Adam`s Graphene Issues

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redreevos

New member
I posted a question on Adam`s forum earlier today with no reply. Wondering if there is something time sensitive that I can do before the coating fully cures.
Thank you in advance for any help. Here is my issue:

Did a full paint correction on my Jaguar XJ(black). Actually applied 3 stages of polish, as I was excited to lock it in for 7 years. Car looked beautiful. Waited until 2am, so the garage was a good temperature. I live in Las Vegas. Temperature was 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and humidity was 25 percent. Did a full wipe down of the paint with the prep bottle that came with the kit. I had approximately 10 lights pointed at the car for application. I applied the graphene coating with the suede "sponge," waited 40 seconds, wiped with the provided chamois, and then wiped with the provided white towel. The car looked pretty good under the lights. I was afraid I might be missing something, so I buffed and buffed each section before moving on.

At about 6am the sun came out. I pulled the car out, and there were high spots everywhere. I watched the Adam`s video on how to fix high spots. I tried buffing with the towel.. I tried adding more coating and immediately wiping off. Nothing was working. Grabbed another premium towel to see if I could get it off with the coating. No luck. Out came the orbital again. So frustrated. I polished the drivers side again. Exhausted.. as it is about 9am at this point.

Once I polished off the high spots, I took out the graphene coating again. Took out a new applicator, and applied the coating. This time I wiped it off immediately. Even with a brand new towel, I was getting high spots. I tried a 6" x 6" section and immediately wiped off. Still splotchy with high spots. I give up. I have never had this miserable of an experience with any car product before.

Only thing I can think of, is that I got a bad batch.

So frustrated that I used so many good towels, stayed up all night, tried everything I could think of, and my car looks worse than before. I was excited to do 2 cars with this product and lock in the finish, but I don`t even think this bottle will finish this car with all the re-dos.

If anyone can think of what to do, I am all ears.

Edit:
Just browsed the recent reviews. A review from September 7th seemed to be a person having a similar problem as me. I wish I realized after one panel. I really think there is something wrong with the solvent in the batch I got.

[h=3]might be great but didnt work for me[/h]Matt on Sep 07, 2021
After doing a full detail to prep for this. I put it on 1 panel. Was waiting for it to flash (waiting for the rainbow to go away which said it would take a few minutes) After 10 minutes the rainbow was still there. Tried to wipe it away and it wouldnt move. I polished it off and tried again same thing even a few seconds after i applied it. Not sure if it was user error or the product was wonky but I had to end up bailing on the process and just went with a spray on wipe off version that has a much shorter life time.

[COLOR=rgb( var(--theme-text_light) )]Edited 1 hour ago by redreevos

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Copied my post from the Adams forum

I typically use a towel with a GSM rating of 300-350 when leveling coatings. I don`t use those suede type towels or super plush towels. Try this and it should help with leveling.

Flash times are going to be dependent on temperature and humidity so you will have to figure out that out.
 
Thanks for the reply Guz. Already tried 5 different towels from really thin to plush. One was in the range you specified.

Have any advice about how to even the coating without having to polish the entire car to get rid of this product? So frustrated to spend all this money, stay up all night, used up over 10 nice towels, have a stinky garage, used up two p100 respirator cartridges. This is after watching their installation video and following their directions. Not impressed by Adam`s. Even watched their leveling video on correction. That was useless as well.. Other than, just polish off everything you applied all night.
 
I use rag company edgeless 300 towel when leveling any coating. The trickiest part is finding the flash time of a coating. Also lighting is key. This will help avoid potential high spots. You will need more than two towels as you go around the car as your towels will load up with product and leave product behind creating high spots. Also pushing product to the edges is where common high spots occur.

Did you purchase the Adams UV light? Also which version of the graphene coating did you purchase? The advanced or the original? How large of a panel are you applying to? What towel are you using? Have you tried a different application method with a suede and block?

The advanced version will be slightly harder to level as it is more concentrated. It will feel more tacky until you make it through the solvent carrier. The original is more user friendly.

When it comes to high spots it is going to depend on how long the coating has been curing. If it is caught early then adding more product will help. The longer they sit then you will need to abrade it off (polishing).

The original Adams version is very similar in application to the Exoforma graphene coating. As a matter of fact I actually think they are the same even if Exoforma tells me they are not. Go to the 5 minute mark. I share a technique I learned with using your finger to test if it is time to wipe off the carrier solvents. I don`t have any application videos of the


The jade graphene pro is closer to the advanced version so this should help as well.



The only video I have with the adams original graphene coating is this one.


Here is one I have with the advanced version coating my wheels.

 
I will watch your videos after I give you a response to your questions. Thank you for your advice and help.

I bought the standard graphene coating kit. It came with the black light, 2 plush-ish towels, 2 suede applicator sponges, 2 chamois, and directions. I applied per directions. Applied with the suede applicators, light wipe with chamois followed by full buff with towel provided.

For duration of time of coating on panel before wiping. I tried different times on the panel behind the drivers rear tire. 40 seconds seemed to be the one in the garage lighting (overhead flourescent lights as well as garage door opener lights, and 2 led light bars I could move around with me. Longer than 40 seconds, the coating wouldn`t come off cleanly. Visible high spots.

I did switch towels multiple times. Went through the two towels supplied after about 2/3 of the car being finished. Used a similar gsm towel for last third.

When I took the car outside, I could see all the splotchiness. They were occasionally some lines where overlap occurred, but most were just random. I tried all methods provided by Adams to correct. The only one that worked was to polish off all of the product. Which I did on the driver`s side. The rest of the car still has the splotchy coating. I was hoping someone had a miracle cure to help with the high spots that wouldn`t require me to re polish the entire car... and be left with no protective coating. I need to use the car this week.

So, once outside, with nothing seeming to work. I just started throwing every nice towel I had at the problem. Nothing worked. The coating was visibly drying out almost as soon as it was applied. I then tried thicker coats to see if I could get it off fast enough. Nothing worked. I tried cross hatch pattern, I tried wiping, I tried circular.. Made no difference. I even tried using a new applicator. Nothing.

The car looks horrible. I am so disappointed. My wife was so nice to get my back this week, so I could do this. I still haven`t slept.

I feel like either, the videos by Adam`s are completely misleading, or I got a defective product.
 
Just watched your video with the Adam`s graphene on your wheel, and the Exoforma video.

I applied almost identically to what you did on the Exoforma video. I worked about a 2 foot by 2 foot section, using the applicator, then the chamois(leveling), supplied towel for wipeoff. Looked for tackiness for my initial time setting. I kept my phone running with a constant timer so that I consistently did each section. During wipeoff, I really made sure to go over the area repeatedly, and to cover the connection to the previous section. I also cross hatched, as you did for application, and kept my eye, and lights in a spot that I could easily see the product being applied. I occasionally used the black light, but found it easier to crouch or stand, or whatever it took to get a clean view of the product during application.

Lol, the Adam`s application to the wheel definitely seemed like a different product than I had.
 
Play around on a smaller section. Seems like there is something different form your application and wipe off.

My bottle is a few months old of the original version and no issues on that black wheel.

In that Exoforma video I was testing out the IGL towels which are not great. This is why I reach for the rag company edgeless 300 towels.

Worst case try a couple Costco yellow Kirkland towel for wipe off and see if that works out better.

Photos help of what your seeing as well.

It’s possible yo have a bad batch but I doubt it.
 
I’ve applied Adam’s Graphene to four vehicles in the last two months and while I didn’t have as bad an outcome as you, I can say each application was a major PITA. I’ve used other ceramic coatings before and they seemed to be more forgiving in terms of getting a uniform finish after final buff. I found it exhausting having to inspect every square inch of each of these four vehicles to make sure I didn’t have any high spots since they’re so hard to remove with this coating. I was able to level the high spots with additional product and didn’t have to get out the polish but man, it definitely turned me off of this product in the future.
 
Besides many of the contributing factors already discussed, I`d point at climate conditions. I`d never try to apply a coating if the temps are above the mid-70`s. I`ve tried a couple times and it doesn`t go well. Now I`ll only do a coating in the early spring or mid/late fall.

My most recent coating application for a family member led me to totally re-think my approach to lighting. In the past one thing I noticed was high-spots and streaks were most noticeable on my vehicles in low/diffused lighting conditions. In stead of lighting up the work area like the crash site of an alien spaceship, I aimed my work lights at the ceiling and turned off all other lights. It worked great! Under the dimmer, diffused lighting conditions I could see the flashing much easier and things like smears or high spots were highly visible and easy to correct since I could easily see them while buffing everything out.
 
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