Review: Jeff`s Werkstatt Prime and Acrylic Jett

[Corey S.]

I ordered this tuesday night (probably around 7 pm). It came at 11:30 this morning (thursday). That`s really quick. That`s not just really quick. REALLY quick. I don`t live that far from Michigan, but it`s still quick.

The finish on my car didn`t need any polishing. There are a few little scratches that I`ll have to take care of in the spring, but for now I decided to keep it simple today and enjoy the very warmy weather. It definitely didn`t need claying; the paint was very smooth and somewhat slick still. Anyway...

Packaging.
This is the best box of detailing stuff I have received. The bottles are actually taped to a bottom piece of cardboard which is the same size as the bottom of the box. No wasteful packaging peanuts, just the bottles shrinkwrapped and taped. The towels and applicators come in ziplock bags.

And, SCOOP! An actual thank you! Yes, that orange envelope is filled with my detailed order information and a blue note thanking me for my order. When I ordered I had an issue with the website after hitting submit (I think this was really just an unfortunate consequence and not anything to do with the website). He included this in the letter. That`s impressive. Many of you may recall my thread a year or two ago about this commonly overlooked detail. And he actually signed it too. It`s these types of things that keep good customers.

And good bottles help, too. They`re the perfect size to fit in a hand. Round bottles are so much nicer than square. When will people learn this? The tops are great. They`re not those snap-slop-top design. Very nice.






Prime.
This is a great paint prep. Easy to work with and yields a good finish for the last protection step. It`s certainly not going to do much for swirls. It seems to not be a great polish, but more of a cleaner. Klasse AIO? Yup. It seems like an updated version of that very product.

It`s a fairly liquidy material. Watery perhaps. Not terrible, and it could definitely be worse. I just don`t want people to be surprised when they notice that it`s not thick like a off the shelf cleaner wax.

I applied it using my cylco random orbital with the white pads (polishing). I was originally thinking about using the blue (wax application) pads, but I thought that my paint could use a little polishing. This stuff spreads so easily, and you really don`t need to use that much per panel (and sometimes I found the pads had enough to actually do half of another panel or that entire panel). Allow it to dwell on the paint for 30 minutes after working it well and it comes off without a hitch.

Easy to work with, great results, clean paint. Protection? I`m sure it provides some, and I do know of detailers that make their customers pay more for a wax or sealant after Klasse AIO, but I`ve never received great durability from AIO so I`m likely to believe Prime is similar. I could be wrong, this is just stipulation. The finish is certainly very slick after removal. Glossy and clear. Very clear. Crystal clear? I like that.

Clean pads (oh and that`s MORE than enough to do, uhm, two panels. I wasn`t sure):

Dirrrrty pads (I probably should have used two sets of pads for this):

Using a polisher seems to help get very even and thin application:


Acrylic Jett.
When I first popped open the flip cap I thought Klasse SG! Oh and I don`t think I`m too far off. This stuff is thin. Water thin. Well not quite watery thin, but very thin. Thinner than the Prime. As thing as Klasse SG. After putting it on the pads and watching it be absorbed I thought about something.

If you`ll notice Jeff includes another sprayer in the box. I thought that could be for the Acrylic Jett. Infact that`s how I used to apply SG back in the day.......... So I put that on there and did a little spritzing action. Much better. Spray, spread, turn on polisher, and go to town.

Yes I used the cyclo with the blue pads. I have this thing about effective collisions. Now obviously we can`t heat up the wax, but we can stir it around on the paint. And if not it just goes on quicker that way.

I did run into some problems:
If you get a spot where the Acrylic Jett is thicker (I understand that`s a relative term--think of your neighbor waxing his car and actually going with a "thin coat." That`s thicker--then I really feel sorry for you because this stuff loves to haze to a very hard shell. I was kind of mad (minus ease of use points for you, Acrylic Jett). Then I thought of a good saying, "Likes dissolve likes." I know many people quickly grab the quick detailer. I`m going to be honest: you`re trying to mix oil and water and the only people that do that well are Kraft. So that was out--that quick detailer that was supplied probably wouldn`t be much help. And if this truly is an acrylic then inducing water into the equation would likely diminish the "cross linking" and consequently the durability. Oh piddle.

So I grabbed the cylco with the pads still on it and damp with Acrylic Jett and reapplied to to these spots. Let it sit there for a bit and BAM it came off. Mindfully applying Acrylic Jett would prevent this altogether (ie watching for thick spots). I should note this only happened on the roof. It was more of a phenomenon and not really an entire car ordeal. The rest of the Acrylic Jett came off easily. Not as easy as Prime, but my arms weren`t tired.

And the finish is just great. Clear! Pretty slick, too. However, it`s easy to judge that when your hands are dried out from cleaners, so we`ll see what I think about it tomorrow.

Oh I guess you probably want pictures of the car. The sun was still sort of out.

[jaybs02]

Nice write up Corey, but unforunately it says that your bandwidth has been exceeded.
I guess that we will have to wait till later to see the pics

"J"

[Brenton]

Nice pics too!

[Corey S.]

Oh piddle. Time to get a new host

[Mr. Clean]

Corey S., This product line has piqued my interest. More specifically the Prime product, for as you (and others) have mentioned it`s similarities to KAIO. Because Jeff makes not bones about "hiding" his affiliation with CarLack, it would be easy to assume that we are looking at a re-labeled AIO. Did you happen broach that possibility with Jeff?

If I read correctly you were a KSG user in the past. Did you experience any of the problems (ie. hazing) that have been reported with some frequency? How about with AJ?

And finally, following your purchasing thought process...what prompted you to purchase AJ over the CJ?

[pogo123]

Your car looks great Corey! What is the Acrylic Glos, a QD?

[Corey S.]

I did experience hazing, I mentioned it in my review.

And the Acrylic Glos is a QD, but I`m not certain how good it is. It is kind of thick and such.

[Mr. Clean]

I did experience hazing, I mentioned it in my review.

I did run into some problems:
If you get a spot where the Acrylic Jett is thicker (I understand that`s a relative term--think of your neighbor waxing his car and actually going with a "thin coat." That`s thicker--then I really feel sorry for you because this stuff loves to haze to a very hard shell.

Well, I re-read the review and this is all I could come up with. This is not the oft discussed SG hazing issue. Maybe that is the answer to my question???

[Corey S.]

Oh, I guess I left this up to assumption which I shouldn`t have done. That does mean I experienced hazing in these parts. Impossible hazing. For the life of me I couldn`t get it off until re-applying it to those panels and spreading it much thinner. After doing that I didn`t experience any problems with removal.

A short update?
It rained and then snowed. However, before that I did notice that it is VERY low dusting. Certain products (Blackfire, Wolfgang) are dust magnets. After a night of sitting outside my car didn`t appear to have any dust on it, and after quick detailing I noticed that there was very little dust/dirt on the towel. Very nice.

[mgm2003]

Very nice write up! Thanks for sharing.

This looks like a very nice product, but what does it do above and beyond other products? (cost, look, easy on/off, etc...)?