Product Reviews and Evaluations by dsms...

I agree with Richy, there are certain products that work well (like polishes) on most paints, but then on sticky paint it's a completely different combo (DA instead of rotary and different pads/polishes).
But there are certain products like either work, or fail...

 

It's funny that this came up when it did. I'm in the midst of considering returning to Bilt Hamber Auto Balm for use on my own vehicles. As many of us do, I went back and read some reviews and writeups. Among the more interesting reviews is the "Biggest Sealant Test Ever" thread on Detailing World.

In this 13 page long thread, the OP marks off a horse trailer, and applies something like 40 different sealants to it. Many folks are probably taking this review thread as some sort of authoritative listing, and that's fine, but personally, I see a problem. The results for Bilt Hamber Auto Balm are particularly suspect. Here is a product that we know doesn't bead water in the traditional sense. Advocates of the product know this, and the manufacturer himself has stated the same, right on DW. And yet, beading was used to assess its durability. I hate to be one to poke holes in a guy's huge project, but that seems fundamentally flawed right from the start. :shrug:

IMHO, YMMV, ABCD, and all of that.

 

I have read that many times and I say it had some issues. A great read and good way to kind of scale different wax's. But some issues not taken into account are location of the wax, one towards the front, I think, died out faster. Some Collinite dropped out pretty fast. Oils from other wax's mix in with ones below it. Different air paths creating different abrasion levels, yeah ok maybe getting little too geeky there, but it was a great test in the sense that is was HUGE but accurately depicting the durability may not be the best at. But still like all reviews take what you like from it.

Just remember, there is never a best but there many good products that do the same end results just go about it different ways. For example, Karl loves AB, I ended up selling my pot to him because I didnt really like it that much. Was not getting what I wanted out of it. Any review I do will have this personal input as detailing is a very personal and thus cant be objective about it.

Anyone who is into fountain pens, yeah yeah no jokes needed, know that just because alot of people love Noodlers Ink and does not bleed and works great does not mean for you or for the other half of the people that ink if for them. Even if they are the big name in the ink world and suppose to make great stuff. I personally dont like it and like J. Herbin. Be it from a respected user like JL, dsms or anyone else they still can not quantify the conditions that were in that place and what is needed to make the product work well as it could come down to how the person uses it and does not even know what they are doing.

Enough talking as all of what I wrote may just be common sense/knowledge but oh well, back to lunch.

 

I agree with Ankeet here as well. You know when I use a product I have a certain look or performance factor that I'm looking for and if the product delivers in that aspect then I consider it a success. I try to convey the factors I'm looking for when I review it so if someone has similar taste hopefully they'll have similar results. Again my best litmus test has usually been posters that I share similar taste to and have seen them be solid on their reviews. I've rarely been steered wrong in this approach, in fact one of my biggest disappointments in the wax area was because I was set on trying a wax and a member that I really respect for his recommendations told me he didn't think I would like it. I was sure I would though and bought it. Well needless to say I used it a couple of times and was really disappointed in it, even though I really wanted to like it, and ended up selling it.