humbling humidity

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04lss

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I briefly touched on this in the "what did you do today" thread. Ive been planning to coat my GTI this weekend for a bit. I lined up some time in my friends garage, and went for it. The weather was ... less cooperative than I hoped. First it was sunny and hot while washing, and made correcting the paint a slow process because the garage is usually 10-15 degrees warmer than the outside. It started raining as I was finishing things up. By this point I was tired, hot and just wanted the cool air from the storms. I didnt really think about the humidity.

I applied CSL to the car and noticed a few spots where the sweat beads just did not wipe away. Around midnight I wrapped up after only getting the exo topper on the hood.
The plan was to go back today and finish applying exo. Unfortunately, what seemed to be some isolated spots under the shop lights, turned out to be much more wide spread. Its subtle, most people wont notice unless the lighting is perfect, but I know its there.

Looks like sometime this summer the car is getting polished and another coating is going on. Frustrating to say the least. Probably 150 dollars in chemicals rags and applicators for a sub par end result.

On the other end, I did NOT have that problem with the Griots glass coating applied under the same conditions.
 
That’s odd. I’ve applied CSL in damn near every condition you can imagine and it and EXO have been, by far, the easiest coatings I’ve applied. How much time did you wait before leveling?
 
Hit it with alcohol or buff it or forget about it.
Bigger things to worry about than high spots that will eventually go away on their on
 
Optimus Grime said:
That’s odd. I’ve applied CSL in damn near every condition you can imagine and it and EXO have been, by far, the easiest coatings I’ve applied. How much time did you wait before leveling?
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2-5 minutes nothing longer. I put it on a clear plastic logo and it set in less than 2 minutes. I tried panel prep, adding more coating solution, and just buffing nothing made a dent had to polish it off
 
Flash Gordon said:
Hit it with alcohol or buff it or forget about it.
Bigger things to worry about than high spots that will eventually go away on their on
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Tried panel prep and even applying more coating to let the carrier solvents work it. No luck.
 
I am going to wait until I can see it in the sunlight. So far I am the most impressed with the Griots glass coating.
 
04lss said:
So far I am the most impressed with the Griots glass coating.
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I've had it on for about 3 months now. I've applied ceramic glass cleaner to 3/4 of the windshield so I have an area that hasn't had anything extra on it. No real difference between that area and the rest so far. We'll see if it lives up to the 12 month claim.
 
Tasmania said:
I'm not a ceramic expert but did you try a test spot, just to see the flash time.
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Its a white car, so I just waited a bit and let it go. Seemed to wipe off easy, but then I didnt have the best lighting to see things. That said, you really need to be up close to see it and in the correct sunlight.
 
Tasmania said:
Thanks for the info, Sorry to OP if my comment came across as cheeky but I wasn't being cocky.
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Its a completely fair question this is only my third coating. On my maverick, it was dark enough to see the flash, if only barely, the GTI I really couldnt tell.
 
I've been there and it's frustrating. Fortunately, I don't think I've had any sweat mess up the coating long term, but I have had to do quickly re-do areas because I dripped sweat all over them.

Even if the job didn't come out like you wanted, I would not try to fix it or re-do it this summer. It will only be worse. Just wait until cooler temps arrive this fall. I've never had a good coating application when temps were over 70-ish and high humidity. It's a miserable job and products don't perform their best in those conditions.

Everyone's area is a little different, but I know if I'm going to be doing a coating I plan months ahead of time. I'll have the coating on hand and start watching the weather for days when temps are between 60 and 70F-ish. This puts me in the spring or fall timeframe. If for some reason a new car happens to come into my possession when conditions aren't ideal, I'll hit the vehicle with a good sealant and leave it until the weather is more conducive for applying a coating. I prefer to be comfortable and not fight the weather conditions.
 
Desertnate said:
I've been there and it's frustrating. Fortunately, I don't think I've had any sweat mess up the coating long term, but I have had to do quickly re-do areas because I dripped sweat all over them.

Even if the job didn't come out like you wanted, I would not try to fix it or re-do it this summer. It will only be worse. Just wait until cooler temps arrive this fall. I've never had a good coating application when temps were over 70-ish and high humidity. It's a miserable job and products don't perform their best in those conditions.

Everyone's area is a little different, but I know if I'm going to be doing a coating I plan months ahead of time. I'll have the coating on hand and start watching the weather for days when temps are between 60 and 70F-ish. This puts me in the spring or fall timeframe. If for some reason a new car happens to come into my possession when conditions aren't ideal, I'll hit the vehicle with a good sealant and leave it until the weather is more conducive for applying a coating. I prefer to be comfortable and not fight the weather conditions.
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That is great advice. The biggest issue I have is well not having my own garage. I think I am going to go with Phobic on the next few cars I need to coat. The maverick was 68* and 30% humidity and was incredibly easy to coat.
 
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