Yah I will also clean the wheels on regular basic even my wheels have a permanent coating on it (of course it does not have one right now).
So I guess this is the norm of this Sonax coating. If user wish to make the coating last longer one must never touch the wheel when cleaning otherwise will remove the coating. But without brushing and touching the wheel rims almost impossible to clean it thoroughly.
I guess this product is more suitable to those who live in temperate zone. Just before winter they spray once, then during winter it will never get wash because too cold outside to wash. So the coating will just stay intact for the whole season.

I have tried use car shampoo before and by comparison the Osren Degreaser FX at 1:10 ratio much more cost effective and do a faster and better job.
I do not mean car shampoo cannot. I just feel it used up too much of my product quickly and shampoo isn't cheap.
The Osren Degreaser FX at 1:10 ratio I used almost close to a year and still haven finish.

You have a permanent coating on your rim already, that's good. Guess I will turn to permanent coating direction for my rims. The Sonax one just don't last long enough to my expectation.

I can't afford your Swissvax suggestion
But thanks for the idea.

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 14 2014, 07:43 AM

Dodo juice Supernatural also FOC lifetime refill?

Osren video recommendation
I use it at 1:10 ratio so is very mild. Nevertheless I am already order a dedicated wheel cleaner (still waiting Bro Krismas feedback though). At that time I only knew Osren so I just bought it.
The Sonax Wheel Cleaner Xtreme (comes together with the coating) does smell like piss. But it is too cost ineffective. The most let me use one month then got to purchase again. Unless Sonax Malaysia carries it in 1 gallon size otherwise really too expensive for long term usage.
Waiting my Duragloss 812 All Wheel Cleaner from bro Krismas. I guess this is a better wheel cleaner product.
But still, I believe it will remove the Sonax coating in just one wash.

I agree the Sonax coating works as long as it haven wash off. So, if one wants to keep the coating, he got to use touchless wash on the rim. Which is not practical to me, without agitation I do not think the dirt and brake dust will clean away effectively.

I use this kind of brush:

Should be mild brushing action only because the bristle so soft and long.
Mind to share what wheel cleaning accessories you use?or you mean you just use wash mitt?

So far only use the drying towel. It works effectively. Absorb water very fast. One piece is enough for my Myvi. A sedan probably need 1 and a half piece, or if user willing to twist the towel several times then 1 piece also enough.

Wash the drying towel, and still perform like normal.
will update once use other kind of towel.

If I recall correctly the last time I spoke with them they replied me that they do not carry gallon stuff into Malaysia. But it has been more than 6 months since that conversation, thing could have change.

Hey wanna ask, comparing the clay towel with normal clay bar, what is your personal user experience? Does it work better or worse? Is it really re-usable after fall on ground?

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 15 2014, 08:36 PM

A trick that I accidentally discovered is to use a sun glass. Using high lumen setting combo with a sun glass will enable you to see swirl on a light color car (white, silver, etc) much easier.
Works great with sun + sun glass combo too.

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 16 2014, 12:40 PM

Last you a few months is very IMPRESSIVE. It only last me one single wheel wash!
How do you determine the coating is still there?
When I observe there is no prominent water beading on the wheel rim, I call it the coating has been removed. With this methodology the Sonax coating only last me 1 wash.

Do you agitate it by brushing or just spray wheel cleaner product on it, let it sit for few minutes then rinse with water only?
In my experience any agitation that involves touching the wheel will remove the coating, in just 1 wash. So if I wash my wheel on weekly basic, then I have to re-apply every week, insane! Too cost ineffective.
I will try again without agitation action and just rinsing. But I will expect the wheel will not be as clean as when I got brushing on it.

In Malaysia do not have already. But can request the 22PLE Malaysia distributor to import the 22PLE VM1 Rim and Metal coating. Others will be import from oversea ourselves already. Like what @iamsobloodysick did, use GTechniq coating.

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 17 2014, 07:52 AM

Mind to share some pictures of what kind of brushes you have tried before?

I also have this one, bought from Singapore. This thing got 3 sizes, I have the big and small. Going to buy the middle one from Taobao China soon.
This brush is very decent and suitable for spoke wheel already in my opinion. If it is not working well to you, then you probably can try wheel woolies.



Unfortunately I haven heard any local people selling it. I bought it from Singapore also. For 15" rim and below, the biggest wheel woolies cannot use much because too bulky.

If you are looking for a more flat, bigger contact surface kind of brush, you can try CarPlan brush which is available at Ace Hardware.


The left most product, which is this one:


This one:

is actually identical to what you posted but much smaller in bristle length. It is only suitable for tight space like if you have small rim plus a disc brake, then near the disc caliper this brush is the only brush that can go inside the gap.
But on other more spacious spoke the brush that you posted is better as the bristle is longer.

Overall Malaysia hard to find detailing accessories, especially good brush that has paint safe soft bristle.
I am looking for Mothers wheel brush series as well, last time here got people sell, but now the online shop is close down so I am still searching.

Yah I never said it is cheap, nothing for detailing purpose is ever cheap.
Do not forget you haven add in the courier fee. The largest Speed Master brush is suitable for any wheel wash. But I think once wheel size reduce to 14" and below, the largest Speed Master brush is too bulky. The smallest wheel brush will be more suitable.
I want the middle one just for the sake of completing the collection.

The wheel woolies has more scrubbing power and it creates more surd too. Unfortunately the large one is really way too large for a Myvi rim. The middle size is suddenly downsize by quite a lot, using it to wash rim can consume some time. But it serves as a good exhaust pipe wash tool. The smallest one, so far haven find any good use yet.
And then because wheel woolies is completely straight, some hard to reach angle of the spoke wheel will be not reachable. User might need something like this:



For general purpose cleaning, I think a wash mitt will be good enough for a weekly cleaned rim.

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 22 2014, 01:20 PM

You mean this kind?



or something like this:


Test tube brush kind of design.

I have too check out this kind of brush in Ace Hardware before, there is a lot of types. But I found the bristle is way too hard.
I haven try a baby bottle one so maybe it is a much softer kind.
Nevertheless, one of the feature worth mentioning on those good, dedicated wheel brush is the protection they have on the wheel. All the metal parts are cover with plastic so it will not scratch the paint.

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 22 2014, 06:30 PM

You can try.
But I personally never bought from it before.
Click

Osren Malaysia carries the same design brush with much cheaper price than Autoglym I guess since Autoglym is so luxury branded.
Osren one has two type, Part Brush and Lug Nut Brush.
I have both.
Part Brush is very stiff. You will not want to use it for car paint surface. Use it for engine cleaning or undercarriage cleaning is ok.
Lug Nut Brush is softer but that does not mean I feel it is 100% safe also for car paint. I personally do not use it to clean item like chrome part or some tight area of the car paint surfaces. I only use it as its name indicates, wheel lug nut brushing, and it did a good job in this.

Having own so many kind of brushes, I have manage to come to a few conclusions that I think are useful to other to-be-buyer:

1) Any brush will do as long as bristle soft enough and component of the brush does not contain material that poses scratch hazard to car paint.
2) That says, if you go to normal hardware shop, get those natural animal furs wall paint brush (or nylon, but i think animal furs are softer), use pvc tape or PlastiDIP to cover the metal part that hold the bristles, then you have a safe and cheap brush to use.
Just compare the two:

The only dominant difference is the Sonax brush has the metal covered by plastic, where as the normal wall paint brush has its metal expose, but we can easily cover it ourselves with tape or PlastiDIP.


3) As for long length kind of brush (like bottle brush) which you intended to use for spoke wheel cleaning, the problem is with the center metal that holds the bristles, this one has no way to cover with soft material after it is manufactured. So you got to resort to buying dedicated automotive brush. This should be the most expensive brush you will ever need.

As for how soft is considered safe enough for car paint use, you will have to trial and error to know it. I do not know how to describe it in words.
One of the way will be, buy only one professional automotive dedicated brush, feel its softness, then next time you know what kind of softness you should be looking for.

If you ever visited shop that sells Chinese calligraphy brushes or arts tool shop, you will too find a lot of super soft, animal furs brush. But being made for art, these things are as expensive as those dedicated automotive brushes.

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 24 2014, 12:33 PM

No la. I even suggested lifeless_creature to use wall paint brush in the previous post, didn't I.
But those bottle brush that carried in Ace Hardware (I only specifically mention this shop) is indeed has its bristles way too hard, they are for toilet cleaning purpose, so the hard bristles is intentional design features.
I myself even use a cooking pastry brush like the following:

for detailing purpose, due to its softness and protective plastic cover, despite the brush is originally design for applying egg wash to delicate Croissants and Danish.

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 24 2014, 06:21 PM

how come I cannot tag people with the @ now?

Quazacolt testing testing.
YES success!
Thanks for the guide.

This post has been edited by scoutfai: Jul 24 2014, 06:21 PM

I see you already successfully tag him and isn't that consider remember?

Question.

I observe the following car shampoo characteristics from my experience. Want to confirm is it only me or a norm.

I used Meguiar's Ultimate Wash & Wax. When the bottle is just freshly open, I usually pour to water bucket, close the cap, and use the shampoo mix immediately. The surds and lubricity is good.
However, there was a time when I did thing out of the normal routine. I pour the shampoo into water bucket that already fill with water. I agitate it a bit, then I let this bucket sit at a side while I clean my wheel. When I am done and return to use this bucket of shampoo mix, I immediately notice a lack of surd and lubricity compare to the time when I pour and use the shampoo immediately. Nevertheless, the shampoo is also quite close to finish, so I cannot differentiate whether is because the shampoo mix sit for too long and hence all the surd and lubricity disappears, or the shampoo is getting "old" enough (near to finish) so not as surd and as lubricate as when it is freshly opened.

I give it another try. This time same bottle of shampoo, pour and use immediately. Feel the same like the last time.

Ok then this is one story. Then as the Meguiar's Ultimate Wash & Wax finished, I use my newly bought Sonax shampoo, the one you can get at Tesco.
When the Sonax shampoo is freshly opened, I pour and use immediately, the surd and lubricity is very good, I am actually impressed. Feel better than Meguiar's Ultimate Wash & Wax shampoo.
But again, as the shampoo near to finish, I experience the same reduction in surd and lubricity again. Lesser bubble.
It make no difference despite I use it immediately after pour out or wait a while.

Both experience with different brand of shampoo, gives me a feeling the shampoo has "best use before" duration characteristics. As in if after you open it, despite you store it properly (I store in cabinet, no sun light), once it reaches some time, the performance of the shampoo reduces. Like the chemical inside evaporate into air (but my intuition is water evaporate and chemical stays inside, counter intuitive for me).

Want to inquire does anyone experience the same thing? Is there any explanation found? Does it has to do with temperature, water purity & pollution, etc? Or it just simply a psycho effect?
I feel like when the bottle of Sonax shampoo is just opened, I need 3 caps for the amount of surd and lubricity I want. As the shampoo get "older", I need 4 caps. Even with 4 caps, I still do not get as much lubricity as I get when it was freshly opened.