Lustrashield with Break Dust Repellent

[wood]

Anybody try CSI - Lustrashield with BDR? It's a wheel sealant with break dust repellent.

You are supposed to put it on through a online wheel applicator after the wheel brightening product /tunnel applicator. I was told by the rep the more a customer uses it the better the barrier against break dust build up

If you have any experience please tell me if you like/dislike. My thought was to offer it in addition to the wheel bright as another extra service revenue generator.

thanks,
wood

 

[Mr. Clean]

I'm not sure this product is good idea. Many of my customers come in because of brake dust and either purchase wheel cleaner as an ala carte option or included with top wash. To use a product that would reduce the accumulation of brake dust is counter productive. Even if you are able to charge extra, the increased wash interval will likely minimize the extra profit.
MC

 

[wood]

Mr Clean:

Your reply makes no sense to me. So your saying it might work to good? Regardless of how well it could potentially work, a car wash has a short shelf life anyways. The idea is to wash the best car possible and when dirty in 7, 14, 21 days depending on weather etc... they will come back assuming you deliver a quality product at a reasonable price.

Do you only clean them 85 pct as good as you can so they will have to come back? Is your wax application mixed real weak so it will only last a short time? Sounds like that approach will make customers look somewhere else.

wood

 

[Mr. Clean]

Wood:

I'm not suggesting for a minute that a vehicle should leave the lot anything less than 100% clean. But it has to be dirty to motivate the customer to want to wash. Dirty wheels motivate.

I like to see my customers once a week. We both know they won't repeat if they're not happy.

MC

 

[addicted2cleancars]

This is nothing new. I have been using Armor All Pro's Wheel Luster is over a year now. My Customers love it.

Anybody try CSI - Lustrashield with BDR? It's a wheel sealant with break dust repellent.

You are supposed to put it on through a online wheel applicator after the wheel brightening product /tunnel applicator. I was told by the rep the more a customer uses it the better the barrier against break dust build up

If you have any experience please tell me if you like/dislike. My thought was to offer it in addition to the wheel bright as another extra service revenue generator.

thanks,
wood

 

[wood]

yes, i heard the wheel luster was another one, maybe the first. i will sample that too. i have a 2nd tradle so i'm all set to move forward with the best one.

if you don't mind me asking, what is the rough per gallon cost on the wheel luster, or you use per car estimate?

do you do any extra scrubbing or pre treat of wheel other then online wheel bright prior to? i was told you need to make sure wheel is completely cleaned.

thanks,
wood

 

[briteauto]

Interesting idea for a product - never heard of it or any of the others mentioned.

I'm wondering how different it is from just plain lustrashield. After all, several of these super sealants are intended to bond to the various surfaces of a vehicle anyway - chrome, paint, glass, etc. It seems like if you apply regular lustrashield on the wheels, that would do the trick - maybe in a higher concentration? They key difference being that you are using a cta for complete wheel coverage, where the rinse arch would not be as thorough.

In any event, the wheels will still get dirty, but it might make them easier to clean - that's alright with me.

 

[rph9168]

How did the chemist break down the products? It takes some very expensive, sophisticated equipment to accurately break down a product accurately. Very few chemical labs are capable of doing an accurate job unless they are equipped to do a thorough chemical analysis. Unless it is a very large company like Ecolab or Zep the product would have to be sent out to a testing lab at a rather high cost. If he was not able to identify the "oil" specifically he probably used a rather simplistic method that only reveals a generic quality and percentage rather than a specific type of "oil". Needless to say their is a very wide range of oils from the very generic to the scientifically blended synthetics.

 

[PEI]

I have been using the Lustra Shield for about three years now in our IBAs. If the brake dust is removed then the Lustra Shield will seal the wheel making it possible to remove the brake dust in the future with little more than water. It is important to remove the brake dust completely, otherwise it will form a barrier over the brake dust making it difficult to remove.

I apply it through an inverted L spray arch to the entire vehicle as a sealant. It is actually a polymer so it bonds to the plastic services making them look for weeks as if they had been armor-alled. It makes drying the car very easy, but it will also seal in any dirt or road oils. The good news is that it reflects a lot of white light allowing dirty cars to seem to shine.

I would highly recommend it for tunnels and IBAs that are capable of high levels of cleaning. I would not recommend it for self serve since it can be applied too heavily.

 

[Greg Pack]

How did the chemist break down the products? It takes some very expensive, sophisticated equipment to accurately break down a product accurately. Very few chemical labs are capable of doing an accurate job unless they are equipped to do a thorough chemical analysis. Unless it is a very large company like Ecolab or Zep the product would have to be sent out to a testing lab at a rather high cost. If he was not able to identify the "oil" specifically he probably used a rather simplistic method that only reveals a generic quality and percentage rather than a specific type of "oil". Needless to say their is a very wide range of oils from the very generic to the scientifically blended synthetics.

I know (at least at one time) the chemist at Warsaw had access to a gas chromatograph machine. Surely some of the major players out there do also.

 

[rph9168]

There are a lot of independent labs that could do the basic break down but not as many that could do the complex breakdown to really duplicate a formula. A detailed breakdown also gets very costly. There are very few companies that actually manufacture products that are capable of more than a very simplistic breakdown.

For instance, most of the knockoffs of RainX were not the result of a very extensive breakdown since many of the major raw material chemical suppliers would supply a manufacturer a basic formula they could use. I am not very familiar with CSI's product but it is my guess that within a year a basic formulation will be available if it is not already out there. I would also guess that it may be a variation of the super sealant products on the market today.

 

[rph9168]

I just read that EcoLab is coming out with RainX Wheel that is supposed to repel brake dust. It won't be long before every manufacturer will come out with their version.

 

[John Racine]

I'm not a chemist, so I asked the question about LustraShield. Here is Lustras response.

LustraShield® is a Proprietary Polymer blend that provides outstanding
performance for drying, sealing and creating a shiny surface. In addition,
LustraShield® now has the ability to repel brake dust to keep wheels cleaner.
Many of our competitior are using an amino-functional silicone as a sealant. Since
they have a lack of understanding of the LustraShield® chemistry, they attack it
and compare it to oil. If anyone has ever coated something with oil they know that
the surface becomes a magnet for dirt and dust, in fact, it is the opposite attribute
that is provided by LustraShield®.
Dave Krause
CEO/President Lustra Car Care Products