Category Archives: Detailing

Turtle Wax Exterior 1 Waterless Wash Wins

Turtle Wax, a leader in the consumer car cleaning sector, has come out with a smashing lineup of products, including a Turtle Wax Waterless Wash and Wax, labeled Exterior 1. Often times car owners are faced with a dirty car and no access to water, hoses and buckets. This product allows a car to be cleaned with just the spray bottle of waterless cleaner.Bottle

Dirty Car

Our test car was a 1968 Camaro that unfortunately was parked outside when a sudden and dusty rain storm hit. The dust stayed after the rain went away and spotted the car immensely. Of course the green and silver paint really showed the Arizona dirt. So this presented the perfect opportunity to try out Turtle Wax’s product.Rain and Dirt Attacks 68 Camaro

Applying Turtle Wax Waterless Wash Exterior 1

Now there is a technique to using these styles of cleaners. Get a clean microfiber cloth, the thicker the better, and fold the towel into quarters. That will give you four surfaces to work with on each side of the towel. As you spray on the Turtle Wax Exterior 1, cover one panel of the car, at a time. Dirty Hood

You’ll see that the liquid will actually cover the panel and gently lifts up the dirt from the surface. Use an edge of the microfiber towel and gently drag it over the surface, with the cloth just barely touching the paint.

You do NOT want to rub hard or go around in circular motions. That creates a risk of the dreaded “swirls” in your paint. Just a gentle glide over the metal will grab the liquid and the dirt. On you next pass, just move the towel up an inch or so to expose a fresh, new swatch of material. Repeat until the whole panel is clean. Repeat the process over the entire car. Change out the quarter of the microfiber as each section gets dirty.

Exterior 1

The bottle contains 26 ounces and I used about two thirds on the whole Chevy. This include the glass and hubcaps.Glass Cleaned with Waterless Washa nd Wax

The result was a clean car with no dirt or residue. If you find some tree sap or bird droppings on the car, just saturate the offending matter, and it will generally come off with a little prodding.

The scent is pleasing with a slight lemon hint. It comes out clear and did a great job eliminating the rain induced dirt.After use of Turtle Wax Waterless Wash and Wax

This would be a great product for a road trip, where your hotel might be objecting to you dragging out buckets of soapy water in the garage. For those of you facing water shortages and car wash limits, this is a viable option as well. I know I’ll be utilizing this on my next road trip, how about you?

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Detailing Brush – at last its’ ATLASTA

car detailing brush
ATLASTA’s soft tip detailing brush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the joys of attending the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturer’s Association) show is seeing the vendors.  Nothing beats a chance to see in-person new products and hear from the company representatives directly what is “new and improved”.  That’s why we prowl not only the million square feet at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the SEMA show but attend the simultaneous and just as huge AAPEX (Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo) show at the Sands Convention Center and that’s where we found this great detailing brush.

ATLASTA

This ATLASTA SoftTip detailing brush at first blush, might seem too bulky or stiff for fine detail work on a car, but nothing could be farther from the truth.  This brush feels like a natural extension of your hand and the TRIALOY filament bristles are like silk.

This “Made in the USA” brush comes from a great pedigree of brushes, as it is part of the Paint Brush Corporation.  Don’t recognize that name?  Not surprising, but if you ever have held a parts cleaning brush over a vat of carbon cleaning chemicals, odds are that brush was made by the Parts Brush Division of the Paint Brush Corporation.  And the owner of this company wanted a quality detailing brush.  So he used his years of expertise and product knowledge to design the ATLASTA SoftTip brush.

Brush in action

Detailing brush
Car detailing brush from ATLASTA

This brush is hands down the best detailing brush we have ever used and trust us we’ve used tons of brushes over the years.  The ergonomic detailing brush measures just under ten inches and weighs a lightweight 4.3 ounces.  We haven’t found a spot on any of our cars that this brush can’t reach and it removes any debris or dust without any risk of scratches or swirls.  For more details on this detailing brush,  click here.

Their motto sums it up -  “only one grade… the very best.”