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Grangers Extreme Cleaner Plus
Tested
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Price: £5.99
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Contents: 300 ml
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Features: Pure
vegetable soap based technical cleaner with additive which
eliminates odours, unlimited shelf life, Gore
approved.
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No more smells plus doesn't strip DWR treatments from
technical fabrics.
Relatively expensive.
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The
Concept Extreme Cleaner Plus is based on Grangers' existing
Extreme Cleaner and is a pure, liquid soap with an added secret
ingredient that works to prevent odours - that's the 'Plus' bit by
the way.
Commercial detergents contain chemicals that stop durable water
repellant - DWR - finishes on clothing like waterproofs and soft
shell / windproofs working effectively, and just using them once can
permanently contaminate the fabric. Pure soap, on the other hand,
doesn't have this effect.
Extreme Cleaner Plus has the added bonus of containing an
ingredient which prevents odours developing, presumably by stopping
the bacteria and microbes that create bad smells from growing.
Features It comes in a plastic bottle with a screw top...
In Action We picked out a few particularly smelly items and
washed them regularly using Extreme Plus to see what effect it had.
As an aside, it's essential to clean out the detergent tray in your
washing machine and run a couple of rinse cycles, as even
small particles of conventional detergent can have an impact.
First it worked brilliantly on a much abused TNF base layer and an
armpit-flavoured MHW Transition Top. Both lost their pong after just
one wash. The real challenge was a pair of Nike gym shorts that had
'clear the room' potential after about 25 minutes use on a treadmill
- you get the idea, they really stank.
We washed them regularly in the Extreme Cleaner Plus and the
effect was stunning. Before use you could barely sit in the same room
as them, after one wash the smell was considerably reduced and after
five, approximately 90 per-cent better.
Grangers confirm that the product has a cumulative effect with
peak efficiency reached after around eight washes and that tallies
with our experiences. Note though, that when we went back to washing
using normal detergent, the effect disappeared immediately and fellow
gym users ran off holding their noses in disgust once more.
As the product isn't cheap, we reckon the solution would be to use
pure soap flakes instead of the treatment once the garment's actually been treated, with an occasional top up with the Extreme Cleaner Plus. And Grangers confirm that this should work fine.
We were dubious to start off with, but this stuff works brilliantly,
both as a pure soap cleaner that doesn't strip treatments from
technical fabrics, but also as an effective odour eliminator. The
effect builds up with use as well. The three stinking garments all
improved massively and the worst of all, those shorts, were quickly
rendered relatively benign.
It's not cheap, but you can always switch to pure soap flakes from
the supermarket once the treatment has taken. If you're a victim of
stinking base layer syndrome that even your best mates won't tell you
about, or even if they do, we reckon this is the answer. The only
downside is the cost.
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Performance
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Value
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Pushed for time:
Pure soap-based liquid cleaner that not only leaves the DWR
treatments on technical fabrics unmolested, but also builds
up in fabrics to prevent nasty pongs from developing. The
effect reaches its max after around eight washes and it
works surprisingly well. It's not cheap, but you could
always switch to pure soap flakes after initial treatment
with Extreme Cleaner Plus. If you have a baselayer that you
love apart from the pong, this could rekindle a beautiful
friendship.
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Know more or want to?
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