Imperial - the reviews thread

[Auto Finesse]

This thread is here for members of the product test panel to submit reviews, pictures and discuss our new improved wheel cleaner Imperial.




An overview of Imperial and its new improvements:


Neglected alloy wheels with caked on brake dust can be a problem where shampoo just isn’t enough, this is the reason we created Auto Finesse Imperial acid free wheel cleaner in the first place. A powerful blend of cleaning agents and degreasers, Imperial wheel cleaner will start to separate the brake dust and road grime from the wheels on contact.


Although a well established product in our range of car care products, we have made a few tweaks to Imperials formula to make it more effective when cleaning your wheels. The three main changes that we made were; Imperials foaming rate when agitated, its ability to cling for longer and its overall cleaning power, whilst remaining safe on all wheel types, from painted to polished split rims.




Assessing the surface:


Before you start cleaning with the new and improved Imperial formula we recommend that you assess your wheels to help determine the approach you will take. Although this is a small step that is often over looked this could help save you a lot of product when it comes to dilution ratios. Here we are working on a wheel that hasn't been cleaned in a month and has seen a lot of road grime, brake dust, sun and rain from motorway and rural driving. For this wheel we diluted Imperial at the ratio of 1:9 (product:water).

Spray and rinse:


With the new and improved Imperial formula we have developed its ability to cling to dirt for longer. This means that for those weekly washes where your wheels aren't too dirty you can perform a touch-less wash.


As soon as you spray the improved Imperial formula onto your wheel you will see Imperial start to separate the contamination that is sitting on the surface, this will also show off its abilities to cling for longer. This longer cling time will intern mean the cleaning and degreasing surfactants in Imperial are held in contact with the dirt & brake dust longer, making them more effective.

Once you have allowed the product to dwell on your wheels it’s time to rinse away the dirt and contaminates that were on them. Simply grab a pressure washer or garden hose with a spray attachment and rinse away the dirt. Dependant on how dirty your wheels are this could be the last stage on your wheels. The improved cleaning power and clinging abilities are what makes Imperial perfect for those quick and simple weekly washes.

Agitation:


If your wheel needs a little more attention or your car is under going a full detail it may be time to grab your Hog Hair Detailing Brushes to agitate any last grime and dirt away from your wheel.


Here you will see Imperials next improvement, its higher foaming rate.


After much feedback we found that you wanted to see a higher foaming rate from Imperial, and in this new improved formula we believe we have achieved just that. Even after a long dwell time where most wheel cleaners would go flat Imperial will still easily foam up and carry away any dirt or contaminates from your wheels surface.


At this point we used our Hog Hair Brushes and a medium sized wheel woolie to agitate any baked on grime. The Hog Hairs longer bristles came into play, allowing us to access the tighter areas on this particular wheel design.

Don’t forget your tyres:


Although Imperial is regarded as a dedicated alloy wheel cleaner it can also clean your tyres with ease, removing any old tyre dressings and road grime in the process. Simply spray Imperial onto your tyres and agitate any dirt away with a Hog Hair Detailing Brush. Once rinsed away you will be left with a clean base to lay down a tyre dressing such as Satin or Gloss.


The use of Imperial as a wheel and tyre cleaner means that you will not have to lug around two or three products as you will have one that does both jobs.

Once both your wheels and tyres are clean and dry you will be left with a spotless wheel.

We look forward to seeing your results and hearing your views on our new & improved Imperial formula.




Happy detailing,


The AF team.

 

[MartinR]

Look forward to testing this.

Wheels not been cleaned for a while covered in mud, grime and brake dust.

Cheers Auto Finesse

 

[Auto Finesse]

Look forward to testing this.

Wheels not been cleaned for a while covered in mud, grime and brake dust.

Cheers Auto Finesse

No worries Martin, we look forward to hearing your results with the new formula!


Joe

 

[JD]

No worries Martin, we look forward to hearing your results with the new formula!


Joe

Stupidly forgot to get the box from our postroom yesterday - had to wash the car for a wedding this weekend (can't be rolling up in a dirty car!!). Would have been great to use it then, but will wait until next weekend

 

[MaLicE]

When are you going to take on new testers? I'm dying to be part of the test group and I'm ending up buying most af products anyway so some products to test would be great!

 

[MartinR]

You don't need to be on the test panel to write reviews on the products. Just write one up and put it in the appropriate thread

The samples are just that "samples" no full sized stuff just enough to do a good test. And tbf everthing ive tested ive bought.

 

[MartinR]

Hi

This is my Review of the new improved imperial wheel cleaner.

Opened the box to be greeted by a lovely smell of bubblgum thought to myself i could just drink that, then realised it was the air freshener in the bottom of the box. thanks Auto Finesse.


So was given a bottle of the newly improved Imperial the instructions stated you can dilute with water to suit. As the wheels was fairly riffy after a month of not being cleaned, thought i would knock up imo a fairly mildish mix.

When imperial was poured into the spray bottle it was pretty thick and had a weird smell that i can't put my finger on.

This is how much neat product i put in, just under the label on an old CP bottle.

Diluted it down to near on 500ml

*+-/+-

Filth i was up against

Jet washed loose dirt.

gave a decent spray of imperial all over the wheel and left to soak for a minute

Agitated with a stiff brush which helped froff up the solution

Went over with a smaller brush to get in the nooks and crannies

Left it to dwell

After 5 mins of sitting Imperial held its own and stayed pretty froffy and clingy (well impressed)

Rinsed it all off and gave a shampoo and another rinse, there was no dirt left to shampoo of tbh.

Quick 3 pictures here all done within a couple of minutes.

Dry dirt

Spray imperial and agitate

Rinse and 1 months worth of brake dust and dirt gone

Onto the Tyres which i have had a nightmare with this brown edge of dirt and dust that won't shift.

Again sprayed and agitated imperial and left to soak for a couple of minutes

Rinsed off and the brown mark round the tyre wall has gone.

Quick wipe over to remove excess water and they have come up like new

Applied a thin coat of megs tyre gel then wiped away any overspill. to then be left with very fresh looking tyres and wheels.

Few finished shots(excuse the discs lol) also still wearing the coat of illusion from the previous test.

All in all im over the moon with how imperial works really really impressed, i even reckon i could use a weaker solution and would still do a great job.

This is something i shall be getting in the near future to have in my collection and can see a bottle lasting a very long time, One thing i would like to know is it sealant safe? as i plan on tough coating my wheels at some point.

Thanks again to Auto Finesse

 

[Knuckles]

Very nice. I've missed delivery of this twice now coming back on wed when the gf is off.

It'll be nice to test this against hot wheels as I love that stuff atm

 

[CrippsCorner]

Wheels, pretty much my favourite thing about my car! Got quite a few spokes on the 2118's but I still enjoy cleaning them as they look great when polished up. Usually I just jet wash the dirt off, whack some Iron-X on and polish them up. I basically sought to replace my Iron-X stage with Imperial. Not because they're particularly similar products, but just to see what I could shift from Auto Finesse's finest on it's own. I only had a slither of Citrus left so finished that off and had an empty bottle to play with...

My car actually hadn't moved in over two weeks as I've been getting the bus to work whilst recovering from an eye operation, so they were quite nice and mucky! On the paperwork it said you can vary how much you water this one down. I decided to go somewhere in the middle (1:5) as although the car hadn't moved, they weren't that bad before it got parked up! Anyway, this was my starting point including a few lovely cobwebs...

I drove off to the jet wash and sprayed most of the s**te off, then applied a thick layer of Imperial to soak in whilst I attacked the bodywork...

Gave them a going over with a big brush, although I definitely need to invest in a smaller one to get into those nooks and crannies...

I worked my way round polishing the bodywork before going back to the wheels...

There was still some muck on them so decided to give them another smaller going over with Imperial...

There wasn't much left over the second dosage. I slapped on some polish to finish them off and this is the final result! Quite pleased tbh...

Although my normal method for wheel cleaning is quite simple, Imperial seemed to do a great job and it's just so simple to use I can see it easily working it's way into my cleaning rota! Good job Auto Finesse, and thank you for another brilliant tester

 

[Knuckles]

Auto finesse imperial


I tested this against my current favourite wheel cleaner Wonder Wheels Hot Wheels.


Dirty civic wheels

The rears weren't that bad

The pressure washer took the majority of the muck off, the odd application of tough cost does these a world of good.

Stubborn bits on either side, perfect to test imperial against wwhw

Imperial diluted 1:3 (imperial:water) which I thought was an adequately strong dilution

Imperial on the right side, took a few pumps to get it to foam up

Hot wheels on the left side

The first thing you notice is how thick and clingy the hot wheels foam is against imperial

The passenger side was purely imperial

Agitated

Hot wheels still clinging a little better/remaining thicker

The purely imperial side

And pressure washed off

Little bits of tar/brake dust remaining

Overall though, they both cleaned equally well

Although I preferred the consistency of hot wheels, they both cleaned as well as each other. Which makes me consider price for the first time in a review.


Hot wheels was £5 for 750ml iirc
Imperial is £8.95(500ml) or £12.95 (1l)


Making hot wheels £6.66 for a litre and imperial £9.72 for 750ml (based on the litre price)


If my maths is correct (correct it if it's wrong!), I think wonder wheels has the edge over imperial. For me anyway.

 

[Yellow Dave]

But if those prices are concentrate prices, it can be diluted down making it more economical?

 

[Mr R.]

But would it work as well?

 

[Yellow Dave]

if at 1:3 it works as well as WWHW, it cuts down the 1L price considerably

 

[Knuckles]

I knew I'd miss something out while doing maths. :dapprove:

I used approx 166ml (approx a third of the 500ml citrus power bottle) of imperial which means you'll get 6 500ml applications from a litre of imperial if diluted at that strength.

Making imperial more viable.

is that right?

i can't comment on hot wheels being used while diluted as I've not tried it, I can't imagine it's work too well though due to the fallout remover in it and how using it 'neat' got the same results as using imperial diluted

 

[JD]

Hi guys,

Thanks again to Auto Finesse for the delivery and chance to test the new formula Imperial acid free intensive alloy wheel cleaner.

I've tried the previous incarnation before, when it was included in my waxybox a good few months back. I remember being impressed at the time as my wheels needed cutting back through the grime to seal back up again. Although in a poor state of repair, my wheels are rarely without protection.

On to the trial and 400 miles of B road blasts and motorway grime from the trip back up North on Thursday night - christening this weekend so prime one to get her cleaned up.

Three tests here as I've found different dilutions work in different conditions.

1:10 for cleaning heavily soiled wheels
1:20 for cleaning light soiling
1:2 for calipers, tyres and it works jolly well on exhausts too!!

Very versatile product which is always useful, and means you don't have to reach for too many bottles or make up too many solutions.

Sprayed on (in the rain, standard NW weather);

Agitated with my two go to accomplices;

Yet to try the Auto Finesse hog hair brushes so would be great if they were included at some point (don't ask don't get!!!).

Calipers, tyres, tyre valve, back and front of wheels all agitated at various angles. The other nice thing about this product is that I've used it in hot conditions and it doesn't appear to dry that quickly. Having tested it in wet conditions, it also appears to cling well in 1:10 and 1:2 dilutions. 1:20 not so much but to be expected as it's near as dammit water!!

Jet washed clean;

So all in all, as blasé as this is, it does what it says on the tin. To be expected from an AF product but not always the case with competitor products. Glad to have a decent supply of it as the v1 was used up on other cars pretty quickly! This one I'll be keeping for myself.

Next test once the weather bucks up next week, the new Essence wax and AF Glaze to be tested on this;

Thanks all.

Jamie

Cheers

 

[JD]

Just to point out, again; WWHW and Imperial/Bilberry etc are not comparable in my eyes. Imperial is a cleaner, WWHW is a cleaner and contaminant remover. Jack of all trades versus master so to speak.

 

[Kyle 86]

I find if you dilute hot wheels it dont work very well so overall imperial will stretch a lot further

 

[Mr R.]

I find if you dilute hot wheels it dont work very well so overall imperial will stretch a lot further

Hot wheels is only £4

I like it.

 

[Kyle 86]

Hot wheels is only £4

I like it.

I like it aswell £4 from morrisons
Im sure asda is the sane price. £10 from Halfrauds lol

 

[Paul172sport]

firstly a big thank you to Auto Finesse for another months test, my regulsr wheel cleaner is the tried and tested Bilberry, so the revised formula Imperial was recieved with interest.

i had hoped to use my dads new volvo as the test bed this month, but couldnt get the car, time and dirty wheels at the same time, so the Clios F1's it is. Appologises for the poor condition they are definately in need of a refurb!!

The car has been a little neglected recently so started with a tough test.

I diluted this approx 1:8-9 and gave the wheels a liberal covering.

Leaving the Imperial to dwell and get to work, as many others have said this clings well to the wheels and doesnt run straight off, i think a stronger dilution rate would have lead to even more clinging.

After a few minutes i gave the wheels an a good aggitating scrub and rinsed clean.

Given the heavy brake dust and road grime on the wheels at the start and without the pressure washer the test was a tough one and pleased to say the wheels came up surprisingly well. As stated the wheels are far from their best condition, the 'grime' in teh after pictures is the wheel and no poor reflection of the product.

il upload a further few images from another car also, but time was against me this month.

overall very pleased with the outcome and Imperial will be on my shopping list for sure.

thank you once again Auto Finesse.

 

[JD]

I find if you dilute hot wheels it dont work very well so overall imperial will stretch a lot further

Again, what part doesn't work very well? The contaminant remover part that turns purple or the cleaning ability?

When I tested Iron Out, Iron X, Dragons Breath and WWHW with various dilutions I'd agree the contaminant remover didn't work as well when diluted. But it did work fine up to 1:4 when used on dirty wheels to clean them as a wheel cleaner.

 

[Kyle 86]

Again, what part doesn't work very well? The contaminant remover part that turns purple or the cleaning ability?

When I tested Iron Out, Iron X, Dragons Breath and WWHW with various dilutions I'd agree the contaminant remover didn't work as well when diluted. But it did work fine up to 1:4 when used on dirty wheels to clean them as a wheel cleaner.

The cleaning ability I suppose although its fine when agitated. I never rated dragons breath, I found myself back with Korrosol

Ill have to try that dilution ratio JD

 

[JD]

The cleaning ability I suppose although its fine when agitated. I never rated dragons breath, I found myself back with Korrosol

Ill have to try that dilution ratio JD

I didn't either! IronX followed by IronOut (by the slightest of margins).

 

[Kyle 86]

I didn't either! IronX followed by IronOut (by the slightest of margins).

Ive not tried iron out yet. Ill try it once I run out of korrosol. Car pro is good
Worst smelling thou lol