Take to the Road was recently contacted by Armor All to see if I would be interested in testing their Armor All Waterless Wash and Wax series of products. With the Shere Hill Climb coming up I needed to get my Bertone x19 Gran Finale looking clean and tidy. Plus with the recent heat wave I was very conscious about using lots of water to wash my classic cars. So it provided the perfect test scenario for these products. Lets see how they performed.

Armor All Speed Wax Wipes

First up was the Armor All Speed Wax Wipes. The pack comes with 12 extra large wipes which are designed to give you car a wax treatment after a clean and polish.

Before trying the wipes I used a clay bar to detail the Bertone x19’s bonnet and then followed up with a machine polish. With the paint surface nice and clean I tried out the Speed Wax Wipes.

My first impression of the packaging was that the seal tab on the packet is strong. Not thin and flimsy like you find on many other wipe product packages. This should mean that the wipes hold their moisture in the packet for a lot longer. Which is a good thing.

Applying the wipe on the paint I moved up and down the panel in straight strokes, making sure not to do too many circular movements. I found one pass was enough and folding the wipe over, I was able to do the whole bonnet with one wipe. The wipe did leave a moisture residue but this soon dried. As expected the wipe dried quite quickly in exposure to the air, so you need to be careful not to use the cloth once it does dry out, as it might mark the paint.

Overall the Armor All Speed Wax Wipes work as intended. If you have a clean surface and want to wax your car quickly, it will allow you to do so without the need for a tub of wax or application pad. And the packaging claims one pack can do six cars.

Armor All Express Wash and Wax

Next up in the the Armor All Waterless Wash range was the Armor All Express Wash and Wax wipes. The purpose of this product is to both wash and apply a wax at the same time, without the need for water.

For the purposes of this test I did not prep the panel but instead left it dusty. My Bertone x19 Gran Finale was for the most part clean, it had just a film of dust from a few recent spirited drives.

The Express Wash and Wax wipe is much bigger than the Wax wipe, which makes sense as it has a lot more work to do. The wipe also has a slight blue tint to it, which I suspect is the wax solution within the fabric.

Again I employed the same method as before, wiping the cloth in direct motions, but paying more attention to the amount of dirt build up. With the panel dirty you need to make sure you change the wipe round, to reduce the risk of marking the paint.

Due to its wash properties, the fabric held a lot more moisture and as a result left more of a residue on the paint. I did find it required a few more clean wipes to remove the residue to make the panel look good. I did expect this however since the panel was covered in dust to start with.

While I waited for the test area to dry I quickly gave my number plate a clean as well. As you can see it had a few bugs stuck to it, but it cleaned up nicely. So a handy little tip there… if you still have a clean area left on the wipe, use it to quickly tidy another surface like a number plate.

Armor All Waterless Wash and Wax

For the final test I took a look at Armor All Waterless Wash and Wax spray. I decided to leave this part to last as I wanted to see how it would perform on more complex areas of the Bertone x19s body work. And that was the engine cover.

This is quite a tricky area to clean due to the design of the cover. All the gaps trap dust and dirt and, so it takes longer to clean than any other part of the car.

While the layer of dust on the engine cover wasn’t too thick, I still applied a liberal amount of the spray, to make sure the surface was well lubricated. I then wiped the area down with a good quality microfibre cloth. Areas that needed an extra wipe got another spray and a rub down.

Because of all the corners and curves on the lid I did find the spray had to work harder to actually get the surfaces clean. But on more easy to access areas it handled stuck on dirt pretty well. Again applying plenty of lubrication and a careful wipe off made the surface clean again.

Armor All Waterless Wash Test Summary

So to sum up I found the Armor All Waterless Wash and Wax products good. They cleaned the Bertone x19 well and gave a nice shine to the paint. Would you use them on a very dirty, heavily soiled car? No, that is not what these products are meant for. However they are good at carrying out a quick spot clean of your car. They are handy to keep in the boot or glovebox. Plus if you are at a classic car show and need to do a quick spruce up to remove some traffic grim you picked up on route, these products will do the trick.

You can find more information about the Armor All Waterless Wash product range on the Armor All website and at Halfords.

Take to the Road’s Bertone x19 Gran Finale all set for Shere Hill Climb 2018