3D BDX vs McKee’s Extreme Iron Remover – Paint Edition

[Huot25]

A while back I bought 3D BDX because it was a cheaper alternative to Iron-X and I wanted to give it a try. Over the past year I’ve been happy with BDX but wanted to try something new to see how it stacked up against what was out there. I’ve been a huge fan of most things from the McKee’s line and decided to pick up a gallon of Xtreme Iron Remover to replace my depleted stock of BDX and to do this comparison.

Test Subject: My 2016 F-150 Lariat
This truck was purchased over a year ago and was last detailed in the fall. It receives a good mix of two-bucket and rinseless washes, depending on my mood and time-of-day (or night) my wife allows me to sneak out to wash the vehicles. The truck is kept relatively clean, but still contaminated with iron particles.

The comparison
Be prepared to cringe…I didn’t have time for a full wash the night I did this comparison, so I gave the tailgate a quick rinseless wash while grilling steaks. I sprayed each side with one of the products taking photos immediately after spraying and at 1 minute, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes to show the difference between the two.

Initial Photos





Let the show begin: Mckee’s (Left side) vs BDX (Right side)
Immediately after spraying
Mckee’s



BDX


The first thing I noticed was that BDX immediately started turning purple. This could be a side affect of the product being over a year old, but it was something I wanted to note.

1 Minute
Mckees


BDX


3 Minutes



5 Minutes



After the 5 minutes, the tail gate was washed with McKees 914 at rinseless wash with a presoak of 914 at waterless dilution. A second application was used to test for residual contaminates.



Final Thoughts
Both products were able to remove the majority of the contaminates, but a mechanical decon step is required to remove the iron staining from the paint. BDX seemed to have the immediate edge once sprayed, but Mckee’s seemed to catch up at the 5-minute mark. Both products appeared to have similar remaining contaminates during the second application.

Smell
I know smell is a big issue with most people. BDX does have a very harsh sulfuric smell that tends to linger if you open the bottle indoors (not recommended). Mckee’s shared the same smell but was much less overpowering.
Given the choice, I would choose Mckee’s over BDX due to the less offensive odor, but both products appeared to work equally well.

[Dan Tran]

Thanks for the comparison.


Dan Tran
High Quality Car Detailing at the Comfort of Your Own Home