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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Soft99 Meta-Clean: Initial Impressions

A few of my many flaws are that I am skeptical, critical and very stubborn. So when certain friends and detailers tell me about Soft99 Meta Clean, I just scoffed and thought to myself “Cheap things no good, good things no cheap”.

I bought a tin of Meta Clean recently and had the chance to use it today. Boy, was I in for a surprise. It cleaned of the embedded dirt with ease, and I was using it by hand. Certain areas which are particularly dirty (e.g. roof) required going over twice.

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In areas where I was lazy and didn’t really work it into the paint, it was thicker than supposed to be, and yet it was removed easily with a few swipes of Hyperkleen’s microfibre cloth, buffed off to a slick clean finish.

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One of it’s cons is that the tin is not the easiest to use, no matter how careful I try it will spill out of the spout.

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Here you could see the parts where I missed, the embedded dirt is on the right side and the Meta-Cleaned side is on the left.

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If however, you are diligent and thorough with working it into the paint, you will be awarded with clean paint.

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It also doesn’t seem to have any ill-effects when used by hand via foam applicator pad (e.g. introducing it’s own light marring). This makes it suitable to be used by hand.

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Best of all, is it’s price. I bought it for RM22 from a petrol station, but it could be purchased for RM16 from Mydin (Thanks Puden!).

And that is RM16 for 530ml
Autoglym Super Resin Polish costs RM55 for 325ml.

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These however are just my initial impressions, I will be conducting a pre-wax cleaner test soon ( Soft99 Meta Clean, Dodo Juice Lime Prime, Autoglym Super Resin Polish ), specifically on how it affects the wax sitting on top of it (durability wise). That is when I find time to wash my poor filthy car that is parked under a mango tree.

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To those who are wondering what light source did I use in the pictures above to show the paintwork.

It’s a pair of cheap China flashlight, taped together. They cost 26 Yuan each.

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My homemade “brinkman” =D

Thanks for looking, and thanks to those who still visit this site and I apologise for the rare updates. Thanks again!

11 comments:

Jun 3:44 PM  

hi dude
i have a question,
what brand of sand paper do you use?
meguiars or generic brand?

Kenneth Tang a.k.a Fishbonezken 5:59 PM  

Hi Jun,
I have GatorGrit paper for 1500 grit, from ACE Hardware and generic paper for 2000 grit.

I haven't tried any Meguiar's paper.

:)

Anonymous 12:21 PM  

hi ken,

is ur service return?

i have try to clay my bonnet as it kena tree sap but still unable to clay all of it. maybe i have take too long to do it since is already 1 week as i was in taiping. and i did borrow the the same soft 99 from cousin but unable to polish off completely.

any advice thanks

D18

Anonymous 11:29 PM  

Ken,

Any update on this Soft99?? I have solid paint on my MPV. Thinking of purchasing solid paint version of this Soft99.

Kenneth Tang a.k.a Fishbonezken 12:09 PM  

Hi D18,

I'm sorry, my services haven't been resumed, no plans for it at the moment. Thanks for asking :)
Regarding the tree sap, most likely it has etched into the paint and you need to relevel that area of the clearcoat. Which means to use and abrasive polish. The clay would not do anything to it nor would Soft99 Meta Clean since it isn't abrasive(or very little).
You could use something like Meguiar's ScratchX, however if the tree sap etching has gone too deep, then a machine polish will be required.
Hope that helps.

Anonymous,
My only updates are it is easy to use and quite compatible with any waxes you put on it. However I'm not sure about the solid paint version that you are talking about. Whichever it is, do not purchase the one in the blue tin (Luster Wax), that one is really too abrasive.
Hope that helps.

Mobile Blogger 3:29 PM  

Ken,

I asked about the Soft99 update up there.

I went to look for Soft99 that you use but found out that that is for metallic, pearl, etc but solid paint was not mentioned. I assume it is not for solid paint.

I found another version, also a paintcleaner but stated that it is not for dark colored car.

I'm confused which one to get.

And, it's not a wax, right? It's a polish?

Kenneth Tang a.k.a Fishbonezken 6:12 PM  

Mobile Blogger,

Hi,by solid paint do you mean without clearcoat?

Or without any metallic flakes?

If your car is clearcoated but the paint does not contain any metallics or pearls, the Meta-Clean that I posted can be used.

It's like a cleaner wax, cleans and protects at the same time, however the durability of the protection would not be as long as a proper standalone wax.

Hope that helps :), if there are further questions, feel free to ask.

Yukito 3:28 PM  

For the Flashlight if you want a better source of light you can use SureFire, it's expensive but it's definitely dependable, seeing how it is military-grade =D The light source is strong and focused, will make the camera picture taking easier since I doubt you 250W lights hanging from your ceiling

Kenneth Tang a.k.a Fishbonezken 9:04 PM  

tey,
thanks for the tip. Actually these China flashlight were pretty much useless, one of them couldnt work after a week, and they were not as bright enough as the branded ones. I've compared it to my several of my friends' Fenix and Eagletac flashlights, and the ones I posted are basically rubbish compared to them.
The Surefire really are expensive, made my eyes pop when I saw their price tags at Ace Hardware.

Anonymous 8:29 AM  

excellent report.

i also use this soft 99 on my two motorcycles

Xien 7:36 PM  

I have a question since I am a newbie.

Referring to this picture
http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a182/rohteeplunta/Meta%20Clean/?action=view&current=16.jpg

Does that mean the paintwork is not good? And after using soft99, you can get rid of the superficial scarches?

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