Hi all. I have been reading this forum for a while and finally decided to join the community and share my experience with the others, purely hoping people can avoid the same rookie mistakes that I have encountered lol. I love detailing cars and have been doing this for several years. Just like some other viewers here I detail cars for myself, friends and my wife, but unfortunately I don't do this for living.
To the topic: Gyeon Bathe+, I searched online and found various comments about this product. Some say it's perfect, some say it doesn't work at all, some say it streaks.
Summary:
The product does steak, but it was purely the user's error. It works perfectly when you diluted it to the correct ratio. Water beads very well even on the surface with no coating or sealant. it also works on all surfaces including glass, rubber trim, metal, etc. It can last for at least two to three automatic touch-less car washes before the beading affect becomes non-consistent on surface. The down side of this product is that if you use the wrong ratio, it streaks badly and it is very hard to be completely removed. The streak has an oil film texture, and will stay on ALL surfaces. Glass cleaner and Gyeon Prep would help, accompany with gallons of elbow grease and many microfiber towels.
Used equipment:
Karcher 1400w 1600 high pressure washer, 1L foam jet nozzle bottle, untreated household tap water supply, Gyeon Smoothie
Application:
Gyeon web says "20mL of Q²M Bathe+ into your foam gun - Spray all over the vehicle and rinse off". I figured out about 3/4 cap of Bathe+ mixes with water in the 1L foam gun bottle appears to be sufficient to bring the desired result with no streak. You may wish to find the correct ratio to suit your application. This is critical as I streaked several vehicles just because I tried to treat the cars nicely and added more Bathe+ into the bottle - DO NOT DO THAT.
The product also works well if you pour a small amount of Bathe+ directly on Gyeon Smoothie (or other mitts) and apply it on the vehicle and rinse off IMMEDIATELY. No need to let it dry as the product works instantly on most surfaces. By doing so you it is guarantee that you will not steak the surface. I even tried it in my bathroom (tempered-glass panels, textured tiles, stainless bathroom appliances), and it works well too lol.
I haven't tried the pour into bucket method so I could not make any comment about this at this stage.
Experience:
I have tried Bathe+ on many situations including: cars with Gyeon coating, cars with Carpro coating, cars with no coating, light color, dark color, single-stage Miata factory red paint, clear coated car paint, hot weather, cold weather. Obviously you can't work under the sun or hot temperature as you must not let it dry. The ratio is also critical or you will 100% streak the vehicle if the product is applied by pressure gun. So far Bathe+ successfully leaves a strong beading effect on all vehicle surfaces that I have tried on.
Conclusion:
To be honest it is not the easiest-to-use car wash liquid that you can find on the market, and I think choosing a car wash product is very personal, just like picking a polish compound. But at least Bathe+ performs as advertised: creating a strong hydrophobic layer. I haven't tried similar products from the other brands so I can't do a comparison. For people who is looking for this product I hope you find this review helpful.
As mentioned above I have tried this on many cars, although some streaked due to human error, all cars performs well in the water beading department.
Solution - What to do if streaked?
- Perform another car wash with another washing liquid, either a pressure wash or hand wash will be able to remove most of the streak; OR
- Glass cleaner, Gyeon Prep, gallons of elbow grease and many microfiber towels, but this is not effective and will take forever. I recommend to just wash it again.
