Why do we judge protection by beading?

D

DigitalN.

New member
I have wondered this for a few days, but why do we do it? I remember a video the other day about Scott showing how ONR had left behind "protection" because it was beading water and it made me start to think... Why does beading mean protection?
 
Because it is virtually impossible to test if the product is still there ANY other way. Also, by repelling water that shows that it is repelling general surface contamination.
 
Beading is a decent, but not 100% perfect way of measuring protection. I judge protection based on how much an LSPs characteristics (combination of beading, slickness, looks, etc.) have changed compared to a freshly applied layer.
 
My father-in-law washes his car every weekend (more if it rained during the week) but never puts wax (or any other protection) on it. He just likes a clean looking car, albeit with lots of swirls. His clean paint beads just as well as my waxed car.
 
I've never seen much evidence that any product really provides "protection" at all. Water spots, bird crap, etc., cut right through whatever is on the paint, beading or not. Beading gives some indication that the product is still there. I guess that's better than nothing.
 
Blade9 said:
His clean paint beads just as well as my waxed car.
Click to expand...

Ehhh...I wouldn't go that far. Also, along the lines of beading one must also consider how well the beads are repelled. For instance, a well waxed car will bead up, and then with even slight wind or movement will shed the water right off.



The cleanest wax-free car in the world might bead up, but the water will stick to its surface more than a waxed car.
 
When the beading on my vehicles changes, I interpret it as *something* having changed, and not for the better.



Those tiny spherical beads that just *barely* contact the paint, which are only like that after a fresh LSPing, don't stay like that forever and the sutble change makes for a simple indicator that the LSP could stand refreshing (long before it really *needs* redone).



The beading is almost always the first thing I notice a change in, long before slickness starts to drop off and I *never* let things go so long that the appearance has started to degrade.



So if I don't go by the first-appearing indicator, what *would* I go by? :nixweiss



Protection? I leave bugs/bird bombs on freshly Collinited/KSGed paint all the time, and I hardly *ever* get etching from it. My other LSPs don't offer that kind of protection (the paint gets etched during the course of a long roadtrip), and not-LSPed paint etches *very* quickly from stuff like that.
 
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