Power Clean Testing


Heijneker

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Of course Optimum stated that Optimum Power Clean (OPC) should be used diluted on paint, and not be used on glass. They also say it should be rinsed off thoroughly, preferably with running water. I would suggest you follow the instructions on the bottle.

However, because my own car is a... ahum... suitable test subject, I would like to test the product for myself. So, if someone would like to make a suggestion for things to try, please let me know! Somewhere down the line I would like to test this more professionaly, but for now, i'm just fooling around.

Concerning the weather; I live in the Netherlands, near Amsterdam (No, not all places in the Netherlands are near Amsterdam, before someone makes that joke)

My car is red, with some panels having parts without clear coat 🙂

Things I have tried so far:

- OPC 3:1 sprayed onto glass, left to dry completely (Even driven it with it on the windshield) and left to sit for an hour in the sun (16 C). NO etching has occured. Stains did not come off with a dry MF towel. Stains did come off with a Damp towel, but with a lot of effort. Stains came off more easily with ONR at 32:1 in a spray bottle and a dry towel. There was always a slight oily haze on the window. I seem to get that with ONR as well, but slightly less visible.

- OPC 3:1 sprayed on to paint, left to dry completely and  left to sit for A DAY, in cool temperatures, overcast, and slightly raining sometimes. Stains did not come off completely with a dry MF Towel, or a damp one. I did not try ONR at a stronger dilution. I applied OPC at 3:1 and left to dwell for 30 seconds. I then dried with a dry MF Towel and stains were gone. So, no stains or etching of any kind.

- OPC 3:1 sprayed onto vinyl, left to dry completely. Stains came off mostly with a dry MF towel. Completely with ONR at 32:1 and a damp towel.

- OPC sprayed onto vinyl, left to dry completely. Stains only came off after applying OPC again and left to dwell for 30 seconds and cleaned off with a dry MF Towel. This took 3 hits to remove the stains completely.

Things I'm trying right now:

- OPC 3:1 sprayed on paint, left to dry in the hot sun for multiple hours.

- OPC 3:1 Sprayed onto Glass, left to dry in the hot sun for multiple hours.

- OPC 3:1 Foamed onto paint, left to dry in the hot sun for multiple hours.

- OPC 3:1 Sprayed onto vinyl , left to dry in the hot sun for multiple hours.

- OPC Sprayed onto glass, left to dry in the hot sun for multiple hours.

- OPC Sprayed onto paint, left to dry in the hot sun for multiple hours.

- OPC Sprayed onto vinyl , left to dry in the hot sun for multiple hours.

Things I want to try:

- Removing OPC (3:1) with Opti Clean (on glass)

- Removing OPC (3:1 with OPT Glass Cleaner and Protect (on glass)

Things I have found so far:

- OPC leaves the paint feeling SOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice and clean.

- OPC seems to be very easy to completely remove with just a dry MF towel, followed up with a regular wash.

- OPC is safe to use on glass (But, I haven't tried it yet it scorching temperatures)

- OPC (3:1) hasn't caused me any issues regarding staining the rims on my car (OZ Superturismo, love them haha)

So, as stated before, in the future I would like to test this more proffessionaly/thoroughly/clearly.

Please let me know what you would like me to test further.

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Nice test and thanks for your findings...Ive used Power clean in the past and its a awesome product but its very limited here where I am...plus its too expensive to buy and use on a regular basis...I rather use Bilt hamber surfex (bought a gallon for like 20 euros). A good alternative was also Britemax Grime out but that too was used up too fast and its not on stock here anymore.

Infact I had to import a gallon ammount of ONR just to have it for myself for a years worth of washing. I waited like 4 months for my local dealer to re-supply...After that Ill have to probably order from The rag company EU directly.

LOL...I derailed the topic way off track 😂

 

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@Ron@Optimum I am absolutey sure it can and will. I'm just wondering what it takes for it to do that and what that looks like. I have used it today full strength on glass, and left to sit for hours without any ill effects, weather was mild though. Coming friday, it's gonna be HOT, so I'm surely going to try that.

@A&J I'm going to try Bilt Hamber products as well, awesome brand and products. I have a feeling that Optimum Power Clean is the superior product by far, but maybe Surfex will suit my needs just fine. Surfex will probably be more caustic than Power Clean. Will be testing that as well soon.

Today I found a video on Youtube from a bug covered Jeep Wrangler front end. He sprayed his bug cleaner of choice liberally onto the frontal areaof this dry jeep, followed up by ONR (1:16 it seems), also sprayed liberally. He then went on to washing the car like normal and the results were amazing!

So I, of course decided to try this. I foamed Power Clean 1:3 (tap water) onto the frontal area of my car, followed by ONR 1:16 (tap water). It took about 200 ml of this solution, to seemingly neutralize the OPC. Foam had mostly disappeared and beading was fully present. I then used a wet ONR towel to wash and proceeded to wash the car normally completely with the BRS. It felt great and was very fast to do! No residue left behind from the OPC either. But sadly, no bugs on my car, so don't know how effective it was.

I also used this on the wheels, OPC 3:1 foamed on, couple of sprays of ONR 1:16, wipe clean with wrung out ONR towel. results were very good!

I've got a gallon of OPC on the way!! 🤗🤗🤗🤗

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i love power clean, so versatile to clean tires/wheels/engine bays/bugs/tar and somehow gentle enough (and effective) for interiors too!

i know it’s blasphemy around here but if i had to select a favorite optimum product, i might rank power clean slightly above onr 🙂

foaming is fun and i love the foam it creates out of a foam cannon and the ik foamers. but for control, my default is still power clean diluted 1:3 in a spray bottle

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Surfex is caustic and if you get in on your hands you feel a slight burn on the skin. 

The only reason i said i bought surfex was coz its cheaper in a gallon and more cost effective. Its a great versatile degreaser that can be diluted down to 4% for paintwork or stronger for wharever else.

Through my short experience i still feel opc is a better cleaning product but I just cant get it anymore in my country. I would love to but i cant. Thats why i have to settle for other products.

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Concerning all the things I was trying "Right now" in my first post, I have noticed no ill effects!! Even on the vinyl, Power Clean straight has left no permanent marks.

I also got my gallon in!!! 🤗 Next up; Opti Clean and glass cleaner! Soon to be followed by MDR, Ferrex, the clay mitt and the polishing line; pads and liquids!!! SO EXCITED!

So I got to try Surfex HD today.

I diluted it 1:4 with distilled water, and got similar foam to OPC at 1:3 with tap water. Performance was similar, got to try it out on a REALLY dirty car haha. And I mean really dirty. Hadn't been cleaned in a year or so and covered probably 30.000 km's. Sadly I used all my ONR 1:16 neutralizing the Surfex on the Frontal Area, so could only use the Surfex on the wheels, not on the sides. ONR Got the huge amounts of grey road film off of the sides no problem though, it just took a couple of passes with the BRS near the bottom of the sides (I didn't pre-spray, haha oops).  The ONR solution kept working great, even when it was looking like a black hole in the bucket lol. Was it safe? I can't imagine it was, but the car will be sold for scrap value. It was a relatively new car though, solid black, and it looked pretty nice afterwards, pretty clean at least ("Needed" a full on decon and multi-stage polishing 'of course', but still). 

I digress.... Surfex softened up the dirt on the front nicely, even though there was NO bug residue. There were some baked on bird droppings. No problem. got nice and soft. ONR 1:16 also neutralized it just fine. Sadly, I seemed to have gotten some overspray on the roof that dried (not completely sure though, could have been there before as well), which I couldn't get off with my regular ONR wash. Front window got squeeky clean.

My hands do seem to feel different after Surfex as opposed to Power Clean. Just not as nice and indeed slight burning after a few hours. I don't understand these Youtube Detailers just spraying Super Clean degreaser all over the interior. God, that must be horrible!

More testing to do of course (I got 5 liters of the stuff.....), but I'm 99%  sure I won't be buying it again after this order. Power Clean is already pretty cheap, costing me €0,40 - €1 for a wash and safer for me. Plus I'm an official OPT fanboy, so I feel it works better as well. 

 

OPC IMO for sure does a better job on tar/baked on brake dust!!

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On 6/9/2020 at 1:42 PM, darrvao777 said:

i love power clean, so versatile to clean tires/wheels/engine bays/bugs/tar and somehow gentle enough (and effective) for interiors too!

i know it’s blasphemy around here but if i had to select a favorite optimum product, i might rank power clean slightly above onr 🙂

foaming is fun and i love the foam it creates out of a foam cannon and the ik foamers. but for control, my default is still power clean diluted 1:3 in a spray bottle

BLASPHEMER! ! !

ONR will probably stay on top for me. I wonder how Opti-Clean will grow onto me and affect my washing process in the future.

I agree completely, I love foaming alot for the increased dwell time, but indeed less precise than a sprayer.

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I used power clean  (3 to 1)for my decamination in a ik foam sprayer and yes I got it every were   yes nice foam   let it sit a bit then wiped with microfiber soaked in onr then rinsed with hose i did the hole car at once so I think it got left on some plastic  to long and left some stains  next day I scrubed  with microfiber and a little power clean came  right off  this car is washed weekly  it was amazing how much dirt the power clean took off great product  but my favorite  is the paint prep  I would like to see if it would take these stains out 

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@Habs Nice to hear that a re-application of Power Clean took off the stain.

I used OPC 3:1 (Tap water) on a dirty, neglected dark coloured car yesterday. It was overcast and, humid (even rained slightly), about 18 °C.

I first washed the front with ONR and the BRS. Foamed OPC over it, and agitated with TRC Jersey Bug Scrubber. Then rinsed with about 250 ml of ONR at 1:16 (Distilled water). Wiped with ONR wet MF towel. Next washed again with ONR and BRS, wiped with wrung out towel, and dried with Opti-Seal. The car had some nice beading afterwards.

Sad to say, it left, noticeable to me, staining (duhh), which I probably sealed in lol. Oops. I did not try to remove the staining.

I will now be trying OPC at 1:10 (Distilled water) on bugs. Will that be more powerful than Opti-Clean? I likely need to stay purely rinseless (may get a Worx Hydroshot at some point), and don't want to risk badly staining cars. Testing so far suggests it's fairly easy to remove.

Testing continues!

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58 minutes ago, Heijneker said:

@Habs Nice to hear that a re-application of Power Clean took off the stain.

I used OPC 3:1 (Tap water) on a dirty, neglected dark coloured car yesterday. It was overcast and, humid (even rained slightly), about 18 °C.

I first washed the front with ONR and the BRS. Foamed OPC over it, and agitated with TRC Jersey Bug Scrubber. Then rinsed with about 250 ml of ONR at 1:16 (Distilled water). Wiped with ONR wet MF towel. Next washed again with ONR and BRS, wiped with wrung out towel, and dried with Opti-Seal. The car had some nice beading afterwards.

Sad to say, it left, noticeable to me, staining (duhh), which I probably sealed in lol. Oops. I did not try to remove the staining.

I will now be trying OPC at 1:10 (Distilled water) on bugs. Will that be more powerful than Opti-Clean? I likely need to stay purely rinseless (may get a Worx Hydroshot at some point), and don't want to risk badly staining cars. Testing so far suggests it's fairly easy to remove.

Testing continues!

You can let t that power clean  stay on the paint to long . 

Gloss coating the car then hyperseal will eliminate the need  of power clean  ing all the time I think it my be cheaper  I tried paint prep to remove stains on plastic from powerclean  nope straight powerclean did it 

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