Fictech Kustom

• Product: Kustom.
• Manufacturer: FICTECH.
• Packaging: 400ml (aerosol).

Description:

Kustom is a product recently launched by FICTECH. It is a plant-based degreaser, offering a very impressive contactless degreasing action while remaining wax-safe (synthetic ceramic protections).
Typically, Kustom will be the perfect product to clean all the road film present on your vehicle, protected or not, the rocker panels, wheel arches, wheels, plastic bumpers, dissolve insects from the front mask, etc.

Its purely plant-based formulation makes it a fairly unique product, especially since it is offered in aerosol form. A format that is quite uncommon in France.

Usage:

Kustom is therefore a spray solution, 400ml in capacity, ready to use. You should use Kustom on a dry (not pre-rinsed) and above all cold surface. Never apply Kustom on hot elements, at the risk of leaving marks that are difficult to remove. Likewise, avoid anodized parts such as certain window surrounds and grilles, etc.

The test vehicle has heavy surface contamination (mud, ingrained road film, very dirty wheels), and is absolutely not protected. We are going to see how Kustom reacts in this severe use case.

Shake Kustom well, especially before spraying it on the surfaces to be treated.



In this case, we apply Kustom to the tire sidewalls, wheels, and also to the bodywork.



The foam generated by Kustom is very static, which is very interesting because it gives the product time to act properly on the surface of the treated areas.

Leave Kustom on the surface for a few minutes and agitate the surfaces with brushes for even more effectiveness.

You immediately notice that Kustom attacks the grime deeply, as the tire sidewalls for example turn quite brown.





The citrus smell (notably orange) of the product is very pleasant and does not appear sharp to the nose like most industrial degreasers.

Rinse the surfaces thoroughly once Kustom has been left to act for long enough.

The cleaning/degreasing capacity is impressive! The wheels come out very clean, the grime is well dissolved (it is not a ferrous decontaminant, however — ferrous oxides will not be removed). The tire sidewalls come out black and perfectly degreased.



It is interesting to now see how Kustom behaves on a soiled bodywork without protection.

Same process as before: spray Kustom directly on the non-moistened bodywork, from bottom to top, and leave it to act for 2-3 min until the film settles (it will become less foamy on the surface).



Once again, you immediately notice that the road film and mud are dissolved (brownish runs).



Then rinse with a pressure washer. The road grease is really well attacked and lifted, and if you run a microfiber over it afterwards to check, it comes out almost clean. Of course, this will not replace a manual wash with the two-bucket method, but the product ultimately proves to be extremely effective in the pre-wash phase on heavily contaminated surfaces. And that is exactly what it is asked to do.







The Before/After is quite convincing and without any mechanical action, I should point out...



One last piece of information regarding the maintenance of your aerosol. It is important that after each use, you clean the nozzle as clogging may occur and block it. To do so, run it under hot water and brush with a small brush.



Conclusion:

Kustom is truly impressive in its effectiveness, especially on a heavily contaminated surface. The big advantage of the product is that it comes in aerosol form, which saves time during application. Moreover, you can use it on almost any surface. However, a slight downside regarding product consumption given the limited capacity of the product (400ml). For reference, all the lower parts of the car were subsequently treated (wheels and wheel arches included), and 1/3 of the bottle was used.

Kustom will be safe on synthetic ceramic protections, but slightly less so on synthetic polymer, Teflon-coated, acrylic protections, etc. It will also remove all natural wax protections (carnauba).

Kustom's essentially plant-based composition makes a change from the traditional overdosed industrial degreasers, making it a more "eco-friendly" product. Also less aggressive on the user's skin, which is a big plus.

Overall, a product to recommend for those who don't want to bother continuously spraying with a simple spray bottle and who want a very effective product quickly.

However, for professionals using large volumes of degreasers, Kustom will prove too expensive to use, as it only comes in a 400ml aerosol format.


Advantages

+ Formidable effectiveness!
+ Smell.
+ Ease of use.

Disadvantages

- Unreasonable consumption/price ratio for professionals.