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Review: BLACKFIRE Iron Remover by Mike Phillips
Review: BLACKFIRE Iron Remover by Mike Phillips
BLACKFIRE Iron Remover
The background story...
When it comes to visually showing people what an Iron Remover is for and what it does, (that's two things), you really need a neglected vehicle with white paint.
Why?
Because if the paint is in fact contaminated with some form of iron contamination, as a result of the chemical reaction between the iron remover and the iron is a dark red or purple color that simply appears in a very visual way on white paint.
Now follow me....
You'll get the same color changing effect with cars that are painted other colors, like red, black, blue, silver, yellow, etc., it's just white paint shows the effect best.
Good condition versus neglected condition
There's also a huge difference in the color changing effect when a car in good condition is treated compared to a car that is older and also very neglected on the maintenance side of the equation. So when I was asked to test and write a review for this new Iron Remover in the BLACKFIRE line, I walked around the parking lot here at Autogeek looking for the WORST condition white vehicle to both test the product but to also get pictures that make it easy for anyone new to an Iron Remover product to wrap their brain around.
AJ's Durango
AJ works in the warehouse, he's a great guy that would give you the shirt of his back if you needed but AJ is not much into car detailing. Here's AJ's white Durango that he calls his "Beater Truck".
I don't remember ever seeing a wiper arm this rusty?
I had him drive his Durango around to the front of Autogeek where we do all our car washing and took these pictures to give you an idea of just how long it's been since the wheels and tires were properly cleaned....
Passenger side
Driver's side
Driver's side headlight
The BIG PICTURE
The point of the above pictures showing how severely neglected these areas of the Durango are is because when I took a picture of the hood, because it's white and a little cloudy out the morning I tested this product, you can't really get a feel for how neglected the Durango is by the picture of the hood.
BUT - here's that picture anyway just to be thorough in my documentation.....
So yeah.... this Durango has seen better days and it's very apparent it's been years since it was properly washed and waxed...
Just to note, many of you remember the review I wrote for BLACKFIRE Glass Cleaner. For this review, I used AJ's MBW Z4 - here's the link to this review....
How to remove Smokers Film off inside of windshield - Review: BLACKFIRE Glass Cleaner
This car was neglected too. Here's the infamous shot I took showing the smoker's film on the inside of the glass.
Apologies that most of the pictures in the glass cleaner review are missing since the AutogeekOnline discussion forum software was moved to a new server. Still hoping our vB Mechanic will be able to fix the coding which will make the pictures from the glass cleaner review I wrote show up plush probably hundreds of other reviews and articles I've written that currently have missing pictures.
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Re: Review: BLACKFIRE Iron Remover by Mike Phillips
Continued....
Review
My review is less important as my how-to. Most reviews tell you how a product works or doesn't work. Because an iron remover is part of a multiple-step washing and decontaminating process, I'm going share what most people leave out and that's how to use the product....
The recommended approach and the Mike Phillips approach
I teach this in all my classes and most people completely understand when I explain why use the product the way I use it. I have always used and shown how to use these types of product by spraying them onto DRY paint. Most products recommend RINSING the car first and then spraying the product onto a wet car.
The problem with spraying an iron remover onto wet paint
When you spray an iron remover onto wet paint, the iron remover breaks the surface tension the water has on the paint and everything runs off and onto the car. I don't know about you, but I want my iron remover on the paint, not the concrete. So for the last 6-7 years, (every since this category of product was introduced to the market), I have shown and used these products myself by spraying onto dry paint.
The benefit to spraying onto dry paint
Besides not having water make the product run onto the ground, the DRY DIRT FILM that is normally on a car that needs to be washed helps to hold the iron remover onto the paint - again - where IT can go to WORK.
So I get this new BLACKFIRE Iron Remover and read the directions I was surprised to read this,
- BLACKFIRE Iron Remover can be applied to dirty paint before washing the car
So I'm going to take a guess that my personal practice has influenced the application directions for this product. Just a guess but this is the first iron remover for paint that I've ever seen or used that states it can be sprayed onto a dry, dirty car and I'm the only guy that I know of that shows this in an abundance of classes and shares this in an abundance of articles.
Next the directions state,
- Spray directly onto the surface to be treated and allow to dwell for 3-5 minutes.
- As iron remover reacts to paint contaminants, the formula will turn from clear to red/purple.
- Rinse surface with water and then continue with your regular wash.
So with the official directions now stated, below I'll show you how to incorporate an iron remover into your wash process.
First gather your car washing supplies. I can no longer count how many articles or detailing classes where I showcase what I use.
Let's take inventory,
Grit Guard Universal Detailing Cart
--> Why? BECAUSE it hold my 5-gallon wash bucket at waist level, not on the ground where I'm forced to bend over each time I want to dip my wash mitt into the bucket. It also HOLDS all my car washing and wheel washing tools and can be rolled around the vehicle being washed.
5-gallon bucket with a Grit Guard Insert
You can see both the bucket and the grit guard insert in the bucket.
Foam Gun with dedicated foam gun soap
I always use a foam gun. Yeah yeah I know, a foam CANNON makes more foam but I don't like to drag out our pressure washer because my cars don't get that dirty and the Foam GUN with the BLACKFIRE Foam Soap makes plenty of foam.
Microfiber Chenille Wash Mitt
My favorite wash mitt for doing a "Prep Wash" before I machine buff out a car. Anytime you're going to machine buff a car it's VITALLY IMPORTANT to wash and rinse the vehicle THOROUGHLY so as to avoid any risk of any loosened (but not rinsed off), dirt or abrasive particles are removed. Why? Because the air current created by a spinning buffing pad can be drawn into the buffing action and be trapped between the paint and the pad and cause what the term I coined called, Arc Scratch or Arc Scratches. (don't ask me how I know about these). The version of this mitt we sell at Autogeek is heavy duty and can be run through both a washing machine and a dryer without falling apart like the cheapie versions of this wash mitt which can be found all over the place.
BLACKFIREW Clay Mitt
This is a replacement for normal detailing clay. One side of this mitt uses a polymerized rubber surface which in simple terms contains a pulverized form of abrasive, (like detailing clay), so that when this surface is rubbed over a clean, rinsed but lubricated surface it will act like detailing clay and remove above surface bonded contaminants.
Garden hose with brass water quick disconnects
These are a must-have for washing cars as they allow you to switch between your water tools without having to walk back to the spigot and turn the water off each time you want to change tools.
See below....
Here's the dry, neglected hood. In this picture it looks good. IN person, it's covered with a layer of dirt including the chunk of bird poop about a foot out from the passenger side of the windshield.
Here's the product, BLACKFIRE Iron Remover!
Let's begin....
Step 1: Spray product onto dry surface to be chemically decontaminated.
Step 3: Allow product to dwell for 3-5 minutes.
And this is why I chose AJ's Durango. This Durango is neglected, as in completely 100% neglected. And I KNEW it would bleed like a stuck pig and as these pictures show, the paint is incredibly contaminated.
Step 3: Rinse surface with water and continue with your regular wash.
As you can see, the paint on this Durango, (and actually the entire exterior), is severely iron contaminated.
If I would have chosen a red vehicle that was also severely neglected you would get the same chemical reaction you just wouldn't see the red color-changing effect.
Make sense?
What's removing iron all about?
The entire idea behind chemically decontaminated is to chemically dissolve iron contamination off the paint instead of mechanically removing it. It's an optional step that you don't have to do but ensures any and all iron contamination is removed before any of the other car wash step.
Is there a correct order?
Yes. You always chemically decontaminate first and the wash the vehicle followed by mechanical decontamination. This is the correct order.
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Re: Review: BLACKFIRE Iron Remover by Mike Phillips
Apologize for bringing this one back from the dead. Any chance the pictures from this article can be revived? I'm looking for a new Iron Remover to go with and was strongly considering this one, and was excited to see a review, but then was a bit bummed that none of the pics are coming through!
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Re: Review: BLACKFIRE Iron Remover by Mike Phillips
Originally Posted by Halon
Apologize for bringing this one back from the dead. Any chance the pictures from this article can be revived?
First - Sorry about the missing pictures. I didn't know they were missing until you bumped this thread. A year or so ago our vB Mechanic did a lot of upgrades to the forum and the fallout is sometimes some pictures go missing due to incorrect URL address.
I have the pictures, give me a minutes and I'll add them.
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Re: Review: BLACKFIRE Iron Remover by Mike Phillips
Just tried this today and it worked just as well as IronX at a lower price. Great stuff! Has a more gel like consistency and actually clung to paint better than iron X.
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