Tough question! I had one comparison with SiO2 waxes in early spring where almost none of them lasted the way I expected or have seen in the past. Not sure if it was too cold during application/curing or whether my prep spray of choice really did a good job. I also washed with harsh soap. I’ve since moved on to prep sprays and my opinion about beading is that colder water does not bead as well as warmer water in warm weather. Anyways, I ended up stripping those, but I don’t necessarily know if they were dead, clogged or just showing poor performance due to poor weather. I have seen 5-6 months out of Synergy and I know others have seen that or more, but as an example it looked poor after a month or two.
But I think you may be referring to the sealants thread which is still currently going on the Acura. Those are doing well and probably benefitted from being applied during warmer days and possibly the fact traditional sealants may be less finicky than SiO2-heavy waxes or spray sealants.
Regardless, hopefully this high level, general opinion partially answers your question:
1) Traditional sealants seem least finicky as far as preferred application environment. Most traditional sealants will last 3-6 months for me in mild weather. They are really good at keeping contaminants out and resisting etching. But they seem to have the least durability to harsh chemicals. They don’t self clean very well.
2) SiO2 Sprays I like to put into two categories: maintenance spray and coating lite, but there are some very durable maintenance sprays that last quite awhile too. Some maintenance sprays only last a month or two in mild weather but others can probably go 4-5-6 months. I think most SiO2 Sprays have pretty good resistance to chemicals. They are very easy to apply with the only issue usually being streaking. But as for speed, they apply quickly. There is such a massive variation between SiO2 spray sealants that I would generally say they do not last as long as traditional sealants across the board but the ones with highest longevity certainly can coniete or exceed top sealants. Especially in poor weather conditions.
Coating Lites seem very resistant to chemicals, can last 6-12 months even in bad weather and are harder to apply or at least if you do screw up and leave a high spot it’s a bigger deal. Great self-cleaning.
3) Ceramic waxes I will just say are in the middle, and I personally think most have that warmth that sealants lack. The good ones should get 6 months, about the same as the better sealants and SiO2 sprays in mild weather, but should be more resistant to poor weather. They self clean very well but maybe not quite as good as top tier SiO2 Sprays. I e had no issues with etching for these except one giant bird crap on top of Enigma Wax.
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