What's the deal with all the different washes?

[Cheetah]

Can you enthusiasts / experts out there tell me or point me to a thread that explains the differences in the different car washes/shampoos that Meg's has to offer? When I started getting into detailing recently I bought the Blue Coral Super Foam Car Wash at Walmart. Worked fine as far as I could tell with my limited experience. Then after discovering Meguiar's I tried the Gold Class wash. I couldn't really notice any difference while using it or in the results.

So what makes a good wash good? Is my car going to be any cleaner after using Meg's than it would be if I used Mother's brand? Will I have less marring?
Will the paint look different?

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment.

[saturn2]

Re: What's the deal with all the different washes?

This is a hard question to ask which car soap is the best or what is the different between one from the other.Within Megs it helps if you cut down between product lines. Detailer line,PBE professional,or market like pep boys etc.In a car wash you really have to look for what lubes the car the best. That and your approach washing it cuts down on swills. That is why you hear the two bucket method being talked about on car forums like this one.The two bucket method is one bucket of soap. And the other bucket is a rinse bucket with a device called a grit guard. Megs sells this too,It lies in the bottom of the bucket and you rub your bush or sponge against it. So the dirt doesn't cause swilling on your paint.In the past I have used NXT, Gold class, and 62# car wash from Megs.Nxt is a really good cleaning soap better than Gold class.It also has a water softer in it if you have hard water.Gold class has conditioners in it dries better and is slicker than NXT.It is also more gentle than NXT. If you ask Megs itself they would say Gold is the best soap. I just bought 62 it's a car wash out of the professonal line it's $22 a gallon and it is worth it since it is slicker than the other two.00 is the other pro soap very gentle and slick low foaming and is generally used for color sanding jobs. It's been a long time since I've used Mother wash so I can't say. But, follow the directions when it comes down to mixing get a measuring cup if this helps. With Megs soaps the ratio is usually one oz to one gallon of water.Or 128to1. With hyper wash it's something like 400:1. And find something that you like in a car wash and just keep using it.That is the biggest secret in everything.Most people will buy either NXT or GC anyway they are more available than the others.And some even buy both and that's ok too since they are pretty close to each other. Also to my eye GC looks better than NXT with 62# blowing them both out of the water.