Question about paint cleaners?

[Bochte]

First off I'd like to say Hi! Great site if you love detailing cars and have a thirst for knowledge, plus some respected opinions. I've had a lot of my questions answered by reading old posts but still have a few. One is with paint cleaners like Pinnacle PCL, P21s PCL, or AIO. What's the difference between them, and why use them? And if you would use them do they get applied before or after a swirl remover? Thanks in advance for any answers.

[Excessive Detail]

Paint cleaners are only meant to remove fresh stains, watermarks, and on some occassion very, very light swirling. Most contain some fillers to help hide swirls. They are perfect for brand new cars or keeping up a recently polished car. Good to use before each time you wax. AIO is probably the best and it has some protection in it, use klasse sg after. I've also heard that P21s is some very good stuff too, no protection in it. I've never used pinn. pcl, but I've heard its good too, no protection Their is really no need to use them after polishing, with the exception of AIO, alot of people use it after polishing. They will remove old wax or sealant, so if you use it prepare to reapply after. Their all good and do a good job, I would sayuse the klasse and get the klasse sg, that combo is bulletproof and last very long. I usually put to coats of sg on after polishing, giving one coat overnight, then I put some good wax, like pinn ls or nattys or sometimes a good sealant like wg or dp.

[OCDetails]

Pinnacle and P21S paint cleansing lotions have mild abrasives in them that give the product a little more bite as well as being a little more effective at minor hazing. AIO contains no physical abrasives and won't do a whole lot about swirls. It is only going to remove oxidation and surface contaminations like that. AIO is great because it contains no fillers or oils that will cause problems with sealant bonding. I would suggest using that if you are going to be using a sealant next. With Pinnacle and P21S there may be some filling happening and they aren't the best choice for pre sealant prep work.

[ScottB]

There are no abrasives in either Pinnacle nor the P21S paint cleaners. They both use natural ingredients to clean the paint and remove oxidation chemically. They are not polishes....

Klasse AIO is a much stronger chemical paint cleaner using solvents. It also has some acrylic protection. Some say it is slightly abrasive, but I would discount that as it does remove swirls.