5 Star Shine????

[ecirwin]

Has anyone used this product or know of any info on it positive or negative? It is one of those "sounds to good to be true" products, but sometimes they are true. About the only reviews I can find are on their website. Surprise, they are all glowingly positive. I would love to be able to run through the touchless wash and come home to dry the car and be done!

I know a lot of people here really like Zaino. Please don't preach Zaino to me, they are already on my list of possibilities.

TIA,
Eric


5 Star Shine

[Tom F.]

...just looking at the site.

The claim: "And of course you don't get a patent unless you can prove results!" That is not true- you just prove its a new idea.

The claim: "Only paint protection system ever granted a US Patent" - but then you link to the patent and there are citations of several earlier patents that relate to paint protection systems.

Plus, I see they have an "Affiliates Program" - if they can't sell it themselves, they go for pyramid marketing.

Without looking at the merit of the product, those are three danger signs for me, and I'd never send them my money!

[ecirwin]

I agree with you on the patent issues. You don't have to prove anything functional to get a patent, just something different.

Lot's of products are sold through affiliates. Two other car care companies are Zaino and Dry Wash n' Guard. While not the most confidence boosting distribution, it is not unusual for new products.

What kind of scares me is that they claim to have been around for quite a long time, yet I can barely find any mention of the product on the internet.

Thanks for picking that low hanging fruit, although it bugged me when reading the site, I did not pay any attention because marketing always puts a spin on these things. It happens to my products all the time.

Eric

[D.D.]

OK........I won't preach Zaino......BUT........Get Zaino!!

[sugster]

What a large pile of brown stuff!

Quote:

The revolutionary PPS formula actually bonds PTFE with the molecules of your paint

That statment alone would make sure I never used this product.
The people who write this stuff clearly don't have the faintest grasp of the chemistry which they are trying to describe. Whats the point of the PTFE?

Could go off on a chemistry based rant but won't for fear of boring people to death!

A good clear description of how (if) it works would convince far more people to buy the stuff than if you try to pull the wool over peoples eyes.
Right I'm off to play with my molecules......

[ecirwin]

Quote:

Could go off on a chemistry based rant but won't for fear of boring people to death!

sugster,

I know you may bore some, but I would be interested in hearing the chemistry based rant. This product seems to use similar principals to that of Zaino, in that there is a surface prep step (beyond cleaning) and a coating step. I know the marketing is probably bull, but most people are not capable or interested in understanding the real process.

I am sure that the acrylic base carries the PTFE and that the acrylic is what actually bonds with the paint or clear coat in most cases.

So please, if you would discuss the bull in the marketing and possibly what is really happening.

Thanks,
Eric

[sugster]

Bonding with the clear coat would be bad in so many ways. This suggests that there are reactive sites along the polymer backbones which form the basis of the clear coat. Many clear coats use a two pack polyurethane system. The two components are highly reactive towards each other and quickly form the final urethane bond and therefore a crosslinked system. If a reaction were to take place between the clearcoat and the 5 star shine, this would have to happen at ambient temp i.e.~20°C. This also means that the there is possibility of other agents reacting with the clear coat and potentially destroying the coat such as atmospheric pollutants. Don't forget the gases which come out of exhausts are actually quite agressive. Not to mention bird excrement and acid rain.
The other problem with allowing reative sites to remain within a polymer is the unzipping of the backbone due to free radical damage.
What I don't disagree with is the polysiloxane chemistry which 5 star are using or at least what is quoted on the website. From reading the Zaino website it look like they are also using a system based on a trimethoxysilyl reactive group. This type of chemistry has been employed in polishes for 30 years or so. It works so why not use it. This stuff doesn't react with the clear coat, if it does it's only through the tiny fration of primary amine groups which remain uncured from the reaction which forms the clear coat.
The other thing which troubles me is their description of the electrostatic interactions which occur. There are no electromagnetic reactions, electrostatic yes. But then you'd get those anyway. There are plenty of electrosatic interaction between any wax and the clear coat.

We use PTFE lined reation vessels for doing some pretty hardcore chemistry at work, you will really struggle to get anything to react to that stuff. That is borne out in the table which they show, nothing reacts with it so how does my paint? The patent states that they are using micronised PTFE which is just dispersed throughout the system. All that will happen is that the polymerised siloxane will be deagraded and the very small chunks of PTFE will fall out. Granted that the PTFE may give a limited 'non stick' effect, but you've got to ask yourself how much PTFE is in there? Its pretty pricy stuff.

This product may well work and I'm sure some people are happy with it. I've got no problem with the product just the way its advertised. Just my opinion

[ecirwin]

sugster,

Thanks for going into more detail on your perceptions of the marketing scheme. I don't get the feeling that this stuff would harm the paint at all and could possibly make washing the car very easy. My biggest hope is that it works on the wheels. The other hope is that it makes bug guts easily cleanable. I think I am going to try it out and I will post back in a month to 6 weeks on the initial results. It is too cold here now to do this kind of thing. My car is due to be delivered soon (ship docked in NJ today). I figure that even if I have to apply it once a year, instead of the claimed 5 years, it is worth it to save the time on washing and waxing.

Eric

[ecirwin]

I thought I would update this thread a little. The weather warmed up enough here to do my Spring Cleaning. I ordered the 5 Star Shine stuff and applied it yesterday. I was able to do 2 coats on the car.

Two things, do not get step 2 of the process on the glass or the black trim. I applied Rain-X to the windows today and it was a nightmare getting it buffed out. I probably spent an hour an a half trying to get all that hazing off. Never had this trouble before, so it must be that product. If I had not used it on the windows, I would still have some left over or could have done a third coat on the hood and other high wear areas. If you get it on the black trim, it will come off but requires some elbow grease.

I also used some micro fibre towels for the first time. I really like them and the do a great job. I bought some at Target that came in a 3 pack on clearance for $4.88. There is one towel for window cleaning and the other 2 are for everything else.

The 5 Star takes quite a long time to apply when you do all the steps. I did the clay bar thing to start. This is a must do for any new wax application. It is amazing all the little stuff it will pull off the paint. Then I washed with this Neutral PH car wash that came with the kit. Then you was the car with step one of the protectant and let it air dry. That took quite a while with the humidity high and the temps only around 60. Then you rinse and wipe the car to get the dried residue off. Dry the car completely. The MINI has lots of little nooks and crannys that hold water. I got an air compressor this winter and a little air wand just for blowing out those areas. Next did the final step on the whole car and the wheels (took the wheels off to get at the inside too). Buffed it off and then reapplied until I ran out of product.

Below is a picture of the car after I was done. It was a little hazy, so the sun is not at full brightness. It does look very good. The product will only be a success if it washes with only water in the future.

I will update again in a month or so to let you know how things are going. BTW, not only do you not have to use soap, but you aren't supposed to. The soap will leave a residue behind that hampers the effect of the teflon or something like that.

Here's Cela all clean and shiny!

[sugster]

Thats a nice clean car!
A really good experiemnt would have been to only apply it to half the bonnet/ hood and go out and find some really dirty back roads, hose it off and bingo you could see if it works. Might have made your car look a little strange though

Hope that the product lives up to your expectations over the coming weeks.

Let us know how Cela gets on.

[ecirwin]

Sugster,

Since you did reply, I will give a small update. Yesterday I drove over 100 miles on Interstate, Highway, City, and Country roads as well as up my friends gravel/dirt driveway. Keep in mind that there is still plenty of salt and grit laying around here in Michigan. The car still looks good and even the back of the car does not have a collection of dust. I splattered a few bugs on the way, but that is inevitable. I expected the boot lid to be covered in dust and grit, but it was almost completely clean. It is supposed to rain here tonight and tomorrow, so we will see how it does in those conditions.

[ticktick]

Hi, ecirwin; any further updates on the 5 star shine? Is it still good? If you say it is good, I am ready to buy .

[ecirwin]

I have been thinking of posting a reply, but haven't gotten around to it. Thanks for the motivation.

Is it all that it advertises, no. Have I used one drop of soap on it in the 4 times I have washed it, no. What I have found as the best wash method with 5 Star Shine is as follows:

1. Go to the coin-op car wash and use the high pressure rinse feature to go over the whole car and get 95% of the dirt off.

2. Drive home and use the hose to flood the surface while while wiping with a micro fiber towel. I try to keep the towel in a puddle of water from the hose at all times. This only takes about five minutes to go over the car and another five to do the wheels.

3. I spend the next hour trying to dry the damn thing. I have never had a car that was so difficult to get dry. The water just keeps on coming out of all the nooks and crannys. I even use an air hose to blow water out. One thing I did this last time was raise the hood while drying and that seemed to help. Now I just need to figure a way to drain the water out of the sunroof drains so they keep dripping water for hours. I think I am getting faster, but it is still a pain. A thorough cleaning takes me about 90 minutes.

The car looks great and I haven't noticed any scratches or swirl marks from this wash procedure. I don't know how much if any benefit is coming from the teflon. I do think the polymer base that is laid down is effective at protecting the surface.

I guess the real answers will come over time. I don't think the product is as great as they claim it to be. My car was practically new when I applied it and I spend an entire day doing it. I say that just to emphasize that I did everything by the book and more. It seems to be holding up well and I won't be spending a few days this summer waxing my car. It is not everything I hoped for or they claim it to be, but it does seem to be a good product.

So, if you think you are just going to rinse all the road grime away with your garden hose, you will be disappointed. I am very pleased I applied it to the wheels, they come clean pretty easy with no soap just a little brushing and hose water. I don't want to dicourage anyone from buying the product. I just want to inform of the real world experience I have.

I hope this helps and I will post anymore updates as they come. Again, I am happy with it, just not overwhelmed. The product isn't as spectacular as the marketing hype, but it is still a good product. I would recommend it to anyone, but with the real world experience and not the marketing hype.

Eric

[ecirwin]

Time for another update.

About a week or two ago while I was drying the car I started to see some evidence of water spotting. You could only see it when the surface was still damp. Just little shadows on the surface. So, this weekend I used some of the Neutral PH soap that came in the kit to wash the car.

I did the usual routine described above, except that instead of just wiping with the micro fiber towel while running the hose on the car, I had a bucket with the soap and water in it. Just did a wash and rinse. It took about 5 minutes longer than the normal routine.

The car looks great still and I did not see the water spot evidence that I had seen the week before. So, it seems that every couple of months I will have to use a couple ounces of the soap that comes in a 16 oz bottle with the kit.

I guess that is it for an update for now.

[tylast]

I applied 5starshine 7 weeks ago & it's the best car polish I've ever used. It's not like those Acylic applications that needed to be painted on, it goes on just like normal wax & comes off just like one. The process is explained above ~ won't rehash it. I actually take my Mini to the local "wash it yourself deal". I tried just rinsing it off...that only works after you wash it with soap every other time. I just wash it with a very soft brush & soap, rinse, & use a rubber squeege to remove water so I don't get water spots. The shine & beading action is outstanding.

I've also noticed that I don't get that build up of dirt on the hatch anymore.