DG AW vs. UQW Showdown (as toppers)

acuRAS82

acuRAS82

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The Acura is now my 2nd car, and this is a good opportunity to do some random testing with it. The car has 2-3 month old PA Cosmic Spritz + PA HG. It was also maintained until mid-July with my Merlin Elixir PA CosmicSpritz/HG mix... that no doubt impacted durability a bit and kept the shine high.

Point of all that info is that the following test will be done on top of the PA spray base. I expect both DG AW and UQW to be fine on top. Any results read here should consider the SiO2 base underneath (this is not a prepped surface test. For anyone who finds this pointless, I’m cool with that. There’s better threads/tests out there. This was just something fun I tried on a whim today.

I applied on 8/21 after a N-914 RW. Although I was spraying soon after rinsing, I pretty much consider this a dry test, as the water drops were drying fast and this wasn’t a normal drying aid application. Either way, the playing field is the same for both contestants.

Passenger side is UQW; driver side is DG AW. Below are some pics right after, not that I expect pictures to show any difference. Key observation, the car is shiny. I tried to do side by sides of each angle.

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I’ll keep this thread updated with beading, possible additional applications (if so, it would be in the near term only to improve coverage) and/or longevity.
 
Nice! I find all testing interesting LOL. So fun that you share your experience with these products!

The Elixir with EcH2O and PA Cosmic and High Gloss was interesting to hear about. It shows how awesome EcH2O is with beeing a little home chemist LOL. Must start useing the EcH2O I have at home sooner than later as one bottle has gone bad already. I don't know why I keep to not doing a rinseless wash or waterless wash with it. Have not been doing one of those ever exept for a hood and a test spot with a free sample of another product. Did use it to clean up the door jambs with EcH2O in waterless wash dilution and was very satisfied with the results. So maybe it's time to do that again.

Thanks for shareing your experience with the testing you are doing!

/ Tony
 
Some morning dew beading pics. Side mirrors are control (still PA combo) and have larger beads. Both the spray sealants have very tiny beads. There are some wipe marks where UQW was applied; none where DG AW was applied. I applied these the same way, same effort, same time of day, separate towel for wipe off.

Post-Application Advantage: DG AW

Side mirror control (PA) beads (easy to make out the actual bead droplets):
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Drivers side DG AW:
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Passenger side UQW (streak marks on trunk):
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Trunk side-by-side (zoom on right side for horizontal streaks):
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Great post. DGAW has been my go-to for a long time.

I will do a side-by-side with it and Bead Maker soon. :)
 
When I had a solid black car I always felt that UQW left a slight blueish hue to the car. It was more obvious in certain lighting. I prefer DGAW. I also refer DGAW to Beadmaker. Glad I didn't buy a whole gallon of it during the hype.
 
As promised, a few more beading pictures, after last night and early morning rain. The car is not clean, but not filthy either. One drive in the rain and otherwise mostly sitting outside for the last week.

The beads on the drivers side (DGAW) are more uniform and better rounded than the passenger side UQW, IMO, but otherwise both are doing their thing.

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UQW up closer
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DGAW up closer
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Then I took the car for a 10 minute ride near my house on 35 mph roads. Avg speed: 40mph. Top speed: 50mph for 3-5 seconds. Notice the DGAW side shed more water than UQW.
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UQW side hood:
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DGAW side hood:
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DGAW is outperforming UQW. I’m inclined to apply a second coat of each after washing tonight. I’ll likely use D156 from my gallon rather than the bottom of the UQW bottle. I’d like to see if D156 performance more closely matches DGAW, being that the UQW may be old and slightly degraded from sitting a long time with low quantity.
 
I washed today with Mckees SiO2 Auto Wash. I consider it a good cleaner, as it’s meant for coatings (removing film, restoring a clean surface). Although it lays down a minuscule amount of SiO2, I’ve never seen it change traits of my LSP (negligible gloss in my opinion which Nick has reiterated).

Prior to washing I rinsed the hood and checked out sheeting on the uncleared paint. The DGAW crushed UQW, with the latter taking about 5x amount of time for water to clear the hood. Here’s a few action shots I attempted (DGAW on the right, UQW on the left):
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Later there was an interesting observation, but didn’t take a picture (because I don’t want to dry my hands over and over during car washes):
after washing and rinsing the hood, the sheeting comparison was much closer. DGAW sheeted faster than previously, but UQW was close behind, within a few seconds of sheeting the same amount. In other words, cleaning the hood made UQW look like an LSP again even if still behind the DGAW.

Does this, along with poor beading earlier, show that UQW just really holds on to dirt more than DGAW? Possibly. I know both LSPs we’re still present because the PA combo underneath would have looked like warp speed sheeting in comparison.


Anyways, I washed all the car except the roof. I let water splatter on the roof during rinsing. The sun was out, this was my water spot test.

Below are some resulting water spots, after letting the droplets sit for about 30 mins.

the DGAW side:
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and the UQW side:
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A swipe of N-914 easily removed water spots for both LSPs.
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I acknowledge there is 3 month old Cosmic Spritz underneath which could have contributed to defense against water spot etching, but I consider the ease of the spots wiping away to be a win for both spray sealants.

Since we all like to use drying aids after each wash, I decided to reapply each LSP in its respective side.
NOTE: I didn’t switch to D156, I’m giving UQW another chance as I don’t want to believe it’s degraded in the bottle.
I applied both pretty heavy to ensure full coverage.

Round 2 tests will resume, but in the meantime, heres a couple beauty shots of each newly applied 2nd coat UQW passenger side, DGAW drivers side:
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Update 9/6/19: Added coat number 3 of each, because I wanted to wash the car and didn’t want to be bored while drying. Will probably add a fourth and final coat of each to finish my UQW bottle. I’ll do this before mid next week when it’s supposed to rain a few days, then will report back with beading, spotting, etc.
 
I love DGAW. Not the most hydrophobic products but still one of the best in my eyes. If you like AW you can also try DG931 to maintain it. Also a great product.


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline
 
Update 9/14/2019: Added 4th and final coats of these to the Acura (just wanted to finish my UQW bottle so I can eventually dig into my D156 gallon).

Not much rain/beading to report... the little there has been I saw no difference in beads. The car is parked somewhat under a tall tree and gets pollen-ish spots, leaf stains, and sticky spots (but not sap, just junk that comes down during rain). No water spots or etching from the miscellaneous junk... everything comes off easily with WW, RW, or regular wash. Both products protect very well in that manner.
 
Update 9/23/2019:
It rained today and I was able to focus on my hood while driving 40-55mph down back roads .

Beads on the drivers side sheeted off at 40-55mph faster and more so than the passenger side UQW. I wouldn’t call it a blowout, but it was a solid 2 touchdown victory. Sorry, the picture isn’t great, but you can take my word for it. After a 20 minute ride, I would guess the DG AW side had cleared 85% of water while UQW had cleared 80% of water.

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acuRAS82 said:
Update 9/23/2019:
It rained today and I was able to focus on my hood while driving 40-55mph down back roads .

Beads on the drivers side sheeted off at 40-55mph faster and more so than the passenger side UQW. I wouldn’t call it a blowout, but it was a solid 2 touchdown victory. Sorry, the picture isn’t great, but you can take my word for it. After a 20 minute ride, I would guess the DG AW side had cleared 85% of water while UQW had cleared 80% of water.

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Click to expand...

Great info.

I still need to get my DGAW/Bead Maker side-by-side done before it gets too cold.

But after using the BM for a couple months now, my opinion is that the DG would also win out. (Maybe not by two touchdowns, but maybe a touchdown and a safety) ;)
 
Update 10/17/19 (One month after last application):

Beading still, but it’s not pretty. The car was dirty, had been driven for 4/5 days with no wash. This after it had been pouring. I’m getting close to calling these “done enough”. Maybe not quite yet, but soon. Sides look alright, but I veer towards worst case (trunk).

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DG AW side:
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UQW side:
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Any thoughts from the crowd? Am I quitting on these too soon? Am I just desperate to cleanse and try something new??
 
I think both sides look pretty good still, maybe a slight edge to DGAW. The beading doesn’t look as good on the trunk as you say. To be fair though, it looks better than most cars out there, maybe just more dirt has accumulated there than the front half.

I think you may be calling it a bit too soon all in the name of cleaning and trying something new. Whatever you choose though, it’s been a good thread to follow and I know the struggle of not trying something different haha.
 
Since they are on par with each other and reaching their ends soon or at least ready to be topped up. I would call them done and do what you thinking of next. I would give a very slight nod to the passenger side UQW for more uniform beads. But they are so close so would say a draw between them longevity wise.

Or decide at the next wash if they revive some of their water behavior. If it's getting uniform beads and also if they sheet off like they use to or if the sheeting properties has also degraded much or not. And what the test was going to prove for you. As if when you would want to top performance wise LOL. Or if you wanted to wait until you got to see totaly failed on a section somewhere. And call them done from your thoughts when that is.

Can be hard to wait them out without topping them or apply something else.

Thanks for shareing your experience with us!

/ Tony
 
Thanks Dmiglio and SWETM. I’ll wash today, see how it looks when clean, and likely hang on. I asked the question because I can get greedy when only thinking to myself, but it’s been this long so why not continue? Next rain is due to be a quarter inch on Tuesday.
 
Below is a reply of mine from another thread about the wash today:

The AW and UQW still have some fight left in them. They sheet water off pretty slow during final rinse, but it does eventually sheet off and it’s left with dry paint plus beading similar to the hood in the picture from my other thread. The trunk top is still the worst (likely because it’s parallel to the ground) but those beads look improved after the wash. The paint isn’t very slick, which wasn’t an issue during the wash but drying without an ad is becoming a little scary, and I was too lazy to pull out the blower. Will probably bring it out next time.
 
Update 10/25/19:

Washed today with Mckees Foam Soap. Finally got some exciting news! UQW is now outperforming DG AW for water behavior. Both before and after the wash, the UQW side sheets faster. That is, DG AW has significantly slowed down but is still present. I observed this on the trunk, roof and hood.

I grabbed some pictures of the hood. The below pictures are from the time I stop rain flooding the hood, until around 10 seconds after. DG AW on the left, UQW on the right:
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Lots of rain coming tomorrow and Sunday morning so stay tuned!
 
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