The Guz
Well-known member
- Jun 17, 2013
- 8,769
- 46
This is going to be a long one so lets see who makes it to the end 
As stated in the title of this thread, is Graphene the next evolution of coatings or is all hype?
We have all seen Graphene become the next buzzword in the world of ceramic coatings and all these youtubers praising how great it is as the next big thing while sort of writing off Silicon Dioxide coatings without any further test data. I attribute this to not having time and being sent various products to test out. So I am hoping to provide some feedback that is somewhat useful.
Before I move on I will be referring to Silicon Dioxide coatings as SiO2, quartz or ceramic. All are interchangeable.
At the time I am writing this, it is too soon to tell if Graphene will stick around as these products are in their infancy. Will it fade away in existence or will it survive the test of time like quartz based coatings.
We have a multitude of coatings along with different variations of chemical make up these days. These coatings are tried and true and they are going to stick around for awhile. Graphene has a lot of work ahead to dethrone SiO2.
Next we move onto pricing. Graphene is expensive and thus the product is expensive. At the same time these introductory products probably don’t contain too much Graphene. Again it is an expensive substance.
A known fact is that quartz coatings are prone to water spotting. Not everyone has experienced this issue and those that have get disappointed due to wanting that perfect product. The holy grail. This is where Graphene coatings are claiming anti-water spotting. This may be true but only time will tell if this solves that issue. At the same time the current Graphene coatings are sacrificing hardness. Although not something to really focus on. For example SPS claims 7H while other coatings are claiming 9H and some even 10H.
I originally wrote this review on the SPS Graphene Product sometime ago. Unfortunately I did not have it on long enough to really provide good information on.
Review - SPS Graphene Coating
I then added it as part of my coating test comparing it to other coatings.
2020 Ceramic Coating 1 Year Test
I decided it was time to polish my Grand Prix as the 21 month Cquartz UK 3.0 did it’s job. Such a great coating. I chose to go the SPS Graphene route to get more data and to see how well it would perform long term.
I have a friend of mine who whispered into my ear that IGL is planning to release a Graphene coating through their authorized installer network. This got the wheels turning and asking “what if I use IGL F4 Renew as a primer polish?”. Those of you familiar with the product will come out and say, Mike you are crazy since IGL F4 states it is not to be used a primer polish. This is true. This product would fall in line with something like CarPro Essence. I thought to myself as soon as IGL releases their Graphene coating they are going to come out and say yeah F4 can be used as a primer. I even contacted IGL through facebook asking them if it would work with another Graphene infused product. All they said was no with no real reason. I read the back of the label a few times and IGL states F4 is not to be used as a primer for their Eco Coat coatings. Their eco coat line is all quartz based. Well SPS is not quartz based. So why not use them together is my way of thinking.
This is the end result.
So I proceeded with my course of action. I did the normal chemical and mechanical decontamination. Followed that up with Meguiar’s M210 on a Rupes yellow pad using carious Rupes tools. This was more than enough to remove the 21 month Cquartz UK3.0. M210 is impressive on its own and the gloss it was leaving was great. I followed that up with a prep wipe using Meguiar’s M122 Surface Prep. Came back with IGL F4 Renew on a Rupes white pad. Let that set up for a couple minutes after wipe off and then followed up with Meguiar’s M122 to remove any remaining residue without removing the deposited Graphene. Finished it off with two layers of SPS Graphene coating.
The paint was in good shape. I gave myself a pat on the back for keeping the paint virtually swirl free for 21 months. I saw no defects under the Gyeon Prism Plus light on the silver paint. The swirls on the black pillars were minor.
Before on the left and after on the right after using M210 on a Rupes yellow polishing pad. I took advantage of the minor filling from IGL F4 later on.
The end result of all this work was a glossy and silky smooth finish.
The paint was much brighter under the sun after after polishing and a fresh new coating.
I am going to mention this. This is more of an experiment to see if these two Graphene based products play well together. Detailing in the end involves experimenting with products from time to time. This can sometimes result in a failed experiment or a successful one. I am not concerned with durability or longevity with this combination. We do still have the coating test where SPS is bonded to bare paint.
A few thoughts on the products I used.
Meguiar’s M210 is a very good polish. Easy wipe off and definitely less oils than M205. A little less cut but the finish from it is great.
For IGL F4 Renew, the first thing is swap out the cap. It is terrible. The product itself is thin and rushes out of the cap. IGL needs to get rid of these caps. As far usability it is pretty straightforward. The minor issue is that it can be a pain to remove if it is left to sit too long or if there is excess product say when turning off the polisher. The overall finish is very good and the surface is nice and slick.
SPS Graphene is nice to work with. It does not need long to sit once it can be wiped off. It does not rainbow like a typical coating. The overall finish it leaves behind is silky smooth and it gets even slicker the longer it cures. Think Gtechniq CSL/Exo combo or Gyeon Syncro, either Cquartz coating topped with Gliss, but on another level. It just feels different in a very good way.
Thanks for reading through and stay tuned for updates along the way. I will be maintaining it with the SPS Graphene spray detailer. I also applied SPS to one of my wheels on January 25, 2020 to see how it holds up over time. So far so good.
Application
Walk around
As stated in the title of this thread, is Graphene the next evolution of coatings or is all hype?
We have all seen Graphene become the next buzzword in the world of ceramic coatings and all these youtubers praising how great it is as the next big thing while sort of writing off Silicon Dioxide coatings without any further test data. I attribute this to not having time and being sent various products to test out. So I am hoping to provide some feedback that is somewhat useful.
Before I move on I will be referring to Silicon Dioxide coatings as SiO2, quartz or ceramic. All are interchangeable.
At the time I am writing this, it is too soon to tell if Graphene will stick around as these products are in their infancy. Will it fade away in existence or will it survive the test of time like quartz based coatings.
We have a multitude of coatings along with different variations of chemical make up these days. These coatings are tried and true and they are going to stick around for awhile. Graphene has a lot of work ahead to dethrone SiO2.
Next we move onto pricing. Graphene is expensive and thus the product is expensive. At the same time these introductory products probably don’t contain too much Graphene. Again it is an expensive substance.
A known fact is that quartz coatings are prone to water spotting. Not everyone has experienced this issue and those that have get disappointed due to wanting that perfect product. The holy grail. This is where Graphene coatings are claiming anti-water spotting. This may be true but only time will tell if this solves that issue. At the same time the current Graphene coatings are sacrificing hardness. Although not something to really focus on. For example SPS claims 7H while other coatings are claiming 9H and some even 10H.
I originally wrote this review on the SPS Graphene Product sometime ago. Unfortunately I did not have it on long enough to really provide good information on.
Review - SPS Graphene Coating
I then added it as part of my coating test comparing it to other coatings.
2020 Ceramic Coating 1 Year Test
I decided it was time to polish my Grand Prix as the 21 month Cquartz UK 3.0 did it’s job. Such a great coating. I chose to go the SPS Graphene route to get more data and to see how well it would perform long term.
I have a friend of mine who whispered into my ear that IGL is planning to release a Graphene coating through their authorized installer network. This got the wheels turning and asking “what if I use IGL F4 Renew as a primer polish?”. Those of you familiar with the product will come out and say, Mike you are crazy since IGL F4 states it is not to be used a primer polish. This is true. This product would fall in line with something like CarPro Essence. I thought to myself as soon as IGL releases their Graphene coating they are going to come out and say yeah F4 can be used as a primer. I even contacted IGL through facebook asking them if it would work with another Graphene infused product. All they said was no with no real reason. I read the back of the label a few times and IGL states F4 is not to be used as a primer for their Eco Coat coatings. Their eco coat line is all quartz based. Well SPS is not quartz based. So why not use them together is my way of thinking.
This is the end result.
So I proceeded with my course of action. I did the normal chemical and mechanical decontamination. Followed that up with Meguiar’s M210 on a Rupes yellow pad using carious Rupes tools. This was more than enough to remove the 21 month Cquartz UK3.0. M210 is impressive on its own and the gloss it was leaving was great. I followed that up with a prep wipe using Meguiar’s M122 Surface Prep. Came back with IGL F4 Renew on a Rupes white pad. Let that set up for a couple minutes after wipe off and then followed up with Meguiar’s M122 to remove any remaining residue without removing the deposited Graphene. Finished it off with two layers of SPS Graphene coating.
The paint was in good shape. I gave myself a pat on the back for keeping the paint virtually swirl free for 21 months. I saw no defects under the Gyeon Prism Plus light on the silver paint. The swirls on the black pillars were minor.
Before on the left and after on the right after using M210 on a Rupes yellow polishing pad. I took advantage of the minor filling from IGL F4 later on.
The end result of all this work was a glossy and silky smooth finish.
The paint was much brighter under the sun after after polishing and a fresh new coating.
I am going to mention this. This is more of an experiment to see if these two Graphene based products play well together. Detailing in the end involves experimenting with products from time to time. This can sometimes result in a failed experiment or a successful one. I am not concerned with durability or longevity with this combination. We do still have the coating test where SPS is bonded to bare paint.
A few thoughts on the products I used.
Meguiar’s M210 is a very good polish. Easy wipe off and definitely less oils than M205. A little less cut but the finish from it is great.
For IGL F4 Renew, the first thing is swap out the cap. It is terrible. The product itself is thin and rushes out of the cap. IGL needs to get rid of these caps. As far usability it is pretty straightforward. The minor issue is that it can be a pain to remove if it is left to sit too long or if there is excess product say when turning off the polisher. The overall finish is very good and the surface is nice and slick.
SPS Graphene is nice to work with. It does not need long to sit once it can be wiped off. It does not rainbow like a typical coating. The overall finish it leaves behind is silky smooth and it gets even slicker the longer it cures. Think Gtechniq CSL/Exo combo or Gyeon Syncro, either Cquartz coating topped with Gliss, but on another level. It just feels different in a very good way.
Thanks for reading through and stay tuned for updates along the way. I will be maintaining it with the SPS Graphene spray detailer. I also applied SPS to one of my wheels on January 25, 2020 to see how it holds up over time. So far so good.
Application
Walk around
