Review: Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection

CEE DOG said:
UPGP offers a SUPER glossy hard candy shell look. Especially after a couple layers :)

4* UPP offers deep wet look similar to a wax.

UPGP is powered by polycharger and its contents is answered well in the article I linked.

4*UPP is a sealant as well but very different contents and actually contains a small amount of Carnauba wax.
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Exactly !!!

UPGP is a quick & easy WOWA sealant that provides that sealant looking "candy coat". I find 2-3 layers to be the sweet spot.

4*UPP is one of the easiest sealants that I have ever used. And it also gives the most Nuba glow of any sealant I have used. For a nuba lover this is the sealant I would suggest.
 
Hey Corey, after reading through your review I'm going to give 4* UPP a try. Nicely done (as usual) and thanks for all the hard work.
 
addysdaddy said:
Hey Corey, after reading through your review I'm going to give 4* UPP a try. Nicely done (as usual) and thanks for all the hard work.
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The paint prep has to be using something from the Four Star range as well?
 
supernaut said:
The paint prep has to be using something from the Four Star range as well?
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I would go with the 4* pre wax cleaner if you aren't polishing it but it will still work even if using a paint cleaner from another line.
 
CeeDogg, your back?

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
CEE DOG said:
Through the eyes of a Waxaholic:

I enjoy certain waxes but I also love sealants and coatings so what would a TRUE wax fanatic say about the looks of 4 Star UPP?

Thanks to my good friend Tad we have an answer to that question! About a week ago we were chatting and he was telling me how the polishing was going on his gorgeous Mustang. Tad takes detailing and refinement of a vehicle to a whole different level. I mean, I'm OCD to a disturbing point and he has me beat. I am in awe of his work to be perfectly honest....

As long as I've known Tad I believe he has used wax (no sealants) to protect the paint of his garage queen. Only one or two other guys I know respect the depth and wet look of a wax as much as Tad does. Have you ever heard of someone detailing the paint under the hood with Vintage, and the sway bars with Crystal Rock in one sitting? You have now…

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Anyway, we were talking about what he wanted to use on his mustang this time around. If you have the most perfectly polished paint anywhere, it's black, and you are compelled to eradicate even a few specks of dust, there's a good chance that the dust will start to gnaw at you. After years of effort keeping the dust off his baby Tad was giving thought to using a sealant in hopes it would help with this issue.

He brought up using the UPGP, which he knows I love dearly and also knows it releases dust and pollen easier than a wax. . As we were discussing it UPP clicked into my mind and I said, "Hey!, Do you have any UPP?" Sure enough he did! Our buddy Jim (Old Tiger) sent him a sample about a year ago and he hadn't tried it yet. Well, I wasn't sure if UPP would avoid dust as well as UPGP, but I was pretty sure he would be impressed with it!

So, a day or so later Tad calls me up to give me his honest feedback. He said something along the lines of, "It's good but it wasn't any easier to buff off than WG. If anything WG is easier." I was thankful for the honest second opinion from someone I hold in high regard but my next question was, "Have you looked at it outside yet?" He had not yet pulled it out of the garage and told me when he did he would let me know if he could see any difference between UPP and any other sealant.

The next day he calls me up to pronounce, "This looks absolutely incredible!" He told me, "It's probably as wet, and deep as anything else I've seen... more like a fine carnauba wax than a sealant. At that moment I thought how cool would it be to have the opinion of a wax connoisseur in my review! Tad was happy to snap a couple pictures for me for the review and ended up taking quite a few... At one angle in particular he swore he could see the paint literally shimmering it looked so wet! He couldn't choose just a couple pictures and asked me to pick what I wanted myself. It was very painful to eliminate any of them… One thing, the sun shots didn’t turn out unfortunately. You can see the light orbs and such freaking things out… not sure if moisture got in the lens or what. My theory is the computer could not comprehend, calculate, or translate the light that was hitting it!! I'll shut it now and let you see the photos. Please give thanks to Tad for sharing these with us!!

REMEMBER THE MAIN REASON THE PAINT LOOKS AMAZING IS DUE TO TADS SKILLS WITH THE POLISHER, AS WELL AS HIS TIME, AND EFFORT. UPP REALLY DOES HAVE A DEEP WET LOOK TO IT THOUGH.


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Durability Test:

On a garaged vehicle like my Sky UPP will last a very long time but so will most sealants. A true durability test must take place on an outside 24/7 vehicle.

Back in October of '11 I was creating a video of IPA vs. CarPro Eraser at the request of forum members. If you recall the drivers half of the rear lid was prepped with IPA and the passenger side with Eraser. After my testing of course I had to reseal the surface and I selected UPP. This would turn out to be my focused durability test for this review.

Conditions:

Applied: 5 months before my durability testing ends.
Quick detailers or Waterless wash used since: NONE
Driven: Approximately 7000-11000 miles
Exposure: Outside in Florida Sun 24 hours a day 7 days a week
Total minutes exposed to elements: Approximately 200,000
Maximum ambient temp: 95F
Minimum ambient temp: 27F
Maximum surface temp: 140F (Estimated)
Minimum surface temp: 27F (Estimated)
Total times car became wet and dry again through nighttime condensation: 140
Total rainy days: Unrecorded (Estimated10-15)
Total times washed: 8+/-
Max. Time between washing: 6-7 weeks
Min. Time between washing: 1 week
Washes used: Ultima (6), Blackfire (1), Primo Hydro (1)

I'll draw special attention to how little the vehicle was washed and the fact no detailers were used on these surfaces at any time.

The video below starts out at the tail end of the IPA vs. Eraser video created last year. At the time I thought that was the end of that. It was clear to me that Eraser was much more functional than IPA as a step between polishing and coating with CQ or OC. However, I did not believe it would make a difference in the durability of a sealant. Chad posted before that because a polymer sealant has solvents in it any remaining oil that IPA doesn’t remove should be removed by the solvents during application. This made perfect sense to me as well. Anyway, as I recorded video every few weeks I had forgotten completely about the prep step. I assumed it would have no bearing and there was no reason to consider it so I wasn’t looking for what I found…


VIDEO: Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection - 5 Month Time Lapse

(Click below to Play)





I know, I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it myself! I wish I had some Four Star Paint Cleaner on hand back then. I’m curious to see what I would find in how might affect UPP durability… for better?


Tin Foil Hats:

Often you consider the effect of how much you wash the vehicle but do you ever consider the effect of not washing it? Lack of washing is detrimental to the sealant and paint. It eventually allows particles to erode a sealant and bind to your paint. Anything that sits on the sealant is going to hold moisture, dirt, iron, or worse around it. The offending particle or object is either rotting or oxidizing atop your paint as I write this. That's why you have that sealant, wax, coating, or tin foil hat. Woohoo! Anyway if it sits on the sealant for extended periods of time the moisture that it absorbs and dries over and over and over again is most certainly trying to do very naughty things to your sealant!

I say all that just to put in context the added pressure the gaps between washing placed on this durability test. How much longer would it have lasted if I had washed it every week or two? The world may never know...

Now, if you have urea bird goo or some acidic type of bug (love bugs for instance) on there forget about it. That eats though any polymer sealant and even into your clear coat quick. I found out first hand on my Sky what a bird could do in just minutes! Literally! A couple years ago I had 3 coats of sealant and it ate through them and started to get the clear coat by the time I got it off maybe 15-30 minutes later. A little polish solved that but clearcoat is a precious substance! Get it off ASAP if you care about your paint. Some birds may be car lovers like us and have less acidic goo, which explains why bird goo doesn’t always penetrate the sealant, or etch the paint.


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Pros:

1.- Looks: Deep wet look
2.- Ease of Removal
3.- Slickness: Wow
4.- Layer in half the time of most sealants (6 hours)
5.- Made in USA


Cons:

1.-None

Final Observations and Summary:

Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection is my favorite “buff off” sealant, PERIOD.
It doesn't have a single weak point in my opinion. The only reason to use a different polymer sealant in my opinion is if you want a wipe on walk away application or that glossy candy shell look in which case Ultima Paint Guard Plus is what I use.

Four Star UPP looks amazing, is very slick, does not dust, does not streak, does not sweat, is the easiest to buff off of any sealant I've used, and has decent durability. It can also be layered after only 6 hours (1/2 the time of most sealants). The only sealant I know of that can be layered sooner than that is UPGP, which Rick says was modified to allow layering after only 45 minutes!

Thanks for looking! I hope you will share any comments, questions, knowledge, or differences of opinion with me.

Cheers


The Product: http://www.autogeek.net/four-star-ultimate-paint-protection.html
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After seeing this Stang look so great I am ready to strip my car and start all over. I never put more than one coat of sealer or wax but im thinking 2-4 coats now!!! LOL HAHA no seriously!
 
I've felt for a long time that some sealants look as good as any wax in terms of the "wax look " that wax fanatics always refer to.

I gave up on waxes once I saw what the WG sealant looked like on my own car and now with products like UPP and I suspect eventually with coatings, the "wax look" argument becomes less and less credible as new sealants and coatings are introduced.

Waxes can't hold a match to sealants and coatings for durability and once the "look" argument gets debunked, as is happening with products like UPP the "are waxes becoming obsolete?" thread that somebody started a week or so ago...becomes not only a legitimate question, but a relevant one.

Waxes are big business so car care vendors that produce them and wax buying fanatics aren't about to go away anytime soon but speaking for myself, my detailing life has become so much easier since dumping waxes. Not only do I save time by not having to deal with applying them so frequently, but my car rarely attracts the amount of dust that drove me crazy with carnauba wax...and it's never looked better with products like UPP , WG sealant, and even DG 105 as examples of great performing sealants that look fantastic too.
 
Corey:

Do you recommend the use of the prewax cleaner if you have done a complete paint correction/preparation? Say I have done some prep work ending with menz 105. Should I use the prewax cleaner after that and before the 4* upp?

Thanks,

David
 
spewking said:
Corey:

Do you recommend the use of the prewax cleaner if you have done a complete paint correction/preparation? Say I have done some prep work ending with menz 105. Should I use the prewax cleaner after that and before the 4* upp?

Thanks,

David
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Hi David, you certainly can but there is no need to do so. I would not (these days) personally although I would finish down further than M105 personally
 
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