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RippyD
11-14-2016, 03:26 PM
Just put three different coatings on my hood: McKee's 37, Polish Angel Cosmic, and Duragloss Nanoglass. Will see how they perform over time. Some details below in Q&A format.

Q: What car? What shape is it in?
A: 2012 Nissan Sentra, blue metallic. In pretty bad shape. Paint is scratched and swirled out, some scratches through the paint and some bad rock chips. This is a semi-beater I bought for the teenage kids to drive.

Q: What correction did you do before coating?
A: HD Adapt and an orange pad on the hood. Got 95% of the scratches. The rest of them will take more work.

Q: Why those three?
A: I'm a DG fan and wanted to try it. Read a lot about Polish Angel so decided to try that. Mike described McKee's as the easiest to apply (I think - could be wrong), it's inexpensive, and why would I not support company that pays for this site? Also don't see a lot of reviews of these compared to others.

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Q: Have you used coatings before?
A: A little. I coated 4 wheels. I've coated a bunch of glass (Opt glass coating). And I did a few panels on my LR3. I'm not experienced, but I knew what to expect.

Q: How did they apply? Which one went on the best?
A: McKee's and DG Nanoglass are similar. They're both a clear liquid that volatilizes (evaporates) fairly quickly. Nanoglass seems a little thicker and slower evaporating than McKee's. On dark paint both are easy enough to see with an LED work light. DG was harder to see when I did my white car. High spots were very obvious and came off easily with both of them. These were both similar to other two coatings I used (Opt glass coating and Pinnacle wheel coating.) You need to keep track of what you've covered as it can evaporate to nothing in 20-30 seconds. Despite this, it's easy to apply.

Polish Angel is different. It goes on like a wax and buffs off. I had read that for this reason it's much easier to apply, and I agree that it's easier to see where it's been applied. However, the others are also easy to apply. While easier, I would choose PA over another coating for this reason alone.

Note: I applied all these per instructions with one exception: I didn't use McKee's coating prep polish. And I I did an IPA wipe down before I applied McKee's 37 coating.

Q: How many coats? How did you apply it?
A: Both Polish Angel and Duragloss have their own cleaner. I used a DA and a blue pad for both cleaners. (No pre-treatment for the McKee's.) Polish Angel got two coats of the coating, per the instructions. DG and McKee's have one coat. I applied all the coatings by hand. I used a Megs applicator pad for the McKee's and the DG. I used the sponge provided with the Polish Angel.

Q: Under what conditions did you apply? How long did they cure?
A: In my garage at about 65 degrees and raining outside. I had a heater in the garage and it was 70+ in there after I applied them. I had to drive this morning so they only got ~12 hours of cure time (Polish Angel got ~11 after the 2nd coat). Polish Angel wants 12, not sure about McKee's, and an older post on DG says 24 is preferred. Will have to see what happens.

Here's how the hood looked after I drove it this morning and it sat in the rain for 20 minutes or so.

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Here it is after I hit it with the hose. McKee's on the right, Polish Angel in the middle, DG on the left. McKee's and DG both sheeted water. Polish Angle beaded. Not sure what this means, if anything. When I dried it off the Polish Angle was less slick than the other two. Certainly not grabby at all, but less slippery. Maybe I needed to buff it more after applying the glasscoat spray, or maybe it's just less slippery.

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I'll report how these look in a few days. I'll try to do monthly updates after that. (Will try to fix these pics as well - too small.)

jdubs
11-14-2016, 03:30 PM
Great write up. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to playing with some different coatings.

Jowillie
11-14-2016, 05:49 PM
Excellent! Very timely. We will be watching your progress with great anticipation. Thanks

Vegas1
11-14-2016, 09:05 PM
Just applied Mckee's coating a couple of weeks ago. Curious to see how they all compare.


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RippyD
11-14-2016, 09:10 PM
While easier, I would choose PA over another coating for this reason alone.
Typo. I wouldn't choose Polish Angel based on ease of application alone.

cyclops
11-14-2016, 09:43 PM
Thanks for doing the test. Subscribed cant wait for more info.

RippyD
11-16-2016, 09:42 AM
One more addition: I clayed the hood before using using HD Adapt. Used my clay mitt. Embedded stuff wasn't nearly as bad as I expected given the poor overall shape of the car. So just to be clear, I washed, clayed, polished with a DA, then did the pre-prep before coating. Pretty obvious, but I neglected to put washing and claying into the original post.

RippyD
11-19-2016, 12:54 PM
Update from a day or so ago. Still beading and sheeting. The McKee's and DG coatings look and perform similarly. Can't say I see a lot of difference between the three of them. I may if the sun every comes out.

Hitting it with the hose.
53626

About 2 seconds after hose turned off.
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About 10 seconds later.
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About 30 seconds after hose shut off.
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About a minute. The sheeting action is steady but fairly slow.
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McKee's and DG continuing to sheet. Polish Angle beading and shedding water quickly.

TTQ B4U
11-19-2016, 01:49 PM
Looking forward to the continued updates. I'm sold on McKee's for the cost/performance of it so far. I've put it on over a dozen different customer cars so far with everyone being more than pleased and happy with the performance of it.

I've began to use CarPro Essence as my base/polish prior to application. In many other cases I've used HD Adapt or Meg's Ultimate Polish as the base.

fightnews
11-19-2016, 02:41 PM
Update from a day or so ago. Still beading and sheeting. The McKee's and DG coatings look and perform similarly. Can't say I see a lot of difference between the three of them. I may if the sun every comes out.

Hitting it with the hose.
53626

About 2 seconds after hose turned off.
53627

About 10 seconds later.
53628

About 30 seconds after hose shut off.
53629

About a minute. The sheeting action is steady but fairly slow.
53630

McKee's and DG continuing to sheet. Polish Angle beading and shedding water quickly.

how come u cant see the tape lines? they look the same as the rest of the car?

RippyD
11-19-2016, 05:44 PM
That's a good question. I expected to see them too. Didn't do anything in particular to them after I removed the tape. I think what we're seeing is beading from HD Adapt that is similar to the Polish Angel. Don't really know. I could do a small test with HD Adapt over the right or left side and see what happens.

Note that I haven't washed it yet. I suspect (maybe just hope) the tape areas that weren't treated will become more apparent.

DaveT435
11-19-2016, 09:22 PM
Cosmic says no water for 6 hours, keep out of "the elements" for 24 hours. So I wonder if rain is considered water or "the elements" I know it fully cures in 24 hours unless you use Cosmic Spritz then it's 12 hours.

RippyD
11-19-2016, 10:04 PM
Cosmic says no water for 6 hours, keep out of "the elements" for 24 hours. So I wonder if rain is considered water or "the elements" I know it fully cures in 24 hours unless you use Cosmic Spritz then it's 12 hours.
Yep. I used the spritz and gave it 11 hours before getting rained on. Maybe that was good enough, maybe not. Going to free up some space in the garage soon so I'll be able to keep another car out of the elements for a day or two when needed.

FYI, here was my thinking on why 11 hours was likely ok: They say 12 hours, which must account for all conditions. Let's assume they're thinking that people will sometimes apply this stuff when it's cool out. Let's assume 60 degrees F. Their info page says curing time can be reduced 50% more (to 6 hours) by getting the surface up to 95 degrees. Could be that's a magic number, but more likely it's a point a long a slope of temp to cure times. If we assume 60 degrees and 12 hours is one point and 95 and 6 hour is another, 70 degrees puts the curing time at about 10 hours. This of course assumes a linear relationship between cure time and temp. I have no idea if that's accurate.

I may try all 3 again when I can ensure more cure time. Not a big deal to polish off and redo the hood.

DaveT435
11-19-2016, 10:24 PM
Yep. I used the spritz and gave it 11 hours before getting rained on. Maybe that was good enough, maybe not. Going to free up some space in the garage soon so I'll be able to keep another car out of the elements for a day or two when needed.

FYI, here was my thinking on why 11 hours was likely ok. They say 12 hours, which must account for all conditions. Let's assume they're thinking that people will sometimes apply this stuff when it's cool out. Let's assume 60 degrees F. Their info page says curing time can be reduced 50% more (to 6 hours) by getting the surface up to 95 degrees. Could be that's a magic number, but more likely it's a point a long a slope of temp to cure times. If we assume 60 degrees and 12 hours is one point and 95 and 6 hour is another, 70 degrees puts the curing time at about 10 hours. This of course assumes a linear relationship between cure time and temp. I have no idea if that's accurate.

I may try all 3 again when I can ensure more cure time. Not a big deal to polish off and redo the hood.

If you used the spritz I'm sure 11 hours is fine. I thought the 6 hours before water 24 hours before "the elements" was kind of funny. I've noticed that the directions on a lot of the coatings are pretty vague.

RippyD
11-20-2016, 09:45 AM
If you used the spritz I'm sure 11 hours is fine. I thought the 6 hours before water 24 hours before "the elements" was kind of funny. I've noticed that the directions on a lot of the coatings are pretty vague.
I think they have to be pretty generalized. Opt told me that it's a function of heat and humidity for their coatings - more of both shortens the cure time. So if they say 24 hours, they have to be assuming close to worst case. You have people applying these at 60 degrees and 40% humidity or 95 degrees and 95%.

I have to believe they're thinking "what number will generally keep us from getting bad reviews and too many complaints."