usdm
08-30-2004, 11:57 PM
I`m sure this has been discussed before, but I wanted to share this anyway and get some feedback.
I think most of us understand and/ or at least agree to some extent, that the initial prep work is what will make or break the total appearance of a car. To a lesser extent certain waxes and sealants can also help to enhance the appearance of a refinished panel, with the primary effect of protecting the paint surface in one way or another.
But there is always the question of how long does the protection of sealants and waxes will last, and more importantly, how does one know when it has worn out.
I brought this up because of something interesting I
discovered while working on the"reddish car" (http://www.detailcity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6159)
I used the HC paint leveler on the panels. Then I followed up with the Menzerna twins. As the car was dirty from all the leveler and wool strands flying all about, I gave the car a hose down and then a wash. The water beaded very hard, not just big blobs, but very tight, uniform drops. This was going throughout almost the entire wash. When I did the final rinse, whatever drop left over were uniform as well. Didn`t seem to matter if the drops were on horizontal or vertical panels, either. In all the years I have worked at my father`s shop, and with all the compounding and polishing and glazing products on hand, have I ever seen anything like this before.
Now, I`ve been playing with all sorts of stuff on my car, settling finally with WG as the LSP for now. Prior to me using it, the car was hit with a coat of FPII with a rotary, and then followed up with some VM, and then the WG. Before using the VM and WG, I washed the car down with some QEW. Now when the water beaded that time, I just assumed it was the stuff in QEW doing it, so I never paid it any mind. Since that initial application of VM and WG, I would do the WG about every 3 weeks or so, I would put on a coat because I like the look. But after seing what I saw Sunday, I do wonder as to how long it really does last.
Folks on other sights have been quick to dismiss WG as a good long term sealant. And quite a few folks have made a point of stating that water beading is not an indication of how long a product lasts, irrespective of the product used (even though beading seemed to be a major point in a product review on another website).
So I guess my question to this long winded thing, is what effective method is there to see how long a product will last? Judging by Sunday, beading is definitely not a way to know for sure that there is still product on the car, doing what it`s suppossed to do.
Any constructive or productive feedback will do.
I think most of us understand and/ or at least agree to some extent, that the initial prep work is what will make or break the total appearance of a car. To a lesser extent certain waxes and sealants can also help to enhance the appearance of a refinished panel, with the primary effect of protecting the paint surface in one way or another.
But there is always the question of how long does the protection of sealants and waxes will last, and more importantly, how does one know when it has worn out.
I brought this up because of something interesting I
discovered while working on the"reddish car" (http://www.detailcity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6159)
I used the HC paint leveler on the panels. Then I followed up with the Menzerna twins. As the car was dirty from all the leveler and wool strands flying all about, I gave the car a hose down and then a wash. The water beaded very hard, not just big blobs, but very tight, uniform drops. This was going throughout almost the entire wash. When I did the final rinse, whatever drop left over were uniform as well. Didn`t seem to matter if the drops were on horizontal or vertical panels, either. In all the years I have worked at my father`s shop, and with all the compounding and polishing and glazing products on hand, have I ever seen anything like this before.
Now, I`ve been playing with all sorts of stuff on my car, settling finally with WG as the LSP for now. Prior to me using it, the car was hit with a coat of FPII with a rotary, and then followed up with some VM, and then the WG. Before using the VM and WG, I washed the car down with some QEW. Now when the water beaded that time, I just assumed it was the stuff in QEW doing it, so I never paid it any mind. Since that initial application of VM and WG, I would do the WG about every 3 weeks or so, I would put on a coat because I like the look. But after seing what I saw Sunday, I do wonder as to how long it really does last.
Folks on other sights have been quick to dismiss WG as a good long term sealant. And quite a few folks have made a point of stating that water beading is not an indication of how long a product lasts, irrespective of the product used (even though beading seemed to be a major point in a product review on another website).
So I guess my question to this long winded thing, is what effective method is there to see how long a product will last? Judging by Sunday, beading is definitely not a way to know for sure that there is still product on the car, doing what it`s suppossed to do.
Any constructive or productive feedback will do.