Setec Astronomy

Wow, ok then! Thank you for putting me in my place.

C'mon Dan, people like Rasky, Richie, that auto dermatology guy, etc. don't have YouTube channels. You've been around the forums, back when you were just an "amateur", and you know as well as I do there are plenty of people whose opinions can be trusted. If I go by what you're saying now, I should have scoffed at what you posted years ago as a know-nothing keyboard warrior. That's not to say there aren't ding-dongs on forums, but to lump everyone who doesn't detail full-time into the know-nothing crowd isn't fair or accurate. This is moot anyway, I don't think we're going to convince zippy, he hasn't even visited the forum in 4 months.

Pan and that other guy are not "pros" and are not the kind of people I'm referring to. I'm not talking about people that "play" or test products, or have YouTube channels. I'm talking about people that have second jobs as professional detailers, who have real companies and insurance just like you, but just don't do it full time. And not because they couldn't get their customers to pay the OPT min charge, but just didn't do enough jobs in a month to meet the min buy, if that's even a thing any more.

As a member of some of the forums that zippy is referring to, I have to respectfully disagree. Those are detailing forums in which OPT certified installers participate, as well as pro installers of other coatings, and aren't the kind of uninformed information that you get in detailing threads on "car forums". There was a lot of unhappiness with OPT among the weekend pro installers some years ago when OPT, intentionally or unintentionally, pushed them to other brands by increasing pricing and upping the minimum buy. But more to the point zippy was making, Gloss-Coat has not been as well received on those forums as some other consumer coatings, by very experienced non-pros who have been applying coatings for a long time. And when I say "consumer coatings", I'm not talking about retail, I'm talking about boutique products that 99% of the people in the detail aisle at WalMart or AutoZone have never heard of.

I am almost, almost done with my bottle of Tire Shine so I can switch over to Opti-Bond. I'm with A&J, I prefer more matte, plus Opti-Bond is completely non-greasy, which always boggles my mind. Of course, on my other vehicle I have my ersatz Optimum Tire Coating (Gel Coat Restorer), which is crazy shiny when you put two coats on. Jury still out on whether it dims down over time.

I was never very impressed with the Optimum MF pads, but I got mine perhaps as long as 10 years ago, but they look like the ones pictured at the Optimum store--are they different now? When I say I wasn't impressed, I guess I mostly remember they weren't that durable, the MF and/or velcro would separate from the foam for me. This was way before LC started making MF pads, and Meguiar's improved theirs.

Thanks for posting those!

OPC is a lot different than Ferrex as far as how they clean rubber. FWIW those Nokian WR's, as well as Hakka's, and other "snowflake on the mountain" tires tend to brown a lot because of the rubber compounds used. The browning has nothing to do with brake dust, it has to do with the rubber. If you want to protect against browning and external dirt (brake dust, etc.) your best bet is the tire coating.

Some of us use a rinse bucket so most of that dirt winds up in the rinse bucket, not back in the wash bucket. It's a variant of the "two-bucket method" or 2BM used for conventional wash. When doing rinseless I usually use a smaller wash bucket at full strength, with a rinse bucket at half strength. Put your wash media in the clean bucket, do a section, then rinse in the rinse bucket, scrub against grit guard (if using a washboard) and squeeze out well, then return the media to the wash bucket. If I'm washing a fairly clean car (no wheels) I usually use 1/2 gal in the wash bucket and 2 gallons in the rinse bucket (to get above the grit guard). For a winter wash you'll likely need a gallon or more of wash. And yes, it's a challenge with the salt to get it off the car and avoid streaking.

I've had mine physically break when they get dried polish in there. You can get replacement sprayers out there at places like US Plastics or others, but I've kind of given up on the sprayers and just use a squeeze bottle. That also avoids me spraying my polisher, my arm, or the side of the house. It's possible if you used the spray products more often than I do that the product doesn't dry out in the sprayer, and that your aim gets better.

I'm sorry Ron, methanol (methyl alcohol) isn't anything like MEK (methyl ethyl ketone).

I'm not sure why for a washer fluid the toxicity is an issue, it should mostly evaporate, and if you're worried about it washing down into a storm drain, I'm not sure the fish are really going to like the ethanol any more than the methanol. As far as the flammability, you've already got gasoline in your engine compartment, albeit in a higher quality piping system. My recollection is ethanol is difficult to buy (other than in a liquor store), and of course all alcohols are in short supply now due to the demand for sanitizers. Perhaps Bacardi 151 washer fluid?

I'm not getting the environmental distinction between methanol and IPA, although I believe IPA is safer for humans (via skin absorption...it's certainly safer to drink). It's also much more difficult to depress the freezing point of your water mixture with IPA vs. methanol. A chart I found shows 24% methanol to get to 0°F, while you need 40% IPA to get to the same point. I'm not sure where you live, but if you live in Wisconsin and want to get to -20F, you'll need 70% IPA vs. 35-40% methanol. At any rate, sound like a cool experiment, let us know how it works out. The reason I'm harping on the alcohol/temperature thing is I've never bought alcohol-based commercial wiper fluid that actually made it down to the temp shown on the bottle without freezing. The propylene glycol ones seem to be more "honest".

And that has no effect on your wax or sealant? Or is your car coated?

I have never found foaming to really remove much of anything, other than loose stuff that would probably wash off with water, anyway. That's using regular car wash with a foam gun, not a pressure washer/foam cannon. There are "snow foams" which are popular in Europe that are very strong and are supposed to work better--but they don't really seem to have become a thing here in the US, I'm not sure if there is an environmental regulation which prevents selling a "caustic" product like that for an application in which it will likely be washed down storm drains. Even if you pressure wash, there will still be film on a dirty car that has to be removed mechanically, but you are blasting off most/all of the abrasive grit that way. A few years ago I bought a paint sprayer from Harbor Freight that was shown in a YouTube detailing video being used to apply rinseless wash (this is an electric sprayer that has a pickup tube that you put in a can of paint--or a bucket of ONR), I figured this was kind of like a poor man's pressure washer for doing rinseless wash in the winter on a crusty car when your outside faucet is shut off. So far I have used it....as a piece of furniture--since I haven't even opened the box yet. Some day.