My Essence topper test

512detail

512detail

New member
EDIT: oops posted in wrong section-- perhaps a mod can move it? SORRY!


photobucket is not playing nice with me right now...so this is the best I can do to get this posted finally

I was sitting around a few weeks ago thinking- 'what could I top essence with besides a coating?' so here is what I determined








polished with rupes duetto and yellow rupes mf finishing disc equipped w/essence

sheeting videos -










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essence only beads-


























Will update with beads in another day or so once I have a chance.. Wash duty for the trunk lid will be PBL shampoo, Spray and Wipe, or Wolfs Mean Green RW

I plan to run this test out at least 6 months and more or up until toppers start to fail or have failed altogether


I like the dodo beads the best but Reload was so easy to apply that I'd say its the overall winner so far. As you can see from the sheeting videos, essence alone and pbl booster fair the worst. The others appear to sheet quite nicely.
Thanks for viewing

-Brandt K.
 
Interesting test. I just topped Essence with IGL Premier. Beading is similar to your section with Reload.

Thanks!
 
Waiting for warmer weather next week doing Essence then Hydro2-Lite Corey said it should do nicely....
 
Good test!

please, try to leave this beads for overnight etching. :unsure:
it will be great test for water drops etching...
 
I gotta ask the "dumb" question to 512detail:
Which of the waxes/sealants looked the best after their initial application?? By best, I mean which has the best reflectivity/shine/mirror-like finish/gloss in your opinion?? I say initial, because some waxes seem to "fill" and hide minute swirls/defects initially, but after a few washes, the fillers disappear. Personally, I do not mind fillers; it's the initial look with the "wow" factor that I like because I and/or clients see on my/their vehicles that matter most.

That said, I think that this post is more along the lines of determining longevity and protection for the various waxes/sealants you are testing. While the debate of whether beading is any indication of longevity and, hence, protection, it is still perceived by many (including myself) as such an indicator, whether it is true or just a psychological appearance of those factors from the days of carnauba waxes.

Perhaps a "better" litmus test would be which looks cleaner after a rain or water wash, indicating dirt repelling or self-cleaning abilities.

Anyway, thanks for posting your photos. The Autopian community is indebted to your time and efforts in testing the waxes/sealants on your vehicle.
 
Lonnie said:
I gotta ask the "dumb" question to 512detail:
Which of the waxes/sealants looked the best after their initial application?? By best, I mean which has the best reflectivity/shine/mirror-like finish/gloss in your opinion?? I say initial, because some waxes seem to "fill" and hide minute swirls/defects initially, but after a few washes, the fillers disappear. Personally, I do not mind fillers; it's the initial look with the "wow" factor that I like because I and/or clients see on my/their vehicles that matter most.

That said, I think that this post is more along the lines of determining longevity and protection for the various waxes/sealants you are testing. While the debate of whether beading is any indication of longevity and, hence, protection, it is still perceived by many (including myself) as such an indicator, whether it is true or just a psychological appearance of those factors from the days of carnauba waxes.

Perhaps a "better" litmus test would be which looks cleaner after a rain or water wash, indicating dirt repelling or self-cleaning abilities.

Anyway, thanks for posting your photos. The Autopian community is indebted to your time and efforts in testing the waxes/sealants on your vehicle.
Click to expand...

I cant really objectively evaluate the shine differences, you can still see the tape lines up close (so I can definitely tell each one added gloss). I guess I could pull into direct sun and try to evealuate that... I like the way the dodo and synergy look on there but they have nuba in them (although the pure glassy look of essence topped with reload is quite nice too) and I don't even know if I could really tell them apart in person.

and yes, this is more of a longevity test....my previous test of using all those waxes on top of my pbl was to test for filling ability, all of which filled the micro marring I had put into the coating.... I was able to polish off all the coating, only leaving some rids and deeper scratches that would need to be heavily compounded or sanded out most likely (and im not wanting to do that to my 2009 paint)
none of those really played well with PBL as it turns out --- synergy faired ok, but honestly I was expecting more from it in that case- although I may have messed up the results using pinnacle RW but either way.

you could look at the sheeting videos and see if you can find any more gloss on either section, but its negligible and they all look great to me.

I will see what I can do to address your question- I have not washed the car since I applied all of this stuff, just one quick Spray and Wipe wipedown last week.

edit: btw the only 'dumb' question is the one that never gets asked ... I do a lot of 'dumb' experiments on my vehicles, but they are all directly because I asked a question and had the means to answer it.
 
update will be sunday at the latest. I work until almost sundown every day except for sunday and there is no car wash near my work to play with water on my lunch break
 
19 day update (pics taken March 9)

sorry for the delay I picked up OT at work so I can save for a Mark II- will have 30 day pics up soon
vehicle has not been washed since the OP, it has only been driven to san Antonio (round trip 150ish miles) twice in that time. just a quick wipedown on the front end for bugs and for this test I wiped down the trunk lid with Spray and Wipe

I didn't test sheeting this time. will do that at 1 month with videos



Synergy




DoDo Nano





Reload







essence




PBL Booster





is it just me or do they almost ALL look the same?

Synergy/Reload/DoDo look best but it seems Essence has formed better beads than initially...im guessing it cured more after application?

for the 1 month check in I plan to wash with PBL shampoo
 
Long overdue i know

c511173c750aab88fcb031eb3be7e150.jpg
for reference

Day 82

dff63259f70f8d83d43ab884c771d872.jpg


3fa6014c6f6c63abf4aa4e32171c4fca.jpg


cant get sheating video to load (working on uploading to photobucket)
But Dodo Nano appears to be winning that battle
 
Wonder if the mighty FK1000p would play friendly on top of essence...

I picked up essence and reload just today as I`m playing to do my coating this week (Game plan: Essence topped with 2 layers of WG Uber coating topped with reload).

Also plan to coat my mother`s Ford Fusion with Essence topped with Sonus Ion.


Thanks for the topper test!
 
96 day update (sheeting testing) - video taken 5/25-still haven`t added anything but seriously getting the itch.. will take another video over the weekend hopefully to get the most recent update posted and be all caught up









 
Ronkh said:
Nice

Thankks !
Click to expand...

I don`t know what to make of both edges sheeting the quickest...as I`d presume PBL booster wouldn`t last as long as Synergy, but according to the sheeting, that is not true

the only thing I can tell for sure 100% is that the essence only (middle) sheets the slowest, which is no surprise
 
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