5 cups equal 1.25 quarts. 1 quart and above leftover in an engine that holds 4.1 quarts without an oil filter is not good at all in my opinion. That’s like leaving a quarter of used oil behind if not more.

Looking at it this way makes it very difficult for me to continue to use this extractor for a car’s oil change, at least this car. Who knows, maybe this Corolla just has a weirdly shaped oil pan that doesn’t really allow for oil extraction this way. Maybe the car should’ve been on stands in the first place. There’s a lot of possibility for variances.

I would suggest that if you do decide to use an oil extractor, still jack the car up at the end as I did the first time around. Figure out how much oil is left for your engine after the extraction and decide if you’re comfortable with the results. Different cars are going to have varying results. The oil extractor may work great for one vehicle and terrible for another. Do the test to give yourself that peace of mind.

As for me, I will continue to test this device out and see how I feel about it after some more trials.

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Ethos Car Care Ceramic Wax Pro

June 30, 2020 in Automotive, Review

It’s finally time to protect the exterior of the Supra and I’ve decided to do it with Ethos Car Care’s Ceramic Wax Pro.

I’m going to show you the steps that I took to prep the Supra’s finish in order to get the best possible results from Ceramic Wax Pro and some things that I learned during this process.

I’m going to start with a pre-wash and that means foaming the vehicle. For this, I’m using 2 ounces of Ethos Car Care’s Foam Party to the fourth fill line of my Tool Daily or Trinova Foam Cannon. This foam cannon typically requires 4 ounces of product but Foam Party provides so much suds that this isn’t necessary. 2 ounces may not provide as thick of foam as 4 ounces, but the foam clings better and sticks around longer. This is a trade-off that works for me as someone who details outside and often works in direct sunlight. Realistically, 2 ounces of Foam Party is equivalent to 4 ounces of the other products that I’ve used anyway so I’m not missing out on anything. This has actually become my go-to foaming soap. I’ve used it so much that I’m almost out of the 16 oz bottle and will need a gallon next time!

Next, I’m going to continue with a contact wash. For this, I’ll be using Chemical Guys Mr. Pink. For this step, I was looking for a plain soap that doesn’t contain additional additives because the goal is to prep the surface and strip it of any form of protection. I want it as bare as possible so I need a bare-bones soap. Mr. Pink provides me with this. However, if you watched my dedicated Mr. Pink video, you’d know that I don’t think that this is the best contact wash soap. In my opinion, it just doesn’t provide a lot of lubricity and I have to add extra product to get something satisfactory. For this video, I used about 7 ounces of soap to 4 gallons of water. Mr. Pink is meant to be a cheap product but if I have to use more than usual, it ends up costing more. I originally purchased a one-gallon jug and am working my way through it. Once I’m out, I probably will not be buying any more.

Now that the surface is clean and is rid of the obvious dirt and debris, I need to work on getting rid of the stuff that can’t necessarily be seen. I’m going to start by chemically decontaminating the surface with Adam’s Iron Remover. This step will help to dissolve away iron particles that may have embedded themselves in the paint. Iron removers typically have a color-changing formula. In this case, it starts out as orange and turns a purplish color to indicated the presence of the contaminants. This Supra definitely needed this because it is covered in those little orange rust spots from brake dust. I recently picked up a pressurized sprayer from Harbor Freight and have been waiting for a complete exterior chemical decontamination to bust it out. In the past, I would use a normal sprayer with a finger trigger and that works but when you’re doing an entire car, it just becomes very tedious. But as it turns out, this sprayer sucks. It works pretty well when I’m actually using it, but when I put it down, it leaks from the nozzle as if it’s still slowly spraying. You’re supposed to be able to release pressure by pulling up on the pump handle but that doesn’t do anything so the nozzle just leaks. I ended up wasting a lot of iron remover so I decided to just empty out the sprayer in my old hand sprayer and finish the job with that. Funny enough, the hand spray started to break down too. The trigger would only spring back half way so the job took twice as many pumps.

After chemical decontamination comes mechanical decontamination. This involves claying the surface. For this, I brought out another new toy, a Nanoskin Autoscrub Wash Mitt and it is a clay bar alternative. To lube the mitt, I used Meguiar’s Mirror Glaze Final Inspection. With the clay baring stage, we are looking to remove any leftover contaminants. If you’ve ever run your hands across the surface of a vehicle and felt bumps or a gritty texture, then it’s time to clay bar. The clay itself is tacky and is able pull the contaminants out of the paint, leaving it smooth as glass. This Supra isn’t overly contaminated but it’s just good practice to clean the surface to the best of our abilities in order to give the paint protection the best chance of clinging on to the surface.

Now that I’ve fully decontaminated the vehicle, the paint is very clean but there’s a problem. Mirror Glaze in itself contains additives. We can see it in effect by the fact that there’s water beading on the paint. If this surface were completely bare, there would very likely be some very slow water sheeting. So, we now have to strip the Final Inspection. To do this, I used Chemical Guys Wipe Out. This is an isopropyl alcohol mixture and it’ll strip the surface of any remaining oils and residues. Again, we want the surface as bare as possible.

Finally, we are ready to apply Ceramic Wax Pro. Application of this product should be relatively easy. We apply it to the included foam applicator and spread it on the surface. Once the product dries, we buff it off with a clean microfiber towel. Simple enough. When talking to Tim, the founder of Ethos Car Care, he advised me to apply very thin coats. By thin, we’re talking about 2-3 drops for the hood and if used properly, a 16oz bottle of Ceramic Wax Pro can cover 4-5 cars with multiple coats. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I typically have a pretty heavy hand when it comes to this kind of stuff. I don’t know if you’re paying attention but I’m using well over 2-3 drops for the hood. In all honesty, I have no idea how one would be able to spread 2-3 drops across an entire hood, but that’s just me. Again, I’m pretty heavy-handed but let’s just hope that more isn’t a major detriment in this case. This is also my first time using a foam applicator and I wanted to point somethings out for those planning on going this route. After you use the foam applicator for a while, it’ll start to retain the Ceramic Wax Pro. It may not look like it, but there’s a lot of product in between the foam. You can take the applicator, dab it on the surface and product will continue to come out. Knowing this, you won’t have to waste as much product. Also be careful because if you go over gaps or hard edges, there’s a good chance that some product will be lodged in between. Depending on where this happens, it could be close to impossible to completely clean the area. On the Supra, I applied Ceramic Wax Pro to all surfaces except for the matte black bumper diffusers and side skirts. I was told that because this product is wax base, it will leave a residue if applied to plastics or trim. Other than this, it’s good for any glossy surfaces such as paint, headlights, and glass. I applied two coats of Ceramic Wax Pro with one hour in between coats as instructed by Tim.

And there you have it, Ethos Car Care’s Ceramic Wax Pro applied to my Toyota Supra. In terms of first impressions, I can’t say much because I’ve only just applied the coating. What I can say is that this product provides crazy gloss and provides really good water beading and sheeting capabilities. Only time will tell how it holds up. This post is mainly meant to show my application process. If you’ve been with this channel, you’d know that I like to provide long term real-world reviews of paint protection products and I’ll be doing the same for Ceramic Wax Pro. I’ll periodically make update videos to show you guys how the coating has held up after some real-world use. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and turn on notifications so you don’t miss those videos when they come out.

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Toyota Supra AMS Performance Anti-Wind Buffeting Kit

June 24, 2020 in Automotive, Review

One of the most complained about things that I’ve seen with the new A90 Supra is the wind buffeting issue. If you’re unaware, when driving the Supra with the windows down and depending on the speed, wind will enter the cabin and will very noticeably buffet. This creates a very bad user experience and was a huge oversight on Toyota and BMW’s part.

Because this is such a prominent issue, a few different companies have introduced solutions that basically revolve around the same concept and that is to stick something on the side mirror plates to deflect the oncoming wind.

Today, we are specifically looking at AMS Performance’s MKV Supra Anti-Wind Buffeting Kit. The particular version that I went with has a gloss finish but this particular model is also available in matte carbon and a black ABS plastic version coming soon.

Installation for this product is as easy as can be. The kit comes with preinstalled with double-sided tape and this is used to stick the deflectors on to the mirror plates. That being said, there are some steps that we can take to prep the surface and help to promote better adhesion.

I’m going to start off by washing the area. For this task, I’m specifically using Chemical Guys Mr. Pink. This is a plain car shampoo with no additional additives. You don’t want to use something like a wash and wax because it leaves behind a thin layer of the additive and this can prevent the double-sided tape from adhering properly.

Next, I’m going to do chemical decontamination by using Adam’s Iron Remover. This product adheres to and dissolves iron particles that may have embedded themselves into the surface.

Next, I’m going to mechanically decontaminant the surface with a Meguiar’s Professional clay bar and Mirror Glaze Final Inspection. This process will pick up any remaining contaminants that may be on the surface.

Finally, I’m going to hit the surface with Chemical Guys Wipe Out. This is an isopropyl alcohol mixture that will strip the surface of any oils and residues. This will leave the surface completely bare and ready for the installation of the defectors.

Now, I know some of you may be watching this video and think that I really went the extra mile in preparing the surface. Some people may just stick the deflectors on and call it a day. You can very well do that but the main thing that I want to point out is that because the deflectors are something that we’re going to stick on and likely will not be taking off any time soon, anything that’s on the mirror plate surface will be trapped under the deflectors. They will be protected from any cleaning and depending on the contaminant, can spread and possibly cause damage. I would rather spend some time from the get-go and save myself possible future headaches.

Again, the deflectors come with two strips of double-sided tape preinstalled. I went ahead and added my own tape to create a solid barrier. Without this, there were noticeable gaps where contaminants could seep in and completely defeats the purpose of all the prep that I previously did.

If you think that I’m exaggerating, take a look at this picture of my rear spoiler during the pollen season. It’s completely caked all around the edges. Had I not properly sealed off the edges, all of that will be sitting between the tape, inside the spoiler.

So, for the wind deflectors, I tried to make one solid perimeter of tape. Contaminants will still be able to sit along the outer edges but so can water and that can potentially push the contaminants out rather than having a chunk of empty space in the middle where everything can collect.

Prior to sticking the deflectors onto the mirror plates, peel off a small section of tape’s backing. Crease the backing so that it hangs over the side. Doing this will allow us to position the deflectors without them fully sticking in place and still be able to remove the backing once everything is positioned. When you’re happy with the placement, slowly peel the rest of the backing off. Apply firm pressure to all the taped surface.

One side is complete. Repeat on the other and you’re good to go.

Overall, I would say that I like this product a lot. They do what they’re supposed to and don’t look half bad but I would like to note some quality control issues. This product was originally introduced in a matte finish and the added clear coat finish shown here only recently became available. The clear coat on my deflectors looks pretty good for the most part but there are some inconsistencies. This is mainly on the edges where sections don’t even have clear coat and there’s some apparent pitting. Again, this is on the edge where no one will see so I don’t really mind. However, after installation, I noticed that there were some white lines on the driver’s side deflector. I’m not saying that it is, but upon closer inspection, it looks like there’s a big white water spot about a one and a half inches wide. This spot is definitely under the clear coat and cannot be cleaned off. I have no idea how I missed this and it kind of sucks. It’s just one of those things that once you know it’s there, you’ll never unsee it. I’m currently in contact with AMS and the reseller. Hopefully, they’ll be able to help me out with this issue. Take my situation as a learning experience. If you’re buying these AMS deflectors, make sure to fully inspect them. If you’re worried about damages like I had, just skip the AMS altogether because there are other companies that produce the same thing.