Dave N
My PC goes to 7...
After reading some good comments about #80 Speed Glaze topped with NXT I decided to try this combination for myself. The last product I put on my truck was back in October when I put a few layers of Z2 and Z5 over AIO. It's only been washed a couple of times in the past 2-3 months, and those were the hurry-up type that induced a fair amount of swirls (when I say "a fair amount of swirls", understand that I am talking Autopian standards here!). There was virtually no beading action left, which makes me think that the Zaino protection is near it's end after 4 months out in the elements. While I've used several different "swirl-remover" type polishes to get swirls out in the past, I've never used a polish or glaze for the purpose of filling swirls. So, I was anxious to see what #80 and NXT would do for my situation, without spending a lot of time with the PC to get swirls out.
Sunday morning was upper 40's and the sun was out, a perfect February day for detailing in Illinois. I started out using the NXT wash, which didn't seem much different than any other decent car wash except for the scent. I normally use Gold Class car wash, and will probably stick to that from now on because I like the smell better. For time's sake, I only used #80 on half of the hood just to see what it would do. I didn't use the PC, and put it on by hand with a foam applicator after taping off half the hood for a +/- comparison. The results were a little odd -- after I removed it, my paint had that "holographic" or "buffer burn" appearance (which I've actually never experienced on this truck before). I don't know why it did this, maybe it really needs to be put on with a PC. Anyway, I could still see the swirls, but overall the paint did have a deeper, polished look. I then removed the tape and taped off another section at a 90 degree angle to the original tape to compare the #80/+NXT, #80/-NXT, and untreated paint. I put the NXT on the hood section, and it spread fairly well despite the cool temperatures. While the hood was curing, I continued to apply NXT to the rest of the truck without any further prep. One thing I noticed is that NXT did not remove even new water spots, so I guess the recently discussed cleaning ability must be very low.
After letting the NXT cure, I was prepared to be stunned and amazed upon removal. Unfortunately, the sky had clouded over by this time so I didn't have good sunlight to view the results. I suppose my ability to be wowed by any new product has been tempered from using just about every top-of-the-line sealant over the past few years, because although NXT looked nice I didn't think it was anything extraordinarily special. In fact, I couldn't tell a whole lot of difference between where I had applied it and where I hadn't, but hey, maybe my paint is already in near perfect condition! I want to say again that it was overcast, so that probably didn't help the viewing out any. As for swirl mark filling/hiding ability, the #80/NXT looked about the same to me as the NXT alone, and it probably filled in or hid about half of the swirls I had. The NXT did get rid of the "buffer burn" appearance from the #80 though.
My conclusion is that NXT is a good product, and most likely comparable to Platinum or Blackfire in appearance. I really need to see it in full sunlight to make a final determination though. The #80 was a bit disappointing by hand because it didn't hide the swirls like I thought it would. I guess I was expecting it to be heavy with oils and really fill in the swirls and wet the paint. After shaking it up, it did look like an emulsion of some sort. I'm still eager to try #80 with a PC to see what kind of look I can get.
Here are the glory pics (the passenger side of the hood has the #80, and you can see how cloudy it was):
Sunday morning was upper 40's and the sun was out, a perfect February day for detailing in Illinois. I started out using the NXT wash, which didn't seem much different than any other decent car wash except for the scent. I normally use Gold Class car wash, and will probably stick to that from now on because I like the smell better. For time's sake, I only used #80 on half of the hood just to see what it would do. I didn't use the PC, and put it on by hand with a foam applicator after taping off half the hood for a +/- comparison. The results were a little odd -- after I removed it, my paint had that "holographic" or "buffer burn" appearance (which I've actually never experienced on this truck before). I don't know why it did this, maybe it really needs to be put on with a PC. Anyway, I could still see the swirls, but overall the paint did have a deeper, polished look. I then removed the tape and taped off another section at a 90 degree angle to the original tape to compare the #80/+NXT, #80/-NXT, and untreated paint. I put the NXT on the hood section, and it spread fairly well despite the cool temperatures. While the hood was curing, I continued to apply NXT to the rest of the truck without any further prep. One thing I noticed is that NXT did not remove even new water spots, so I guess the recently discussed cleaning ability must be very low.
After letting the NXT cure, I was prepared to be stunned and amazed upon removal. Unfortunately, the sky had clouded over by this time so I didn't have good sunlight to view the results. I suppose my ability to be wowed by any new product has been tempered from using just about every top-of-the-line sealant over the past few years, because although NXT looked nice I didn't think it was anything extraordinarily special. In fact, I couldn't tell a whole lot of difference between where I had applied it and where I hadn't, but hey, maybe my paint is already in near perfect condition! I want to say again that it was overcast, so that probably didn't help the viewing out any. As for swirl mark filling/hiding ability, the #80/NXT looked about the same to me as the NXT alone, and it probably filled in or hid about half of the swirls I had. The NXT did get rid of the "buffer burn" appearance from the #80 though.
My conclusion is that NXT is a good product, and most likely comparable to Platinum or Blackfire in appearance. I really need to see it in full sunlight to make a final determination though. The #80 was a bit disappointing by hand because it didn't hide the swirls like I thought it would. I guess I was expecting it to be heavy with oils and really fill in the swirls and wet the paint. After shaking it up, it did look like an emulsion of some sort. I'm still eager to try #80 with a PC to see what kind of look I can get.
Here are the glory pics (the passenger side of the hood has the #80, and you can see how cloudy it was):
