slickness

[DownSouth]

This property is mentioned in every coating description and/or review. Why is this so important that everybody talks about it? What are the advantages of a product having a lot of slickness? If I don`t plan on caressing the surface of my car, why should I care? Is it just about the application and wipe off?

[hawaiidude]

This probably can be answered better by others but from experience, the more "slick" the coating, the less stuff will be able to stay on it. Obviously it helps with keeping the paint clean but also helps with longevity of the coating because contaminants cannot stay on the paint.

I went off roading after ceramic coating my truck. The mud slicked right off. Didn`t look like I was in the mud at all...

[Stokdgs]

I believe it is a little of both - how "slick" does the paintwork feel after the product dries and cures, and of course, how much stuff sticks to it when it is back out in the real world for awhile..
And the best of the two will always be how much stuff "sticks" to the paintwork for me..

Years ago when Optimum had been out for a little while, I applied it to my personal black, Grand Cherokee; after curing, drove it through rain sleet, and snow, just to get out of the Pacific Northwest (1,000 miles), and then the next 2,000 miles to get to the part of Texas where my Parents and siblings lived..

When I got to the end of this 3,000 mile trip, my black Jeep looked perfect, it did not even really need a wash.. Except for the bugs that hit your windshield, etc..
Had a full front clearbra on it so the front was also very nice and clean and of course, the paint was and still is perfect underneath it..

Now That was some great "slickness" if there ever was !
Dan F

[Setec Astronomy]

Honestly, I think a lot of the fascination with slickness is the transformation from taking an uncared for car, claying it, polishing it, and applying sealant or wax, and feeling the difference to the paint when you "caress" it. That was kind of the magic of finding a forum like this and learning a lot and applying that knowledge.

But on a practical level, as has been stated, there is the "self-cleaning" aspect and the knowledge that if your car still feels slick, your paint protection is still doing its job.

[dgage]

Self-cleaning for me. Slick paint is nice but not having stuff stick to the paint…priceless.

Take a popular coating such as CQuartz UK 3, it isn’t a very slick coating. But it is quite slick when you add a layer of SiC on top.

Now the question is, does that really translate to less stuff sticking to the paint? I don’t know that I’ve personally seen a long term test of that such as half the car one-way and the other half another. I have seen such a test with various toppers to see how dust sticks but not quite the same as how a slick coating improves things. Would be an interesting test.

[Coatings=crack]

Yeah CQUK3 wasn’t very slick at all bit it jad great self cleaning so I don’t know if being slicker would make a difference more than SiC actually just having a different chemical composition.

I appreciate slickness but play no part in my buying decision.


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[RPPM]

Interesting, I am not sure slickness actually has much to do with self cleaning. Sonax PNS and or BSD are not slick to the touch. They do feel smooth, but not slippery. Yet when hand washing, the soapy mitt glides over the paint, and it is probably the best self cleaning sealant on the market. Some coatings do not feel as slick as others, but are very self cleaning. I think it is has to do with how the LSP is able to level at the micro level, creating the most perfect surface.

[Desertnate]

Self-cleaning for me. Slick paint is nice but not having stuff stick to the paint…priceless.

This.

The cars I`ve coated, with the exception of maybe CanCoat, were never as "slick" from a tactile standpoint as those I applied Collinite 845. 845 was so slick I couldn`t leave a buffing rag on the hood because it would slide right off. HOWEVER, when it comes to water beading, sheeting, self cleaning, the coatings blow it away by a significant margin.

This alone has lead me to not care much about how "slick" or "slippery" a surface might feel after a product is applied. I judge it on how it performs with water and handles the environment. Besides, feeling how "slick" a surface is just leads to fingerprints and smudges which have to be removed!

[briarpatch]

Agree with Desertnate and dgage here. Slickness isn`t a good indication of protection. I`ve done a bunch of cars for people, using products (such as BeadMaker) which left the vehicle super slick, and they LOVED it, even though the overall protection would be short lived. I`ve also done several cars with Griots 3 in 1 Ceramic Wax, which in my experience is not very slick. Those folks were not nearly as impressed, even when I told them they could expect 6-9 months out of it.

[Accumulator]

Agree with Desertnate and dgage here. Slickness isn`t a good indication of protection..

That can indeed be true, at least sometimes. While I value slickness because with *most of* my LSPs it`s correlated to contamination not adhering, one of the slickest conventional LSPs I`ve ever used is the old UPP, and it didn`t provide *ANY* protection against etching, at least none that I could discern. Bugs/birds etched right through it in no time at all...which is why I won`t be using it again.

[danlc95]

Agree with Desertnate and dgage here. Slickness isn`t a good indication of protection. I`ve done a bunch of cars for people, using products (such as BeadMaker) which left the vehicle super slick, and they LOVED it, even though the overall protection would be short lived. I`ve also done several cars with Griots 3 in 1 Ceramic Wax, which in my experience is not very slick. Those folks were not nearly as impressed, even when I told them they could expect 6-9 months out of it.

Exactly! Duragloss Fast Clean & Shine, and Optium Instant Detailer both leave really slick finishes, but none really protect.

I admit though. I love a slick feeling finish.

The first time I ever waxed a car, it was at my Grandma`s house on my Dad`s side. Warm summer afternoon, a wash of the 1986 white Buick Century. I was either 9 or 10. We waxed it with the Turtle Wax, and my pops did the towel trick, sending the towel across the hood onto the grass. That was my first lesson in paint slickness.

[Lonnie]

I don`t know WHY non-detailing vehicle owners get so hung up on slickness and hydrophobic (water beading) characteristics of waxes, sealants, and coatings, and now these 3-in-1 instant "coating" detail sprays, but they do. Must be a visible, physical appearance "test" to denote that whatever LSP has been applied, it is there "protecting" your vehicle`s surface, when, as any well-informed and knowledgeable Autopian knows, NOTHING could be further from the truth.

While the results are rather subjective in nature (IE, based on the judgment, opinion, evaluation, and/or emotions of the person rather than being objective by quantifiable measurements from such equipment, predefined standards or templates, and/or statistical data (IE, comparative measurements and numeric importance assigned to them). Even with an "objective" statistical evaluation, what characteristics of a coating spray are most important to the end user? Here are some of those coating spray characteristics that I am talking about, in no particular order:
1) Initial purchase price
2) Cost per application
3) Ease of application
4) Gloss or appearance
5) Hydroscopic water beading characteristics
6) Self-cleaning characteristics
7) Protection from environmental fallout and road traffic film (RTF)
8) Durability or longevity
9) Manufacturer`s product availability (OTC or boutique)
Each characteristic will carry a different weight or numeric value of importance to each end user of a coating for their vehicle. But at least it gives some relevance to evaluating a coating spray.
My question and I am sure other Autopians will ask is:
Which coating spray do you like best and why??
(YES, I copy-and-pasted this from my post in Guz`s review on his coating experience and "repurposed" it here to coating sprays. Always the plagiarizer, Captain Obvious... wait, is it plagiarizing if it`s your own work????... Hummmmmm!!)

[Len_nA]

I don`t plan on caressing my car, but I always appreciate how slick it feels. I just leased a new Ford Escape, and because my garage was just warm enough to let me, I brought out a can of Meguiar`s M16 and waxed it. Trust me - it always feels nice to feel how slick the paint is after.

[bcgreen]

To me, when it isn`t as slick, it tells me when the vehicle needs another coat of wax.

[danlc95]

I don`t know WHY non-detailing vehicle owners get so hung up on slickness and hydrophobic (water beading) characteristics of waxes, sealants, and coatings, and now these 3-in-1 instant "coating" detail sprays, but they do. Must be a visible, physical appearance "test" to denote that whatever LSP has been applied, it is there "protecting" your vehicle`s surface, when, as any well-informed and knowledgeable Autopian knows, NOTHING could be further from the truth.

While the results are rather subjective in nature (IE, based on the judgment, opinion, evaluation, and/or emotions of the person rather than being objective by quantifiable measurements from such equipment, predefined standards or templates, and/or statistical data (IE, comparative measurements and numeric importance assigned to them). Even with an "objective" statistical evaluation, what characteristics of a coating spray are most important to the end user? Here are some of those coating spray characteristics that I am talking about, in no particular order:
1) Initial purchase price
2) Cost per application
3) Ease of application
4) Gloss or appearance
5) Hydroscopic water beading characteristics
6) Self-cleaning characteristics
7) Protection from environmental fallout and road traffic film (RTF)
8) Durability or longevity
9) Manufacturer`s product availability (OTC or boutique)
Each characteristic will carry a different weight or numeric value of importance to each end user of a coating for their vehicle. But at least it gives some relevance to evaluating a coating spray.
My question and I am sure other Autopians will ask is:
Which coating spray do you like best and why??
(YES, I copy-and-pasted this from my post in Guz`s review on his coating experience and "repurposed" it here to coating sprays. Always the plagiarizer, Captain Obvious... wait, is it plagiarizing if it`s your own work????... Hummmmmm!!)

There was an AMMO podcast with Jason Rose, where he explained that Meguiar`s (he was still with them at the time) was struggling internally over the whole water behavior thing.

He said thay what the public wanted wasn`t necessarily good for the finish.

I`ve given up on making beads a priority. The products I`ve gravitated to aren`t regarded as the best headers on the market and I couldn`t care less. Give me ease of use, and protection. I don`t really care how water looks on it at this point. That being said, they do produce a beading effect, but not the little tiny ones though.