Adams Wash & Coat Product Review
 

First off I feel the need to mention I have used all the other products on the market that do this same thing, which is apply Si02 protection while you wash, Carpro, Gyeon, Nanolex, and one other, I can't recall the name of it.

These products are designed to put down a layer of Si02 protection while you wash that will last months, not days, like the wash/wax products.

They also leave a hydrophobic surface which repels dust, dirt and water which helps your car stay cleaner longer, and easier to clean on regular maintenance washes.

When using these you should either have a ceramic coating on the car, another form of Si02 protection, or a bare surface that is clean/clayed and free of bonded contaminates.

My car actually has Carpro Essence, topped with Carpro Reload, and I use Carpro Hydrofoam every three months as my "sacrificial" layer of protection.

Being that my car is not garaged and exposed to the elements, the benefit of Si02 is extreme protection against bird bombs and bug splatter, which can etch into the clear coat.


Now I do clean these off ASAP, but they may end up being on the surface for 4-8 hours before I can get to them. Normal sealants and waxes have always caused some etching, but since using Si02 products, I don't have this issue at all.

Now on to the review.

Ease of use - 10 of 10 All the other products in this category require doing a panel at a time. You absolutely cannot allow the soap to dry at all, or you'll end up with spots that can only be removed with finishing polish. Not the case with Adams wash/coat.


Adams recommends using either a foam cannon/gun using 3-4 oz, or a 5 gallon bucket using 1-2 oz.
I actually did both, I put 3 oz. in my foam gun, and 1 oz. in my wash bucket. I was really hesitant to wash the whole car before rinsing, but Adams website stated that this was OK, so I did.
No issues at all. Prior to using the Adams wash/coat, I did foam the car down with Carpro Reset, which is a shampoo designed for ceramic coated cars or cars with Si02 protection. This shampoo will remove all the surface oils, allowing a great bond of any Si02 product.


Condition of paint before presoak with Reset, 1 week since last washed, pollen and rain stuck with dirt to surface.

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This product is thick, you'll need to shake it up well to get it to disperse evenly, but it doesn't require excessive mixing, just be sure the color is consistent in your foam gun/cannon. Pics 2 and 3.

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Paint after being pre-soaked and rinsed with Carpro Reset. Be sure to fully rinse all of this off before proceeding. Pic 4.

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1 oz. of this in bucket filled 2/3rd with water first. Lots of foam. Lots and lots of foam.:nod: Pic 5

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Lubricity - 10 of 10
Someone posted this soap had no lubricity on Adams You Tube video on it. That's absolute :bs:, this soap has crazy high lubricity. I really don't see how you could scratch your paint with it. It's very slick and after you make a pass with your wash media, it actually becomes hydrophobic immediately and begins to repel itself.

Hydrophobic effect after rinsing - 10 of 10 for beading...…….? of 10 for sheeting (Pic 6)

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This is what you want to see, small tight beads that are "floating on the surface". Excellent.:drool:

The one thing that shocked me was doing the pooling rinse, more water than normal was left. (Pic 7) Flat beads that made it look like protection was diminished.

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This product, unlike the others in it's class, does have a cure time after application, so maybe that's what caused this?:noidea:
Oddly though when blown with my blower, it resumed back to small tight beads. (Pic 8)

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I'll reserve my appraisal of it's sheeting characteristics until my next wash. It may need to fully cure for max sheeting.

Adams recommends using their Si02 waterless wash when drying, but I just used my Carpro Ech20 mixed with a little Reload. Merlin's magic elixir. If I didn't already have this, I would have got the Adams version. It worked flawlessly with the Adams wash/coat. I even have it mixed in an Adams detail spray bottle.:D
Adams also recommends using their Plush Drying towel, but I've found when using Si02 products with a drying towel, over time it clogs the pores of the towel, making it less absorbent. I used a RC Everest 1100 instead. (Pic 9)

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Cleaning Ability- 10 of 10
Here's a picture of the towel used to dry the car with and spread the waterless wash. Not 1 speck of dirt anywhere. That's what I want to see, no dirt = no scratches while drying. (Pic 10):happyanim:

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Added gloss
This added about the same gloss as all the others. I am a firm believer that gloss. gloss that is highly notable, comes only from polishing. (Pic 11)

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Durability - ? of 10
This cannot be determined as of yet. Carpro Hydrofoam lasts 12 weeks minimum, so if this product can match that, I will be switching to Adams instead. All of the others I tried lasted max 8 weeks. I will update this thread over time to state durability.

If you have any questions about this product, or Si02 products in general, feel free to post any questions. I've used them long enough and tried enough of them I feel confident I can help you with them if you need it.;)

Thanks Joe, great job!

Thanks Chris,

I'm dying to see if the sheeting improves after curing, my hunch is that it will. Will post results this coming Sunday, or Monday if it rains Sunday.

The ability to wash the entire car normally before rinsing is fantastic. All the other similar products require 1 panel at a time, which can make you feel a bit rushed sometimes.

I will do weekly durability follow up as well. :thumb:

Fixed the pics...


Great Review!!! I do love these products

Thanks for your help!:happy0180:

It's been a week since application, and due to the rain I was unable to wash the car this weekend, but, during a lull this morning I decided to try and pool the water off the hood of the car to see what sheeting was like after a pooling rinse.



Here's a pic of the water beading after a week. It hasn't diminished at all. I also noticed the car stayed considerably cleaner this week under basically the same conditions as the week before application. The product is now fully cured.

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After the water sheeting, as you can see almost all the water is gone! This makes drying the car so easy after doing a regular maintenance wash. If your not doing a pooling rinse.... this before and after should give you reason enough to start doing it!

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2 weeks in, no degradation whatsoever.
Car has been driven approximately 60 miles in the rain during the week.
I also had a bird bomb that sat on the front bumper for at least 4.5 hours in direct sunlight, no etching after removal! Outstanding protection!



Hardly any dirt at all on the paint over an 8 day period! Compare this to the pic of the paint before adding Adams Wash & Coat after 1 week since washing.
Outstanding!:clap2:

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I decided to use Adams Car Shampoo I got with a mystery box. The soap had much more lubricity since I last used it a couple years ago. Nice improvement.:thumbup:

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The Wash & Coat is actually repelling the soap and water off the surface right after wiping with the wash mitt! Hydrophobic!

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A couple pics of the beading after rinsing

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Amount of water left after pooling rinse.

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To get what is left, simply lay your towel on the paint, then grab the two corners closest to you and drag it. Water is gone, no streaks, 0% chance of scratching paint.

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Awesome

No changes in beading/sheeting on the 3rd week since application.

What I'm really enjoying about this product is how clean my car stays.

I did the 2 bucket wash this morning, but I could have done a rinseless instead, very little dirt on the surface. No rain where I live this week. The car looks like it's been garaged, not sitting outside 24/7. Car was driven approx. 125 miles this week.

Here's a pic of the rinse bucket to show you how little dirt was in it after completing a 2 bucket wash. Only a couple dozen specs in the bottom after removing the grit guard.


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Thanks again Joe!

Your welcome Chris,

I took the car to my local dragstrip for a few passes today, and it still looks really clean!

The wash/coat was even rejecting the Road Warrior roll-on paint protection I use for the area behind the rear wheels when I visit the dragstrip!
Amazing that it even rejects a product that is adhesive!

:thumb::first::thumb:

I have a question. I have been getting more and more interested in doing something like this for my car. I have never done anything like this to my car, just the normal waxing every couple months (using Adam's). What do you recommend for someone like myself to start off? Using a certain product, paint correction, doing a full ceramic coating first? You mention that if it is bare and clay barred, this can be applied. Is it harder to apply or doesn't adhere as well as yours does?
Thanks, sorry for the ignorance.

And great looking car! Shine is amazing!

Thanks, I spent about 30 hours correcting the paint 4 1/2 years ago when I bought the car! That's where the shine comes from.

The benefit of SI02 is the protection it provides vs. wax or a standard polymer sealant.
Adams sells 2 different carnauba paste waxes, Americana and Patriot.

The Americana, like most "waxes" sold today also contains some polymers, so the durability lasts longer versus a wax made from only natural ingredients like their Patriot wax is. The Patriot though will give a much deeper/warmer look, because it contains a higher level of carnauba.

If your car is garaged, and not driven much, wax will last a lot longer vs. a car that's exposed to the elements.
Especially during the summer. Wax begins to evaporate off the surface when the temperature of it reaches 130* F.

While it won't get that hot outside, the surface of your paint, especially on a darker colored vehicle will easily exceed that during the summer when it's in direct sunlight.

Sealants, which contain mostly man-made materials, polymers, SIO2, have melting points of around 300*F, although many products are mislabeled. If it contains mostly natural ingredients, it is a wax.....if it contains mostly man made ingredients, it is a sealant.

Coatings provide the best and longest durability of any protection product. The reason why is after application they are 75-100X thicker than a wax or a sealant, and they cure as hard as the clearcoat on your car is, in some cases even harder.
Coatings however do require an initial cure time of at least 24 hours inside out of the elements, and cant be washed for at least 5 days after application.

If you want the best shine your car can get, there is no way around it, it must be compounded and polished, to remove defects. You can use glazes, waxes, and sealants to somewhat fill defects instead, but it's like putting makeup on your face, after it comes off the defects are still there.

Compounding removes the defects, like doing plastic surgery, and polishing brings your clearcoat to it's brightest shine and clarity.

As far as what to recommend for you, that's kind of hard to do, because everyone is different when it comes to paint care on their car.
Do you want it as perfect as possible? Do you want 70-80% of the defects removed? Do you just want something fast/easy to protect your paint and provide some extra gloss?

I like SI02 products because they provide great protection against acidic things (Bug splatter/bird bombs), and leave a surface that stays cleaner than a standard polymer sealant does. Because my car sits outside 24/7, this provides the best protection I can use.
If I had a garage, I would definitely have a coating on it, but being that it's an outdoor car, I can't do a coating, because it can't be left outside to cure.

The wash/coat is a topper for me, I use it on top of another SI02 product. I've found if you layer an SIO2 on top of a polymer sealant, or a carnauba wax, it wont bond very well and wont last very long.

You can use this as a stand-alone sealant as well, I just like to layer for added protection and increased durability of the bottom layer.

If you enjoy waxing your car (many people do), and you want to try SIO2, Adams has a Ceramic Paste Wax, that they state has double the durability of standard wax, so this could be a good option for you.

Before you put SIO2, or any protection on your paint, you must first prep the car properly.

1) Strip wash to remove old waxes/sealants.

2) Clay or use a Clay alternative.

3) Wipe the paint down with IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) and distilled water, about 15-25% IPA, or a paint prep. Wear nitrile gloves when doing this, you want your paint to be completely free of any oils that come off your hands, which will effect the bonding of whatever protection product you are using as your base layer.

4) Apply protection based upon MFG's recommendations, and keep those gloves on. No hand oil on the paint at all!