Will Chemical Guys Clean Slate Strip Your Wax/Sealant? - Let's Test!

In this test I put a fresh coat of Meguiar's M21 Synthetic Sealant 2.0 and Ultimate Liquid Wax up against a fully undiluted concentration of the new Chemical Guys Clean Slate Surface Cleanser Wash soap to see what kind of impact it has on the surface tension.

If you haven't already seen my Dawn Ultra dish soap test, be sure to click the link here for that video:    • Will Dawn Ultra Remove Your Wax/Sealant?  ...  

A few reminders for this video, the recommended dilution ratio for Clean Slate is 1 oz per 5 gallons of water. This really didn't seem to have much of an impact as both of these sealants are very fresh and have been allowed a 24 hour period for any polymers to cure properly to the surface. Chemical Guys does make a note that this will remove old waxes and sealants from the surface, but I wanted to show you guys how well it performs on fresh products to give people a better perspective of how strong some of them are in the short term and the limitations of these types of soaps.

Also, one of the things mentioned in the Dawn video that I do not mention here, is I continue to use an abrasive to remove the previous waxes and sealants for testing purposes. You do not have to remove every single product with an abrasive to try out new waxes and sealants, only a few products really require you to go above and beyond with your prep in order for the sealant to bond properly to the paint. Paint coatings also require this extended prep work. To give all waxes and sealants a fair test, I like to ensure the removal of the previous products before setting up the next review and I do this using a physical method as opposed to trying to dissolve them chemically. The results of this test and the Dawn test is a reason I use a light finishing polish to prep the paintwork prior to testing.

Clean Slate is also mentioned to be safe to use on plastic trim and rubber, whereas with regular dish soap it has been noted to possibly dry some of those out.

You can find Clean Slate priced at $9 for 16 oz.

Notice how M21 is much more impacted by the soap test compared to Ultimate Liquid Wax. Those products who don't have a strong short-term surface tension durability will be more affected by these tests compared to other products, and even be more impacted by just an extended water rinse. This is why I prefer those products that have that short-term durability that visibly hold up better over the weeks.