The Guz
01-03-2018, 07:46 AM
To start off this is my dad`s daily driver. Roughly 1.5 years ago I corrected it for him and used Optimum Gloss Coat after he purchased it from Enterprise rental. For that write up see the following link
2015 Impala LTZ Corrected with Rupes UHS and Coated with Optimum Gloss Coat (https://www.autopia.org/forums/click-brag-the-detailers-showcase/185155-2015-impala-ltz-corrected-rupes-uhs-coated-gloss-coat.html)
Gloss Coat turned out to be an ok coating for me. It was starting to have performance issues a couple months shy to the 1 year mark. There were areas on the various panels where it looked like there was nothing on the paint anymore. I had chemically decontaminated but that did not do much to revive it. I ended up topping it with Gyeon Cure just to limp along until I polished it off and re-coated the car. Overall it was good but it is just not for me. I would definitely say Gloss Coat needs a topper to maintain it. So the search continues to try other coatings to see which will be the one I stick with.
Since I had almost a month off from work during the month of December I had planned to use Gyeon MOHS and Booster together that I had purchased. Well that was scrapped with the release of the new Gyeon Syncro that was announced at SEMA in November of 2017. Perfect timing as it came out right before Christmas while I was in the middle of a wheels off detail. The previous version of MOHS and Booster will be used on another one of my personal cars sometime down the road.
First thing up was a chemical decontamination of the paint. I actually washed the wheels first and deconned a majority of the wheels with them on the car.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1976a.jpg
I tend to use The (https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/2009-to-2016-how-to-articles-by-mike-phillips/86146-aggressive-approach-washing-car.html) Aggressive Approach to Washing a Car (https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/2009-to-2016-how-to-articles-by-mike-phillips/86146-aggressive-approach-washing-car.html) and spray the iron remover onto the dry paint even if the surface is dirty which this car was.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1977a.jpg
Driver side door
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1978a.jpg
Hood
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1979a.jpg
After I rinsed the dirt and iron remover residue away I proceeded with foaming it. I used an ounce of foam booster with 1.5 ounces of GTechniq W4 Citrus Foam wash to pre-soak the paint. After dwelling for a couple minutes I washed it with a shampoo not sold through Autogeek which is similar to CarPro Reset.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1975a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1980a.jpg
Once I finished washing it, I moved it into the garage. Now normally I would use a clay mitt with the shampoo in my wash bucket. But this time I decided to go with regular clay and used CarPro Immolube at the recommended dilution of 1:5. There was not much contamination on the paint left after the chemical decon. Overall it was pretty good after 1.5 years. I followed that up with an Eraser wipedown to remove any left over Immolube residue prior to polishing. FYI for those wanting to use Immolube is that it gets sudsy especially with a clay mitt or sponge compared to actual clay. So have plenty of towels on hand to wipe it off.
From the trunk
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1981a.jpg
The hood had virtually nothing
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1982a.jpg
At this point I had taken the wheels off and chemically and mechanically decontaminated the inner barrels with clay, TarX and IronX. I scrubbed the tires with Tuf Shine tire cleaner.
The wheels were then machined polished and hand polished on the face to remove any remaining 1.5 year old DLUX. DLUX actually did quite well in that time frame. Wheels were polished with Blackfire Polish.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1983a.jpg
Wheels were prep wiped with CarPro Eraser and received a double coat of Gyeon Rim with 1 hour between coats. Will be testing this out as a wheel coating to see how it compares to DLUX.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1984a.jpg
Tires were dressed with an undiluted coat of CarPro Perl as a base. I maintain them at 1:1 there after.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1985a.jpg
I then moved to the glass. The glass was polished with CarPro Ceriglass just to remove the previous base layer of Opti Glass. The glass is in great shape with no scratches or water spots so not too much work was needed. Surface was prep wiped with Optimum Paint Prep and coated with one coat of Opti Glass. Opti Glass is my top glass coating.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1998a.jpg
Moved on to the trim. It was cleaned, pep wiped and coated. I decided to coat the trim this time.
Lower rear bumper received the reaming GTechniq C4 Trim Restorer
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2009a.jpg
While I was back there, I polished out the tips with Optimum Hyper Polish as it does not stain trim. Prep wiped the surface with GTechniq panel wipe and applied GTechniq C5 Wheel Armor.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2012a.jpg
The rest of the trim received a coat of Gyeon Trim. Forgot to take a photo of the front cowl which came out just as good as the side mirrors.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2014a.jpg
Also re-coated the plastic trim in the engine bay.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2018a.jpg
Now it was time to tackle the paint. There was very little defects on this paint. Most of it was clay marring. I did two test spots. I purchased Gyeon Polish and already had used Gyeon Primer Polish before. Both achieved the same thing on Rupes yellow pads. So I went with Gyeon Primer to remove the clay marring but to also remove gloss coat which is easily removed with a finishing polish and a polishing pad.
Before. Hard to capture on this light paint color.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2023a.jpg
After
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2024a.jpg
For those that are wondering Gyeon Primer Polish is similar to CarPro Essence in that it is a finishing polish that corrects and deposits a layer of SiO2. But Gyeon has no fillers which differentiates it from Essence which has fillers. Jeff McEachran of Gyeon USA has a great write up on how to use primer polish. Here are some takeaways from that write up on Detailed Image.
The products main design function is to aid in finishing down very soft and finicky paints and prep them for coating. It allows you to touch the paints surface one less time, because if you wait at least 24 hours between Primer and your coating application, you can skip the Prep wipe stage. Primer is water based, so all of the lubricants in the product that aid in polishing will evaporate out fully in 24 hours, leaving you a dry base layer of SiO2 on which you can install your coating. If you have to coat under 24 hours from the time you complete Primer, then prep is still required.
The base layer of SiO2 will also increase the durability of the coating applied over it. More often than not I do not have a 24 hour window between Primer and coating so I still conduct the prep wipe procedure. You want to wait at least 15 mins from the completion of Primer before Prep to allow the base layer of SiO2 to dry enough to not be affected by Prep.
Q2 Primer, and the few other products on the market like it, tend to be driven towards the professional detailer installing long term warranted coatings. This is not the only place for Primer. Primer works fantastically as a base layer under a traditional wax or sealant. It is also great for a light polishing service that you may want to top with Q2 Cure or Q2 CanCoat.
We use Primer on new vehicles that are in great shape, where we want to do a light polish to bring up the gloss, and then coat. We use it as our finishing polish before coating on deeper paint correction projects. We use it for light details for a quick polish and then a Cure wipe down or a sealant application. Primer has surprised me on certain paints. The Rupes Duetto, Orange Griots Medium Pad, and Primer crushes through black Toyota paint and other soft paints with a superb finish. The only time we don’t use it is when we need more defect removal out of a single stage polish and we go for something else.
Remember, if you are waiting at least 24 hours between Primer and installing your coating you can skip the Prep wipe down stage. If you are coating under 24 hours from your Primer then you should still perform a prep wipe. You can install any coating over Primer. You can install wax and sealants over Primer. Find where it fits your detailing procedures best!
Because of the holidays and family functions, primer polish sat for 24 hours and if not a little more. There is no need to do a wipe down but I did a very light wipe down with Eraser to remove any light dusting that may have been on the surface.
One thing to note is that the instruction booklet that comes in the kit states that for MOHS it is recommended to wait a minimum of 1 hour between coats. Gyeon recommends 2 coats of MOHS with 3 coats max. For Skin it is recommended to wait a minimum of 4 hours before applying it over MOHS.
With the family functions each coat of MOHS sat overnight at roughly 12 hours and then the final coat of Skin was applied after that and left in the garage to cure overnight. Both coatings are easy to use.
The end result in the process is how good it came out. It is too early to tell how this will perform. I will post back updates on it.
Here are the final photos.
In the garage prior to moving it out
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2121a.jpg
Was a bit cloudy with not so much sun. But one thing I can say is that it looks better to me than Gloss Coat. Gloss Coat looks to synthetic and feels like plastic is on the paint. MOHS seems to look more natural and not have a harsh glassy type look to it.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2123a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2127a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2141a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2142a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2147a.jpg
The chrome trim really pops with the same combo as the paint.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2132a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2145a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2144a.jpg
A better look of Perl on the tires after a few days of sitting in the garage as I worked on the paint.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2129a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2128a.jpg
One thing that was noticed a few months ago was the clear coat failure on the passenger side B pillars. Seems like this is common on the Impala forums. Typical GM quality along with the car being abused as a rental car. They will be replaced.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2081a.jpg
The passenger side C pillar has issues with the paint under the clear in a few areas.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2079a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2080a.jpg
Other than that the car looks great. Gyeon MOHS is super easy to use as is Skin. MOHS feels slick upon initial application but was a tiny bit grabby after it sat for roughly 12 hours. Skin on the other hand is really slick. It is felt right away as soon as it is wiped off the surface. Gives a similar feel to a surface that has been waxed or sealed. I will post a more thorough review on Syncro at a later time.
I may be the first enthusiast to use Syncro.
For now enjoy.
2015 Impala LTZ Corrected with Rupes UHS and Coated with Optimum Gloss Coat (https://www.autopia.org/forums/click-brag-the-detailers-showcase/185155-2015-impala-ltz-corrected-rupes-uhs-coated-gloss-coat.html)
Gloss Coat turned out to be an ok coating for me. It was starting to have performance issues a couple months shy to the 1 year mark. There were areas on the various panels where it looked like there was nothing on the paint anymore. I had chemically decontaminated but that did not do much to revive it. I ended up topping it with Gyeon Cure just to limp along until I polished it off and re-coated the car. Overall it was good but it is just not for me. I would definitely say Gloss Coat needs a topper to maintain it. So the search continues to try other coatings to see which will be the one I stick with.
Since I had almost a month off from work during the month of December I had planned to use Gyeon MOHS and Booster together that I had purchased. Well that was scrapped with the release of the new Gyeon Syncro that was announced at SEMA in November of 2017. Perfect timing as it came out right before Christmas while I was in the middle of a wheels off detail. The previous version of MOHS and Booster will be used on another one of my personal cars sometime down the road.
First thing up was a chemical decontamination of the paint. I actually washed the wheels first and deconned a majority of the wheels with them on the car.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1976a.jpg
I tend to use The (https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/2009-to-2016-how-to-articles-by-mike-phillips/86146-aggressive-approach-washing-car.html) Aggressive Approach to Washing a Car (https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/2009-to-2016-how-to-articles-by-mike-phillips/86146-aggressive-approach-washing-car.html) and spray the iron remover onto the dry paint even if the surface is dirty which this car was.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1977a.jpg
Driver side door
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1978a.jpg
Hood
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1979a.jpg
After I rinsed the dirt and iron remover residue away I proceeded with foaming it. I used an ounce of foam booster with 1.5 ounces of GTechniq W4 Citrus Foam wash to pre-soak the paint. After dwelling for a couple minutes I washed it with a shampoo not sold through Autogeek which is similar to CarPro Reset.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1975a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1980a.jpg
Once I finished washing it, I moved it into the garage. Now normally I would use a clay mitt with the shampoo in my wash bucket. But this time I decided to go with regular clay and used CarPro Immolube at the recommended dilution of 1:5. There was not much contamination on the paint left after the chemical decon. Overall it was pretty good after 1.5 years. I followed that up with an Eraser wipedown to remove any left over Immolube residue prior to polishing. FYI for those wanting to use Immolube is that it gets sudsy especially with a clay mitt or sponge compared to actual clay. So have plenty of towels on hand to wipe it off.
From the trunk
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1981a.jpg
The hood had virtually nothing
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1982a.jpg
At this point I had taken the wheels off and chemically and mechanically decontaminated the inner barrels with clay, TarX and IronX. I scrubbed the tires with Tuf Shine tire cleaner.
The wheels were then machined polished and hand polished on the face to remove any remaining 1.5 year old DLUX. DLUX actually did quite well in that time frame. Wheels were polished with Blackfire Polish.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1983a.jpg
Wheels were prep wiped with CarPro Eraser and received a double coat of Gyeon Rim with 1 hour between coats. Will be testing this out as a wheel coating to see how it compares to DLUX.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1984a.jpg
Tires were dressed with an undiluted coat of CarPro Perl as a base. I maintain them at 1:1 there after.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1985a.jpg
I then moved to the glass. The glass was polished with CarPro Ceriglass just to remove the previous base layer of Opti Glass. The glass is in great shape with no scratches or water spots so not too much work was needed. Surface was prep wiped with Optimum Paint Prep and coated with one coat of Opti Glass. Opti Glass is my top glass coating.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_1998a.jpg
Moved on to the trim. It was cleaned, pep wiped and coated. I decided to coat the trim this time.
Lower rear bumper received the reaming GTechniq C4 Trim Restorer
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2009a.jpg
While I was back there, I polished out the tips with Optimum Hyper Polish as it does not stain trim. Prep wiped the surface with GTechniq panel wipe and applied GTechniq C5 Wheel Armor.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2012a.jpg
The rest of the trim received a coat of Gyeon Trim. Forgot to take a photo of the front cowl which came out just as good as the side mirrors.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2014a.jpg
Also re-coated the plastic trim in the engine bay.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2018a.jpg
Now it was time to tackle the paint. There was very little defects on this paint. Most of it was clay marring. I did two test spots. I purchased Gyeon Polish and already had used Gyeon Primer Polish before. Both achieved the same thing on Rupes yellow pads. So I went with Gyeon Primer to remove the clay marring but to also remove gloss coat which is easily removed with a finishing polish and a polishing pad.
Before. Hard to capture on this light paint color.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2023a.jpg
After
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2024a.jpg
For those that are wondering Gyeon Primer Polish is similar to CarPro Essence in that it is a finishing polish that corrects and deposits a layer of SiO2. But Gyeon has no fillers which differentiates it from Essence which has fillers. Jeff McEachran of Gyeon USA has a great write up on how to use primer polish. Here are some takeaways from that write up on Detailed Image.
The products main design function is to aid in finishing down very soft and finicky paints and prep them for coating. It allows you to touch the paints surface one less time, because if you wait at least 24 hours between Primer and your coating application, you can skip the Prep wipe stage. Primer is water based, so all of the lubricants in the product that aid in polishing will evaporate out fully in 24 hours, leaving you a dry base layer of SiO2 on which you can install your coating. If you have to coat under 24 hours from the time you complete Primer, then prep is still required.
The base layer of SiO2 will also increase the durability of the coating applied over it. More often than not I do not have a 24 hour window between Primer and coating so I still conduct the prep wipe procedure. You want to wait at least 15 mins from the completion of Primer before Prep to allow the base layer of SiO2 to dry enough to not be affected by Prep.
Q2 Primer, and the few other products on the market like it, tend to be driven towards the professional detailer installing long term warranted coatings. This is not the only place for Primer. Primer works fantastically as a base layer under a traditional wax or sealant. It is also great for a light polishing service that you may want to top with Q2 Cure or Q2 CanCoat.
We use Primer on new vehicles that are in great shape, where we want to do a light polish to bring up the gloss, and then coat. We use it as our finishing polish before coating on deeper paint correction projects. We use it for light details for a quick polish and then a Cure wipe down or a sealant application. Primer has surprised me on certain paints. The Rupes Duetto, Orange Griots Medium Pad, and Primer crushes through black Toyota paint and other soft paints with a superb finish. The only time we don’t use it is when we need more defect removal out of a single stage polish and we go for something else.
Remember, if you are waiting at least 24 hours between Primer and installing your coating you can skip the Prep wipe down stage. If you are coating under 24 hours from your Primer then you should still perform a prep wipe. You can install any coating over Primer. You can install wax and sealants over Primer. Find where it fits your detailing procedures best!
Because of the holidays and family functions, primer polish sat for 24 hours and if not a little more. There is no need to do a wipe down but I did a very light wipe down with Eraser to remove any light dusting that may have been on the surface.
One thing to note is that the instruction booklet that comes in the kit states that for MOHS it is recommended to wait a minimum of 1 hour between coats. Gyeon recommends 2 coats of MOHS with 3 coats max. For Skin it is recommended to wait a minimum of 4 hours before applying it over MOHS.
With the family functions each coat of MOHS sat overnight at roughly 12 hours and then the final coat of Skin was applied after that and left in the garage to cure overnight. Both coatings are easy to use.
The end result in the process is how good it came out. It is too early to tell how this will perform. I will post back updates on it.
Here are the final photos.
In the garage prior to moving it out
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2121a.jpg
Was a bit cloudy with not so much sun. But one thing I can say is that it looks better to me than Gloss Coat. Gloss Coat looks to synthetic and feels like plastic is on the paint. MOHS seems to look more natural and not have a harsh glassy type look to it.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2123a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2127a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2141a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2142a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2147a.jpg
The chrome trim really pops with the same combo as the paint.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2132a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2145a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2144a.jpg
A better look of Perl on the tires after a few days of sitting in the garage as I worked on the paint.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2129a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2128a.jpg
One thing that was noticed a few months ago was the clear coat failure on the passenger side B pillars. Seems like this is common on the Impala forums. Typical GM quality along with the car being abused as a rental car. They will be replaced.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2081a.jpg
The passenger side C pillar has issues with the paint under the clear in a few areas.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2079a.jpg
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/3598/IMG_2080a.jpg
Other than that the car looks great. Gyeon MOHS is super easy to use as is Skin. MOHS feels slick upon initial application but was a tiny bit grabby after it sat for roughly 12 hours. Skin on the other hand is really slick. It is felt right away as soon as it is wiped off the surface. Gives a similar feel to a surface that has been waxed or sealed. I will post a more thorough review on Syncro at a later time.
I may be the first enthusiast to use Syncro.
For now enjoy.