Tweet
Having established what I think is a pretty solid car care routine for my new Hyundai, I'm beginning to experiment a bit with different products, purely out of curiosity. For the past two months, I've been using Endurance Trigger Spray as my tire dressing of choice, and I've been very pleased with its appearance. I have yet to put its longevity to the test, as I typically wash my car every 5-7 days.
That said, as I'm beginning to detail the occasional car for a friend or family member, I want to be able to offer a couple different product options based on my "client's" preference. While I tend to stay away from gel-type tire dressings these days as a result of difficulty I have had in the past with removing such a dressing, I've learned a lot about cleaning techniques and products thanks to MOL, so I thought I'd give gel dressings another try. AG recently offered Blackfire's Long Lasting Tire Gel as a BOGO deal which I decided to take advantage of - Blackfire claims that their gel contains no petroleum distillates, which makes me think it may be an easier dressing to remove (thereby limiting buildup). Considering how happy I was with the Endurance Spray that I had been using, I ordered a bottle of the Endurance Gel, also.
My plan is to test out all three products, comparing both their durability and appearance over time. I'm going to continue to wash my car as usual, but I will not be cleaning the tire that I'm using to evaluate the these dressings until all three have lost their shine. My car is driven about 20 miles on a daily basis and kept outdoors 24/7, so the test tire will be exposed to a fair amount of South Florida heat, humidity, and rain. I plan on taking pictures of the tire every day, and updating this thread every few days. I'm guessing that this test will last for 2-3 weeks, but we'll see!
I started by cleaning the test tire to the best of my ability - it was soaked in Super Degreaser @ 4:1 for about five minutes, scrubbed with a tire brush, rinsed, soaked in APC+ @ 4:1, scrubbed again, rinsed, and soaked a second time in SD, scrubbed, rinsed, and dried. Despite this thorough cleaning, the tire still looks pretty good, even though it feels dry and non-greasy to the touch - definitely a testament to the durability of the Endurance Spray that had been used up until now.
After cleaning, I divided the tire into thirds, and applied each product using a foam applicator sponge from SM Arnold (I used a different applicator for each product to avoid cross-contamination). I prefer this type of applicator over the curved kind, as the curve never seems to match up to my tire quite right. I'm also a big fan of the built-in case, which makes it easy to store the applicator for future use without having to deal with a greasy plastic bag. I typically get about two months of weekly use out of an applicator before the foam begins to fall apart.
After waiting for the recommended ten minutes for the first coat to dry a bit, I applied a second coat of all three dressings.
I then removed the tape dividing the three sections...
... and took some close-up shots.
As you can see, the Blackfire has a noticeably higher gloss than either Endurance product, but then, Endurance isn't really intended to be the glossiest dressing in Meg's consumer line (hence the name). It would probably be more fair to compare the Blackfire gel to Hot Shine, but I didn't have any of that on hand.
It's also interesting to note that the Endurance Spray seems to be marginally more glossy than the Endurance Gel. I applied both products in the same manner, taking care to work the dressings into the grooves of the tire as much as possible for an even appearance, as well as to lessen the chance of sling. I think that the Spray tends to even itself out better than the Gel, whereas the Gel requires a bit more focus on carefully spreading it around the tire with the applicator.
I'd also like to note that the flip-top cap on the Blackfire bottle, combined with the fact that the Blackfire gel is fairly runny, makes getting the gel onto the applicator a messy affair. The Endurance Gel bottle cap is slightly better. Frankly, while I love Meg's products, I'm less than impressed with the bottles they choose to sell their consumer line of products in. I much prefer the self-cleaning bottles from the MF system - If I decide to continue using either gel in the future, I'll definitely be putting them in a better dispenser.
That wraps it up for now. As I said, I'll update this thread every few days with pictures, mileage driven, and weather conditions.
That said, as I'm beginning to detail the occasional car for a friend or family member, I want to be able to offer a couple different product options based on my "client's" preference. While I tend to stay away from gel-type tire dressings these days as a result of difficulty I have had in the past with removing such a dressing, I've learned a lot about cleaning techniques and products thanks to MOL, so I thought I'd give gel dressings another try. AG recently offered Blackfire's Long Lasting Tire Gel as a BOGO deal which I decided to take advantage of - Blackfire claims that their gel contains no petroleum distillates, which makes me think it may be an easier dressing to remove (thereby limiting buildup). Considering how happy I was with the Endurance Spray that I had been using, I ordered a bottle of the Endurance Gel, also.
My plan is to test out all three products, comparing both their durability and appearance over time. I'm going to continue to wash my car as usual, but I will not be cleaning the tire that I'm using to evaluate the these dressings until all three have lost their shine. My car is driven about 20 miles on a daily basis and kept outdoors 24/7, so the test tire will be exposed to a fair amount of South Florida heat, humidity, and rain. I plan on taking pictures of the tire every day, and updating this thread every few days. I'm guessing that this test will last for 2-3 weeks, but we'll see!
I started by cleaning the test tire to the best of my ability - it was soaked in Super Degreaser @ 4:1 for about five minutes, scrubbed with a tire brush, rinsed, soaked in APC+ @ 4:1, scrubbed again, rinsed, and soaked a second time in SD, scrubbed, rinsed, and dried. Despite this thorough cleaning, the tire still looks pretty good, even though it feels dry and non-greasy to the touch - definitely a testament to the durability of the Endurance Spray that had been used up until now.
After cleaning, I divided the tire into thirds, and applied each product using a foam applicator sponge from SM Arnold (I used a different applicator for each product to avoid cross-contamination). I prefer this type of applicator over the curved kind, as the curve never seems to match up to my tire quite right. I'm also a big fan of the built-in case, which makes it easy to store the applicator for future use without having to deal with a greasy plastic bag. I typically get about two months of weekly use out of an applicator before the foam begins to fall apart.
After waiting for the recommended ten minutes for the first coat to dry a bit, I applied a second coat of all three dressings.
I then removed the tape dividing the three sections...
... and took some close-up shots.
As you can see, the Blackfire has a noticeably higher gloss than either Endurance product, but then, Endurance isn't really intended to be the glossiest dressing in Meg's consumer line (hence the name). It would probably be more fair to compare the Blackfire gel to Hot Shine, but I didn't have any of that on hand.
It's also interesting to note that the Endurance Spray seems to be marginally more glossy than the Endurance Gel. I applied both products in the same manner, taking care to work the dressings into the grooves of the tire as much as possible for an even appearance, as well as to lessen the chance of sling. I think that the Spray tends to even itself out better than the Gel, whereas the Gel requires a bit more focus on carefully spreading it around the tire with the applicator.
I'd also like to note that the flip-top cap on the Blackfire bottle, combined with the fact that the Blackfire gel is fairly runny, makes getting the gel onto the applicator a messy affair. The Endurance Gel bottle cap is slightly better. Frankly, while I love Meg's products, I'm less than impressed with the bottles they choose to sell their consumer line of products in. I much prefer the self-cleaning bottles from the MF system - If I decide to continue using either gel in the future, I'll definitely be putting them in a better dispenser.
That wraps it up for now. As I said, I'll update this thread every few days with pictures, mileage driven, and weather conditions.
Comment