CarPro FORTE and glass coatings in general...

[98LowRanger]

I have used CarPro Flyby30 in the past with great results. Only on windshields though. I have learned recently that FORTE is regarded by most as the best non-pro (can be purchased by the general public) coating for glass. I have a customer that is wanting it applied to ALL the windows on his Mustang to prevent water spots. I know a coating, especially one as good as FORTE, has to help with this, but I haven't seen any specifically saying they prevent water spots. I realize they mainly do their work to shed water when the vehicle is moving so I wanted to see what you guys thought/experienced. Do coatings for glass eliminate, reduce, or have no effect on water spot formation?

 

[98LowRanger]

Anyone have experience with glass coatings and water spotting?

 

[Avi@CarPro]

Though it will reduce and beads most of the water drops there will be always some left over.
this is something he cant avoid , so if it left under the sun it will possible make water spot,
still i think it will not be difficult to remove these, compare to non coated glass.

 

[Jaretr1]

I think if you are referring to permanent water spots, like from acid rain or contaminated water, any glass coating, even RainX will help prevent and reduce their appearance over time. Just like on the paint, a coating is protecting the surface of the glass.

I tried both Forte and Flyby30 and to be honest, was not very impressed with either. I have found Nanoskin Rain (which AG doesnt seem to sell on its own anymore) to be very good. Of course, despite being sold over the counter, RainX is still a great product believe it or not. I have not yet tried, but have in my possession Mckee's glass coating, which is also very affordable compared to the Carpro coatings. Lots of great options.

 

[Dan K]

Though it will reduce and beads most of the water drops there will be always some left over.
this is something he cant avoid , so if it left under the sun it will possible make water spot,
still i think it will not be difficult to remove these, compare to non coated glass.

I agree 100 percent. When my coated windows get water spots they are easily removed with rinseless, waterless, or regular washing. I prefer to top my coated windows with Sonax PNS, which seems to reduce the spotting.

 

[Rsurfer]

I agree 100 percent. When my coated windows get water spots they are easily removed with rinseless, waterless, or regular washing. I prefer to top my coated windows with Sonax PNS, which seems to reduce the spotting.

Sounds like the Sonax is preventing the water spotting, so why bother with the glass coating?

 

[Dan K]

Sounds like the Sonax is preventing the water spotting, so why bother with the glass coating?

I have been using Pinnacle Black Lable Glass Coating for the past couple of years and I like how it performs. I have topped the DP paint coating on my personal vehicles with PNS similar to how others may top a sealant with a wax. The coating creates the durable "base" layer, and the topper adds to the durability and performance in my opinion, while helping protect against spotting. Supposedly PNS was created for this purpose.

Within the last 2 weeks I applied the Pinnacle glass coating to all of the exterior glass on my Ram. It rained over the last 2 days, and I did have a lot of spots from the small beads of water left over, as well as dirt/dust/pollen from sitting outside 24/7. All of the spotting was removed this evening by cleaning the glass with Ultima waterless wash.

As an experiment after cleaning the glass, I applied PNS to both the driver and passenger rear door glass, as well as the passenger windshield from the pillar to far end of the passenger windshield wiper. I left the coated front door glass as is. We are supposed to get rain again tomorrow, so I will check the difference between coating vs coating and PNS.

 

[Dan K]

I didn't get to post this right away, but it rained overnight after I applied the PNS (on top of the glass coating) to the areas I spoke of in my previous post. I was amazed at what I saw when I went outside to go to work. Here are the pics.

Driver side front door
View attachment 48221

Driver side rear door
View attachment 48222

Passenger side front door
View attachment 48223

Passenger rear door
View attachment 48224

Passenger side both
View attachment 48225

Windshield. You can see where PNS was applied on passenger side.
View attachment 48220

Driver side
View attachment 48226

Passenger side
View attachment 48227

View looking out

 

[Dan K]

Both of the following views looking out from driver position:

Driver side windshield
View attachment 48228

Passenger side windshield
View attachment 48229

I was extremely impressed with the the added sheeting/beading/clearing that the PNS created, and I was very surprised that the treated side windows were practically dry compared to the others.

I will be applying only PNS to the glass on my work vehicle soon to see if it is as impressive on its own as it is over the coating. I have previously applied it to an uncoated windshield without stellar results, but I admittedly did not clay and prep polish the windshield before hand, so it was not a fair test imo.


I have a short video of the windshield clearing while going down the road. I will try to post that soon. The PNS side cleared much quicker and at much lower speed than the side with coating only.