"layering" what really happens?

[kiwi133]

What is physically happening?

Is another layer going on or is it just perfecting and further smoothing any imperfections in the first layer.

Also how thick is a layer of wax? how thick is a layer of polymer?

I keep reading "i have 3 layers, 10 layers, 40 layers, of zaino or something" How thick is the total coating then?

If I applied 1000 layers of wax, or zaino, or a one step polymer to a sheet of glass. Would the glass get noticably thicker? Could I take a sharp knife and cut through the coating down to the glass, and see that I had actually cut through something?



just a few questions that have been on my mind. :bounce

[Prometheus]

Layering essentially is adding another, thinner layer of the product that is further refining and smoothing out the first layer. For example, Zaino, MEgs, and any other wax/selant work by filling the pores and low spots in paint and clearcoats to get water to bead easier. THough both fill in the dimples and divits of paints, it still isn`t perfectly smooth. The second, third, whatever layer just continues to fill in these pores and make the surface even smoother. You are adding another layer of product, just thinner over a majority of the surface, and continuing to fill in the pores.



With most products, the results after the third layer are pretty much nil. AFter three coats, any more coats just wont stick cause the surface is so smooth, or you will just be layering and eventually, as you said, you probably could literally cut it with a knife (you would need an incredible amount of layers though, like 8 hours a day for a whole year`s worth of work number of layers). Basically, when you add one layer, you are adding a VERY thin layer of product. Each subsiquent layer is usually then thinner. You would eventually reach the point where any more layers would be useless (usually around the 3rd layer). Basically, if you took enough time and product and did a coupla thousand layers, yea, you could cut it with a knife. Essentially though, after thre 3rd layer of almost any product, the results arent really worth the extra effort. You`ll encounter some zaino freaks who say every layer adds that much more and have about 20 layers of teh stuff on their cars, but in my opinion anything after the 3rd layer is pretty much useless.



I think i covered everything.... Hope this helps.

[Lead Car]

I totally agree with your info on layering. My first coat of NxT went on easy and came off easy. The second coat I had to cut the amount of polish in half because it seemed to build up to much on top of the first coat and was difficult to buff off.

[JustinR32]

Dood, you don`t wanna know.

[Nick T.]

kiwi133 - - -



The have been many threads about layering, and the majority of detailers seem to think that you cannot layer carnauba with any success, but you can layer the synthetics.



I’ve done a lot of playing with both synthetics and carnaubas and here is my experience.



The synthetics (Zaino, Klasse, etc.) layer easily. The first 3 to 5 layers show a noticeable improvement in both reflectivity and smoothness. After that there are diminishing returns, but after several layers (if done side-by-side with an unlayered area) there is a slightly increasing amount of depth. My present practice is to start with the 3-5 layers of synthetic and then top with carnauba for the added depth.



Layering carnauba is another story altogether. The solvents in the carnauba waxes seem to soften the underlying layers and layering does little or no good unless you use the right wax and take special precautions in application. The only carnaubas that have given me good layering are Souverän and S-100/P21S - - and to some extent Pinnacle Paste Glaz. All of the others have too high a solvent content. The liquid carnaubas won’t layer for me at all. With the low solvent carnaubas I’ve found that applying very thin layers and waiting a day between layers will give satisfactory results. For the past year I’ve been playing with various “spit shiningâ€� methods - - and this allows applying more than one layer at a time.



The new synthetic/carnauba mixtures (such as Platinum (4 Star) Ultimate and Wolfgang) don’t seem to me to layer.



Layer thickness - - The synthetics give such a thin layer that I don’t know of any way to measure the thickness. Even 40 layers of Zaino probably wouldn’t be enough to measure outside of a lab. With carnaubas it’s easy to determine the layering - just apply multiple coats to a flexible piece of plastic and then bend it until there are flakes.

[ALAN81]

IMO and only my opinion after 3 coats of LAYERING CARNUBA there is no difference 2 coats help and another coat might help a little more but that`s it.There are people that say I have 12 coats of wax on my car well I really dont think it helps.There comes a point when you wax that adding more product does nothing.