Thursday, November 12, 2009

Exterior Care : Bon-Aire Original Ultimate Hose Nozzle (Aluminum)




Got this for washing the car and it really lives up to all the good reviews on the site. The metal parts are sturdy and thoroughly armored by black rubber all around. The problem with most hardware store nozzles is that they always deliver a lower flow of water than just the uncapped hose itself. The Bon-Aire on it's lowest pressure setting mimics the high-flow/low-pressure delivery of an open hose and is great for getting 'sheeting' of the water to occur when rinsing the car after a wash which means less spotting. The spray is continuously adjustable up to a high-pressure stream (very strong) by rotating the collar and you don't have to hold the nozzle in place to maintain the setting -- unlike conventional spring-loaded nozzles. The only thing that takes getting used to is that you have to rotate the collar all the way left or right to shut off the flow, so you won't have the "instant off" action of a normal nozzle if you're working with a setting somewhere in the middle of the range. A perfectly fine trade-off for me given the other great features.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Cleaning Kits : Meguiar's NXT Wash & Wax Kit



As others' have mentioned, this kit is a bargain compared to what it would cost to buy these items individually. Like some other reviews, there was a little bit of leakage in the package when it arrived, but it was no big deal and I don't know which bottle had the leak. I bought this for my black car, which shows dirt very quickly.

The Car Wash works as its supposed to, but to be honest, I'm not sure its all that different from that of other brands. Still, it gets my car clean quickly and its a mild soap on the hands. The Tech Wax 2.0 is just great. It comes with an applicator sponge and its really easy to apply and dries in minutes. Someone mentioned that it takes a lot of elbow grease to buff out by hand but I didn't find that to be the case at all. I probably waxed/buffed my whole car in 15-20 minutes or so. The results are fantastic! Best of all, a few days later I was caught in a big rainstorm and the water beaded just like in the pictures on Amazon - talk about protection!

Now the Insane Tire Shine definitely glosses up my tires but personally I would have preferred it if they included one of their all-purpose interior quick detailers here. The reason being that I rarely wash my tires to a level that is spic and span (after all, they are tires!) and so using the Tire Shine on semi clean tires isn't that effective.

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