Ask the Detailer

I use tap water...but we have decent county water. I'd say if it was hard water, some distilled wouldn't hurt.

 

In my youtube browsing an add for F11 popped up. I've never heard of it, but I'm not in the detailing world at all. Thoughts, opinions, experiences with it?

https://youtu.be/Wx8ARTVQAXk

 

From everything I've read and talking with a coworker that enjoys detailing his Corvette...its over rated. Not a terrible product, but not really worth what people that use it or people that advertise make it out to be. Lots of others on here agree with me, but there are a few that would quickly disagree too.

 

Good to know. I had just not heard of it and figured somebody here would have some info on it. Do you know what your Corvette coworker prefers instead of this? Just curious.

 

I've never used it, but it has a very big following among the motorcycle community. A friend uses it on his Harley and swears by it. My sense is that it's over-hyped and overpriced. There are comparable products out there that do the same thing for less money.

 

Wait a minute. Are we talking about the F11 or Harleys?

In all seriousness, this was my suspicion. That's why I asked in here. I know that if anybody has used it I'll get a straight honest answer.

 

From everything I’ve heard from past research, it is overhyped. Never used it personally.

 

Nice list. I use most of these.. I like to apply two coats of Jescar Powerlock+ (on black) then use Beadmaker as a rinsing aid after every wash. On my wife’s metallic grey RDX I use one coat Jescar Powerlock+ and then one coat Collonite 845, then Beadmaker after every wash.
I did two coats JP+ and then one coat C845 on my new black truck and wish I would have stopped at the two coats JP+.

 

Another member here had gotten some samples, but never used it. He sent it to me last year to try. I used it on half of my daughter’s car, and Turtle Wax Seal and Shine on the other. The $6.00 bottle of Turtle Wax outperformed it by a wide margin. The F11 lasted maybe two or three weeks. The Turtle Wax didn’t last very long itself, but at least twice as long as F11.

F11 is widely regarded as the biggest scam in detailing, and my results bore that out.

This is after 9 days:


https://www.tundras.com/threads/turtle-wax-seal-and-shine-vs-topcoat-f11.48990/#post-1288920

 

I love Powerlock, it really does a great job. The only drawback is that it requires more labor than spray sealants. In my opinion, it makes grey look better than anything else does. Of course, a lot of people disagree with me that different products look better on certain colors than others do.

I’ve never seen why everyone wants to put Collinite on top of it. It looks great on it’s own, and I don’t think adding the wax makes enough difference to justify the extra work. That’s just my perception though.

 

Wow. Those vids are pretty damning.

 

Depends what you are looking to achieve. JP+ gives it that high gloss look, adding C845 on top adds a deep warm tone to it.

 

I tried to be as objective as possible. I think it’s the only time I used video in a review. I know there are people who swear by it, so I wanted people to see exactly what I did.

The main takeaway is that even if it worked as advertised, it can’t possibly live up to the price.

 

I do think wax adds an extra pop a lot of times. It’s just that Powerlock is already labor intensive compared to spray sealants. Adding wax on top is double the work, for not a ton of gain. (Not to mention you do two coats of Powerlock.) To be fair, I only did it once and didn’t see a need to try it again.

Funny thing is I say all of this, but I put wax on my wife’s Sequoia yesterday. Powerlock was applied to it last fall, and I put Griots 3 in 1 Ceramic Wax on it in early February.

How long would you say the Collinite is lasting for you?

 

Not sure, but I only use it when I want a deeper wax like look. Both are easy to apply. The most labor intensive is the claying and polishing prep work. The rest is a breeze.

 

Why is Powerlock more labor intensive? Just that it's not a spray? I'm leaning towards giving it a try... Beadmaker is a good option on top of that and not a wax?

 

Personally, I don’t think Beadmaker lasts more than a couple weeks so I just use it as a drying aid. You’ll have to decide if the cost is worth it, but I like the fresh pop it gives after a wash.

 

Yes, what he said, and Reload is good too!
I bought 5 gallons of Bead Maker for $126 shipped. Otherwise I would go with Reload.

 

Just dawn dish soap and an old shirt. Lol jk. He's a gyeon(spelling) guy. Said him and his dad been ordering it for years. No personal experience with that one either, butbhave heard good things.

 

Correct. Not like it is a massive chore, but it does take a lot more effort and time compared to a spray product.

In my experience, Beadmaker doesn’t bond to Powerlock very well. It doesn’t last as long as it does on it’s own or on top of Hydro2 or Gyeon Wetcoat.

It’s extremely popular among detailers to put Collinite 845 wax on top of Powerlock. So much so that I almost never hear of people only doing Powerlock. I personally don’t feel it’s either necessary or worth it, but I’m definitely in the minority there.

 

Prices vary, but F11 was about $4.00 an ounce when I tested it. Reload is currently $2.38 an ounce on Amazon. I can just about promise that no one who’s ever used both would say F11 was better.

 

The durability of Beadmaker seems to vary a ton among users. One problem is most of us are using it as a topper for another product. I generally put it on top of Hydro2 and see about 3-4 weeks before it starts wearing off.
@NewImprovedRon put it on by itself and at last report had gotten several months out of it.

 

Just finished reading 75 pages (took a few evenings to do this) and appreciate all of the advice, recommendations and shopping lists.
Thank you War Machine and other regular contributors for the sound advice and for sharing your experience with so many of the products!

 

If you read through several years of posts you probably noticed I’ve changed my mind on a few things..

 

Adam and Jose?

 

You're quite the warrior if you read all those pages....or quarantine has you incredibly bored. I got started detailing in earnest a while ago, and have bought more product than I can ever hope to use, usually by reacting to hype. Fortunately, there are some very good detailing products available over the counter now....not so much a few years back. Best of luck with your eventual choices.....keep us posted as to your progress

 

Hey - not bored so much as want to do this right. Always done my cars but more old school, wash, hand wax, etc. and am not happy to pay someone to detail a vehicle and not have it done as well as possible. Kind of like a gardener who comes and just mows and blows vs me who mows, trims, maintains, check sprinklers, etc. As the saying goes (most times) if you want it done right - do it yourself. That’s why it made the read interesting. Great information!