So I had the day off and decided to experiment with some stuff I bought recently. I tried them out on my DD, which admittedly has paint that isnt in the greatest condition. The surface has a fair amount of scratches, marring and swirls. However, I have yet to take the DA plunge and as such, cant really get anywhere with hand products. Its all due to the fact that before I learned proper washing technique, I took it through commercial car washes for 2+ years.
However the paint is quite shiny since hand polishing does do a good job of removing oxidation. So anyhow here are some thoughts on the stuff I experimented with.
FK215 : So I am going to suggest that people forget about applying this by hand, its just not very user friendly. After doing the hood and getting a very inconsistent look, I did a 2nd pass and still had a pretty cloudy finish. It seemed like it stuck more in some places than others, so some buffing was cake, and others it was quite difficult. So I went ahead and bailed and used my trusty Meguiars SwirlX, which does a respectable job of cleaning the surface oxidation off and getting the paint shiny. I hand polished the whole car and then did an IPA wipedown for kicks. For whatever reason, the IPA seemed to cloud the surface in a few areas, weird.
FK1000p: This is a pretty nice product. I was expecting it to be tricky to work with, but its really on par with commercial stuff like Tech Wax and stuff that requires some buffing but nothing tiresome. I put in on pretty thick too, and let it dry a good time thinking it would be a good test of user friendliness. It came off pretty easy and looked fantastic. Dont get me wrong, it didnt wipe off like BFWD, it took effort, but nothing like I was expecting. From what I understand, its protection is very good, I will be topping with a spray wax after washing and hope to get 6 months out of it. Also, it will muck up trim, but wasnt that hard to remove.
Dodo SuperNatural Hybrid : So I got this for my corvette, but I figured I might as well test it on a few panels, ended up with it on the front quarters and the roof. I figure that if I notice something different as far as durability I can report on it. Right out of the box the big difference I noticed is on application. This stuff wipes on like butter, and does not stain trim. After 5 minutes or so it hazes lightly, but I had no idea if it was going to haze more so I left if for 30 minutes. Same thing, only a light haze, much lighter than the FK1000p. So gave it another 20 minutes and since there was no change I wiped it off. It came off very easy, not quite BFWD but much closer to that than the FK. The second thing I noticed is that the paint looks different under strong light than the FK panels. Its like the blue pops more, the color is more apparent. Also, the reflection is clearer on the Dodo Juice product.
I pulled the car into the sunshine and wow, it really glows, Im happy with the shine. I may take some pics tomorrow if I am bored.
However the paint is quite shiny since hand polishing does do a good job of removing oxidation. So anyhow here are some thoughts on the stuff I experimented with.
FK215 : So I am going to suggest that people forget about applying this by hand, its just not very user friendly. After doing the hood and getting a very inconsistent look, I did a 2nd pass and still had a pretty cloudy finish. It seemed like it stuck more in some places than others, so some buffing was cake, and others it was quite difficult. So I went ahead and bailed and used my trusty Meguiars SwirlX, which does a respectable job of cleaning the surface oxidation off and getting the paint shiny. I hand polished the whole car and then did an IPA wipedown for kicks. For whatever reason, the IPA seemed to cloud the surface in a few areas, weird.
FK1000p: This is a pretty nice product. I was expecting it to be tricky to work with, but its really on par with commercial stuff like Tech Wax and stuff that requires some buffing but nothing tiresome. I put in on pretty thick too, and let it dry a good time thinking it would be a good test of user friendliness. It came off pretty easy and looked fantastic. Dont get me wrong, it didnt wipe off like BFWD, it took effort, but nothing like I was expecting. From what I understand, its protection is very good, I will be topping with a spray wax after washing and hope to get 6 months out of it. Also, it will muck up trim, but wasnt that hard to remove.
Dodo SuperNatural Hybrid : So I got this for my corvette, but I figured I might as well test it on a few panels, ended up with it on the front quarters and the roof. I figure that if I notice something different as far as durability I can report on it. Right out of the box the big difference I noticed is on application. This stuff wipes on like butter, and does not stain trim. After 5 minutes or so it hazes lightly, but I had no idea if it was going to haze more so I left if for 30 minutes. Same thing, only a light haze, much lighter than the FK1000p. So gave it another 20 minutes and since there was no change I wiped it off. It came off very easy, not quite BFWD but much closer to that than the FK. The second thing I noticed is that the paint looks different under strong light than the FK panels. Its like the blue pops more, the color is more apparent. Also, the reflection is clearer on the Dodo Juice product.
I pulled the car into the sunshine and wow, it really glows, Im happy with the shine. I may take some pics tomorrow if I am bored.
