Review: Gtechniq EXO v2 Complete Kit

Bryan@Autogeek

New member
Jul 16, 2013
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Since the new version of EXO came out I decided to give it a try. The kit includes GTechniq EXO Ultra Durable Hybrid Coating v2, GTechniq Panel Wipe Coating Prep, Microtemp MT-PRO thermometer,Micro suede cloth, 3 Gold Plush Jr. Microfiber towels.

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This was my first time ever trying a coating and thought the application was pretty easy and simple to do. First thing you need to do is make sure your car is not in direct sunlight but warmer than 5c.

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Next thing you will need to do before applying the coating is to remove all the imperfections in the paint. The only way to remove the imperfections after applying the coating is to buff off the coating. Once you have all the imperfections out the next step is to wipe the panel with the GTechniq Panel Wipe.

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Make sure you spray the entire panel and wipe it clean so you remove all residues and any oils that are on the surface so that the coating can bond to the surface. After the panel is nice and clean you are ready to use the coating which was super easy to apply. All you have to do is dab the micro suede cloth so that it is damp.

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Once you have a damp cloth your going to apply a thin coat on the panel.

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It should look like this if applied thin:

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With your microfiber cloth make sure to buff of the residue. The product was extremely easy to wipe off just make sure you don’t apply to much pressure so you can avoid marring the paint.

GTechniq_EXO_v2_015.jpg


After wiping off the coating make sure you allow it to cure for 3 hours before it gets wet. I really thought this product had an easy application if you are looking for a quick easy way to protect your car for 2 years than I recommend this product.

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Benefits of using a GTechniq Exo v2 Complete Kit
- The coating will protect the paint for 2 years or more.
- Dirt washes right off.
- Its going to make your car finish will stay slick and shiny longer than any wax or paint sealant.


GTechniq EXO v2 Complete Kit
 
Nice review Bryan. Thanks for including the applied thin picture. What is the damp cloth you used, white microfiber suede?
 
Do you have any experience with exo vs c1. I read some like c1 then exo but what is the point?
 
C1 is very good on it's own. Very durable semi permanent coating. The EXO is the icing on the cake. Can be applied on it's own, but is a match made in heaven when EXO is layered over C1.

Nothing I've used scares away water more than C1 with EXO on top.
 
Do you have any experience with exo vs c1. I read some like c1 then exo but what is the point?

C1 is mainly used for helping improve scratch resistance and durability, with a little less glossy look.

Exo is mainly used for a very wet glossly look, while you still do get some improved scratch resistance and durability it's not as great as C1 is.

They also refer to Exo as being more of a hybrid solution to give it the more glossier look than others in this class.

With all that being said though I will say I've heard from a very reliable source that Gtechniq has been playing around with there solutions causing issues days, sometimes even a week after applying to appear. I've used this many times on customers cars but just recently with a new bottle of mine had this issue and it's basically a haze look that goes into the coating (I apply C1 then Exo on each of my applications). Just because of this issue and after talking to some of the now old US reps I will probably stop offering it and offer more of either CQuartz or OC instead now.
 
Awesome!:wow: that looks good!

I just purchased GTechniq C1 and EXOv2 and am just waiting for it to come in the mail (c'mon UPS!)

Can't wait to put it on my Porsche 911!

Full pictures and review will be coming!
 
C1 is very good on it's own. Very durable semi permanent coating. The EXO is the icing on the cake. Can be applied on it's own, but is a match made in heaven when EXO is layered over C1.

Nothing I've used scares away water more than C1 with EXO on top.


C1 is mainly used for helping improve scratch resistance and durability, with a little less glossy look.

Exo is mainly used for a very wet glossly look, while you still do get some improved scratch resistance and durability it's not as great as C1 is.

They also refer to Exo as being more of a hybrid solution to give it the more glossier look than others in this class.

With all that being said though I will say I've heard from a very reliable source that Gtechniq has been playing around with there solutions causing issues days, sometimes even a week after applying to appear. I've used this many times on customers cars but just recently with a new bottle of mine had this issue and it's basically a haze look that goes into the coating (I apply C1 then Exo on each of my applications). Just because of this issue and after talking to some of the now old US reps I will probably stop offering it and offer more of either CQuartz or OC instead now.

Thanks for your reviews guys, I am somewhat worried with this issue. I used exo v1 on my old camaro and loved it, but I was thinking about using c1 then exo on my vette for the added protection. Hopefully this it is fixed or maybe some other error?
 
Thanks for your reviews guys, I am somewhat worried with this issue. I used exo v1 on my old camaro and loved it, but I was thinking about using c1 then exo on my vette for the added protection. Hopefully this it is fixed or maybe some other error?

Yeah at first I was hoping that it was actually just some random user error that I missed doing on this car. I sent a rep a message with all the steps that I take with each application of it and his reply was.

"You are not the only one who has seen residue issues recently with Gtechniq. We started noticing that C1 was becoming extremely inconsistent and that residue spots would pop back up at us even up to a week after application. These residue problems happen with C1 & EXOv2.

The best recommendation I can give you is to switch from using C1 to either 22ple VX1 Pro or Cquartz UK. Both of those products are clearer than C1 and therefore can provide more gloss. EXO aerosol can be applied over both of those products if you are still looking for crazy beading & slickness."

Sounds like from what he said the issues have been found in mainly C1 and Exo v2. Also sounds like using the Exo aerosol version over either 22ple or Cquartz is still a great option to use.
 
Yeah at first I was hoping that it was actually just some random user error that I missed doing on this car. I sent a rep a message with all the steps that I take with each application of it and his reply was.

"You are not the only one who has seen residue issues recently with Gtechniq. We started noticing that C1 was becoming extremely inconsistent and that residue spots would pop back up at us even up to a week after application. These residue problems happen with C1 & EXOv2.

The best recommendation I can give you is to switch from using C1 to either 22ple VX1 Pro or Cquartz UK. Both of those products are clearer than C1 and therefore can provide more gloss. EXO aerosol can be applied over both of those products if you are still looking for crazy beading & slickness."

Sounds like from what he said the issues have been found in mainly C1 and Exo v2. Also sounds like using the Exo aerosol version over either 22ple or Cquartz is still a great option to use.

When I used GTechniq C4 Trim Restorer back in the fall on a rear step bumper pad, all looked well too, for about 1-1/2 to 2 weeks later. The part, while looking quite decent immediately after, turned dull, and drab looking, like a chaulky film look. And nothing since has been able to correct that, probably in part to the product's resiliency-durability.

Before I applied, I thought I had cleaned and stripped the part reasonably well, and did finish with a 15% IPA wipe down prior to applying.

I gave plenty of time I thought, to let the part fully dry-cure before replacing the car cover on the truck, which is a Covercraft NOAH Cover. It is virtually 100% waterproof and blocks UV well, so I don't think it was either of those causes. Plus, during that two week period, it never rained.

I'm no chemist, nor do I have any inside proprietary information, as to whether GTechniq C4 uses similar components-ingredients in its makeup such as C1, EXO, etc etc?
It may very well I suspect.

While I scratched my head over this issue for quite some time, had gotten quite a bit of feedback on this issue on this forum, both helpful, and a small bit accusatory, enough, that the thread was closed here. That this may be one other reason I had less than stellar results with this particular product? Honestly, I cannot really say one way or the other. Mark
 
Oh wow. I didn't know the new versions of C1 and or EXO V2 had these problems. I was thinking about ordering both of those soon. I hope they fix the formulations soon.

I wonder why I don't see more people complaining about it in the UK on DetailingWorld?
 
Yeah at first I was hoping that it was actually just some random user error that I missed doing on this car. I sent a rep a message with all the steps that I take with each application of it and his reply was.

"You are not the only one who has seen residue issues recently with Gtechniq. We started noticing that C1 was becoming extremely inconsistent and that residue spots would pop back up at us even up to a week after application. These residue problems happen with C1 & EXOv2.

The best recommendation I can give you is to switch from using C1 to either 22ple VX1 Pro or Cquartz UK. Both of those products are clearer than C1 and therefore can provide more gloss. EXO aerosol can be applied over both of those products if you are still looking for crazy beading & slickness."

Sounds like from what he said the issues have been found in mainly C1 and Exo v2. Also sounds like using the Exo aerosol version over either 22ple or Cquartz is still a great option to use.

How long would you have to let the 22ple cure for before putting on the exo aerosol?
 
With all that being said though I will say I've heard from a very reliable source that Gtechniq has been playing around with there solutions causing issues days, sometimes even a week after applying to appear. I've used this many times on customers cars but just recently with a new bottle of mine had this issue and it's basically a haze look that goes into the coating (I apply C1 then Exo on each of my applications). Just because of this issue and after talking to some of the now old US reps I will probably stop offering it and offer more of either CQuartz or OC instead now.

So, naturally this begs the following questions:

  1. Has anyone else experienced this issue recently with C1 and EXOv2
  2. Once tha hazing does appear 1-2 weeks later, what do you do about it? Polish?
 
So, naturally this begs the following questions:

  1. Has anyone else experienced this issue recently with C1 and EXOv2
  2. Once tha hazing does appear 1-2 weeks later, what do you do about it? Polish?


I'm the only detailer in my area that used Gtechniq, so I haven't personally seen others having this issue. The rep that I did contact did say that multiple other detailers had contacted him personally about having this issue recently due to them playing around with the formula.

As for what I ended up having to do, the only true way to remove a nano coating that I've come across is to polish it off and I then applied Cquartz UK edition with reload to replace it.


Lastly, for how long to wait to put Exo on top of 22ple, I haven't personally used 22ple yet as it was only recommended to me to replace using Gtechniq. I would guess though it would be like most other coatings and take roughly 12 hours before safely applying another coating on top of it, but I'm not 100% sure on that and maybe someone else has more info on using 22ple can answer for sure.
 
I asked Rob at Gtechniq about this issue and this is the response he gave over on DW.

hi brian,

the c1 formula has not been changed for more than 1 year now and there is no way residue spots could "pop back".

what we have found is that if you don't allow the c1 to cure to the correct amount that exo can be hard to apply.

rob
 
I asked Rob at Gtechniq about this issue and this is the response he gave over on DW.

Travis was the US rep that I talked to about this issue, and in his comment back he mentioned that it was one of the reasons him and Chris Larson left and are moving onto bigger things.

As for curing time I don't think that was an issue at all with mine. I had the customers car for an entire week while they went out of town. The car was in on a full correction, and each panel was then prepped for c1 making sure there wasn't anything left on them. Once C1 was applied around 4:00pm that day I then called it a day and then applied Exov2 the next day around 2:00pm. The amount of time they say it takes to cure is 12 hours. The car then sat in the shop for another day before the customer came back in to pick it up.

Like I said before, I was actually hoping that it was some kind of application error I had on this one car, because I have used Gtechniq multiple times before this and have yet to have an issue. This was a brand new bottle of both C1 and Exov2 used on this corvette too. I still have some left over and will probably use it on a couple of panels I have sitting around to see if I get the same results.

As for them not being able to pop back up, I have pics of the corvette the day the customer came to pick it up and it had no issues at all, and then I took more pics when the customer returned with the marks that had popped up.
 
These are just pics from my cell phone:






Then this is what happened a day after the customer picked it up:



That blue haze in the middle ended up showing up in spots all throughout the car, but then there were some areas that it didn't.

I'm finished talking about this issue though, I came in here to inform people about the issue that I came across and what was told from me by Trent who was one of the US reps. I use to use gtechniq all the time, but now I will no longer use it because of this issue. If you decide to use it, great for you and I hope you do not run into the issue that I or many other people according to Trent have run into.
 
Awesome thanks for the info. I'm just trying to figure out why it is happening. Rob seems like a cool guy I'm sure he would want to get this fixed as it helps the whole community. I know I would hate for this to happen to me.
 
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