Review - McKee's Xtreme Iron Remover

[Audios S6]

I received this product at no cost, and in return, I agree to provide a review. I will try to keep this as objective as I can.

Copy from AG

Use this cleaner once and you’ll wonder how you ever detailed without it!

McKee’s 37 Xtreme Iron Remover solves an issue that plagues virtually every vehicle on the road today – iron contamination. Iron contamination is a real issue for old and new cars alike. A brand spanking new car can have HORRIBLE iron contamination and left untreated the iron particles will cause corrosion to the precious thin clear coat paint that comes on a brand new car. McKee’s 37 Xtreme Iron Remover is the solution to removing iron particles to maximize the gloss potential of your paint!

Iron contamination is caused by:

• Rail dust (new car transportation)
• Brake dust
• Living near a railroad track
• Airborne chemical compounds

McKee’s 37 Xtreme Iron Remover is pH-balanced and 100% acid-free, so you can use it on every exterior surface with confidence. Simply spray this powerful cleaner directly onto all exterior surfaces and wait a few minutes for it to turn red as it dissolves ferrous (iron containing) particles, leaving your paint glossy,smooth, and bright. Then, wash your vehicle as you normally would and then apply a coat of your favorite wax or sealant. Your vehicle’s paint will appear glossier than it ever has!

Don't stop at your paint! McKee's 37 Xtreme Iron Remover works wonders on old, neglected wheels too. Years of caked-on brake dust doesn't stand a chance against McKee's 37 Xtreme Iron Remover.

Q & A with Mike Phillips, Autogeek’s Director of Training and host of Competition Ready on Velocity Network:

Question: Does using an iron remover take the place of using detailing clay?

Answer: No. Iron removers only remove iron contamination. Iron removers will not remove non-iron contaminants like overspray paint, tree sap mist, industrial fallout, traffic pollution, airborne dirt and other airborne contaminants. It’s still very important to use a clay bar when you detail your vehicle.



Question: Which order do you decontaminate a car?

Answer: You always start with chemical decontamination (ie: Xtreme Iron Remover) followed by mechanical decontamination (ie: Clay Bar). The reason why is because if there are any forms of iron contaminants bonded onto or embedded into your car's paint - if you were to remove them with detailing clay, you would risk rubbing them over the paint potentially instilling scratches into the paint. This is why you do the chemical decontamination first, to avoid the risk of rubbing iron particles over the paint and scratching it.

I will agree with everything above. Though I do know how I got on without it to this point, it involved a different brand of iron remover.

I don't know if this is the most effective or the best smelling, but it does have one big thing other don't, viscosity. This is a good and bad thing. It is extremely thick, so it clings very well to all surfaces, it stays right where you spray it, and that's a good thing; you don't get any runs into places you don't want to flush with water over and over again. It's also extremely thick, which is not a good thing when trying to disperse it on paint while spraying. The spray pattern if pretty tight, even on the fan setting. This necessitates some spreading of the product, which means potentially picking up dirt with whatever your spreading tool is. To be fair, I do spread Iron-X as well, and usually perform this task after a thorough pressure rinse so the big stuff is gone. But this step lies between the initial rinse and contact washing. Either before or after a snow foam depending on my mood, so there is still some potential to pick up some dirt. In this respect, the product may require a change in your wash procedure.

Upon spraying the product, I am greeted with the typical rotten egg smell, though it is mild and covered by a 'fresh' cleaning agent smell. I do like the smell of DUB wheel cleaner better, but this is a close second. Folks familiar with these cleaners would say 'yeah I smell it and it's not that bad compared to brand Z'. The uninitiated would smell it and think the product had gone bad, but I don't think they would find it too offensive.

As far as cleaning, I think the gel formula requires a little more time to react than other products, but since it stays put, this isn't an issue if you can avoid it drying on the paint. Because of the viscosity, I feel like I used a lot more product than I normally would, I need to try a couple different sprayers to see if there's one that will disperse it a little better.

This particular allroad had PPF installed on the front clip about 1 month ago and you can already see contaminant on the hood.

Here you can see the hood



and again moments later



Lower bits on the car subject to german brake dust





Upper bits on the roof. You can really see the thickness of the product here.






I didn't have a chance to put this head-to-head against any other offerings, but I plan to do that in a couple weeks when I get a car that has about 10-20 track days behind it since the last detail.

In general I like this product. I know I've been wanting a thicker iron remover myself, even played around with some gelling agents to see if I could do it myself, but I had similar results were non-existent reaction, I think this is inherent in a gel formula. I can't say that I'm dead set on this product yet. It did perform, and it performed well. I think this is a case of 'be careful what you wish for', I wanted a gel type iron remover and I got one. I hadn't anticipated the other challenges associated with a gel type iron remover. If you are doing a multi step wheel cleaning, definitely consider this as it will cling to the wheel very well. For paint, the jury is out until I find a better sprayer; if I can get a good spray pattern, this product is near the top of the list of iron removers by having a balance of performance, scent and cling ability.

[Jaretr1]

I gave this stuff a quick try on a car that was not really contaminated, and the one thing I did notice immediately is it the scent was not repulsive, borderline even pleasant.

Nice review.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Very nice review.

Interesting that it is a thicker formula and stays put.

Thanks for sharing.

[Eldorado2k]

Good review. Thanks for the insight.