Car cleaning products, on paper, do they all look the same? I mean, what really is the difference between a bottle of car shampoo here and another bottle of car shampoo there, anyway? They would all clean your car well at the end of the day, so do you really need to be that picky? Well, it turns out that a combination of the right products can make a big difference, making sure that you get that eye-catching glint and glimmer out of your car’s paint, without breaking your back. Alchemy and Mammoth both make a ton of cleaning gear that makes them a natural companion to one another, so let’s take a look at whether this truly is a marriage made in heaven.
Starting Off With The Pre-Wash & Shampoo
For this test, I tried out some of Alchemy’s and Mammoth’s finest across 3 different cars – an old Kia Niro (which isn’t in its best shape, as it has been somewhat neglected), as well as my Bentley Continental GT and a Jaguar I-PACE. To begin, let’s spray on some of Alchemy’s Grime Pre-Wash solution. As its name might suggest, it’s an all-in-one solution for the often-tricky pre-wash process before putting on any shampoo. Alchemy’s Grime works by getting all that nasty road grime off your car’s paint first, using its concentrated citrus mixture that’ll effectively get rid of bug splatter, salt, tree sap, grease, and anything else that’s stubborn enough to cling onto your car.
Yet, as strong as it is, Alchemy’s Grime won’t strip away any existing wax or sealants if used properly, though be warned that it is a concentrated formula. As such, it works best with a bit of diluting, and you can do this simply by mixing it with some water in a spray bottle and then spraying it onto your car. All in all, Alchemy Grime works superbly well, and all you need to do now is wait a bit before washing it off. Next up, we can finally move toward adding some shampoo to your car, and I have here a bottle of Alchemy’s Dirty Harry Shampoo. On the surface, it looks like your typical bottle of car shampoo solution, albeit with a cooler name than most regular shampoos.
Dirty Harry is a high-foaming, ph-neutral shampoo, which also happens to be wax-friendly. So, while it is strong enough to remove even the toughest dirt and grime on your car, just like Grime, it won’t strip away any existing wax layers. It’s a good idea to apply Dirty Harry (like most other car shampoos) on a cool surface and away from direct sunlight. Additionally, make sure that you rinse off any loose debris before spraying it on. Given that Dirty Harry is another concentrated formula, you should also mix it with some water to dilute it. As a general rule of thumb, Alchemy recommends one capful of Dirty Harry per litre of water (in a bucket).
Finding & Using The Right Mitts For Paint & Tyres
On the subject of how you’d apply and spread the shampoo over your car, consider Mammoth’s Fluffmeister wash mitt! It’ll be your best friend when you need something to help get some of that Dirty Harry over your paint, working from top to bottom. Aside from its equally cool-sounding name, the Fluffmeister Flex is impressively soft, almost like a lambswool car wash mitt. This is designed to prevent dirt and grime from rubbing against your car’s paint as you’re using the mitt. Instead, the Fluffmeister Flex traps them inside the soft microfibre fabric. Another handy feature of the Fluffmeister Flex is just how smoothly and effortlessly it glides over the paintwork.
Aside from that, it not only works best with ph-neutral shampoos, but it also creates high-foaming suds, making it a natural partner for Alchemy’s Dirty Harry. If the Fluffmeister hasn’t gotten you impressed yet, then check out the Flossmeister, too. Mammoth’s wash band is another piece of their repertoire that I’ve had the chance to sample, offering you more flexibility with wrapping around the wheel’s spokes and cleaning those difficult-to-reach areas of your car, as well as the previously unreachable nooks and crannies. Admittedly, I’ve never used anything like it before, but having seen what the Flossmeister could do, I now wonder why I haven’t gotten one until now.
The Mammoth Flossmeister wash band is made of the same soft, high-grade microfibre as the Fluffmeister Flex. However, it is instead stitched into a band, supported by some heavy-duty straps on either end. Besides wheels, you may also use the Flossmeister to clean tricky spots around your car, such as the hinges, struts, spoilers, fuel caps, the front grille, or your car’s rear wing. Using the Flossmeister is pretty straightforward, as you’re basically grabbing both straps and then “flossing” a particular panel, trim piece, or your wheel. At this point, we are just about done with the washing and shampooing part of cleaning a car, which now leads us to detailing it.
Buffing & Quick Detailing To Bring Out That Gloss
We start with Alchemy’s Duck Tail Hydrophobic Wet Coat solution, which you could apply whether your car is dry or wet, after you’re done washing. If I had to pick one of the products here as my personal favourite, the Duck Tail is probably right up there, though I do quite like them all. It essentially functions as a spray-on sealant for the top of your car’s paintwork, sort of like waxing your car, but as an easy-to-use liquid version of it. Best of all, since you could spray it on your car even when it’s wet, the Alchemy Duck Tail is a very low-effort product to use, as you won’t have to dry your car before putting it on. This ought to save quite a lot of time.
What you end up with now is a very nice finish, with that satisfying sheen on your car’s paint. Better still, this is a hydrophobic spray-on wet coat that claims to last you as long as 4 months, offering you a great bit of protection and water beading for quite some time. Ah, but to compound that eye candy even further, we’re not done yet, as we then have Alchemy’s aptly-named Suga Coat. In short, this is a quick detailer product to add that cherry on top and create a delightful gloss and pop to your car’s paint. All you need to do is spray this onto your car once it’s dry, and then buff it off, leaving you a nice finish behind, as you can see what I’ve been able to do here.
I was really quite happy with it, as it wasn’t just superbly easy to use, but it also instantly added a candy-like gloss to my car’s paintwork. For some extra bonus points, Alchemy’s Suga Coat doesn’t leave any streaking either, and not only is that neat, but the Alchemy Suga Coat could be sprayed onto your car between washes to help enhance its shine and gloss. Alternatively, you can quickly spray a bit of Suga Coat to get rid of any fingerprints and smudges. Having this double-team between the Alchemy Duck Tail and Suga Coat is a surprisingly effective, accessible, and affordable means of detailing your car to near perfection, without having to spend loads on premium kits.
Giving Your Tyres A Bit Of Dressing Up & Refreshing
On that note, remember not to ignore your tyres, as well! Alchemy’s Soul Glo 2000 is a tyre dressing solution that gives us and brings back the shiny vulcanisation looks of brand-new tyres. It achieves this using a unique blend of some silicone oils, and you only need 2-3 very small pea-sized drops to refresh each tyre. That said, just make sure that your car’s tyres have been freshly washed before applying the Soul Glo 2000, and that they’re fully dried. It ought to last you a decently long time, particularly if you applied it correctly. And, to guarantee that Alchemy’s Soul Glo 2000 is filling in every crack and gap on your car’s tyre, Mammoth’s Tyre Stamp Brush works like a treat!
Again, I’ve never used a brush like this before when dressing up my tyres, but here and now, I can’t imagine doing it without one. Unlike using, say, an old sponge, Mammoth’s Tyre Stamp Brush has these super-soft nylon bristles that thoroughly get in between and around all the little grooves and markings on your tyre’s sidewall. Plus, with how fine the bristles are, you can sufficiently get close to the wheels, and with low-profile tyres, you can also get quite close to the road. So, if you’re still using a dirty old kitchen rag to dress up your tyres, do yourself a favour and get yourself a nice tyre stamp brush, just like what Mammoth has here. Overall, I’m smitten by the end result.
Are Alchemy & Mammoth Car Cleaning Products Worth It?
So far, I’ve done the Kia Niro, but it’s quite interesting to see just how well this Alchemy & Mammoth combo has worked on the Bentley and Jag too, given some of the unique challenges and obstacles with cleaning those other two. For instance, Mammoth’s Flossmeister wash band could get between the narrow spokes on the Continental GT’s wheels. Moreover, given how beautifully deep and rich the Conti GT’s paintwork is, combining the Alchemy Duck Tail and finishing it off with some of their Suga Coat quick detailer brings out so much gloss from the paint, creating a lovely mirror-like finish. Finally, we have the Jaguar I-PACE left to prep, wash, and detail.
Once again, the Flossmeister proved to be a lifesaver, getting between the tight and narrow triangular spokes on the wheels. As with earlier, Alchemy’s Duck Tail proves itself as my favourite cleaning product here, as it rewards you with that nice sparkle and shimmer, without much effort or fuss, while applying it. Just like with the Conti GT, capping it off with Alchemy’s Suga Coat further levelled up how much the paint popped. In all, it took me around an hour and a half to work on each car, and given the impressively eye-catching outcome that you can see here, I’d say it’s well worth the effort, and I’m glad that I took a peek at what Alchemy and Mammoth have been up to.
