10 paint-cleaners shoot-out

As a big fan of paint cleaners, I decided I should do a comparison between what I own. IMO paint cleaning is the first step to a better looking car and with clean paint, waxes and sealants last longer.

Products compared and a short description:

• Autoglym Super Resin Polish (SRP): a well known product, cleans, polishes/fills and also adds some protection
• Carlack68 Nano Systematic Care (NSC): another well known AIO, that cleans and protects, boasting very good UV protection
• Optimum Poli-Seal: another AIO that cleans, polishes and protects
• Prima Amigo: cleaner glaze, offers light polishing action and filling of light swirls
• Smart Polish: finishing polish that also cleans the paint for wax or sealant
• Wolf’s Chemicals Shine&Seal: another finishing polish that also adds protection; nano particles replaces dirt from paint
• Dodo Juice Lime Prime (LP): cleaner glaze that polishes paint and also cleans it
• Duragloss #601 Polish Bonding Agent (#601PBA): cleaner that also acts as a resin for DG sealants
• Clearkote Red Moose Glaze – cleaner glaze that also fills light swirls
• Smart Wax: cleaner wax

The subject for this test was the hood of a '89 BMW 535i E34, probably not original paint that is negleted for several years. Before applying the cleaners, 1/3 of the hood was cleaned using ONR QD and an EuroW MF towel.
This was the only prep, I've decided against claybaring first in order to see if these paint cleaners are capabile to remove all dirt from paint.

I diveded the work area in 10 small areas. The application method was the same for all products: I used a cotton application, rubbed the area with medium pressure using linear and circular movement for about 1minute and then removed the residue.

Drum rolls please

First up is AG SRP:



Dirt removed by SRP:



It cleaned well, very little contamination remained after application, medium slickness.

Next, Carlack NSC:



Dirt removed by NSC:



Similar to SRP, very little contamination remained, the applicator looked slightly dirtier. The area also had medium slickness.

Quick comparison between SRP and NSC:



Up next, Prima Amigo:



Because of its colour, it was impossible to tell how much dirt it removed:



The area was very smooth, probably due to the polymers, almost no contamination on the surface.

Optimum Poli-Seal:



After Poli-Seal:



Very good cleaning, slickness similar to SRP and NSC, maybe just a tad above.


Smart Polish, unfortunatelly no before pic, product colour is light blue

After:



It cleaned remarkably well, maybe due to its abrassive content, no contamination after application. Smell very nice for a paint cleaner!

Wolf’s Shine&Seal before:



After Wolf’s Shine&Seal:



Average cleaning, sub-medium slickness. Nano products are renowned for their lack of slickness compared to polimers and waxes.

Dodo LP, again no before picture (product is bright green), only after:



Above average cleaning, very slick though.

Duragloss #601PBA before:



Dirt removed by #601PBA:



Surprisingly good cleaning power, average slickness. I was suprinsed at how well it cleaned since it's marketed as a durability enhancer by other means than clean paint.

Clearkote RMG, it's an older bottle so slightly pale colour



After RMG:



Average cleaning power, slickness comparable to other products, but lower than LP and Amigo.

Smart Wax, no before pic (product is bright pink), only after:



Very good cleaning for a wax/cleaner-wax. Slick finish to thanks to its waxes.


The big picture:



I tried to take a lot of pictures in different light sources in order to show how the surface looked after cleaning.









With flash:



















Group pic with all the applicators, I'll let you decide which one cleaned best. I think all did a good job at cleaning the paint and the differences were rather small.





Differences in natural light:



















2 final pics showing the difference between clean and dirty paint.





Out of all products, stood out for cleaning power the following ones:

• Autoglym SRP
• Carlack NSC
• Optimum Poli-Seal

For slickness, the glazes were very good, particularely Prima Amigo and Dodo Lime Prime.

I hope you enjoyed my little test!

 

that is a fantastic comparo, and i do agree with the carlack being one of the best cleaners

on my old 350Z, i used to use Polylack NanoClean (relabelled carlack) to remove months worth of hard water stains just by using soft circular motions by hand

i didnt have a DA back then. Ive since sold my Polylack NanoClean and alot of other paint cleaners but seriously thinking about buying it again now as an AIO for doorjambs etc

 

Thanks for the review!

 

great review!!!

IIRC, DG 601 is a bonding agent and not a cleaner. DG 501 is a paint cleaner.

 

Nice review. :thumb:

 

nice review indeed!

 

True that 601 is a bonding agent, but it does clean. DG 501 is more of a AIO.

 

Nice tests. Thanks for sharing. I would like to see DG 501 vs Werkstatt Prime

 

Thanks for review. I usually use Klasse AIO before a LSP.

 

Awesome comparison!

 

Great review... old products are still hard to beat...

 

Thanks so much for posting these! Makes me even happier I just picked up some AG SPR on sale!

 

Thank your for the kind words!

Regarding DG601, on the package it says it also prepares paint for polishing, loosens old wax and polish and increases gloss. In my book that's cleaner Technically, some of the products in the test are glazes and others are polishes or AIO but I've been mainly interested in their cleaning properties (and all of them boast cleaning properties).

 

This is a very nice review that was well thought out and documented. Thanks