When Dave told me that Armor All had been in touch and wanted us to review their new for New Zealand product range. I volunteered myself instantly and my car too! Granted that the latter was probably a ‘must-have’ for the task ahead.
For many car and non-car enthusiasts too, a major part of the ownership experience is caring for your vehicle. After all, they are either the most or second most valuable asset most people own!
I’m in a fortunate position to have two cars to my name which should have made picking a test subject rather easy, but it didn’t. See, my Volvo is my daily driver and endures all weather conditions, it’s parked outside in the harsh sun and sometimes doesn’t get as much TLC as it deserves. My Alfa Romeo on the other hand is parked in a garage, driven occasionally and used to get plenty of care regularly. However, I’ve been a bit slack over the winter just gone and that means it has been over three months since I last washed the Alfa. It still had road grime, water spots and everything else between from those sporadic winter drivers, the perfect test subject then for Armor All’s new range.
Not only was my car filthy by any standards but all the dirt, grime etc had the luxury of time when it came to settling into the paintwork on my car itself. A less than ideal start for my car but an excellent place to begin when reviewing a car wash solution! It wasn’t just the exterior though that would be put through the wringer, the interior would be getting the same treatment over the course of the day.
This was a difficult enough task as Auckland’s unpredictable weather meant I had to wait out a few weekends before I could put these products to the test. And even still, it rained on the day! Theoretically then, this is a long overdue review (thanks for your patience, Sophia).
When the morning finally arrived, I stormed into garage and unwrapped the bright orange Armor All gift box that contained all the ingredients I would need for giving my car a day at the spa. The bright orange colour, part of the brand’s revamp makes for a very eye catching product. It’s certainly an aesthetically pleasing sight when all the bottles and bits are lined up as I did for the photo above.
For the day, Armor All had supplied me with seven different products. The range included the ‘Ultra Shine Wash & Wax’, ‘Bug & Tar Remover’, ‘Interior Protectant’, ‘Ultra Shine Interior Protectant’, ‘Ultra Shine Protectant Wipes’, ‘Interior Cleaning Wipes’ and ‘Leather Protectant’.
Using seven different products over the course of the day would mean establishing a process. Eventually, I settled on the ‘Ultra Shine Wash & Wax’ first, followed by the ‘Bug & Tar Remover’ for the more stubborn bits. Once dry, I would move to the interior to test the ‘Ultra Shine Protectant Wipes’, ‘Ultra Shine Interior Protectant’, ‘Interior Cleaning Wipes’, ‘Interior Protectant’ and the ‘Leather Protectant’ to round things off.
As noted in my discussion above, I’d kick things off with the ‘Ultra Shine Wash & Wax’, the instructions for which can be a tad confusing. Now, the label says to use three capfulls per bucket but it’s rather tricky to know how much to use depending on the size of your bucket. I went with a generous approach, firstly, because my car hadn’t been washed in so long and secondly, because I was used to a foamier product from a competitor previously.
However, all was well in the end as applying the wash with a mitt to the paintwork cleared things up straight away. In a gentle glide of the hand, the watermarks, grime and dirt were all gone, allowing the Metallic Black paint underneath to shine though. Once done, a quick towel dry would see the car spotless for the brief period of a few hours, until it rained again. Even the rainwater couldn’t dull the shine left by the Carnauba Wax additive which really pays it dividends once dry.
‘Bug & Tar Remover’ was a good shout when adding to the ‘Wash & Wax’ process, particularly on the wheels and nose of the car, both places which had collected sticky compounds that were not going to disappear with just one wash. Thankfully my car is black but I recall having a lot of trouble getting rid of these marks on my white VW Golf GTI previously, would have certainly been handy to have this back then.
As you can see from the above, the ‘Wash & Wax’ solutions excels at beading all the water off the car’s paint. A feature that was put to the test particularly on the day as it rained about three or four times while my car was outside, the rainwater eventually drying up and leaving no marks behind, an excellent find this was!
Once done and pleased with my handiwork, a gap in the rain presented itself and I could fling the doors open to turn my attention to the interior.
While I only had two products to sample on the exterior, the interior was a different story with five different items at my disposal. A good place to start (I felt) was to clean the interior. Beginning with the ‘Interior Cleaning Wipes’, I went through to sanitize all of the high traffic buttons and handles on the interior of my car, creating a hygienic result more so than a cosmetic improvement.
Admittedly, the amount of foam generated by the wipes did concern me because all the button markings are over 20 years old and I wouldn’t want to dissolve any of them away. However, my concern has been satisfied since.
Once this was done, I could turn my attention to freshening up the interior. Being a 20 year old car, my 147 GTA does not have a sea of gloss black plastic as many modern cars do. Instead, I took to its chrome tipped surfaces and shinier plastic bits when it came to using the other products. The ‘High Shine Interior Protectant’ really earned its stripes here. Being partial to sprays rather than wipes, I focused my attention on the interior plastics, spraying all the surfaces and then wiping them down. before moving on to the next portion of the process.
One of the highlights of my 147 GTA and its interior in particular is the leather work. Alfa Romeo used hand stitched leather trim liberally throughout the cabin, an aspect that found favour with Jeremy Clarkson when he reviewed the GTA back in the early noughties. However, a downside to having this much leather around means that proper care for all these panels can be missed out from time to time and certain surfaces like the steering wheel are prone to greater wear.
To give you an idea, the 147 GTA not only has entirely leather seats (front, rear and headrests) but the materials also covers the door panels, gear boot, handbrake boot and steering wheel. Out of all of this, I have only applied a solution for the seats once before during my ownership. Arguably my favourite interior product on the day, the ‘Leather Protectant’ moisturized the leather panels on my GTA, restoring life to the old, cracked Italian leather and creating a revitalized material once again. I’d probably go one step further and say it was my favourite product of the day.
The Verdict:
The biggest test of these cleaning solutions was how the surfaces looked a week after the clean. I’m glad to report that the rainwater beaded off and eventually dried on the exterior while on the inside, the protectants did the same, leaving a shiny finish underneath, barring the leather which looks more lifelike now. All this while the products themselves look better in orange, are better on the environment too and are tougher on dirty cars. Overall, I’m extremely pleased with Armor All’s new range of products, a deserved ‘highly recommend’ from me!
Thanks for reading! For more gear reviews, visit Tarmac Life.
Words and photos by Matthew D’Souza.
Thanks to Armor All Australia New Zealand for supplying the products and Sophia from Dialogue PR for organizing the review.
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