I wanted to wait a while before posting this thread. I had an opportunity to use WG on my car back on May 15th.
Prior to this detailing session the car had been clayed, 1 x
aio via pc and polishing pad, 3 x
SG spaced 1 week apart using WOO (obviously
) and 1 x
blitz wax a week after the third SG coat back in August of 2003. The car was hand washed once every three weeks and during the winter months taken to the touchless automatic car wash at the local gas station once a month.
First I washed the car with Mothers california gold. Man did it look good for 8 months without any polishing/sealing/waxing. As a side note, WG has big shoes to fill.
Klasse is such an outstanding product.
Next I clayed with Mothers clay using the mothers QD as lube. I dried the lube off of each section as I went along, so no need to rewash after.
Next step was the WG cleaner. I applied it via PC and polishing pad to all horizontal surfaces and all vetical surfaces above the middle of the door, and by hand to all surfaces below the door. My impressions: This stuff is total garbage. I absolutely hate this product. When I applied it via PC it would not diminish. It was like I was spinning my wheels. The product would not dust/break down. I finally had to stop and remove the majority of it with my MF. I experimented using little to no product on the pad and came up with the same result. Trying to buff the product off was a PITA as well. I was really starting to miss my AIO right about now. When I applied the product by hand using a dry foam applicator I had the exact opposite result. The product would not spread onto the entire section I was working. I tried using excess product and I was still having problems. Buffing was easy on this part since nothing was really on the paint. I didn't notice any real difference in the appearance of the paint, but I don't with AIO either. The paint didn't feel extra smooth/slippery either. It was about equal to the post claying feel. One thing I did notice is that a lot of the fine scratches in my paint were filled in and nowhere near as noticable as before.
Next up was the WG sealant. I applied the product using a dry foam applicator. I applied it to the whole car and then immediately started buffing in the order I applied it. This sealant is a pleasure to work with. Goes on easy, and comes off just as easy. Once I was done the car had a muted shine to it. Much different than the bright candy shine of SG. This is a good thing, considering I bought the product looking for a carnuba appearance. It was also slick, but IMHO, the feel was not much different than SG. When I heard everyone rave about WG's slickness I was expecting so much more. In this regard I was disappointed.
I noticed after the first rain storm, 3 days after application, the fine scratches were back in full force. WG's fillers seemd to have washed away.
During the 1.5 month window I've only had a chance to hand wash the car once after three weeks. The WG beaded/ repelled water in a fashion similar to SG. Though the slickness was reduced dramatically. Again, simlar to SG.
During the rest of the 1.5 months it has rained quite often here. The water has beaded nicely on my paint during that time. I have no reason to believe that the WG has faded or is gone from my paint. I'll get a better indication of this the next time I hand wash it though.
Based on my experience I would recommend the WG sealant as a good 2 month sealant (maybe more, depending on how mine holds up). I would not recommend you purchase the cleaner. Buy some AIO instead. It is a much better product.
Now a question I have. If the cleaner is loaded with so many oils and fillers, as I've observed, how can the sealant bond to the paint? I'm perplexed that my paint is still beading, indicating that the sealant is still present, yet the fillers underneath the sealant seem to have disappeared. Any comments on how this is possible?
Well, that's my review. Thanks for reading.
Bill.
**UPDATE** - July 4, 2004
I finally got around to hand washing the car yesterday. I used eagle one car wash this time using the my own modified two bucket method. The results:
Beading/Sheeting - The water did bead and sheet off of the panels, though not as quickly as before, and not as quickly as I would have liked. When I doused the car with free flowing water after washing, I noticed that not as much of it sheeted off as before. There were still large beads of water sitting on all the horizontal surfaces.
Slickness - There is no slickness left. It literally feels like bare paint. When I run my fingers across the surface they drag. Not a good thing.
Look/Shine - The paint still looks good. It still has some of the
wolfgang glow to it.
I'm inclined to say that there is still WG left on my car. Definately not as strong as 6 weeks ago, but something is still there.
I'm very skeptical that this product will last 6 to 7 months, as claimed by the manufacturer, but we'll see...
**UPDATE - July 10th**
I hand washed the car again today using Mothers California Gold. I dried with my pak shak WW and followed up with a regular pk MF. My observations:
Beading/Sheeting - Almost non existent. It took about 3 minutes for the water to sheet off the roof. The actual sheeting I attribute more to the forces of gravity than the WG. After the first minute most of the water was still clinging.
Slickness - Same as before. Still no slickness left. It literally feels like bare paint. When I run my fingers across the surface they drag.
Look/Shine - Again, same as before. The paint still looks good. It still has some of the wolfgang glow to it.
Based on today's wash, I'm inclined to say that my WG is dead after almost 8 weeks. The beading/sheeting, or lack thereof, is what is drawing me to this conclusion.
I went ahead and applied another layer of WG sealant to the car. I must say again, this sealant really is a pleasure to work with. Easy on, and sooo easy off. Even the areas that I applied it thick it still came off easy. Slickness was back to where it was at day 1.
As a side note, I also applied another layer of SG to the other car. Compared to the WG, the SG was a PITA to remove, even using WOO. It was pretty hot today. The SG was drying on the surface rather quickly, while the WG on the other hand was a breeze. Having both SG and WG frwshly applied side by side I have to say that the WG was much slicker than the SG. Though the SG holds it's slickness for longer.
I may start layering the WG in the same manner that I do SG. I'll probably do 2 or 3 more than top with my
souveran (I've been anxious to use it, but have held back for this test).
My final thoughts:
The WG sealant is a good 2 month sealant. Eae of use and carnuba like appearance are it's biggest assets. Longevity, compared to klasse and zaino, is not. If you purchase it expecting any more than 2 months than you will be disappointed. The cleaner, as stated before, is garbage IMHO. Save your money.
Well, that's it! Happy detailing!
**Update** - July 12th
I wanted to pass on one more observation I just made. Today was the first time that I was able to view the car in the sun since applying the second coat on July 10th. It seems as though it is not just the cleaner that fills and hides swirls. The sealant also does a very good job of this. I have many north to south swirls from my old drying towels that are present under bright light. Well, today they are no longer present. The finish looks very mirrior like with very little, if any marring visible.
Evidently the WG sealant has fillers in it as well. I was under the assumption that only the 'cleaner' had fillers. Interesting...
I wonder if the lack of 'cleaner' used for the second coat will allow the second coat to bond better and last longer? And maybe the fillers will last as well, or maybe not, if they are just pure oil.
I don't know yet, but I will keep this thread updated as the sealant wears out again.
:
Well-written, in-depth review with enough background and application info for us all to understand exactly what you did. Good job Bill!
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