stripesace

I've been avoiding purchasing a gallon of Megs D170 for some time because it would last me, my sons, and their children's lifetimes. I'd think there's got to be a market for a spray and walk dressing (namely for engines...) but also for wheel wells that doesn't stain like Undercarriage Spray? 

On a forum somewhere I saw a guy put a competitors soap in a foam cannon neat and uses the adjustment knob to control the mix. I was surprised at his results on how little he used for each vehicle.

I like using Wash & Wax when the protection is getting "thin" on my wife's car and I don't have time to properly reseal it. I've grown away from H2O Guard & Gloss....

Great product though.

Go Adam's -Everyone is always complaining about how long products take to ship, being able to expand distribution is never a bad thing. I hope they partner with someone in Houston, TX soon. I could go pickup my MB !

There's a dealer near the galleria. 

Paint sealant is even worst offender. 

I have about 8 towels that are WATERPROOF! I've been replacing them little bit by little bit. 

I hope this is allowed but...here it goes...

I was wondering does anyone know the difference between Ammo reflex, vs. adam's coating. I'm really debating doing a coating, but I'm a little scared to drop the money, ammo has what seems like a coating, can anyone tell me the difference.

Discussion of competitors products is usually frowned upon by the mod team, even in the sense of direct comparisons. 

Adam's coating is a ceramic coating. There's a detailer on youtube with a boutique line of products who sells something similar to a coating, but i dont think it is a ceramic coating like Adams. a ceramic coating's lifetime is measured in years, and not months. they also don't typically require lots of other products from the line layered to maintain it. 

Howdy from The Woodlands! 

I've left paint sealant on for over 2 hours and never had an issue wiping it off. I thought it was recommended to leave it on for an hour to allow a proper bond with the paintwork, even though it says you can wipe it off after a couple of minutes.

 

that was applying by hand, not with a machine, car was parking in the shade on a warm day (25 degrees celcius, so maybe 75 F)

2 hours? With the original formula, I've let that stuff sit overnight... wiped off easily. 

I dont see this working out very well... 

Ugh. I sincerely tried in my original post to really not turn this into a complain thread about free shipping. Yes, I understand they want to pick the cheapest option for them. Yes, I understand nothing is free. Yes, I know we all feel spoiled with Amazon Prime. On and on and on. I was merely trying to see if maybe they can use FedEx ground instead of SmartPost (which is a few bucks cheaper than Home Delivery). I happen to have a FedEx account and used to utilize their services often when I was selling off mods from my Raptor, so I know how the whole commerce thing works, and I see where all the fees are that they tack on. I know shipping is practically robbery. But I can ABSOLUTELY guarantee you Adam's isn't losing sleep over free shipping. I'd be willing to bet their profit margin on their products is insane. We can debate all day long, but I'd be willing to bet that 16oz bottle of Detail Spray that we pay 12.99 for or whatever it is, then minus the 15% discount, is still turning them a satisfying profit. 

 

So "free" shipping, I'm not buying it. Like you said, somebody pays for it. But this thread wasn't supposed to be about that. It was merely an attempt to really try to point out the inconvenience (for some of us) and backwards logic that SmartPost really brings. 

 

Again, I appreciate how hard Adam's works to get us our amazing products, but I really just wish they'd scrap the SmartPost delivery method. That's it.

I don't think the forum (publicly) is the best place to make that case then, because in this setting, it really just sounds like your complaining about free. Adam had posted something back in 2014?(found it: http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/27485-flat-rate-shipping/?do=findComment&comment=431724) or so about the cost of product, and their balance sheet. I  also didn't deny they're making a profit, but you can't deny they're taking a hit somewhere.

The bottle probably cost .40 to .70 per bottle, even in the quantity that adams orders them in. The sprayer, 1.20. The bottle label? probably around .05 label. 

So lets say .55+1.20+.05 = 1.80 for a bottle, but I could very well be going cheap on the label.

Lets assume Adams isnt paying his employees the Colorado minimum wage of 9.30/hr to run the bottling process, labeling machine, pick the order, pack the order, and prepare it for shipping.  They have to keep the lights (and heat in Colorado) on the operation, pay sales, business, real estate tax. Operate an e-commerce site, this forum, advertising, pay credit card processing fees, etc. That 9.30/hr employee has a burden on the company of probably closer to 15 or 16/hour because Adams has to pay their portion of the FICA taxes, probably offers them health insurance of some variety, workman's comp insurance, and potentially unemployment insurance to the state for that employee.

I counted potentially 4 different employees it takes to prepare just one bottle for sale. Then theres the actual product. Sure they're getting it at one heckuva rate by ordering it in multiple 275 gallon totes at a time. 

If I were a betting man, I'd say that 12.99 bottle breaks down to about 40-45% of chemical cost, 30-35% of overhead which leaves 25 to 30% profit. So with 15% off sales, they're probably only seeing 10 to 15% profit per item. Now by volume alone, they're probably getting closer to 20-22.5% during those same sales.  Surely some of the shipping expenses are covered in the overhead, but anything beyond what we pay them, that exceeds their allotted amount  when we click check-out.... Probably comes out of that profit category. 

I'm sorry, but I just can't get on board with the thought process of complaining about free shipping. They're already taking a hit on the operating and profit margins by offering free shipping, and people want to complain about it? Yes, they'll make up for it in volume, and probably never do anything that results in RED on a balance sheet, but I'm sorry, complaining about free stuff just isn't right. Just like with the federal goverment, someone's paying for it.

This may come as a surprise to you, but even when you pay for shipping, based on my experience, even with a commercial account with FedEx, they're probably still losing money on the shipping, because they're only charging you an estimated amount and hoping their system estimates it correctly. I'm willing to bet, more often than not, they still come out behind. 

So, do you want to pay more per product to get better free shipping? because that is what they'd have to do, increase the cost of the goods. Or do you just want to accept that they'll pick the cheapest option for them, and enjoy the fact that you're getting free shipping on top of a 15% discount? 

I get it. AmazonPrime has got everyone spoiled. Even I get a little put off when something takes more than 3 or 4 days to get to me, and I've paid good money to ship it, but c'mon its free. They usually offer a 7.99 upgrade to FedEx Ground during free shipping promotions. That in and of itself is a good deal, because while that on average may be the difference between SmartPost and Ground, again, on my orders if I run the numbers, they still took a hit. 

I used Wheel Cleaner to decon my 9 year old daily driver. I sprayed it on, let dwell maybe 5 minutes, agitated very lightly with a Wheel Brush, let dwell another 5 minutes, rinsed, washed... 

While that wheel brush is soft... I don't think I'd use it on my paint. 

Sams Club towels get washed out of the package by themselves once. After that they get mixed with other towels for me.

The only time I really separate towels is when I get new towels with a heavy color (like blue...) 

I've seen lots of photos blowing through the clear, and I've never seen one with crows feet. 

I had a few places like this near door handles. I actually used revive on a microfiber towel and give it a quick rub like you would an old rubbing compound. 

I've started putting actual waterless wash in my sons now.

Pollen is VERY abrasive. You really want to float it off the paint. I usually just let it ride until I can wash again. I do have a CR spotless system now, so knocking it off with that is now a possibility. 

I have the old style of waterless wash towels and they are starting to fray at the edges does this pose any damage to the paint for introducing new scratches or swirl marks

Thanks for your time

nah. The microfiber under the threads is pretty soft.

Maybe I'll soak it with soap, pressure wash it off, then throw some rinseless on it. Trying to wash cars without touching them basically. I've got 4 cars to wash and trying to figure out the best way, again, without touching them (avoiding work here, lol).

I see what you're after... The only way to clean a car without any mechanical means is chemically. Typically the chemicals required to do that are very strong. 

I have on an occasion used waterless as a pre-rinse and was surprised by the results. I had a pressure sprayer with waterless in it. Made my way around the car and covered all of the panels. Extra soaking on bug splatters, etc. When I went around the car for my rinse (pressure washer) I was surprised at how clean things were, but the car was still in no means in a state touch the pant with anything but a foamy wash pad. 

I spritz them down pretty good with Microfiber Revitalizer, set them on a grit guard and with a 40 degree nozzle on my PW blast them from the center outward to the edge all the way around.

Once they're all washed out, I'll take the sidekick and give them a quick blast to get all the loose water out of them, then hang them on a hook in the garage to air dry. 

Different types of coatings. The coatings you spray out of a bottle aren't typically SiO2 based. They're more like a sealant on steroids. 

 

after watching Adam's video on layering I'm trying to choose between Brilliant glaze or the New Ceramic Boost.

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GMhuxowbakg"

Ceramic Boost will offer some protection. Brilliant Glaze will just give you ridiculous shine that won't last long. 

I'd stick with boost, but you shouldn't need it every wash. SiO2s really only play well with SiO2s 

Ive used it all the way down to 32:1 PLENTY slick for clay lube. 

Finished converting all my sprayers and gallons to the new logo.

 

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It takes some serious patience to peel labels off of these bottles. Do you heat them up a little before trying to work them off? How's the adhesive hold up when you move them over.