Question about maintaining Carpro Essence

[JeffM]

What pad, machine and speed did you use? If you dont generate a little heat essence's magic wont work, itll wash off.

 

[Eldorado2k]

What pad, machine and speed did you use? If you dont generate a little heat essence's magic wont work, itll wash off.

I used a 5.5" Carpro Gloss Pad, G21[no washer mod] speed 4.5/light pressure.

I wasn't wowed by what was happening while using Essence. I've tested it 3 times now and I still haven't experienced that wow moment... On my car I figure the paint has maybe reached it's peak? Not to mention [other than the hood] it's light metalic green, which like silver is the most boring uneventful color a car can possibly be..

I noticed a little darkening on my hood with the Essence, but nothing near what I was expecting. It filled the very minor swirls, but I saw no extra gloss factor.

The 2nd vehicle I tested it on was the pearl white Kia. It's less than 2yrs. old and the paint has been properly maintained since day 1, so there was nothing to see on that vehicle either, not to mention it created scratches on my test spot with the Gloss Pad.

To be honest, I feel alot like GSKR felt when he said he was bout ready to either chuck it, or give his bottle away to a friend. Maybe I could use the real insider tips from him because so far Essence has been underwhelming...

I've been alot more interested with Reload than Essence so far...

This past weekend I noticed how clean the Kia was after 7 days [including 2 days of rain]. The Reload seems to have left a real slick surface that's hard for dirt to stick to.

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This car has driven alot of miles in the past week. [notice how trashed the tires are due to the rain+miles traveled] Yet the paint remained pretty clean. Even the roof was still clean.

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The only part of the Kia I didn't finish up on and spray with Reload is the rear. And it was noticably dirtier.

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Not sure how easy it is to see, but there's a significant difference between the quarter panel [which has Reload] vs. the panel underneath the rear window [which is currently unprotected]

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But will the Reload just wash off like it did on my Cadillac with a simple wash? I dunno... Because of my luck, I'm not very excited to wash it. Lol.

 

[JeffM]

Did you use too much product? I dont prime the pad and after a panel only need like 2 small sized drops. I work until its gone, it almost looks like it would be dry buffing, but the paint is so slick and the pad has moisture still in it. When you wipe with a MF it should feel very smooth to wipe off the product.

I also eraser after (people will say I dont have to, but im not a pro using tons of product).

 

[Eldorado2k]

Did you use too much product? I dont prime the pad and after a panel only need like 2 small sized drops.

Nope. I don't believe in priming foam pads.. I started with a thin circle around the pad for the first 1st application, then 3 pea sized dots thereafter. It wiped off great 80% of the time. The other 20% I would end up with a bit of dried polish in small areas due to working it for too long.
Now that I've seen a few more vids I know for sure that it's ok for it to have a short working time..

So you think this is more of an issue with the Essence? My only thought is it's an issue with the Reload..

 

[Ancient1]

I wonder how much wax/sealant was on the car. I know that Corey has said that if used after a polish it is fine but if the car has a good coat of wax that it really needs a ipa wipe first. I know it stood up well on my car through the winter and kept it's beading until now when I polished it off in prep for a coating. here are a before and after shots taken a couple months after the application of essence and reload and probably 6~8 touchless washes. The pics were taken just a few hours apart.

 

[Eldorado2k]

I wonder how much wax/sealant was on the car. I know that Corey has said that if used after a polish it is fine but if the car has a good coat of wax that it really needs a ipa wipe first. I know it stood up well on my car through the winter and kept it's beading until now when I polished it off in prep for a coating. here are a before and after shots taken a couple months after the application of essence and reload and probably 6~8 touchless washes. The pics were taken just a few hours apart.

Hmm.. That's interesting. I'll tell you what was on my paint, and my thoughts going in..

Exactly 16 days before I applied Essence & Reload, I had applied Megs Black Wax with my G21 and a foam polishing pad. However, after I washed the car to get it ready for Essence it failed the baggie test.. Just 16 days after applying Black Wax, there was a considerable amount of contaminants on the horizontal panels. [add that to the long list of products that somehow fail to work on my car. Lol] I was disappointed with the lack of protection, to say the least..

This is what the paint looked like after washing, when it should've had some sort of beading from the Black Wax applied just 16 days prior. [as we can see there was no beading to speak of]

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The lack of any beading, along with the fact that there was already a considerable amount of grit with the baggie test lead me to believe that the Black Wax was non existent/ non factor. But even at that, I followed the wash with DUB Wheel Cleaner to decontaminate.

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After the DUB, I thoroughly rinsed and then clayed the whole car using Megs white consumer claybar. [I wanted to make sure I prepped as good as possible, as any of us would on our own vehicle]

That's why I'm pretty sure there couldn't have been anything on the paint to mess things up.

 

[Eldorado2k]

.... I can't help but wonder about Megs Shampoo Plus.

They've changed the label of Shampoo Plus since the 1st bottle I bought. This newer label no longer states "Polymer Conditioning Agents Boost Gloss"
Instead it now states "Long Lasting Car Wash Suds"

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I've asked Brian H. @Megs about this and whether the formula has been changed, he confirmed no changes have been made to it.. But something about Meguiars always being extra correct on their labels kinda makes you wonder. [you know how Megs is.. They always choose their words for a reason]
This is me overthinking things? I'm just trying to figure out why no more beading._. I'm going to use Gold Class for my next test wash.

 

[The Guz]

Gold Class has conditioners in it as well. It does do something to the paint. I noticed this the last time I was experimenting on my test panel. You could always try deep crystal since it leaves nothing behind. This is why I prefer Hyper Wash and/or CarPro Reset for coatings.

 

[silverfox]

Sounds like a negative reaction of some product with the coating. Good luck in trying to figure that out. Rule of thumb with these coatings is only use what the manufacturer recommends from polish to prep, from washing to maintaining. This ain't wax

 

[Eldorado2k]

Gold Class has conditioners in it as well. It does do something to the paint. I noticed this the last time I was experimenting on my test panel. You could always try deep crystal since it leaves nothing behind. This is why I prefer Hyper Wash and/or CarPro Reset for coatings.

Sounds like a negative reaction of some product with the coating. Good luck in trying to figure that out. Rule of thumb with these coatings is only use what the manufacturer recommends from polish to prep, from washing to maintaining. This ain't wax

Ok, I see the light...
What's up Guz, can you hook me up with a little sample of Hyper Wash? I can swing by and pick it up.

 

[Ancient1]

One more thing to try would be to use a megs MF cutting pad for a test spot. With the MF pad you do prime and use more product than with a foam pad. The conditions I did my car in were far from ideal with the temps in the low 50's and had condensation forming on it before I finished. If you look at the picture you can even see how the bead were running down the door in the salt trails.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Update: Ok, so I finally got to try Hyper Wash this morning...

This is what Reloads beading looking like prior to the wash.

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... Now onto Hyper Wash. This is hands down the worst user experience I've ever had washing a car. No suds. None. It's like washing your car with plain water! Lol. Oh my, this was just...

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I didn't see a single bubble throughout the entire wash. Not much of a scent either.. If it wasn't for the final result I'd rate this the worst car soap I've ever used by a mile.

Final results.

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Hyper Wash rinses clearly, but then again it doesn't seem like there's anything to rinse off to begin with. Lol.
I'm happy the beading survived the wash.. But it isn't really fierce beading. Oh well, I'll take it I guess.

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[The Guz]

Ok, I see the light...
What's up Guz, can you hook me up with a little sample of Hyper Wash? I can swing by and pick it up.��

I didn't see this until now. You should have PMed me about it. There have been a lot of things going on that I forgot about checking back on your thread.

Update: Ok, so I finally got to try Hyper Wash this morning...


... Now onto Hyper Wash. This is hands down the worst user experience I've ever had washing a car. No suds. None. It's like washing your car with plain water! Lol. Oh my, this was just...


I didn't see a single bubble throughout the entire wash. Not much of a scent either.. If it wasn't for the final result I'd rate this the worst car soap I've ever used by a mile.

Hyper Wash rinses clearly, but then again it doesn't seem like there's anything to rinse off to begin with. Lol.
I'm happy the beading survived the wash.. But it isn't really fierce beading. Oh well, I'll take it I guess.

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Sorry to hear this. What was your dilution ratio? Did you blast the bucket with a stream of water to generate some suds?

 

[Eldorado2k]

Sorry to hear this. What was your dilution ratio? Did you blast the bucket with a stream of water to generate some suds?

My dilution ratio was a guesstimate, because I really didn't have a good idea what 400:1 in a 3 gallon bucket should be.. I put in a little less than half of what I would normally use with Shampoo Plus, then added water on "full" setting [which is similar to not having the nozzle on] It quikly formed suds inside the bucket and I then added my mitts and continued adding water until the bucket was full.

There were suds in the bucket.

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But literally zero suds when I took the mitts to the paint. Not even on the glass. I even sprayed the bucket midway through the wash with a strong jet stream and it made a bit more suds, but still didn't translate to the actual wash.

 

[The Guz]

Weird that you experienced this. I just used it today and didn't experience this behavior.

I used about 1.2ish ounces in about 4 gallons of water.

In a 3 gallon bucket assuming it is full of water it would be 1 oz of hyper wash. Shampoo plus is 1oz per gallon.

 

[Eldorado2k]

I'm going to buy some 3D Pink Soap.

http://www.autogeekmobile.net/3d-pink-car-soap-refill.html