Hybrid Solutions Ceramic 3-in-1 Detailer How-To

Hybrid Solutions Ceramic 3-in-1 Detailer How-To

Hybrid Solutions Ceramic 3-in-1 Detailer How-To & Review by Mike Phillips

What is it?
Spray detailer for maintaining the exterior of your car.

What does it do?
Cleans, shines and protects your car's exterior paint, plastic and glass.

When do I use it?
In-between a normal car wash or in place of a car wash when running water is not available.

Why should I use it?
To give your car that just washed and waxed look using super hydrophobic polymers and ceramic protection.

From the manufacturer

Introducing Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic 3-in-1 Detailer for the longest protecting detailer ever! Use this product regularly in between washes to safely clean & shine while delivering ceramic protection and super-hydrophobic polymers to your vehicle's surface.

Contains hydro-glide slick waterless wash polymers for scratch-free cleaning and protection on all surfaces.

Will keep your car's exterior looking new and helps your car stay cleaner longer with a super-hydrophobic barrier to help prevent dusty soils from re-depositing on exterior surfaces.

Can be used on all non-porous exterior surfaces including glass. Do not use on convertible tops.

My comments...

Typically a product like this is mostly used for clean cars or mostly clean cars to quickly and easily restore that just detailed look. It's normally used in-between a normal wash process as a maintenance product. And... this is in fact how I would use it, on a regularly maintained vehicle as a maintenance product in-between normal washes.

Run what you brung - use what I have

The point of the saying and my article is that I'm not a full time detailer and Autogeek is not a detail shop, so when I have a product I need to use,

I use what I have.

And at this moment in time, I have a 2018 Chevy Colorado Z71 Pickup Truck that needs to be washed. It's not super dirty as it was just driven of a car dealerships car lot. That said, it's also not clean.

2018 Chevy Colorado Z71 Pickup Truck before treatment.

So I'm looking at the front label of this product and reading the description.

Front of Hybrid Solutions Ceramic 3 in 1 Detailer bottle.

It says right at the top,

SAFE WATERLESS CLEANING

Looks like a perfect match to me. I need to clean this truck and because it's dirty and also BLACK in color, I need my process to be safe.

Photo-Documentation

I like to photo-document my work. There's so many cynical naysayers in the world today and that's their deal but I don't give anyone anything on me. So let's take a look at this truck exactly the way it looks as it arrived.

As you can see by the pictures below - he's a dirty bad boy....

Hood shot before treatment.

Side hood shot before treatment.

Dirty hood before treatment.

Dirty side hood before treatment.

Close up of dirty paint before treatment.

Side shot of dirty truck before treatment.

Real-World Testing This truck is dirty enough to put the claims by Hybrid Solution to the test. And to document just how dirty this truck is - I chose some clean, white microfiber towels.

Safety Tip - Purchase a stable work platform

If you're going to own a truck, a van or a sports utility vehicle you might as well drive down to your local hardware store and pick up a couple of Werner Work Platforms so you can SAFELY reach the roof.

Having sturdy work benches is important.

This is your basic Werner Work Platform. It's aluminum so it's light weight to pick up, carry and move around your vehicle. The legs also fold away and this makes it convenient to store out of the way.

Werner work bench.

Here's a quick safety tip

If YOU did not set-up the platform yourself, before you stand on it - make sure the person that DID set it up locked the safety latches in the proper location to ensure the legs don't collapse so you won't fall and hurt yourself. There's a lot of satisfaction in being your own car detailer but there's no fun in it if you get hurt.

The picture below shows the correct way the safety latch should be set before standing or even sitting on the platform.

Proper positiong of work bench locks.

Step-by-Step Directions

NOTE: Do not use on hot surfaces or in direct sunlight.

Step 1: Shake well. Work on one panel at a time. Soak each soiled area with the detailer.

In most cases you start at the top and work your way down, this truck is no exception. Here you see me spraying an ample amount of product onto the roof.

Step 1: Shake well. Work on one panel at a time. Soak each soiled area with the detailer.

Step 2: Firmly spread and wipe clean with a folded microfiber towel.

Then I spread the product of a section of the roof, flip to a clean dry side and wipe that area dry.

Step 2: Firmly spread and wipe clean with a folded microfiber towel.

Step 3: Turn microfiber towel over and wipe to a high gloss shine.

After wiping that section of paint dry, here you can see the dirt level of the highest portion of the truck, it only gets dirtier as I work my way down.

Step 3: Turn microfiber towel over and wipe to a high gloss shine.

My photographer goes home

After the above pictures were taken my photographer went home for the day. Me? I continued working around the truck until every square inch was wiped clean.

11 Microfiber Towels I counted 11 microfiber towels to safely wipe each panel clean and wipe the surface to a dry touch. And here I've placed the dirtiest towels on top of the rest of the towels just to show the truck was in fact somewhat dirty.

11 dirty Microfiber Towels

Whatever gunk this is I don't know but it came off the tailgate.

Close up of dirty towels.

The really dirty towels were from wiping and cleaning the lowest portions of the truck...

Another close up of extremely dirty towels.

More dirty towel shots.

Here you can see the dirt level from the dirtiest portion of the truck

The point being - this product worked well to clean without running water.

Dirty towel showing how dirty the truck was before treatment.

Done!

Done! Shot of bottle in front of truck.

Here's the final results, the truck is clean and shiny again

I even cleaned all the glass and the Ultra Flex hard tonneau cover over the truck bed and not only did it clean the loose dirt it also cleaned the water spots off this surface material.

The truck is clean and shiny again!

Review

This product exceeded my expectations for cleaning as well as the slippery shine it left behind. I would not recommend for most people to clean a truck this dirty but NOT because the product isn't up to the job it's just I feel it's too heavy on the protection side as far as the formula goes. When spraying it you can see the liquid is not simply watery but has some substance to it. And my guess is the substance is the super hydrophobic polymers and the ceramic protection. I use the word SUBSTANTIAL in a short video I'll post below and this is an accurate word to describe the way the product feels as you spread it around and how it feels when you wipe it off. This spray-on product has a substantial amount of key ingredients that really seem to lubricate the surface to make cleaning safe. The manufacturer states this on the label and I can confirm it's true. It feels like it offers a lot of lubrication or as they say, this formula includes hydro-glide waterless wash polymers. You can feel them when you wipe. I felt the product really did a good job of protecting the paint as I wiped off the accumulated dirt and air-borne pollution as well as the water spots you see in the pictures above.

I did find it a little sticky to wipe off but I blame this on the paint, not the product. In my opinion and experience, this product is really best used on paint that is in new or like new condition. This means the paint is clean, smooth and regularly maintained with SOMETHING. The something can be a car wax, a synthetic sealant or a ceramic coating. This paint had NOTHING on it. I was in dire need of claying, polishing and then protecting. But like I said previously - this is the vehicle I had in front of me to test and use this product on so test I did.

If you DO regularly take care of your car's exterior - then I think you'll love this product as a maintenance product on steroids. It's much more than a spray detailer or even a waterless wash. Heck I think it borderlines on being a dedicated spray-on sealant than a cleaning sealant. Plus I was able to use it on any hard non-porous surface, which was most of the truck.

Hybrid Solutions has put some substantial research into their new line and I have not used anything from HS that has disappointed me to date. In case you missed it, check out my review for their polish/wax, it's freaking amazing!

If you're looking for an easy spray-on, wipe-off walk-away product to take care of your toy or well-maintained daily driver give this new product from Hybrid Solutions a try. At less than $20.00 for a whopping 32 ounce bottle - that's a lot of cleaning, shining and protection for your hard-earned dollars.