Testing out some new products..

[Eldorado2k]

Hey all, Happy Labor day weekend.
Perfect time to relax and try out some of the goodies I recently ordered.. 1st up was APC D101 diluted 10.1
I don't usually let my floormat get to this point, but I wanted a real test subject to get a proper feel for D101.



So far APC gets thumbs up. Impressive cleaning power. Especially considering how little concentrate can to this [10.1]



Next up was D114 at 1.128 to be used as a waterless wash.
OCD ensured proper diliution ratio



This stuff worked great! My car was pretty dirty as you can probably guess by this microfiber towel. [I followed with a clean towel to wipe dry] Again, I wanted to put it to a real test. Lots of grit and unknown gunk from a tree wiped off so effortlessly. This is just off my hood & trunklid.. I used 1 side for the hood and the other on the trunk. It looks scary, but if you look closly at the towel you should eventually see proper technique was used. Lol



Next I want to try APC 10.1 to clean the interior of my dads Toyota Tacoma which is in need of a major transformation. Imo the dash and door panels are beyond using a towel to begin cleaning, so I picked up these sponges to scrub the vinyl dash & door panels. I'm gonna follow it with clean terry towels. Is this an ok choice? Or what's the normL approach to clean with D101?

[Scott's 62]

Re: Testing out some new products..

D101 is my go to APC. If your dads truck is that bad you shouldn't have much trouble with D101 and a little scrubbing. Btw what method did you use to clean your floormat? looks great.

[Eldorado2k]

Thx. I just scrubbed evenly [vertical then horizontal] with that little rectangle scrub brush I found at the 99. store.. Everything on this cart came from the 99. store and serves good purpose. Tire brushes, the gray bristle brush is super gentle and cleans my canvas top, scrub brush for leather interior, masking tape, fake shammy for drying underneath bumpers & door wells, mini black microfiber pad washes rims only... Pretty good deals on stuff that doesn't have to touch the paint. I like to save a buck! Lol.

[Eldorado2k]

I need to buy a quality tire gel applicator though.. That 1 there is pretty useless.

[Eldorado2k]

scubbed mat then lifted dirt off with a clean terry cloth towel*
It took 2 applications.

[The Guz]

Re: Testing out some new products..

/nice job on the carpet. APC is good stuff. I have lots of D103 myself.

You should try a soft bristled brush on your dads tacoma with APC. That should work just fine. Even though the pads say scratch free I would still consider a soft bristled brush. If the area's are not textured then a towel will be all you need.

As far as tire applicators I just got some of these and they work great.

http://www.autogeek.net/tire-applicator.html

I also bought two of these. They work ok

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lake-Country-Tire-Dressing-Applicator-2-PACK-/121316677221?hash=item1c3f099665&item=121316677221&pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr

[Eldorado2k]

Wow I don't think I've ever seen dirt come off quite like that
The little sponges are working great. I just chucked the 1st one cuz it was done full of dirt.. However, I just learned not to ever wipe down interior with terry cloth towels again. Lol. I planned to finish up with Gold Class leather cleaner & conditioner and a microfiber so it should be ok..

Seeing dirt come off like that makes you want to go for more. And there's alot more areas to go. And that's not including scrubbing the carpet if I decide to.[which I probably will, tomorrow] It's time for a beer break though! Lol.

[Eldorado2k]

@Guz. I kinda like the little round peg shaped applicator that I've seen the Junkman talk about in a vid.. I havnt looked for it though. These cheap ones just fold & bend too easy and that's no bueno.
That 3 pk. seems a bit pricy if you add shipping. Plus why would a person need 3 unless they fall apart? Just sayin. Lol

[Jarhead0754]

Why not wipe the interior down with the terry? Also at Walmart they have a tire applicator for like $4 and its real nice with a handle. Only problem is the foam pad doesn't come off. But that's ok with me since its just my tires I'm using it for. If u really wanted to u could wash it. I'de put the link up but can't on my iPhone. Just do a search on their site with tire shine applicator.

[Eldorado2k]

@Jarhead. Because of lint.. But on second thought, I've got an endless supply of terry cloth towels, so I won't be giving up on them over a bit of lint.

And yea I know what kind of applicator you're talking about. I think I'll go with that 1.

BTW, my dads interior was pretty gross...



It went from this...



To this.



I still need to APC the carpet, but it's an improvment from b4.

[The Guz]

Re: Testing out some new products..

Nice transformation.

[Eldorado2k]

@The Guz. I can't tell you how right you were about using a soft bristled brush instead of those sponges...
I used D101 to clean the leather seats in my Cadillac [daily driver which hadn't had a thorough cleaning to the seats in a few months] and decided to try one of those sponges 1st.. While there's no doubt some dirt came up, the innitial results were lackluster..
Then I tried my soft bristled brush and got the kind of results I was expecting!

Moral of the story, proper tools = proper results And D101 does a heck of a nice job to clean leather.. Now I'm going to follow up with D181 [which I'll be trying out for the 1st time]

[The Guz]

Re: Testing out some new products..

Glad to hear I could help. Let me know how you like D181. I had my eyes on it while I was at Autopalooza last weekend.

[Eldorado2k]

Ok 1st of all my mistake, it's actually D180 not D181 that I have..

I followed the directions and used a new Megs soft foam pad to apply. I made sure to cover all areas of the front pass. seat and rub the lotion in well enough and let it sit for a couple min. before following with a clean microfiber towel to wipe up any exess.. Innitial thoughts were ok but I didn't like working with the little foam applicator at all compared to my usual method of folding a 16"x16" microfiber in 4's. I like to be able to cover a larger area sometimes and the foam pad feels too small to be able to handle that.. I had cleaned the front seats with APC the day prior, so this was more of a conditioning step on this 1st test..

Anyways, having vaccumed the whole interior just over a day ago I decided to try some on the dash. When I was done applying it the whole side of the foam pad was loaded with gunk/dirt and it made me wonder if this stuff is on another level of cleaning power.

So in order to find out I did a 50/50 on my rear seats.. No one hardly ever sits back there so other than the dust that collects from open windows, the back seat has remained pretty clean since my heavy duty leather recon a few months back when I used Soft Scrub [yes you heard me right, Soft Scrub bathroom cleaner] which left my seats and vinyl door panels looking about as new and supple as humanly possible.

Back to my quik review..
I used 2 new foam applicators. 1 with D180 and the other half of the backseat using Gold Class leather cleaner & conditioner spray. I made sure to give the leather the usual pre cleaning vaccum to remove any surface dust/dirt.
Innitial thoughts: Gold Class smells alot better IMO.. Maybe I've been used to that familiar scent for so long and just love it.
Cleaning ability: Draw. From this test on a pretty clean surface I'd call it even. When I 1st examined the pads it seemed like D180 had cleaned up slightly more dirt than GC. But in this photo it looks about even enough.

D180:left Gold Class:right



Now for looks and feel..
Well I must say that my innitial thoughts about D180 were not so pleasing.. After wiping off exess from both sides the D180 felt 'tacky' where the Gold Class left a natural clean and dry to the touch surface immediatly. After 20min. the D180 still felt tacky.. However, after having all afternoon to 'cure' I'm happy to report the D180 is feeling normL and no longer tacky..
Feel: Gold Class.

Looks: As of right now, even.
Both sides look identical right now.. But the D180 had a different kind of look when 1st applied.. I don't really know how to describe it other than I liked how GC left a more neat almost 'matte' finish, where D180 shined in a way that was borderline greasy to go with the tacky feel._.

BUT both sides look & feel identical Now.. Hmm.
D180:



Gold Class:



Final thoughts: Just my 2cents on 1st time using. Not my final judgment by any chance but.. If I had the choice at this moment to buy a gallon of Gold Class leather cleaner & conditioner or D180 I'd choose Gold Class without a doubt. I preffer being able to spray it. I preffer the smell of it. I strongly dislike having to apply D180 with a small foam pad [even though the surface is ideal. Just dislike the size & feel of it.] I'll be applying D180 with a microfiber from now on..
But prefferences aside, if D101 APC does such a spectacular job of actually 'cleaning' leather seats, [it even recommends using D101 prior to D180 for severly soiled areas on the back label of D180] and you're already happy with Gold Class as your 'conditioner' then you should stay happy. I'm happy either ways.. I'd be even happier if Gold Class spray was sold in the gallon! Lol

Thanks for reading.

[Eldorado2k]

Side note: My backseat which was cleaned with bleach free Soft Scrub over 6 months ago remains clean to this day.. My front seats which were cleaned with D101 a couple days ago are once again clean as well... The only area inside my car which is leather/vinyl that I've never cleaned with either? The top of the dash.. I figured it'd be a PITA to clean up there and didn't want to deal with all the splatter from using my bristle brush near the defog & windshield area.. Turns out my dash is about is in need of a deep cleaning! Look at what came off compared to the seats! Lol :p