FK 425 application and removal - any tips?

Ok, so I had to find a new QD since my last gallon of 4* UGE is almost gone. decided to try FK 425 (partly price, partly wanted to see if the anti-static part is hype or reality)...

Anyway, vehicle is a BMW with Monaco Blue paint (really dark blue). The car has been clayed and prepped, and 2 applications of AIO in preparation for a final sealant and then some kind of topper. It already looks pretty good without a final LSP or topper :)

Anyway, tried out the 425 yesterday, and it streaks pretty badly. It was a hot and humid day, which may have contributed to it...

Any tips on application I might be missing? I ended up having to do very small sections, wipe on/buff off, then buff with another clean/dry MF in order to get the streaking under control. A real pain, and I`m sure that once I move the car into different light I might end up seeing streaks I missed - not what I`m after in a QD.

So...open to suggestions. Is this common, or user error, or just the paint/AIO combination? Anything else to try to make it easier/more reliable (no streaks) when applied?

thanks!

Andrew

Andrew..I have never had any issues with 425 and it is my "go to" QD and I have been using it for years. I have never had any issues like others describe with streaks etc.

I am sure the humidity probably placed a large part in the streaks you were experiencing.

Humidity can definitely mess up things. Maybe a QD like Speed Shine might do the trick. I just got it, tried it three times so far, no streaking but I do reserve it mostly for the cars with wax as the LSP. However, there were also no streaks on the one with a sealant. Granted, I did my QDing in the garage.

I find a lot of QD`s to be...I dunno if streaky is the right word...greasy? Meaning difficult to wipe off cleanly. I haven`t studied it enough to say if it`s temp/humidity, LSP, QD, toweling or what.

When I have experienced streaking with FK425 it is usually one of few reasons.

1. Humidity: I find if it is very humid sometime the FK425 doesn`t flash off like normal. This is solved by doing a second buff with a dry towel as you have already learned. It is a pain when this happens.

2. Heat: If is very warm out or the paint is to warm I have had FK425 flash to quickly and leave a greasy film where I didn`t get it buffed fully or properly. This usually happens when I try and to to large of an area. Sometimes I get trigger happy. :D

3. Using to much product: This is the most common problem for me. I personally don`t care for the sprayer that come with the FK425. Unless you pull it fast it doesn`t atomize the spray very well. And if I`m trying to do a small area I tend to want to pull the trigger slower to have better application control. This usually results in getting to much product in one spot instead of it spreading out over a larger area.


At the end of the day though FK425 is my go to QD other than some ONR I have mixed up. Once you get the application of FK425 down I think you will really enjoy it.

Thanks guys. Sounds like I had 2 of the three situations Troy describes working against me - it was humid AND hot. Both things were happening, in some places it was flashing too quickly, and in some spots it got "hazy" after one pass with the towel. The good news is I bought the gallon and it`s being dispensed from a very nice (cleaned and repurposed) Mother`s QD spray bottle. Nice even, thin mist.

The streaks were visible as darker lines/swaths in the paint...and they did buff out, it was just a pain.

Not passing judgement on it yet - going to wait until thsui crazy heat passes and also let the AIO and 425 "age" on the car a bit.

Glad to know it`s not a common problem for this product (or user error :) )

Andrew