santov
06-08-2009, 04:08 AM
This review is for the D170 on exterior trim. I need to play with this product some more before I try using it on the interiors. Bare with me as some of the review covers the boring tune-up.
I had high hopes of doing an all purpose service on my wife's Infiniti FX35: changing the oil & air filter, rotating the tires, washing, claying and finally using my new Flex to fix some major water spots and swirl marks.
I started with a wash, did a half dry job, since I planned on claying. When I pulled it into the garage and got the front end lifted I remembered the dreaded belly pan that is held in place by 12 bolts. I'm not sure if the belly pan is for aero dynamics, noise control, or off roading/snow, but it's a serious PITA to get off. I drained the oil and while I was waiting for the dripping to finish I went after the air filter. The air filter is buried among hard plastic pipes and elbows. You have to loosen several bolts, and one hose clamp to get at the filter box. Since I had most of this stuff loose I decided to pull out all this plastic and give it a proper rub down. I sprayed it with some APC+, agitated it with a fender soft bristle brush, and rinsed with my pressure washer. What a great job the APC+ does on killing all the fine dust that lives inside the air intake pipes, and all the grease and road grime that's caked on the outside! As a dressing I sprayed some D170, let is sit for a few minutes and as I reassembled I would wipe with a cotton towel. It looked great! I reinstalled the belly pan and cleaned up and went inside for dinner. Sorry, I didn't think to take pictures of the nice clean engine detail, or the belly pan.
After pizza I came back out I had lost all my motivation for detailing. I was even too lazy to rotate the tires. But since the car was up on jacks I figured it was a good time to detail all the black plastic that makes up the bottom of the bumpers, and the bottom of the side skirts. Luckily this product is thin enough to be soaked up by a sponge and is water soluble. The stuff I was working with was diluted 3:1. I used the scrubby side of a kitchen sponge and scrubbed/coated all of the plastic trim, including opening the doors to get access to the toe kicks. Then I went around and used a towel to wipe all the excess off. For the wheel wells I gave 3 or 4 mists into the finders to give a light coat to all the plastic and suspension bits.
For the tires I sprayed it directly onto the tires and used a tire scrub brush to work it in. I didn't get the tires totally clean to start with, since I had planned on detailing the wheels individually as I took them off. I let the solution soak into the tire as I wiped the wheels down with D155 Last Touch Detailer. I used a cotton cloth to wipe the excess off the tires.
Verdict (Review in Summary)
D170 works great on hard plastic and soft rubber door gaskets. It works great on engine bits. It's light enough to become a fine mist for misting the underside of fenders with out dripping or running. On tires you need to start with clean tires, then you might need two coats to finish the job.
Here's some progress pics of the tires:
Tires before, messy wheels, dirty tires.
http://silvercreekyoga.com/detail/IMG_0009.JPG
After being sprayed and scrubbed. I think I used a little too much, but no big deal.-
http://silvercreekyoga.com/detail/IMG_0010.JPG
After single wipe down with cotton towel.-
http://silvercreekyoga.com/detail/IMG_0011.JPG
after wheel was quick detailed and tire wiped down once more. Notice wheel well and plastic fender trim looks great, not too shiny or too matte.-
http://silvercreekyoga.com/detail/IMG_0012.JPG
When I get some time this week I'll do a write up on cleaning/waxing this beast. I'll report on how the D170 holds up after a wash.
Feed back please
I had high hopes of doing an all purpose service on my wife's Infiniti FX35: changing the oil & air filter, rotating the tires, washing, claying and finally using my new Flex to fix some major water spots and swirl marks.
I started with a wash, did a half dry job, since I planned on claying. When I pulled it into the garage and got the front end lifted I remembered the dreaded belly pan that is held in place by 12 bolts. I'm not sure if the belly pan is for aero dynamics, noise control, or off roading/snow, but it's a serious PITA to get off. I drained the oil and while I was waiting for the dripping to finish I went after the air filter. The air filter is buried among hard plastic pipes and elbows. You have to loosen several bolts, and one hose clamp to get at the filter box. Since I had most of this stuff loose I decided to pull out all this plastic and give it a proper rub down. I sprayed it with some APC+, agitated it with a fender soft bristle brush, and rinsed with my pressure washer. What a great job the APC+ does on killing all the fine dust that lives inside the air intake pipes, and all the grease and road grime that's caked on the outside! As a dressing I sprayed some D170, let is sit for a few minutes and as I reassembled I would wipe with a cotton towel. It looked great! I reinstalled the belly pan and cleaned up and went inside for dinner. Sorry, I didn't think to take pictures of the nice clean engine detail, or the belly pan.
After pizza I came back out I had lost all my motivation for detailing. I was even too lazy to rotate the tires. But since the car was up on jacks I figured it was a good time to detail all the black plastic that makes up the bottom of the bumpers, and the bottom of the side skirts. Luckily this product is thin enough to be soaked up by a sponge and is water soluble. The stuff I was working with was diluted 3:1. I used the scrubby side of a kitchen sponge and scrubbed/coated all of the plastic trim, including opening the doors to get access to the toe kicks. Then I went around and used a towel to wipe all the excess off. For the wheel wells I gave 3 or 4 mists into the finders to give a light coat to all the plastic and suspension bits.
For the tires I sprayed it directly onto the tires and used a tire scrub brush to work it in. I didn't get the tires totally clean to start with, since I had planned on detailing the wheels individually as I took them off. I let the solution soak into the tire as I wiped the wheels down with D155 Last Touch Detailer. I used a cotton cloth to wipe the excess off the tires.
Verdict (Review in Summary)
D170 works great on hard plastic and soft rubber door gaskets. It works great on engine bits. It's light enough to become a fine mist for misting the underside of fenders with out dripping or running. On tires you need to start with clean tires, then you might need two coats to finish the job.
Here's some progress pics of the tires:
Tires before, messy wheels, dirty tires.
http://silvercreekyoga.com/detail/IMG_0009.JPG
After being sprayed and scrubbed. I think I used a little too much, but no big deal.-
http://silvercreekyoga.com/detail/IMG_0010.JPG
After single wipe down with cotton towel.-
http://silvercreekyoga.com/detail/IMG_0011.JPG
after wheel was quick detailed and tire wiped down once more. Notice wheel well and plastic fender trim looks great, not too shiny or too matte.-
http://silvercreekyoga.com/detail/IMG_0012.JPG
When I get some time this week I'll do a write up on cleaning/waxing this beast. I'll report on how the D170 holds up after a wash.
Feed back please