RV Wash and Wax - 32 fl oz Bottle

Video Transcript for Best RV Cleaners

Shane: Hey, everyone. Shane here with etrailer.com. Today, we're going to be testing a couple of products against each other. Here, on your right side, we have the Valterra. This is the 64- ounce bottle. Comes with a sponge.

We also have this in the 32-ounce. We have the Best, which is the 32-ounce bottle, and then we have Griot's Garage, which is a 16-ounce bottle.Now, when we're looking for a cleaning product, we'll look for some that's going to be easy to use, going to get the most of the grime off of the side of our vehicle as possible, with the least amount of scrubbing and that's why we're going to compare these so that, hopefully, by the time we're done, we can help you or help make your decision a little bit easier on which one we think works the best. If you look behind me here, we're going to be using these on a very large RV.What I suggest when doing this is use a soft-bristle brush. You can find the brush and handles here at etrailer. They've got a ton of different kinds.

If you're going to be doing your tires with the same soap, I suggest using a different brush. Don't use the same one. That's just my opinion. I don't like using anything on the tires or wheels against my paint. So, use two different brushes.

Just my opinion. I like to do that.Let's go ahead and get started. We have three buckets set up all the way down at the end here we have Griot's. We have a bucket here in the center with our Best, and then one down here towards the front with the Valterra.Now, the best way to do this, you want to make sure, try and do this on a cool day, and you want to make sure that the side of the RV camper, vehicle, whatever you're doing, is cool to the touch and we want to make sure we rinse all the loose dirt off first. So we'll spray it down.

I'm going to go ahead and spray off the whole thing.So I'm going to start with the Griot's. I'm going to start from about here, back with the Griot's. From here up to the door, I'm going to use the Best, and from the door up to the very front, we'll use the Valterra.We're going to start at the very top. You want to mix per the bottle. It's usually one-on-one to two ounces per gallon of water. We want to start at the top. We also want to make sure we don't let this dry on there. That's why we want to try to do it on a cool day. Today, we kind of have an overcast, so it's helping us out quite a bit. We don't have a whole lot of shady spots here behind the shop to really get an RV in the shade and all three of these are going to be a wash and wax. So, once we get done washing it, it'll leave a nice coating on there. But I want to see which one is going to shine the best, which one is going to be the easiest when cleaning.So again, we're taking a lot of effort out of it. We're using a soap that's going to be a lot easier to put on. It's going to do a lot better cleaning. We'll go ahead and get this rinsed off and we'll move on to the next one.Now, we're going to use Best Wash & Wax. We're going to do it the same way. We'll apply it, start at the top. This allows the suds to drop down on everything below. Rinse this off. Then, finally, the Valterra.Now, we've used all three of these here on the side. It's really going to be hard for you to tell which one looks the best on camera. And in my opinion, the Griot's, which I use back here, and the Best, that I use here in the middle, is going to leave the best shine, which means you're going to have a better coating of wax on it.But I want to try and give you a better idea of cleaning. So, what we're going to do is we're going to do the front of the RV. That's where you're going to get most of your road grime. You're going to get your bugs, bird droppings, stuff like that, and we're going to see which one works better for getting a lot of that stuff off.Now here on the front, what we're going to do, is we're going to split this into three parts. From here, that way, we're going to use the Valterra, which is the one I used last. From here to here, we're going to use the Best. And from here to here, we're going to use the Griot's, and you can see all the bugs on the front of it here.Looks like the Valterra is working fairly well for getting the bugs off. I have to scrub it a little bit. That's to be expected when you have bugs that have been there for a little while.It looks like it did okay. You can see a few more bugs smudges on there. But again, if you're sitting here scrubbing it and you have to push real hard, we want to try to find the one that's . we don't have to, you know, again, the least amount of work and we're trying to wash a vehicle.I can tell you this Best, already, and I'm just kind of rubbing over these spots and they're coming off pretty easy. And finally, the Griot's. You can kind of see the Griot's has a little bit more suds to it. So, it looks like Griot's, here, some of these bug smudges aren't coming off as easy as they did with the Best. So, out of the three products here on the front, in my opinion, I would go with either the Griot's or the Best.Again, as I mentioned before, Griot's and your Best kind of have a little bit better shine, which means it's going to have a little bit thicker, a bit of wax in it. So it's going to give you a better protection. As far as being able to get some of these bugs off without having to really scrub them, I think the Best worked out the best. It seemed to loosen them up a little bit more. I had to do a lot less scrubbing than I did with the Griot's or the Valterra.Now, what I'm going to do, is I have empty pails here and what I'm going to do is, I'm going to dump each one into each bucket so you can see what it does when it goes into the water. Which one's going to be thicker. Which one is going to be lighter, and that's pretty important.So we'll start with the Valterra. This one they say about two ounces. You can see it's not real, real thick. Kind of mixes in there. All right, with our Best. It is half to one. You can see that's a little bit thicker, but it is kind of breaking up there. And then Griot's. As you see, those two kind of mix in the water by their self. Griot's stays there. So in my opinion, Griot's is going to be the better one because with it being that thick, that means it's going to last longer in your water. It's not going to break down as fast. It's going to help give you a better coating on your vehicle when you're done.Now, what we're going to do, is we're going to put some water in here, some more water and see how they suds up. I will tell you, all of these have a very nice smell to them. They're not really strong. They have a good, clean smell to them.Looks like our Best isn't quite as thick as the Valterra. Again, out of these three, if you're looking for one that's going to be a little bit easy, easier cleaning, I would go with the Best. Puts the very nice shine on your vehicle when you're done. As far as getting the best shine, I would go with Griot's. Mixing it in the water, it's a lot thicker. It's not going to break down as fast. That being said, the Valterra, you can actually get in kits. It's not only going to come in the 64 or 32-ounce, it's also going to come in kits where it's going to come with a lot of different products for the whole RV experience, whether that's putting hoses on. It's going to come with different hoses. It's going to come with cleaning products. Top 00:10:37 five gallon bucket. It's going to come with a brush, some scrubbing pads, stuff like that, where the other two aren't going to come with that.So, if you're just looking for a cleaning product, Griot's or the Best. If you're looking for more of an all-in-one, you may have to put a little bit more work in the cleaning, the Valterra. What would be some of the things someone would be looking for in a cleaning product I would certainly hope that the first thing would be just to get my RV clean. So being able to cut through dirt and grime, caked on gunk, bugs. For me, personally, I'd want it to cut through all of that as quickly as possible. I'd hate having to go back through and do another scrub down.In fact, if I don't really have to scrub that much, that would be ideal, also. So, as easy as possible to cut through everything. Not leaving streaks behind would be great. With these guys being that there's wax in there too, being able to do, two things at once. If I can clean it and leave the surface looking good afterwards, too, so I don't have to, maybe, go back and put on an extra layer and do . I feel like I'm just making it sound like I'm lazy, but there's an element of that, too. The easiest thing that I could have that would also get the thing as clean as possible would be what I would want, especially if it's an RV, which is huge. I definitely don't want to have to go back through it again. Shane: Right. The least amount of effort, shortest amount of time. Yeah. Exactly. Shane: Out of these three, these two, the Best and the Griot's, did the best for cleaning and putting a nice coating on it. Griot's, actually, their coating is a little bit more shiny than the other ones. Out of these three, I probably go with the Griot's even though the Best product when we did the comparison on the front, there we're some bugs on the front of the RV. This one seemed to kind of pull them off a little bit easier, a little less scrubbing you had to do. But, either you want a good shine or you want a little less rubbing.So, my opinion, I would put a little bit more, you know, if I had to put a little bit more effort into it to get the bugs off, I'm okay with that. But I like my vehicle shiny. Mm-hmm (affirmative). Shane: Somebody may like a shine on it, but wants a little bit less effort to scrubbing. The Valterra, it cleans okay. It doesn't really have that much of a shine to it, but I will say with the Valterra, the other kits that are available for this make it very nice because this one doesn't only come in this bottle. It comes in a larger bottle. It also comes in a kit where it comes with a five-gallon bucket. It comes with your sewer hoses. It comes with a brush. It comes with some other cleaning products like- Speaker 3: Comes with your sponge. Shane: This one comes with a sponge. So, you know, each one has its own benefit. So it's really going to be up to the individual, what they're looking for. If they really don't care about that much of a shine on the vehicle, they just want it clean, and they want to get the most out of what they're . I say the most out of what they're getting or what they're buying. But the most products that they can in, at one time, Valterra's going to be great for that. Because again, it comes with, you can get the whole kit of stuff. Comes with cleaning stuff and your hoses and a five-gallon bucket for cleaning and all that kind of stuff where the other two aren't going to have that.But if you're wanting a more easy clean, the Best product is going to work the best. You want more of a shine, that you're not worried about putting a little bit more effort in, Griot's. When you say the Griot's has the best shine too, is it also going to be like the most slick surface with the wax buildup So, really I wouldn't, in theory then, the next time I go to wash it, it's actually going to be easier to wash if I use the Griot's anyway, because I'm already getting that kind of slick surface, that things will wipe off of easier. Shane: Right. If I put effort over a period of time, I guess. Shane: Yeah. So, and that's with any . I mean, you got to remember, having a wash with a wax in it, as opposed to washing the vehicle and then waxing it after, the waxing it after you wash it, the wax coating is obviously going to be a lot thicker. But this being mixed, your wax coating is going to be thinner.But, and then you 00:15:39 said, how this stuff makes us in the water is a big deal, too. So, in the video I had clean water in each, for each one, and I dumped each one in to show how each one settled in the water. This one was diluted pretty quick. The Valterra did. Best started, it diluted after a couple of minutes and then when you put the Griot's in, it looks like you're putting an egg into water. It stays in a little ring.So, when you think about it like this, if you're putting a product that's not breaking up as soon as it gets in the water, it's obviously not going to break apart as fast while you're using it. You're going to get a better coating on the vehicle while you're using it. That makes sense Yeah, and I mean, wax is hydrophobic, also. So, it makes sense that the one that has the most actual wax in it would be the hardest to dissolve. I mean, just looking at it. Shane: And with that, you're getting the best coating- Right. Shane: . on the side of your vehicle. What about how much is crosstalk 00:16:56 per whatever gallon bucket you crosstalk 00:17:00. Shane: crosstalk 00:17:00 put in Yeah. Shane: So, I think the Valterra is two ounces for one gallon. The Best is half-to-one ounce per one gallon and Griot's is one ounce. Okay. Shane: That's per gallon. So, yeah, that would make you think that the Valterra's already a little bit more diluted if you have to use twice as much. Shane: Yeah. Speaker 4: When you cleaned the RV, was it . you did clean the entire RV or was it just a certain spots on certain areas of it Shane: No, I did the whole RV, but I split it in three sections. So, I did this on the front half, did this, the Bess in the middle, and I did the Griot's in the back, if you're looking at the side of it. But, you can't tell . I could tell if I stood looking up the side of it. I could tell which one had more of a shine to it, but you really couldn't see it on the camera. Speaker 4: It was just a side Because I know that one thing that Griot's Garage, their solution is that it's safe for use on all the external services. So I don't know if we actually got to try . part of front of the RV or is it mostly just the sides that you tried Shane: Oh, no. We did it on the front, too, because that was why we did it on the front. When we did the sides and you couldn't tell, on the front of it is where are you going to get most of your road grime and a lot of your bugs, spiders, and this stuff. So, I wanted to, I split the front end in three parts and wanted to see which one would get some of those bugs off a little bit easier with the least amount of work. and that's where the Best, actually, worked better.I didn't have to do a whole lot of scrubbing with the Best. With Griot's, I did a little bit. Obviously, with Valterra, you'd have to add a little bit more effort with that one and that's where it came down to, are you looking for, you know, the best shine or are you looking for the easiest clean And you just use the same basic porous sponge on all of them Shane: I used a, actually, the same brush that I did in the roof on, the car wash brush, the soft-bristle brush. Yes. Shane: I used that one. Cool. Shane: And while I'm thinking about it, when I did the roof and I talked about the streak, the streaks from the solutions running down the sides Mm-hmm (affirmative). Shane: Those do come off. With all of these guys, they came off easily Shane: Yeah. So, any washing is going to take those streaks off. I will say with any of these, though, it's really that any car wash that you do, if you're doing this on . actually, you guys know we don't have a lot of shade here. With any of these, if you don't dry them off, if you don't dry the side of the RV or whatever you're washing off, you are going to see spots. Speaker 4: Right. Shane: You'll see more of them. Were you just doing it in kind of small, small chunks then You just scrub at a spot, dry it, scrub at a spot and dry it Shane: Nope. I wanted to see what kind of spots it left. Okay. Shane: And they weren't really bad spots. There we're a whole lot of them, but you can see water spots. You could definitely see them on the glass. Yeah. Well, and that makes sense. When I take my car through the carwash, if I get the wax after, which is super diluted wax, but even if you get that after, yeah, there are still always spots on the car because I'm not drying down. I'm just driving under a fan for a second. Shane: Right. Speaker 5: I've got a question. Sometimes I'm just cheap. When I buy a product, is one a lot cheaper than the other Is one more expensive than the others Shane: That I'm not sure of. I normally don't look at the price. Speaker 5: Okay. I think you do . Alex, I guess would know better than me, but I think it is an instance of you get what you paid for. Understandably so. So usually, Griot's is going to be the top of the line. Shane: Griot's is usually more expensive- Yeah. Shane: You know, as far as what the price is, I have no idea. I couldn't tell you. Alex: Yeah, I'm taking a look at what we have, what, what the price is right now and it seems that right now, for Griot's Garage, it's just a 16-ounce bottle, I believe And it's more expensive than the Best cleaner, which you get, I think you can twice as much for the Best cleaner and the Valterra, it's comparable, but you also get 32-ounces.But the fact that you wouldn't beat that the Griot's Garage is so concentrated and they focus more on giving you what is, essentially, the best you can get, as they advertise, I can understand it being . giving you that nice, cosmetic shine. While I think that the Best and the Valterra are more like, you just want it to be a good, easy clean with not a ton of super magnifying examination of every single spot on.I think that someone who is trying to clean their RV, as far as I know, they aren't going to really think about it until it gets really bad. So, you want to make sure that doing it periodically makes sense instead of trying to go your entire RV all at once. crosstalk 00:22:48. Shane: So with any product, best results you're going to get is by maintaining the vehicle, keeping it clean. So, if you've wash, you keep a good tab on ashing your vehicle often, as you clean it after that, those times are going to be easier to clean.So, you know, if you wash your vehicle once a year, obviously it's going to be harder to clean than something you clean every two to three months. But that being said, again, if you can get a better shine on it, a better coating of wax, the next time you clean it, it's going to be that much easier because you're not going to have as much building up on the paint or on the outside of it. So it's going to come off a lot easier. Yeah, I think for me, again, that laziness shining through. But if you're talking about over time, I would probably go with the top of the line and go with something like Griot's just so that I don't have to put as much effort in every single time I wash it.It's the same reason why I always get the synthetic when I get my oil changed, because I want to be able to go just a little bit longer between changes and not have to worry about it and not have to think about coming back every few months. So I, it maybe more expensive, but it'd be better for me I would say, then having to wash it, look at it, and think it's not good enough. Have to rewash it again or wash it every month.But I guess it also depends on what you're doing with your RV. I mean, I can see if you're, if you have a smaller camper and you're, maybe, going off-grid and you're getting it filthy every single time you head out anywhere, maybe it would be better to get the least expensive option because you're going to end up washing it all the time anyway. Speaker 4: As far as the Valterra one goes, I know that there's the convenience that it, we sell particular kits that come with everything in there. I'm actually pretty surprised that it really did an effective job considering that it's a little bit more on a budget and if they bundle it so much. So I'm kind of impressed that it's able to hold its own against something more, I guess, premium like Griot's Garage. It may not give you the best shine, but it still gets the job done. Shane: I mean, it definitely will work. I keep coming back to, though, that you have to use twice as much of it, also. So, is it affordable Yeah, it's still definitely affordable, but . and I don't know. I'm not looking at the pricing structure right now, but is it so much more affordable than the Best if you have to use twice as much of it Shane: Yeah. Speaker 4: Sounds like they each have their own distinguishing factors. They each have, they do a little bit better in certain aspects instead of just being like good, better, best. Shane: Yeah. They do. So, you know, like I said, it's really going to depend on the person and what they're looking for then. Again, I'm Shane with etrailer.com. I hope this video has helped you in deciding the best wash and wax for your RV.