Gtechniq W5 Citrus APC Review

As the name suggest, this All Purpose Cleaner from Gtechniq can clean a variety of surfaces in and out of the car. In this instance, I’ll be looking at it from a pre-wash point of view. This is a great option for those that do not have access to a pressure washer, but still want to take off a large amount of contaminants from the car before carrying out a contact wash.

How To Use Gtechniq W5 Citrus All Purpose Cleaner

First off, ensure that the paintwork is cool to the touch. If you purchase the 500ml bottle with the trigger spray, and you want to dilute it down, you will need a second bottle to do this.

Gtechniq offer a range of dilution suggestions on the bottle, so I won’t rehash old ground with that. If you’re using it in this case of pre-washing a car, I would suggest that you use between a 4:1 to a 5:1 ratio of water to the product. This will provide a great breakdown of the road film and dirt, whilst at the same time being safe on the exterior protection you have on the car.

Thanks to the addition of citrus to the product, it really means that you don’t have to let it dwell on the car for very long at all. Generally speaking, I spray it on the lowest part of the car first and leave that for up to 5 minutes, and then for the higher areas, leave that on for 2-3 minutes. This allows me to make sure I’ve got the best dwell time on it, without the product drying out.

In terms of applying it, I like to use the Autosmart spray bottles (available below). They come in a two pack and can hold 750ml of product, which is more than enough for carrying out a pre-wash on the car.

After the product has spent a few moments on the panel, rinse it off and you should see a marked difference in it. If it’s the case that the car is exceptionally dirty then you’ll need to add more of the W5 into it.

Results

I was blown away by just how effective W5 All Purpose Cleaner is at tackling dirty cars.

I tried it at 6:1 on my car 3 days after it had been washed and only had light dirt and dust on it. It removed it with ease and left a clean finish. At 5:1 after not having washed the car for nearly a fortnight, it removed the majority of the dirt from it. The current protection on my car is Autoglym UHD Wax. At 5:1, there was no visible degradation to the wax.

In particular, bug splatter on the front grill and bumper can be a tricky thing to remove. W5 All Purpose Cleaner melted through them with ease. Not only does it save me from having to buy a different product, but it also means I’m saving time since I don’t need to wait for another product to break this up. In short, it left an amazing finish, before I was ready to carry out the contact wash.

I also tried it as a pre-wash for the wheel arches which will get exceptionally dirty as well. At 5:1, it once again removed a massive amount of dirt from them which meant I didn’t need to spend as long scrubbing away at it.

Value for Money

One thing I would recommend is that instead of buying the 500ml version is that you opt for the 5 litre container instead. It is triple the price of the 500ml version, but you’re getting ten times the amount of product as well. Whilst the price does fluctuate up and down over the course of a year, let’s suppose that that the 500ml version costs £12 and the 5 litre version costs £36. If you had to buy ten of the 500ml bottles, all in it would cost you £120 as opposed to the £36 of the larger 5 litre variant. Yes, it’s a larger outlay to begin with, but it’s much cheaper for you in the long run.

In addition to this, since it can be diluted down to different concentrations, it can be used to clean the interior of the car as well. In the case of the interior, I would always recommend that the lowest concentration of product is used, and then gradually build it up if need be. I did find that for mildly soiled rubber car mats that 5:1 was more than enough to clean these properly. Likewise, cleaning the peddles at that dilution ratio made the pedals look brand new.

Gtechniq W5 All Purpose Cleaner - Car Degreaser Spray for Oil, Grease and Stain Remover. Suitable for Most Surfaces and Car Wheel Cleaner, 100% Biodegradable Car Cleaning Products. 5000ml

• HEAVY DUTY CAR DEGREASER - unique citrus based formula completely removes tough stains caused by oil and grease, it doesn't just clean, but breaks the bond between the grime and the surface

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Last update on 2023-05-28 As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Autosmart Trigger Spray Bottles 2 Pack 750ml Car Van Valeting Refill Dilute Bottle

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Last update on 2023-05-28 As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.