What is a Traffic Film Remover
Written by: Vinnie van Rooij
A traffic film remover is a product that is specifically designed to remove “traffic film”. This is a very fine layer of dust, grime and even oils that cover your car and are notoriously difficult to wash off. A traffic film remover can be wax-safe, but many ar not. This is not a product for the weekly wash, but more to be used once every couple of months. “Traffic film remover” is often shortened to TFR.
Contents
What is Traffic film
Traffic film is a very small layer that accumulates on the surface of a vehicle over time. This layer consists out of dirt, dust, grime, oils, tar, rubber and even iron oxide. Some of these particles are fairly easy to wash off and can be removed during the weekly wash. Other particles are very difficult to remove and require a very strong product to have effect. The Traffic Film Remover is a product that is specifically designed to do just that.
Basic ingredients for a traffic film removers are often solvents. Certain acids can be added to improve cleaning power, a popular one is citric acid. These ingredients all combine into a product that is fairly harsh, but effective.
What types of traffic film remover
There are many different products on the market, although they all differ slightly from each other, you can categorize them in 2 different ways.
The pH-level
- pH-neutral
These are often considered wax safe, but don’t have to be. If they contain citric acid (enough to clean, but not enough to lower the pH) they can still have a negative effect on the layer of wax. - Alkaline
These often have a negative effect on most protective products. If a manufacturer has spent a lot of time in fine tuning the ingredients, it is possible to have very little effect, however this costs a lot of time and money and might not be worth the investment. - Acidic
Although most protective products would be negatively affected by this, ceramic coatings aren’t affected at all. Which makes this a good chemical deep-cleaning product on ceramic coatings.
The harshness
- Wax-safe
A traffic film remover that removes a lot of dirt, but doesn’t have any effect on a layer of wax. - Non wax-safe
A traffic film remover that removes everything, including wax. Will often have a negative effect on several types of protective products.
Common misconceptions
Although traffic film removers are nothing new, they have some myths around them.
- They are not enough for complete decontamination
- They usually have little to no effect on iron oxide (fallout)
- They do not all have a negative effect on wax, but the ones that don’t, often have less cleaning power than the ones that do
- Most traffic film removers are based on solvents, and not cleaning agents such as surfactants and emulsifiers
- Traffic film removers are often very harsh, so protect your skin and eyes, and rinse off thoroughly
- Traffic film removers are not designed to be used as a shampoo or a weekly wash
- Surface tension is the energy a liquid contains that prevents its surface to be deformed by an object with a higher surface tension/energy. The surface energy of water has as a side effect that it can form beads on surfaces with a very low surface energy or high repulsive force....
- Detailing brushes come in all types and sizes and can be used for several different tasks. In general, these are aimed at scrubbing but can sometimes also be used to reach an area that is difficult to reach with a microfiber towel....
- Surfactants are additives for certain products to lower the surface tension of a liquid. This helps the liquid to mix and combine with another substance, making it easier to combine a mixture of several (types of) substances. This acts as an emulsion, wetting-agent, detergent, foaming agent and/or dispersants. Surfactants combine hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties, which allows them to interact with both types....
- Dried up polish can be very unattractive. It is also a hardened substance that can cause surface damage when rubbed over the paintwork. Although the detailer should have removed this, it can be encountered on some jobs. Dried up wax residue can generally be approached in the same way....
- Using a glass cleaner properly is the part that can make a big difference. A budget product used correctly can give better results than a quality product used badly. Getting streak-free and smear-free result can be achieved much easier when using the right technique....
- It is often asked on detailing fora and social media: "what is the best leather protector". Off course there is a difference between certain products and brands, but it is important to know what you are asking. In this guide I will try to explain what the problem is with this question unless it is asked more in-depth....
[…] If you want to read more into this, be sure to check out the following link for more information https://www.detailingwiki.org/detailing-miscellaneous/traffic-film-remover/ […]
[…] When you apply this, make sure that you wash off the film remover straight away, as it can do damage to the paint or leave a stain when it’s going to be left alone to dry. For the same reason, it’s never ideal to use a TFR when you’re in an area with direct sunlight or it’s hot outside. Read more about TFRs in this url: https://www.detailingwiki.org/detailing-miscellaneous/traffic-film-remover/. […]