There's this sales rep who comes by the shop during work hours to slack off (※)
with our products,
and yesterday he came by to pitch yet another new product.
※stuff like their Laspene
It's a coating agent that removes mineral deposits from frame surfaces
(water spots, salt from sweat, bird droppings)
and forms a protective film with anti-fouling and water-repellent properties,
but true to its product name "Refresh Coat,"
its main feature is that it has a "gloss restoration function."
So he insists on applying Refresh Coat to my Ridley cyclocross bike parked outside—
real aggressive about it—and I'm like, fine, as long as you don't get in the way
(not fine at all),
and to really drive home the effectiveness,
he quickly washed the frame with Wako's Multi Care Wash (←shameless plug)
then masked off part of it with masking tape,
and applied the Refresh Coat to the unmasked areas—that's the image above.
The part that looks faded around the EY area
is where the masking tape prevented the coating from being applied.
↑From the right half of this image
↑to the left half of this image
is where the masking was.
See how the paint gloss is restored on the other parts?
If you want to clean up the uncoated sections,
you'd better stock Wako's Refresh Coat right now
and figure it out yourself, oh and write a blog post about it too!
—he'd basically poisoned me and then started hard-selling the antidote,
such an underhanded sales tactic,
so I was like "okay, I'll take one box then"
and "one box" means a set of 6 bottles, right?
He'd already printed the invoice in his van,
said there's no way to change the quantity now!
and just took off.
Some of the dialogue above is partly fictional.
Anyway, I opened one for work use.
The included cloth has longer pile on one side,
and shorter pile on the other side.
The container lid has
a tapered section that you twist to
dispense the contents.
Make sure the lid is closed before application,
then shake it well.
Fold the cloth into quarters with the longer pile side facing out,
dampen it with water, and wring it out lightly.
Don't wring it too hard, but don't leave it so wet that water drips from the cloth either.
Then apply the Refresh Coat to the cloth in a V-shape pattern.
The image above has a bit too much moisture and soaked in immediately,
making the V-shape hard to see, but that's what I'm doing.
↑Even in the materials the sales rep gave me,
they apply it in a V-shape,
and the instructions on the box also say "apply in a V-shape~,"
so maybe if you did an X-shape it wouldn't apply properly.
There's also a possibility the developer just loved Voltes V.
This isn't necessary, but since this is a coating agent that reacts with water to form a protective film,
you can also spray it with a misting bottle if you want.
Before that, you don't necessarily need to use
Wako's Multi Care Wash or
Wako's Foaming Multi Cleaner,
but pre-washing is essential.
Using the side of the cloth with the V-shaped coating applied,
wipe it on with a bit of pressure to spread it evenly.
According to the box instructions, every 60cm square
you should reapply more Refresh Coat to the cloth,
and according to what the sales rep said verbally, the initial V-shape application
can cover 1 square meter on a car body, so for frame and fork
you can probably finish without needing to reapply.
Once you've spread it thoroughly, take the same cloth,
rinse it with water, wring it out firmly (※), and finish by wiping
with the short-pile side. That completes the process.
※The original text says "硬く絞る" (kataku shimeru) which is actually a bit odd phrasing, so I'm noting it as written.
After
The before image from the beginning
Refresh Coat doesn't contain any ingredients so strong that it causes
irreversible treatment in the way industrial-grade products do,
so it's not really considered a professional product,
but it's not recommended for use on matte (non-glossy) finishes.
The price is ¥4,400 before tax, ¥4,840 with tax.
It comes in a 160ml bottle, but you use very little at a time,
so for home use it probably won't run out for quite a while.
Everyone loves Wako's Vari-ous Coat, but what's the difference?
Well, the ingredients and mechanism of action are different,
and Refresh Coat is specifically designed to focus on
the gloss restoration function.
It's good for daily maintenance, but you can also use it strategically
—apply Refresh Coat right before taking those farewell photos you need
when parting with a bike to boost its resale value
(first time writing this in about 6 and a half years, but it's the old "Y-auction ninja technique").
I said earlier that Refresh Coat isn't a professional product,
but that doesn't mean there's no such thing as a professional-grade coating agent.
There is—it's the Vari-ous Coat Liquid shown above,
which can even hide minor scratches in carbon clear coat,
and if you really wanted to (which you shouldn't),
you could permanently etch fingerprints into the frame with a glass-hard finish.
It's somewhat difficult to apply, and if you mess up
there's no taking back what it does,
so Wako's doesn't sell it to the general public.
with our products,
and yesterday he came by to pitch yet another new product.
※stuff like their Laspene
It's a coating agent that removes mineral deposits from frame surfaces
(water spots, salt from sweat, bird droppings)
and forms a protective film with anti-fouling and water-repellent properties,
but true to its product name "Refresh Coat,"
its main feature is that it has a "gloss restoration function."
So he insists on applying Refresh Coat to my Ridley cyclocross bike parked outside—
real aggressive about it—and I'm like, fine, as long as you don't get in the way
(not fine at all),
and to really drive home the effectiveness,
he quickly washed the frame with Wako's Multi Care Wash (←shameless plug)
then masked off part of it with masking tape,
and applied the Refresh Coat to the unmasked areas—that's the image above.
The part that looks faded around the EY area
is where the masking tape prevented the coating from being applied.
↑From the right half of this image
↑to the left half of this image
is where the masking was.
See how the paint gloss is restored on the other parts?
If you want to clean up the uncoated sections,
you'd better stock Wako's Refresh Coat right now
and figure it out yourself, oh and write a blog post about it too!
—he'd basically poisoned me and then started hard-selling the antidote,
such an underhanded sales tactic,
so I was like "okay, I'll take one box then"
and "one box" means a set of 6 bottles, right?
He'd already printed the invoice in his van,
said there's no way to change the quantity now!
and just took off.
Some of the dialogue above is partly fictional.
Anyway, I opened one for work use.
The included cloth has longer pile on one side,
and shorter pile on the other side.
The container lid has
a tapered section that you twist to
dispense the contents.
Make sure the lid is closed before application,
then shake it well.
Fold the cloth into quarters with the longer pile side facing out,
dampen it with water, and wring it out lightly.
Don't wring it too hard, but don't leave it so wet that water drips from the cloth either.
Then apply the Refresh Coat to the cloth in a V-shape pattern.
The image above has a bit too much moisture and soaked in immediately,
making the V-shape hard to see, but that's what I'm doing.
↑Even in the materials the sales rep gave me,
they apply it in a V-shape,
and the instructions on the box also say "apply in a V-shape~,"
so maybe if you did an X-shape it wouldn't apply properly.
There's also a possibility the developer just loved Voltes V.
This isn't necessary, but since this is a coating agent that reacts with water to form a protective film,
you can also spray it with a misting bottle if you want.
Before that, you don't necessarily need to use
Wako's Multi Care Wash or
Wako's Foaming Multi Cleaner,
but pre-washing is essential.
Using the side of the cloth with the V-shaped coating applied,
wipe it on with a bit of pressure to spread it evenly.
According to the box instructions, every 60cm square
you should reapply more Refresh Coat to the cloth,
and according to what the sales rep said verbally, the initial V-shape application
can cover 1 square meter on a car body, so for frame and fork
you can probably finish without needing to reapply.
Once you've spread it thoroughly, take the same cloth,
rinse it with water, wring it out firmly (※), and finish by wiping
with the short-pile side. That completes the process.
※The original text says "硬く絞る" (kataku shimeru) which is actually a bit odd phrasing, so I'm noting it as written.
After
The before image from the beginning
Refresh Coat doesn't contain any ingredients so strong that it causes
irreversible treatment in the way industrial-grade products do,
so it's not really considered a professional product,
but it's not recommended for use on matte (non-glossy) finishes.
The price is ¥4,400 before tax, ¥4,840 with tax.
It comes in a 160ml bottle, but you use very little at a time,
so for home use it probably won't run out for quite a while.
Everyone loves Wako's Vari-ous Coat, but what's the difference?
Well, the ingredients and mechanism of action are different,
and Refresh Coat is specifically designed to focus on
the gloss restoration function.
It's good for daily maintenance, but you can also use it strategically
—apply Refresh Coat right before taking those farewell photos you need
when parting with a bike to boost its resale value
(first time writing this in about 6 and a half years, but it's the old "Y-auction ninja technique").
I said earlier that Refresh Coat isn't a professional product,
but that doesn't mean there's no such thing as a professional-grade coating agent.
There is—it's the Vari-ous Coat Liquid shown above,
which can even hide minor scratches in carbon clear coat,
and if you really wanted to (which you shouldn't),
you could permanently etch fingerprints into the frame with a glass-hard finish.
It's somewhat difficult to apply, and if you mess up
there's no taking back what it does,
so Wako's doesn't sell it to the general public.