Help with PBL Diamond Glass Coating

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draganer

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Hi everyone,

I recently purchased and applied some PBL Diamond Glass Coating on my front windshield. I unfortunately did not see the performance that I was hoping to see after reading about what it can do. My car is new with 3k miles and all glass has been maintained with Stoner's Invisible Glass. I was looking forward to this:

"The crystal clear barrier of protection created by Diamond Glass Coating is so slick that it will cause water to bead up and roll off at speeds as low as 20 mph, rendering your windshield wipers virtually unnecessary!" .....and lasts 18 months!

During my first drive out in a rain drizzle, I did not see any beading until about 40mph and it was very slow beading. I've been a Rain-X guy and I'm use to seeing fast beading at around 30mph in the rain I drove thru. My application process was the following:

1. Clean with Stoner's Invisible Glass and buff off
2. Clay with Nanoskin Fine Grade Sponge (first time using this and it worked amazingly well)
3. Machine polish with DP High Performance Glass Restorer
4. Clean polish residue with Stoner's Invisible Glass and buff off.
5. Apply PBL Glass Coating with round yellow foam applicator. Couple sprays on foam and direct sprays on windshield. Spray as needed on windshield when foam starts to get grabby.
6. Let stand for a minute and lightly buff off with microfiber towel

Has anyone seen better performance of this coating than I have? Am I doing something wrong in my process?

I'd like to try to re-apply this product but not sure if I need to go thru all the same steps above, or can I skip/tweak any steps?

Feed back please
 
You need to wipe the glass with Isopropyl alcohol the step immediately before the glass coating.

Autogeek will recommend you use their surface cleansing Polish first for best results.

My guess is that there is residue from either the stoners, or the glass polish the interfered with the coating bonding to your glass.
 
Some googling of Stoner's Invisible Glass shows that it contains some IPA and acetone. No concentration percentage is mentioned though. This made me thought Stoner was enough to remove the polish residue.

I have a bottle of Pinnacle paintwork cleansing lotion and I'm wondering if I can use this on the glass to prep it. Has anyone ever tried the lotion on glass or have any thoughts?
 
I use PBL Glass Coating and agree on the need to do an IPA wipe down as the last step before you apply the coating. The glass must be surgically clean before PBL DGC is applied.

Also only spray the coating on the windshield, not the applicator directly, use the foam applicator to even out the coating as quickly as possible and leave it alone to set up for a minute or so. Then using a very very light touch buff the glass with a soft microfiber.

As long as you do all of the above and keep the windshield dry for the 12 hr cure time you should see results.
 
Good video to watch. Same concept.

[video=youtube_share;Pa5EUvbR8T0"]Glass Cleaning & Coating on My Classic Car with Dennis Gage & Mike Phillips - YouTube[/video]
 
I believe that paintwork cleansing lotion is not quite the same thing as their surface cleansing polish. I'd use a good snort of IPA. The great thing about glass is you can go stronger on the dilution of IPA if you desire with no ill effects. Just control the run off.
 
I did not enjoy the glass coating. I went as far as ceriglass and eraser on the windshield prior to coating. The coating also sat for DAYS in the garage before getting wet. It had very little durability.
 
Where are you located?

Experience has taught me that completely removing glass polish residue is nearly impossible in temperatures below 60-70 degrees. The residue left by the polish will prevent the coating from fully adhering to the surface.

Here's what I would do:

1. Clean glass.
2. Polish glass.
3. Clean glass again.
4. Wipe glass down with at least a 20% solution of IPA.
5. Wipe glass down AGAIN with at least a 20% solution of IPA (be sure to use a different towel this time)

Just to be on the safe side, I would recommend performing the above steps in ANY climate for ANY type of glass coating. Also, use 6-8 sprays for EACH HALF of the windshield, and quickly distribute the product going side to side followed by up and down.

If you need any extra product send me a PM and I'll gladly replace what was wasted in the process.
 
parttimer said:
I did not enjoy the glass coating. I went as far as ceriglass and eraser on the windshield prior to coating. The coating also sat for DAYS in the garage before getting wet. It had very little durability.
Click to expand...

I had the same results following the use of Eraser. But after re-appling PBL DGS using a 20% IPA solution PBL DGS performance has been awesome. There's something in Eraser that makes it not 100% friendly to non CarPro products.
 
This past weekend I also attempted to apply PBL Glass Coating for the first time. The garage was around 65 degrees and I did not use Eraser or 20% IPA after using PBL Surface Cleansing Polish.

What's the best way to remove everything off my glass and start over? I've never used coating before and this was my first time.
 
apthai said:
This past weekend I also attempted to apply PBL Glass Coating for the first time. The garage was around 65 degrees and I did not use Eraser or 20% IPA after using PBL Surface Cleansing Polish.

What's the best way to remove everything off my glass and start over? I've never used coating before and this was my first time.
Click to expand...

Polishing Pad and any polish should remove the coating. I have Ceriglass if you want to use that...
 
apthai said:
This past weekend I also attempted to apply PBL Glass Coating for the first time. The garage was around 65 degrees and I did not use Eraser or 20% IPA after using PBL Surface Cleansing Polish.

What's the best way to remove everything off my glass and start over? I've never used coating before and this was my first time.
Click to expand...

If it hasn't failed yet, don't go removing it. You might be fine with just the surface cleansing polish.

Wait until it fails, then a light polishing with a finishing polish should remove any traces. Then you can try again with the IPA.

If you just need something to do, come wash my car. :xyxthumbs:
 
Nick@Autogeek said:
Where are you located?

Experience has taught me that completely removing glass polish residue is nearly impossible in temperatures below 60-70 degrees. The residue left by the polish will prevent the coating from fully adhering to the surface.

Here's what I would do:

1. Clean glass.
2. Polish glass.
3. Clean glass again.
4. Wipe glass down with at least a 20% solution of IPA.
5. Wipe glass down AGAIN with at least a 20% solution of IPA (be sure to use a different towel this time)

Just to be on the safe side, I would recommend performing the above steps in ANY climate for ANY type of glass coating. Also, use 6-8 sprays for EACH HALF of the windshield, and quickly distribute the product going side to side followed by up and down.

If you need any extra product send me a PM and I'll gladly replace what was wasted in the process.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nick. I'm located in Philadelphia suburban areas. The temperature during time of application was definitely below 60 degrees.

It seems the consensus here is to do an IPA wipe down as a step right before coating. I will take your advice Nick and do two wipedowns. Your recommendation as to any climate for any glass coating...does following this process during a warmer climate promote better performance of the coating? Or does that not better as long as polish residue is removed with this process technique?

Angus - after your application of PBL DGS with an IPA wipe down, did the product perform as it claims to - particularly water rolling/beading at 20mph? Also not sure if it's been long enough for you to attest to durability yet? How long has the coating been on for you?

Feed back please
 
draganer said:
Angus - after your application of PBL DGS with an IPA wipe down, did the product perform as it claims to - particularly water rolling/beading at 20mph? Also not sure if it's been long enough for you to attest to durability yet? How long has the coating been on for you?
Click to expand...

I'll start by answering your last question on durability first:
So far I've applied it to 4 cars and driven 2 of them in various wet/ rainy conditions over the last 6 weeks. So far I haven't seen any degregration of PBL DGS. However, I wouldn't say that's long enough to make any durability statements just yet.

For beading at speed, 40mph seems to be the magic number at which water rolls off unassisted. 20 mph sure would be nice, but I haven't experienced it. I have noticed my wiper blades are near silent and don't chatter at all.

What part of the area do you live in? I'm out near Kennett Sq/ West Chester.
 
Is PBL the only "Glass" coating that is unaffected by exposure to air when in its container?
 
Angus said:
I had the same results following the use of Eraser. But after re-appling PBL DGS using a 20% IPA solution PBL DGS performance has been awesome. There's something in Eraser that makes it not 100% friendly to non CarPro products.
Click to expand...

I will give that a try this weekend!
 
Angus said:
I'll start by answering your last question on durability first:
So far I've applied it to 4 cars and driven 2 of them in various wet/ rainy conditions over the last 6 weeks. So far I haven't seen any degregration of PBL DGS. However, I wouldn't say that's long enough to make any durability statements just yet.

For beading at speed, 40mph seems to be the magic number at which water rolls off unassisted. 20 mph sure would be nice, but I haven't experienced it. I have noticed my wiper blades are near silent and don't chatter at all.

What part of the area do you live in? I'm out near Kennett Sq/ West Chester.
Click to expand...

I would hope it lasts at least 6 weeks! But the claim of 18 months and beading at 20 mph sounded unbelievable - almost too good to be true. I thought the high price tag to it would back up its claim. I would be happy if it beaded at 30mph and in the same or better fashion than Rain-X. I would also be happy if it lasted at least 6 months. I am just looking for a better performing product than what I use today which is Rain-X. I'm not too concerned about affect on wiper blade performance. I'm concerned more on the beading because I rarely use my windshield wipers and I'm oddly obsessed with relying on the beading. It's just fun to watch.

I'm hoping to see better performance when I get a chance to retry the application after an IPA wipe down.

I'm in the Bridgeport / King of Prussia area.
 
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