Originally Posted by
Loach
Appreciate the update! I was curious to see how Reboot performed out in the real world. I can only imagine the benefits of a lower sliding angle on a less hydrophobic product to be very marginal at best. And your comparison shot is the prime example of why that is.
Without enough water to flood the paint, these water "sheeters" are just going to bead water up about as much as the hydrophobic monsters. But you`ll never be able to match the runoff rate with a less hydrophobic product that combines a marginally lower sliding angle, compared to a hydrophobic monster with even lower sliding angles. That`s why Ceramic 3-in-1 Wax has smaller beading towards the front half of the hood in your shot. Put Sonax BSD on the paint which is even more hydrophobic and has a lower sliding angle than Griot`s and some of those larger beads towards the windshield would have likely runoff the surface.
You can`t beat physics here. Even in a torrential downpour on a recently polished panel with no protection, the surface has enough tension to prevent flooding and form significant water beading. This is one of my raw clips I filmed about a year ago after the tail end of a rainstorm here in Florida, with the left third of the panel without any protection, the middle third with the less hydrophobic DPC Armor, and the right third with the hydrophobic Mothers CMX. Notice the similarity in the levels of water beading for each section. The ability for us to easily flood less hydrophobic protectants with a hose nozzle does not magically eliminate the ability for the water to significantly resist flooding in uncontrolled situations like a rainstorm.
This video is not narrated:
Even on the side panels of the car at 3:51 that flood quite easily now with the nozzle, it`s not enough volume of water hitting it during a heavy rainstorm to produce any significant sheeting, you still end up with significant beading all over it that will eventually dry up. So while I think the theory of manipulating sliding angles on protectants is interesting and it makes sense in an attempt to combat the spotting issues, I remain skeptical of any real world beading reduction pairing this feature with any mildly hydrophobic protectant. The surface has to be fully hydrophilic to see a noticeable reduction in beading.
Griot`s Ceramic 3-in-1 Wax has been very surprising, it`s performed the best of the consumer spray ceramics in a pure durability test so far.
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