andy1505

Wife bought me a Flash car wash kit today, anyone used one? Any good?
Looks exactly like the kit that Auto express used to clean the Subaru rally car!!

marklemac

Tell me more.

This product is supposed to be the daddy...

andy1505

Woolworths £19.99 but standard price else where. Uses a de ionised water to dry the car in 5 mins without streaks/waterspots. If no one else posts will say more on Sunday if I use it( looks a cool piece of kit though).

Garion

I bought one a few hours ago in my local Homebase. Its big, it comes with a filter good for 3+ washes & a small bottle of their car wash. It does seem to do as they say. rinsed the car, washed it, rinsed again then switched to the filter setting & hosed the whole car down with the "de-ionised" water.

I let i sit for a while then took her out for a drive & no streaks. Only drawback i can see is that new 10 use filter packs are about £4.99 so could prove dear in the long term but saved loads of time chamoing & blading the car.

cheers Andy

andy1505

Just tried it out. Might take some getting used to, on the subject of cost £4.99 for 10 wash, thats 50p per plus shampoo. So not too dear, depends on how well it stands the test of time.

Chris L

There are some more details here

Catherine

I suppose the only downside is if in years to come, its popularity falters then you might find it difficult to buy the consumables.

StickyMicky

so there is no need to leather the car off afterwards?

captain ted

Has anyone tried this on their house windows?

Shown Mrs Ted and it has provoked some interest!

davedipster

Hmmm could be worth a try...

Dipster

Jiggerypokery

Used this on the car at the weekend. It works!

The shampoo contains a polymer which breaks down the surface tension of the water - a bit like rinse-aid in the dishwasher.
The car dried with no spots or smears, it left the car windows very clear.
I think there may be a downside though - because of the polymer, rainwater will not bead on the car, so it will get dirty more quickly unless it is waxed after washing.

Jiggerypokery

Just read the FAQ: they claim the "beads will be back" the next time it rains.

In the FAQ: Question: ... Does it affect the polish or the wax?
They don't answer this question at all!

Tiggs

It was mentioned on here a few days ago.....

Quick review for you-

got it from halfords for £25

Plug in hose, put shampoo in little holder and away you go.

rinse car, spray with soap, sponge, rinse, next panel....when all done switch to filter water and rinse car off....done.

car dried spotless! i thought my water blade was pretty cool....this is even better! (also did all the house windows...perfect)

Car was a black galaxy with blacked out glass....very hard to get a good dry finish...this was perfect)

T

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

Bought one in ASDA, not used it yet but I was reassured to read in the instruction leaflet that the shampoo will
NOT strip wax off.

captain ted

Do you work for Flash?

Tiggs

yes.....but i still stand by what i said.

Brother_Will

Take it back, Halfords have just reduced to £19.99 you have 14 days to get a refund of the difference, itll go towards new filters lol

davedipster

I thought that any detergent removes wax, if it removes oil from your hands then it must. I wonder what they mean by 'strips', probably means that is leaves some wax behind after a wash.

Dipster

Tiggs

for £5 difference???? better things to do with my time!

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

A quality car shampoo Autoglym/Swissol/Zymol etc etc is formulated to remove surface grime but leave the wax alone. Cheap detergents such as fairy liquid will remove the lot as well as taking oils out of the paint itself which is known as detergent burn and causes the paint to deteriorate. A cheap car shampoo could contain anything hence the concern over the Flash stuff since they make a number of household cleaning products containing harsh detergents. They do claim though that the car shampoo does not strip wax so it should be OK to use between waxing which I only do every couple of months.

captain ted

Would just about pay for your fuel to get to the shop and back!

(If you live within 2 miles of it that is).

FASTER MIKE!!

the thing with wasing up liquid is it is corosive thats why you should never us it on your car

Chris L

If you're concerned about the quality of the Flash car shampoo, you should be able to use something like Meguiars NXT - this has similar beading properties to that mentioned by other people. I know Flash will probably say that any other shampoo will clog the unit, blah blah, but they would say that wouldn't they?

Jiggerypokery

... but it seems that the whole point of the flash soap is to stop the water from beading, so the minerals are not concentrated in the one bead of water.

ru'

I've got one of these, and I've found the strength of the jet really pathetic for the first 'spray the car to get rid of the loose stuff' stage (and rinsing soap off too).

I use a garden type hose attachment for both these duties, with a final rinse using the 'filtered' water from the flash thing.

This seems to work fine.

When the flash shampoo runs out I'm going to try my normal stuff in the unit; this'll probably be the weekend after next - I'll post back with my findings.

I wish they'd made the thing look better though; I feel a bit stupid using it (and I've got thick skin - I drive a red car for f's sake!)...

S@m

I might consider buying one just for the filter part of it if only to see how much crap it removes from the tap water.


Mark.

GrollySTI

My thoughts exactly

Scoobydick

No, I think you've got that wrong. The shampoo makes the water bead up so it falls off the car making drying easier. The minerals in the water are removed by a filter inside the device so there aren't any in the water when you do a final rinse.

Jiggerypokery

The shampoo does NOT bead the water, it's quite strange seeing a well-waxed car 100% wet.

Diablo

LOL

All that money on a car and you wash it with a product from a company that makes bathroom cleaners, among other things

never mind that propriatry manufactures of car washes have been doing it for years.

Still, if fairy liquid is you choice of wash, then fair enough

Maybe its easier in Scotland with our very soft water, to be fair.

Quick wash with Zymol, good rinse, quick run up the road, and hey presto - one clean, streak free car (black or otherwise)