Mods - I thought this was more relevant to the detailing section that product reviews but if it needs to be moved then hey ho.Very recently I was given the opportunity, as a relative newbie to the detailing world, to trial some new products from Maxolen (
www.lokateuk.com) courtesy of Pat.
I spent a good hour with Pat over at Maxolen HQ and it was clear that they are a huge company that have been producing quality products for years for the commercial market for years although they have only just begun to target the retail market.
I know that a number of products are being tested over on DW but the ones I have had the pleasure of using are:
All Purpose Cleaner,
Liquid Detailing Wax,
Super 3in1 Polish,
Wax Free Shampoo,
400, 350, 250 Microfibre Cloths,
Anti Hologram Foam Duster.
ALL PURPOSE CLEANER:
This is a general APC in a ready to use trigger spray bottle. One of the things that impressed me most about this is that it can be used directly in your washing machine to wash your microfibre cloths and polishing pads. A few caps in the machine were enough to do all my cloths and its brought them all up very clean indeed. I’ve had a few issues lately with some of my cloths becoming clogged up with old polish/wax residue and this stuff seems to have got rid of it and it has the added bonus of containing NO fabric softner what so ever. Apparently even liquid detergents contain a small amount of softner that can potentially effect how well the cloth works.
So far thats about all I’ve used it for but its cleaning ability seems impressive.
WAX FREE SHAMPOO:
I have used this twice so far. Once on my own car and once on the wifes which hasn’t really been touched all summer. Its seems to have cleaned them both up very well and although it did leave some mild streaking I’ve put this down to the fairly strong sunlight thats was about when I used it.
I used about three caps to a narge builders bucket of water but that was enough to remove the grime of the wifes and that had some serious grime on it!
Once I had rinsed and dried the car I didn’t bother applying any wax as I wanted to know if it had stripped what wax was already on the car. I had to wait a few days for the rain but the paintwork is still beading well so its looks like it is mild enough to use as a regular shampoo.
LIQUID DETAILING WAX:
I really love this stuff! Washed and dried the whole car and then decided to go over the car with this stuff using the 400gsm microfibre cloths to to apply and remove it.
Again this comes in a quality trigger spray bottle and although quite thick initially, spreads well and its easy to work. I did find that the product required a little more effort to remove than Megs Last Touch that I’m used to but the results are excellent. It almost dries and hazes like a wax should but it can be used on the plastics and rubbers to great effect too.The paintwork is super slick afterwards, left a gorgeous wet look and it also brought the rubber and plastics around the car up a treat and there was some reasonable beading on the plastics as well.
ANTI-HOLOGRAM FOAM DUSTER:
Basically a large piece of soft foam for use in removing polish after application. I really couldn’t get along with this at all though. I used it to remove the Liquid Wax, the Super 3in1 along with my regular waxes - Colinite 845 and Vics Concours Red.
I just found it grabbed the paint and wax residue too much and it felt like I was really having to drag it over the paint. I was looking forward to using it with the Vics as I have been having issues with that particular wax hologramming and this promised to elimintate that issue. Unfotunately it did not and I was forced to resort to my new Swissvax Micro Polishsing cloths to buff off the residue. Personally I think this would work better if the foam was thinner and backed by a firmer piece of foam to help keep it rigid when buffing off the wax.
As a consolation though its brilliant for applying tyre dressings!
MICROFIBRE CLOTHS:
Excellent quality cloths, particularly the 400 and 350gsm ones. They feel really dense and thick and have both a short and long pile side depending on what you require and I really liked using them. The only issue I would have was the label on them that could easily scratch your paint but this was easily rectified with a short sharp yank, removing them without any issue.
I had some Chemical Guys cloths arrive at the same time and these felt nowhere near as thick or nice as the Maxolen ones.
They worked well at removing all of the waxes I used and left a nice shine after buffing too.
SUPER 3in1 POLISH:
As the title would suggest, this product is an all in one cleanser, ultra fine polish and wax. It seems in a similar vain to Auto Gylm SRP and even the product itself looks just like SRP.
It can be applied by hand or machine however I chose to apply it by hand on this occasion. It goes on a easy and buffs off with minimal effort, even when left for a while.
I few weeks back after getting my hands on the Maxolen products I decided to split the bonnet into four sections, that way I could assess the quality of the wax against the Liquid Detailing Wax and my usual waxes.
The bonnet was washed and dried before being wiped down with some IPA to remove all the old wax that I had previously applied and the buffed off with one off the Maxolen microfibres. A single layer of Prima Amigo was then applied before the various waxes. From left to right - Liquid Wax, 3in1, 845 and Vics (applied in full length vertical sections).
I tried to grab a few but from the photos there isn’t any discernible difference in my opinion. To be honest it was the same with the naked eye too.
I’ve had them on now for around two weeks and all four are still beading well. Both the Maxolen waxes are still beading beautifully.The water beads are quite a bit larger than with the 845 / Vics but they still bead up very nicely as you can see from the photos. A couple of times since application we have had a few bouts of light rain and afterwards it was clear to see that the sheeting/run off characteristics varied between them considerably. The Coli had the most run off, closely followed by the Vics Red. Out of the two Maxolen waxes the Liquid Wax had the most run off with the 3in1 barely moving. It just resulted in some rather large beads of water.
I decided to test the sheeting ability further after washing the car again with the Wax Free Shampoo. The 3in1 definitely runs off much slower than all the other waxes but saying that, there is less water on the panel at the end of the sheeting where the 3in1 was applied (2nd from the left)?
SUMMARY:
With the exception of the Anti-Hologram Foam Duster all the products have been impressive, especially the Liquid Wax. I spent a good hour with Pat over at Maxolen HQ and it was clear that they are a huge company that have been producing quality products for years for the commercial market.
All the products seem to be well priced and come in a quality package, especially the trigger spray bottles. Pat was eager to explain that they had spent extra time and money to make sure the packaging worked and as soon as I’ve used up all the product I’ll be washing the bottles out and using them again for other products.
I’ll be replacing the Liquid Wax as soon as it runs out as it seems to add that little extra after washing and I would also highly recommend the 400gsm microfibres. They are uber plush!
The 3in1 is a good candidate for a one step product and for somebody who wants the simplicity of such a product this is a good choice. I’m going to be using this to do an entire vehicle soon and will report back when I have used it further.
