Coating-Safe Silky Smooth Car Wash - Gtechniq W1 G-Wash Review by Mike Phillips



Gtechniq W1 G-Wash




First the technical stuff from GTechniq


GWash has been specifically formulated to work in harmony with GTechniq's range of coatings.

GWash produces a high foam content which breaks the bond between the dirt film and your vehicle’s paintwork and lubricates dirt particles minimizing surface abrasion. Used in conjunction with Gtechniq coatings, GWash will ensure maximum gloss retention through reduced micro scratching during the wash process.


And the directions from GTechniq






Prior to washing, remove loose dirt and contaminants from your vehicle by rinsing with a hose or jet wash

• For light dirt use 2 caps of GWash per bucket, and 4 caps for heavier soiling

• Always begin washing the upper surfaces and work your way down, rinsing your wash mitt in a separate bucket of water as you go to release dirt and then replenish your mitt in a second bucket containing your dilution of water and GWash

• Brake dust is highly abrasive so ideally use another mitt for cleaning your wheels

• Ensure that you never press hard to remove dirt - for stubborn dirt, allow to soak for several minutes - and always rinse your car thoroughly to remove all soap residues

• Never apply detergents directly to the bodywork of a car or to a sponge

• Gently dry your car with a MF2 Drying Towel

• GWash has a shelf life of 2 years from purchase, for best result, use within 1 year of opening



Now let's get to the skinny...

This is a car specifically made to wash and clean your car without removing any previously applied GTechniq paint coating or any other previously applied exterior surface coating made by GTechniq.


My guess?

It also safe for any other brand of paint coating



What's the big deal?

Well if you've ever applied a ceramic or quarts based paint coating you know about the extra step involved besides any correction and polishing work performed. So big picture is you've done a bunch of work to your car, you've invested a lot of time, energy and probably sweat, (perspiration for you upscale folks), and after all of this and finally getting to the point where your car is coated the last thing you want to do is use a car wash that degrades and/or removes the precious coating.

So that's the big deal. This new car wash from the fine chemists at GTechniq claims to be coating-safe.


Silky - Silky - Silky
The first thing I noticed when I dunked my wash mitt into a bucket of GWash car wash soap solution was how silky the mixture felt. Kind of like a high-end hair conditioner when you're rinsing the conditioner out of your hair - it feels incredibly silky. Not that I use high-end hair conditioners on my mop but this is what I've been told by people that do. Anyway, if you get a bottle and wash your car, remember these words you read here and check me if I'm not dead accurate on this statement.

The soap solution makes your wash mitt glide effortlessly over the body panels of your car and you can feel the word gentle. Most the time you only read or hear the word gentle but here's when you can feel the word gentle.


My review?

I like it. I don't much wash my car or my truck using a bucket of water as I tend to use a foam gun but if I was going to wash a car with a bucket of soapy water this would be my first pick, especially if I had already invested all the time, resources and energy to coat one of my vehicles or if I was maintaining a customer's coated vehicle.

Recommendation?
If you have a vehicle with a paint coating, regardless of the brand, and you want a paint coating safe car wash, then get this new GWash from Gtechniq. GTechniq is known for making best-in-class products so you won't be let down.


Here's some pictures of me washing a brand new, $1,000.000.00 Mercedes-Benz before I coat it. Yeah I know, it's for coated cars but duh... you can use it on anything. In the pictures below you'll see I'm going to chemically strip the paint using the new GTechniq Iron W6 Iron and General Fallout Remover.

No Iron Contamination
In the pictures you'll notice there's little to no iron contamination on the paint of this brand new car. That's a good thing. You actually DON'T want to see contamination because contamination means degradation and corrosion of the clear layer of paint and that's a bad thing considering the factory clear layer of paint is only around 2 mils thin. (thinner than a post-it note).

The new W6 Iron and General Fallout Remover from GTechniq works great as I show in this thread,

Decontaminating and Foam Gun Washing a Barn Find by Mike Phillips - GTechniq Citrus Foam and Iron and Fallout Remover


But there simply wasn't any iron contamination on this brand new Mercedes-Benz so sorry, no incredible pictures of the paint bleeding red residues all over the body panels because there's no chemical reaction taking place due to the lack of contamination.


On to the pictures....

This is my friend Tom's 2017 Mercedes-Benz S 550 - To date, outside of running it through a mechanical car wash, nothing has been done to it on Tom's side. Anything that has been done was done by the local dealership and I documented at least one thing they did here,

Dealership Tire Slime - Always a pain to remove...



First things first

I'm going to test the paint to see if it's contaminated with any type of iron contamination or other industrial or traffic fallout or pollution.





Spraying down the hood...




Entire hood is covered with the Iron and Generic Fallout Remover...





No real signs of color changing taking place...





Nope... nothing on the back of the car....





After a few minutes you can see a tiny little bit of contamination taking place on the paint near the windshield...




See it?






There's some bleeding coming out of the emblems.... could be some accumulated contamination....





Nada around the gas tank filler door...





A tiny bit on the front end of the car, just in front of the hood...





As you can see by the pictures above, there's really no contamination on the paint. BUT here's the deal - you wouldn't know it unless you tested. And that's the point of my article here,


The Car Insurance Analogy for using an Iron Remover by Mike Phillips



Now on to washing....

The directions I shared at the beginning of this review, (from GTechniq), states to use 2 capfuls per bucket of water. I have approximately 4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket, (that's my norm for the amount of water I use for a bucket wash), so here goes...






Here's one capful...
(notice there's nothing in the water yet)




Here's the second capful...
(if you look in the bottom of the bucket you can see the first capful sank to the bottom)







Next I used my stirring stick, (looks a lot like my arm with a hand attached at one end), to slowly mix the water and soap solution up to create a uniform mixture. (Sorry no pictures of me using my arm as a stirring stick)

Then BLAST the soap solution with a Jet Spray of water to create mountains of suds!





Ready to go...





While I was mixing up the soap solution and stopping to take pictures for you to look at while reading this the GTechniq iron remover dried on the really expensive, brand new Mercedes-Benz. Man-o-man I'm so glad this isn't my car! I kill the guy that would do something like this to my brand new car!






Yep... that's dried on iron remover....





Almost looks like it stained the trim and the paint!







I tell ya... that looks horrible!




Wonder what it costs to re-paint a brand new Mercedes-Benz?





The Perfect Car Washing Cart
Here's my method of washing cars minus the foam gun. I use the Grit Guard Universal Detailing Car with a normal 5-gallon bucket in place of the Grit Guard Pad Washer. This way I never have to BEND OVER to dunk my wash mitt in a bucket of soapy water. I hate bending over, it's something young people seem to never mind doing but me? Don't like it. So I love the car to elevate the bucket off the ground.

Plus the top shelf holds my immediate use tools and the bottom shelves hold my upcoming tools or already used tools.





Oh yeah... that's what I'm talking about...




Enough talk... lets' wash...





One more dried on iron remover pictures before I start - fingers are crossed this stuff washes off and hasn't stained some other guy's new car...





I already washed the wheels and tires so in practicing what I preach, now I start at the top and work my way down...

Roof





Trunk lid




Front windshield...





Hood...





Then rinse...




Repeat to the vertical sides.




Drying time...

Now it's time to dry off the water before the intense South Florida sun dries the water for me and leaves nasty Type 2 Water Spots in the paint.

When it comes to drying, here's a very simple, effective and inexpensive way to dry your car without breaking the bank and of course, avoiding water spots. I recently wrote the below article on this topic and just to note, these drying towels are for people that are using a TRADITIONAL WASH METHOD consisting of a bucket of water and a water hose.


Avoid water spots - The fast and simple way I dry my cars by Mike Phillips



Here's three 20 x 40 Supreme Guzzler Waffle Weave Towels. In this picture they are clean and dry.





The towels on the left is still fairly dry, the one in the middle is damp and the one on the right is completely wet. The point being is if you've ever wondered how much water these towels hold and how many you'll need to completely dry off your car, three towels are more than enough. They come in a three-pack too. See my article above to get the link to order yours.





And here she is clean and dry...







I've moved her into the garage and one more shot showing the level of wetness of the drying towels.






Final thoughts....

It's easy to be honest when you really like a product and I really liked this car wash soap. I like the idea that the chemist has formulated the car wash to be effective enough to remove oily road film and normal dirt build-up from driving a car every day but also safe enough to leave your coating alone.

I predict we'll see more of these types of car washes coming onto the market because one of the most common questions I get and I see and read others asking is,

How do I safely wash the coating on my car?




Well for now... here's your answer...

Gtechniq W1 G-Wash




On Autogeek.com


GTechniq G-Wash 250 ml


GTechniq G-Wash 500 ml

GTechniq W6 Iron and General Fallout Remover 500 ml


And if you're tired of bending over to dip your wash mitt in a bucket on the ground, get this cart. After you use it one time you'll never wash without it.

Grit Guard Universal Detailing Cart