Here we go guys !
@nickisokay
Sun's out as predicted. Alarm was set for 5.30am. A near full day on mine and the wife's car beckons. Mine is pretty clean. The wifes much-much less so; seeing its last bucket of soapy water and a wash-mitt well over a month ago.
Needless to say some of the products i will be using on mine, some on both cars and some just on the wifes (As appropriate) to give these products a little more of a workout of some more normal / harsher test conditions. Some i even 'randomly' tried on household items as detailed in the write-ups.
So:
SHAMPOO:
Tried this on my wheels first - as they weren't caked in brake dust - and only wanted a going over. I also find brake dust / wheel grime seems to really eat-up a shampoos ability to foam up. So thought THIS might actually be the acid test.
Colour. Lovely....just look at it. Pleasing to see right off the bat. Smell: i'm not great at this; but it was definitely fruity. Not overpowering - just smelt nice and not too strong. Which if happens - you sometimes have to wonder whats in the product with other brands. And with the soapy water in my bucket i got reminded of it occasionally as the wind blew a whiff under my nose. Perhaps a hint of Melon or something else quite subtle in there ???
I'm not sure i quite used enough on the first mix and although the foaming ability was ok i would have perhaps liked a bit more. In saying that it held that soapyness throughout the bucket and lubricating wise it felt just fine. Infact better than most PH neutral / mild shampoos.
The second bucket (1 bucket for two wheels is my normal regime) i used a little more product [Maybe 8 squirts from the dispenser) and i had more foam and the same cleaning power. No issues at all with this and seemed very capable.....
Glossstar Iron Star:
The wifes wheels hadnt seen cleaning action for over a month - as opposed to my slightly dusty efforts. So this was the obvious place to start:
Smelt RANK coming out of the bottle - but hey.....all these Iron products do. But the cleaning power of it was superb and nothing less.
I did find today (VERY warm and with a drying wind) it dried very quickly. But again - that could be more about the conditions - and not the product.
I rinsed with a hose only (Not everyone has a pressure washer). And the results for a completely contact-less clean were awesome. Purpled up amazingly, dragged the dust off brilliantly and rinsed easily. And look at the pic. Brilliant stuff....
Glosstar Active Snowfoam:
This is again where things got really interesting. I tried this on the wife's car as hers was minging ! We'd had a sand-infused rain-storm here at some point - and her car had more earth on it than most of my garden.
So mixed some in the lance with hot water and away i went. Cling factor was good - smell was pleasant but mild.
And me being me - decided to be quite harsh in terms of a test and rinse off with a hose. This stuff was fantastic. Dragged so much away it was untrue. As much as some reasonably well rated Snow-foams i've tried.......although i havn't had enough 'proper' goes with Bilt-hammer on mine as yet to get a really good impression and comparison of a top-rated foam.
Below is the boot that was absolutely crud-bound; after applying and rinsing only.
And the whole car:
The Glossstar stuff was good. Very good. Exceptional infact (?) Very impressed Nick......
Glosstar Glass Star:
First spray and it hit me this contained alot of Alchohol (?). The smell was very strong. Thats no bad thing
Infact that boded very well as the quick drying / non smear properties looked like they'd be very good.
I sprayed on and initially wiped off with a clean white kitchen tissue to see if i could see what it was removing (Despite the instructions to use a microfibre). And the results were clear to see on the towel. Quite impressive !
When i first sprayed it on and wiped across in order to clean the glass - there was a very obvious rainbow effect. and i expected this to evaporate and clear quite quickly. I did find i had to work a little to remove this though with the microfibre towel. In saying that the finish was very good. I always find glass a very-very hard subject to clean. Streak-free at least. So perhaps this is more a reflection [No pun intended !] on my high standards and the difficulty i've always had with what looks to be a simple task - but i've always found otherwise......
I also took the opportunity of trying to clean a household mirror and my computer monitor. The monitor came out very-very well. [And i do struggle with this normally !] Full kudos. The glass - again i had to work a little harder than some products to remove the final "residue / remnants" of the product. But once off the finish was extremely good. Top effort !
Glosstar Gloss Spray:
Once again i chose to slightly ignore the instructions - and apply and rub in / wipe off with a single microfibre. This was more so i could compare to my usual QD gloss and its application.
This stuff went on smoooooooth. VERY easy to apply - and far less grabby. No smearing when used sparingly and the finished look is great. And alot went along way. I did the car in not many minutes and used hardly an product.
Not quite as shiny looking as the Sonax BSD that is my normal choice - but not too far off.
It will be really interesting to see how this holds up and how / if it beads when it rain. Because that is where the Sonax excels. I also topped mine up today after trying on the wife's and finding how easy and fast it was too apply. That should be enough to tell you how i felt about it !!
Nice product once again.
So........today's sun-baked "Money-Shot" of mine !
Overall a really fine set of products i enjoyed using and trying, a brilliant achievement by Nick to get these out-there and you should rightly be very proud of both yourself and your products. I would be more than happy to use any of these on my car again. And a couple stand out as a cut above many out there. Very well done to you Nick !
And seeing as i'm meeting up with someone from this very forum tonight; with Nick's blessing - i'm going to pass the baton over so to speak and give the whole array of products to someone else to try, and so that Nick can get some more feedback.
Thanks for the opportunity Nick, and thanks for reading everyone.