This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Armor All. Of course, the opinions are 100% mine – as you would expect!
A couple weeks ago, the fine folks at Armor All approached me about reviewing their new Ultra Shine Wash Wipes . Normally I don’t take requests, but since I already use just about every other product Armor All makes I said what the heck! Let’s do this! What you might not know yet is that Armor All has added both Ultra Shine Wash Wipes and Ultra Shine Wax Wipes to their product lineup. They come in packs of 12, and are oversized pre-moistened towelettes – and yeah, you can wash an entire vehicle with just a few wipes! More on that later…
Where Do They Come From, and What Do They Cost?
Where do they come from? I don’t know. Maybe an Area 51 alien research lab? Who cares?!? A dozen wipes will cost you under $8. Heck, you can run to Walmart and pick them up right now.
Why Would I Want To Use Them?
When I first heard of these packaged wipes, I wondered what the heck they were for? I mean surely you can’t clean an entire car with something that comes out of a little box? Plus, why would I want to do that?
- What if you have a freshly cleaned car and you go driving around and it gets just a little dirty? Ain’t nobody going to wash a slightly dirty car. But literally one or two of these wipes will take care of that! Anywhere.
- People who live in urban locations don’t really have easy access to a garden hose, and /or tons of space to wash the car. But anyone can pull out a pack of wipes.
- Say you’re in a water restricted area like Arizona or California and you don’t want to waste water on a vehicle.
- I HATE washing motorcycles with water! After you do it, no matter how you dry it you are getting wet if you try and ride it!
Show Me How They Work!
Alright already! Here’s what happened.
I assembled three different vehicles for the test. My little silver convertible weekend car, my big black daily driver SUV, and my completely filthy burgundy UTV. None of these vehicles had been washed in at least a month. So we had fairly clean, filthy, and ARE YOU KIDDING? I first went to work on the cleanest of the three. The car had a light covering of dirt mainly on the flat surfaces of the hood and trunk, the wheels had some brake dust, and there was some road spray on the sides.
Yeah, you’re gonna have to click the images to see the big versions to spot the dirt…
The condition wasn’t really bad enough to warrant a full wash, but definitely enough to make me want to wash it anyway – because it’s my baby! Side note: my wife called these my “baby wipes”. Because… well, you know. But really, they are kinda like big baby wipes. But in the manliest way possible.
I pulled out the first wipe and noticed it smells kind of sweet. Kind of like sweet cleaning fluid. I mean, it didn’t make me want to eat it or anything, but it wasn’t bad. I do wish they would make it smell like cherry! Like at the car wash. That would be awesome… Anyway, if you read the directions they tell you to just wipe, and then flip it over to a clean spot when it gets dirty.
And they mean it! If you try and rub and scrub like it was a normal wash you’re not going to get good results. But if you just wipe the towelette down the vehicle and let it do the work the results are amazing! Click the photo and drool!
Cleaning the little silver beast only required three wipes, two for the car and one for the wheels. Verdict – outstanding! The Ultra Shine Wash Wipes were way better than breaking out the hose and bucket. Faster, easier, and in all ways better.
The Big Dirty One
Yeah, I could have stopped after the easy one, but what kind of test would that be? So I decided to wash my filthy, black, FULL SIZED SUV with nothing but a pack of wet wipes. For science.
First of all, none of these photos are doing the vehicles justice. But the truck was really dirty. Here, this photo of the hood should basically tell you all you need to know.
So I started on the hood, and this is where I really learned the optimum way to do this. You want to first wipe down the really dirty areas with a sacrificial wipe – just use long slow one-direction wiping motions while turning frequently to a clean spot on the wipe. If you’re seeing moisture you’re good. If it’s feeling dry, it’s time to turn it!
The wipes don’t go really far when you have a ton of dirt! And if you had access to a hose, it would be better to spray off what you can first, then let it dry and use the wipes to finish if you want. But it’s not necessary! Because after I burned through a few wipes pretty quickly getting the big stuff, I then went over those areas again with a fresh wipe and it worked as well as on the clean car! Here’s the hood after cleaning with nothing but the Armor All Ultra Shine Wash Wipes!
And here’s the side profile of the truck! Yes, I know it’s hard to believe. But seriously all I did was wipe the filthy beast down and this mirror black finish appeared. I don’t know what they put in these things!
Craziest thing of all is that I only used about 6 or 7 wipes to clean the entire freaking vehicle! And it didn’t take any longer than if I had used a bucket and water. In fact, it was quicker if you consider that you have to dry it and rub it down to keep it from spotting after wet washing.
Now there were some areas that couldn’t be cleaned with the Wash Wipes. For example, the front grill. You’re just not going to stick your finger in every hole. It would take forever.
So the verdict is – well, I’m not sure. You can definitely clean even a huge, black filthy truck with just the wipes! It won’t be quite as clean as if you did it with a bucket and water, but it also won’t be as messy and time consuming. But if you didn’t let your vehicle go months between washes, you’d probably only use 3-4 wipes on a full sized SUV to keep it looking sparkling clean. And if you used the Wax Wipes afterwards it would stay cleaner even longer!
Yeah, But Will It Clean A Muddy 4×4?
Of course not! But that doesn’t mean I didn’t try… I’ve got my side by side UTV, which has been driven through mud, dirt, grass, etc. for about the last 30 miles. It was also parked outside for about a week, covering it with a fine layer of dust and dirt inside and out.
The thing was disgusting!
So, I took out the wipes and… well, come on. It didn’t work so well. The fine layer of dust on everything really went through the wipes in a hurry. Basically it took about two wipes just to get the bulk of the stuff off the windshield and hood. I used the third wipe to clean up the sides and outside of the tailgate, and I used another to clean the entire dash and both of the seats!
It’s obvious that to really get all the caked on mud off you need water. But you can see the difference between the areas I tackled with just the wipes and those I didn’t.
So, I couldn’t clean the whole UTV, but the hood looks great!
And overall, it’s much more presentable.
So, the verdict on this one? Wash your damn vehicles when you go off-roading! But you could carry a pack of Ultra Shine Wash Wipes with you to keep the seats clean for the ladies. ;-) Anyway, that’s it. They’re cheap, they’re easy, give em a try if you want. And if you have any questions, drop them below and I’ll get on em when I finish joyriding…
