Based on your description, the problem is that you assumed a record that visually looks mint will play with negligible ticks and noise after cleaning.
Some records, especially those made around the time of the oil embargo back in 1973, have really nasty static/noise trouble. The cause of the noise is that the record companies recycled all their rejects without removing the center label first. The result was records with paper fibers distributed throughout the blend. The fibers cause the noise. No cleaning formula can fix this.
Some records may have been played "wet" or were rinsed with poor quality water. When the records dried, the mineral deposists hardened on the surface. If the water was hard, there will be hard water deposits that will not redissolve in any of the currently available record cleaning formulas. It won't matter if you use a vacuum record cleaning machine either. It takes an acid-based cleaner to remove hard water deposits. I have run some tests by purposely soiling records with hard water, setting them aside to dry, then cleaning them with 4%(w/w) acetic acid (equivalent to white vinegar) and this did successfully remove the deposits. This may not work on manganese-based mineral deposits (common mineral found in the Delaware Valley area of the USA). I must point out that I would not try acid cleaning if I didn't have a vacuum record cleaning machine and it is a very good idea to do a couple distilled water rinses after cleaning with an acid solution. I make no guarantees that this is safe for records but my gut feeling is that a one-time exposure to a dilute acid can't be any worse for a record that has already been slammed with mineral deposits.
Another source of noise can be that mold/fungus is growing on some of your records. You need to use an enzyme cleaner to tackle these.
Another source of noise can be static electricity. If the humidity is really low in your house/apartment, you will get static discharge from the friction of the needle on the record. Record compositions typically contain some additives to help suppress static charge problems. I wouldn't be surprised if some albums just aren't as good as others at suppressing this problem. I have found that sometimes waiting ~ 15 minutes after cleaning a record results in a significant reduction in static discharge problems.
Now, if all the above are not the cause of your problems, the problem could be that the record truly is worn out. If we are talking about buying used albums, the previous owner may have been very good at handling the record so that it looks mint but they played it enough to put significant wear damage in the grooves. This is especially true if the previous owner didn't clean their records. The constant playing of an unclean record will end up grinding the dirt into the grooves resulting in permanent damage.
Your post appears to be directed at cleaning solutions. Are you at least using a record vacuuming machine? A vacuum machine will produce superior results over basic wipe cleaning methods.
The moral of the story is "No matter how meticulous you try to be in selecting which new and used records to buy, every now and then, you run across a turd that can't be polished".
Mr. Kidknow
