Finally Jumped on the Bandwagon - NanoSkin AutoScrub Mitt (Fine Grade)

[zmcgovern45]

Clay alternatives have been taking over the market for what seems like the last couple of years. I first remember seeing the Speed Prep Towels, but just couldn't justify spending the price when I really had no major complaints about "traditional claying".

As more and more of these products have been introduced, my curiosity had finally peaked and I decided to purchase the Optimum Opti-Eraser (Fine Grade and Heavy Grade) earlier this year (February?). I decided to give these a shot for one main reason - it was cheap. (Bear with me... this all leads to the NanoSkin Wash Mitt review) I felt like if I bought it and didn't like it - oh well, only a few bucks wasted.



I tried it out on my wife's car which we had just bought. It was a 2010 Mazda CX7 that had probably never been decontaminated. The Opti-Eraser "worked" - I mean it removed the contaminates from the surface, but I didn't like using it.


^After a few swipes on the hood (I tried both fine and heavy - I had the same impressions about both of them).

The opti-eraser was extremely "grabby" meaning it did not slide across the paint, and believe me - I was using PLENTY of clay lubricant. The Eraser provided no feedback (sound or feel), so you could not tell if the contaminates had been removed. It didn't seem to leave any marring behind, but my wife's paint is relatively hard so I wasn't expecting it to. I tried it again later on a Jet Black M3 and that was a different story, but as we all know - that paint can be a nightmare no matter what you touch it with.

Long story short - I did not have a good time with my first "clay alternative" and left it sitting on the shelf for the past 8 months or so. I occasionally use it to remove contaminates from glass, but that is about it.



Now on to the NanoSkin...



A couple of weeks ago, I was working on a gigantic Lexus GX470 - some of you may have seen the Show N' Shine Thread: One Giant Lexus Gets a One Step Correction & Opti-Coat Installation

This car was ridiculously contaminated, and I finally felt myself "hating" the claying process after 2 hours of working on it. I rarely work on anything larger than a large sedan, but this SUV pushed me to my limits when it came to claying. Afterwards, I began looking into clay alternatives again. I really liked the idea of the NanoSkin mitt so I decided that would be my next attempt to conform to the 'clay alternative ways of detailing'. After browsing several threads, I decided the fine grade mitt seemed to do the trick for the vast majority of the population so that is what I chose as well.

My first (and only - so far) victim would be a jet black Toyota Avalon. As many of you probably know - this is super soft, finicky paint. For this reason, I was expecting the mitt to leave behind some marring. I was planning a full correction on the vehicle, so I was not worried about any minor defects that it might leave behind.

Prior to using the mitt, the vehicle was foamed with a heavy concentration of CG Citrus Wash, Rinsed, Washed with a similar mixture of Citrus Wash, Blown mostly dry, Iron X'd, Rinsed, and then I went to work with the Nanoskin Mitt. I decided I wanted to try to use the mitt using only a concentrated shampoo mixture as lube, so I mixed 4oz of CW&G into my gilmour foammaster II and sprayed the windshield - I broke in the mitt on the glass, as recommended by the manufacturer. Apparently there is a thin film that covers the "clay" surface that is used for protection before the product is used - this film needs to be removed before rubbing the mitt on the paint, and the best way to remove it is to rub the mitt on a glass surface.

After 'claying' the glass, I moved to the hood. I sprayed 1/2 the hood with foam, dunked my mitt in a clean bucket of soapy water for additional lubrication, and gently started rubbing the surface. I used little to no pressure - just the weight of my hand, and moderate speed as I waved my hand side to side. I worked in sections about 2'x2' and would dunk my mitt back into my soapy solution to rinse it off before moving to another section (I would apply foam to the surface as needed).

I was very pleased with the feedback that this product provided as I was working. I could easily hear and feel the contamination as I was rubbing the mitt on the surface, and I could just as easily hear and feel when it had been removed. The larger area of the mitt (compared to traditional clay) produced much quicker results that were equal to (if not better) than traditional clay in terms of decontamination removal.

I made my way around the car - working on horizontal surfaces and then vertical surfaces, rinsing each section as I went so the soap would not dry on the paint (although it was night time and rather cool out - better safe than sorry). I then dried the car off and pulled it in for inspection.

As expected - the mitt had marred the surface. As I already stated, the Toyota Jet Black Paint is some of the softest paint I have ever touched so I was actually surprised at the minor amount of marring that was there.


^I circled the areas where you can see the marring left by the mitt. (yes the rest of the paint was destroyed, but the mitt did not do that!) Just for the heck of it, I decided to see how light this marring was - I was able to remove it with Menzerna SF4500 on a white polishing pad (I did not try any less aggressive pads), so that goes to show it was very light.

*Note: I should have also tried a section using my NanoSkin Glide lubricant instead of the foam solution to see if that made a difference in marring, sorry!


After a quick baggie test on a few random areas, I confirmed the mitt had done its job and removed the vast majority of bonded contaminates from the surface.


Pros
- Excellent Feedback (you can hear and feel the contaminates being removed)
- Works well at removing bonded contaminates
- Quicker than traditional clay due to the larger surface area
- Supposedly lasts longer than traditional clay
- Can simply be rinsed off if you drop it on the floor

Cons
- Somewhat pricey (more of a concern for enthusiasts/hobbyists)
- Can leave more marring that traditional clay, therefore I would only recommend using IF you have time to do a light polish afterwards

Overall I was extremely pleased with the product and plan to use it on any vehicle that will be receiving a paint correction to help speed up my decontamination process.

I was able to clean wheels and tires, foam, rinse, wash, iron x, rinse, autoscrub in 2 hours... I would estimate that the autoscrub portion only took 20-30 minutes, and a Toyota Avalon is NOT a small vehicle.



Complete write up of the Toyota can be seen here: Detail for Charity... well, kinda. Trashed Toyota Avalon - Corrected and Coated.


Thanks for looking!!!

-Zach

[cleanmycorolla]

Excellent job and write up! I too recently used nanoskin for the first time, I used the fine grade sponge, did an excellent job!

As always nice work on the car and write up!

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Very nice in depth review Zach. I haven't used any clay alternatives yet. But this one sounds like a winner.

[KMG]

Nice review Zach. I have been using the Nanoskin autoscrub speedy prep sponge on the last few cars I have done and really like it.

[zmcgovern45]

Thanks guys - I look forward to using the Nanoskin mitt some more in the future.

[c8n]

Great review.

Would like to add that I have used the Nanoskin towel fine grade by soaking it in D114 solution at 1oz to 2 gallon of water as lube while the car was still wet with no ill effects on my black Acura paint.

[zmcgovern45]

Great review.

Would like to add that I have used the Nanoskin towel fine grade by soaking it in D114 solution at 1oz to 2 gallon of water as lube while the car was still wet with no ill effects on my black Acura paint.

Good to know! I am planning on soaking it in ONR and using Glide as my lubricant next time to see how that works.

[scottt60514]

I used a fine grade 6" autoscrub pad on my HF polisher with good results. I couldn't have been more pleased with how fast and easy it was to clean the paint. I've never used clay but there is no way it could go as fast. I had no issues with marring or residue. My lube was a stronger than normal dilution of my usual wash soap. I did learn not to leave the pad upside down in the sun to dry. It stuck to my patio table!

[KS_Detailing]

Nice review I've thought about trying out the Nanoskin mitt. I need to find somewhere that sells clay in bulk.

[07gtcs]

Good to know! I am planning on soaking it in ONR and using Glide as my lubricant next time to see how that works.

I soaked mine in an ONR Rinseless solution, and then used a QD solution for lube. Worked great !