Review: Meguiar's: No. 20 Poly Sealant

[Mosca]

I am very pleased with the ease of use and the appearance of this product.

I applied it with a foam applicator; a small amout saturated the applicator, and then a spot about the size of a nickel was enough for each panel. It went on with no problem. I waited the requisite 20 minutes, and then removed the residue with a clean terry towel. There was no dusting, and the residue came off easily. #20 does whiten black trim, however, so be careful around windows, door guards, and head/tail lights. I finished with a light, fast buff with a MF; I could feel the surface get slicker under the MF. That step is recommended.

It is one of the easiest product to use that I've ever experienced. But, the instructions say to work one panel at a time; Meguiar's technical expert (MIKE) says to do the whole car, then wait 20 minutes and remove, which is what I did. I believe that that qualifies the instructions as "vague". It's not to hard to write, "do the whole car, wait 20 minutes, then remove".

The product has a highly reflective look, very mirror-like. IMO, it does accentuate dings and chips, and so would look better on cars that are in better condition; it's not for bringing a beater back to life. Overall, it's a very attractive look from an inexpensive, easy to use product.

Pix in the brag room, for those who haven't followed the Audi thread in Detailing, or already seen them there.


Tom

[Scottwax]

I agree that #20 is a great product and also that at times, Meguiars instructions are less than crystal clear. Can't fault the performance though!

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Mosca
But, the instructions say to work one panel at a time; Meguiar's technical expert (MIKE) says to do the whole car, then wait 20 minutes and remove, which is what I did. I believe that that qualifies the instructions as "vague". It's not to hard to write, "do the whole car, wait 20 minutes, then remove".
Tom

Hi Tom,

I'm glad you liked the product, I like it too!

As far as instruction go, If we could write instructions for Autopia members, they would read much different than those we currently write.

The reason it says to work one panel at a time, is to insure the average "Joe Consumer", doesn't get into trouble. Typical user thinks like this,

"If a little is good... more must be better!

Agree?

That's where you can get into problems letting Joe Consumer apply any product to the entire car. Chances are good they will apply to thick of a coating, it will then dry and become difficult to remove. Instead of blaming himself, he will blame the product/company.

If Joe Consumer applies to one panel at a time, at least you can limit him to a small area to apply thick coats to and then remove.

It's called, "Bubba Proofing".

On a side note, #20 is only intended for finishes in pretty good condition, not neglected, and probably not even, "good condition".

It does contain a mile chemical cleaner, but it is a very small percentage of the total volume, something like less than 10%

This is in there because this is a one-step product, (most people only want to apply one product).

This being the case, the small amount of cleaning action this provides insures the surface is cleaned so that the polymer can properly bond/bite to the paint.

This then insures the product will last.

How long a wax will last depends upon a quite number of factors, one of which is,

How well is the surface prepared to accept a wax

[Mosca]

I used it on the same car that I usually carnuba, the red Miata.

The differences are, obviously, reflectiveness vs. "glow", but also, the #20 doesn't "darken" the color, as Mike calls it. I hope these two pictures help illustrate. The carnuba picture (#1) has been compressed a little bit, the other one is "raw".

Souveran paste, from late May:




#20, from this morning:




I dunno. I see a difference, but maybe it's not captureable in discreet pixels. The #20's all surface, not really right for this car. It's never been my intention to stop with the #20, I'm topping it w/#26 right now:

Looks nicely hazed, gotta go.

Tom

[Mike Phillips]

The 20 minutes is just a guideline. You want the wax to cure/dry to a haze. You can tell if it's cured by doing a "Swipe Test".

Drag your clean finger over a waxed portion and the surface should look clear and shiny, not smeary where you swipe your finger.

I detailed a customers Porsche this weekend, used the rotary buffer, DA polisher, then 1 coat of #20 followed by 1 coat of #26.

Here are some pics...

[Mike Phillips]

Here is a sun shot...

It was about 6:00pm when I finished and sun was at an angle that made it a little hard to get a good sun shot, so I just held my camera up and guessed...

No swirls, no cobweb-effect, no smears, no streaks, no scratches...

[Mike Phillips]

Whoops!....

Hit the wrong button...

[Mike Phillips]

The color of this car is called, Maritime Blue, (I think),

It's not a real dark blue more of a medium blue so it doesn't reflect like black will, but here's a reflection shot.

[hondaguy2582]

Very nice work Mike, no swirls and deep gloss and protection.

[Mosca]

Beautiful!

I just finished the terry wipe, and the car looks just awesome, vibrant, shiny, and glowing. The rain has paused. I'm going to grab a bite and finish up after lunch.

I'm thinking that this combo might be a low-cost giant killer. I love the expensive stuff just as much as the next guy, but I also love quality without the price tag.

Tom

[Mike Phillips]

Thank you.

I really enjoy polishing paint.

I met this gentleman at Porsche event I brought a Yellow Porsche, Side-by-Side demonstration car to.


He brought his car up to the booth and showed me the buffer swirl and cobweb-effect throughout the entire finish and asked me how to make them go away. It also had a black stain right in the middle of the hood that I was not able to remove. (I didn't try very hard because it looks like black primer showing through, been there... done that...)

I did a little test spot and discoverd his paint was a single-stage and incredibly soft.

While it was easy to buff out, I had to be very careful because it would be very easy to buff through a paint like this on a high point or even on a flat surface.

The 20/26 combo worked out quite nice on this paint.

Here is a pic of the yellow side by side after finishing the other side.

I'll be posting the write-ups to my site tonight and tomorrow if anyone wants to see what I used at ShowCarGarage

[Mosca]

It's hard to get a nice image on this miserable day, one showing the "liquidity" of the look of #20 followed by #26, but here's a try; there's nothing like the glow of carnuba on this single-stage red.