Markymapo1
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Thanks for all the info n hard work. Very useful!
Sealant comparison
- Thread starter RippyD
- Start date
RippyD
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- Jan 24, 2016
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Long post. A lot going on.
Got products applied to the rest of the new Sentra, including 4 I've already tested. Trying to do some summer vs. winter testing, as well as validating previous results (or not). New products applied to white Sentra:
Just so we know what is where, they are applied like this (not to scale):
The roof had been previously clayed. I washed and clayed the top of the trunk. I polished the middle section of the trunk with HD Polish, The driver side with HD Speed, and the the passenger side section didn't get polished. (Checking the claim that sealants last longer on polished surfaces.)
Ignore the Sonax Spray + Seal shown below. I applied BF Crystal Seal in that spot (front most driver's side). I should have applied it to the Sentra hood - the intent was to test the three touchless sealant side-by-side, but I forgot about Spray + Seal. I did something else with it (see below).
Not happy with myself about not getting all three touchless sealants side-by-side. This morning I quickly applied them to the wife's boxster. I polished the hood with McKee's coating prep polish and a black pad. Then taped off the hood with a section for no product. I used a pressure washer to remove them. Left to right the are Sonax Spray + Seal, McKee's Hydro Blue, and Carpro Hydro2.
I now have a confusing set of products going. Some started in summer, so in winter, some testing more than once, and now some on a garaged car. I'm trying to show all those variables in my chart below. If this doesn't work I'll take another run at it.
Should get some testing done on the Rover hood later today.
Got products applied to the rest of the new Sentra, including 4 I've already tested. Trying to do some summer vs. winter testing, as well as validating previous results (or not). New products applied to white Sentra:
- BF Crystal Seal*
- Rupes 808*
- DG Aquawax*
- Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0*
- Megs Quik Wax
- Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer
- Ultima Acrylic Spray Wax
- McKee's 10 Minute Paint Sealant
- HD Speed
- Mothers Gold Spray Wax
- Mothers Speed Spray Wax
Just so we know what is where, they are applied like this (not to scale):
The roof had been previously clayed. I washed and clayed the top of the trunk. I polished the middle section of the trunk with HD Polish, The driver side with HD Speed, and the the passenger side section didn't get polished. (Checking the claim that sealants last longer on polished surfaces.)
Ignore the Sonax Spray + Seal shown below. I applied BF Crystal Seal in that spot (front most driver's side). I should have applied it to the Sentra hood - the intent was to test the three touchless sealant side-by-side, but I forgot about Spray + Seal. I did something else with it (see below).
Not happy with myself about not getting all three touchless sealants side-by-side. This morning I quickly applied them to the wife's boxster. I polished the hood with McKee's coating prep polish and a black pad. Then taped off the hood with a section for no product. I used a pressure washer to remove them. Left to right the are Sonax Spray + Seal, McKee's Hydro Blue, and Carpro Hydro2.
I now have a confusing set of products going. Some started in summer, so in winter, some testing more than once, and now some on a garaged car. I'm trying to show all those variables in my chart below. If this doesn't work I'll take another run at it.
Should get some testing done on the Rover hood later today.
cullen2505
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Great job documenting all your hard work. Looking forward to the results.
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Finick
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Kind of crazy seeing those more durable products all having been done in the winter.
Wonder how long you’d get out of them in the summer. 845 so far has been really really great for me. I’d be happy with 20ish weeks out of it between applications given how nice it is to use.
Doesn’t hurt that it’s fun to watch it near water either
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Wonder how long you’d get out of them in the summer. 845 so far has been really really great for me. I’d be happy with 20ish weeks out of it between applications given how nice it is to use.
Doesn’t hurt that it’s fun to watch it near water either
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RippyD
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- Jan 24, 2016
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WGDGPS got 6 weeks in the first test. If you look in the WGDGPS column you'll see another dot at a little under 10 weeks. For products with multiple tests you'll see multiple scores. The score that looks like one week is because I just applied it so it's currently at the bottom. The marks with a triangle in the middle are in progress. You'll see them continue to move up over time until I mark them done.
Make sense?
Make sense?
RippyD
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I washed the Rover hood with Reset a few days ago. Of course rinsed and dried it. I didn't test the water action until today. I was trying to keep one eye on a 6 yo playing outside and wasn't prepared to deal with things being so different. I need some focused, uninterrupted time to figure out what's going on. Most things seem to be moving water much faster than last time. Not sure yet if the untreated areas are clearing faster as well - if so I need to re-calibrate what my times.
Suffice it to say that using Reset resulted in significant changes.
Sharing the animation. Not sure what to make of it yet. (Stupid white hood makes it very hard to see.) Will have to study it and do more testing when the wife is home to watch the kid. (Mine are all in HS. We got a foster kid back recently.)
I checked the white Sentra hood today as well. As expected water is flying off all three sections. There isn't even time to measure it - I'd say everything is clearing in 3-4 seconds. However the area with no sealant is sheeting as well. Perhaps overspray, or maybe left over polishing oils? Will give it a few days and see what happens.
Suffice it to say that using Reset resulted in significant changes.
Sharing the animation. Not sure what to make of it yet. (Stupid white hood makes it very hard to see.) Will have to study it and do more testing when the wife is home to watch the kid. (Mine are all in HS. We got a foster kid back recently.)
I checked the white Sentra hood today as well. As expected water is flying off all three sections. There isn't even time to measure it - I'd say everything is clearing in 3-4 seconds. However the area with no sealant is sheeting as well. Perhaps overspray, or maybe left over polishing oils? Will give it a few days and see what happens.
RippyD
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Did some washing and testing over the last few days. Note many pics as the white cars are hard to get.
Rover hood: Things are still working better since I used Reset. It absolutely did something to help these sealants work better. SFX4 is still way ahead of the others in terms of clearing quickly and completely. Note that I put Griot's Finishing Sealant and Nano Shock back on the performing list since they're now clearing water again.
Under 30 seconds to clear
SFX4: 10-15 seconds
BF Carnuba: ~30 seconds
McKee's Fast: ~30 seconds
Over 30 seconds
Mystery sealant: ~35 seconds
303: ~45 seconds
Dodo: ~45 seconds
Four Star: ~45 seconds
NO PRODUCT is 45 seconds
Griots Finshing: 45 secs
3M Spray wax: ~45 seconds
Nanoshock: ~45 seconds
SFX-4 clearing ahead of everything else.
Note that the areas with no product are no clearing in just over a minute. So any products taking a minute or longer are probably not working.
White Sentra: Products are all new and generally working pretty well. On the hood the Hydro2 may be clearing a little more slowly than the others. They're all so fast I'm not sure it's relevant. It's hard to keep water on the hood to measure how fast it's coming off.
The Sentra roof is also doing well and water is flying off. I'm disappointed to report that Rupes 808 seems noticeably slower than everything else. It's working, but when I flood the hood with water it is the area that is consistently the slowest. I applied it by priming the MF towel this time, and gave it a 2nd application. If somebody else wants to compare it to another product and post their results that would be great. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Sentra hood getting wet and a few seconds later.
The Sentra trunk is also doing well and is hard to see any difference. Mother's Speed wax may be a little slower than the others. Hard to tell.
Boxster hood: Everything clearing in ~10 secs.
Boxster animation
Rover hood: Things are still working better since I used Reset. It absolutely did something to help these sealants work better. SFX4 is still way ahead of the others in terms of clearing quickly and completely. Note that I put Griot's Finishing Sealant and Nano Shock back on the performing list since they're now clearing water again.
Under 30 seconds to clear
SFX4: 10-15 seconds
BF Carnuba: ~30 seconds
McKee's Fast: ~30 seconds
Over 30 seconds
Mystery sealant: ~35 seconds
303: ~45 seconds
Dodo: ~45 seconds
Four Star: ~45 seconds
NO PRODUCT is 45 seconds
Griots Finshing: 45 secs
3M Spray wax: ~45 seconds
Nanoshock: ~45 seconds
SFX-4 clearing ahead of everything else.
Note that the areas with no product are no clearing in just over a minute. So any products taking a minute or longer are probably not working.
White Sentra: Products are all new and generally working pretty well. On the hood the Hydro2 may be clearing a little more slowly than the others. They're all so fast I'm not sure it's relevant. It's hard to keep water on the hood to measure how fast it's coming off.
The Sentra roof is also doing well and water is flying off. I'm disappointed to report that Rupes 808 seems noticeably slower than everything else. It's working, but when I flood the hood with water it is the area that is consistently the slowest. I applied it by priming the MF towel this time, and gave it a 2nd application. If somebody else wants to compare it to another product and post their results that would be great. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Sentra hood getting wet and a few seconds later.
The Sentra trunk is also doing well and is hard to see any difference. Mother's Speed wax may be a little slower than the others. Hard to tell.
Boxster hood: Everything clearing in ~10 secs.
Boxster animation
RippyD
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Updated chart. My spreadsheet to manage this is not working well. I started it thinking there would be 20 or so rows. I now have multiple tests per product and I need to revisit it. Once I get it cleaned up I'll share it so you guys can see the data.
PaulMys
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- Jan 14, 2014
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Yes. That one's on me for not reading the chart properly.
Love this thread too, Rip.
rops:
spazzz
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- Jan 28, 2014
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I love this thread.
Could you find a spot for Essence Plus in the future.
I like the way it works on my wheels but not sure about durability.
I used it over a 15 month gloss coat application on my car and rode through the winter with it.
I always use boosters of some sort after every wash so my results are always skewed.
Could you find a spot for Essence Plus in the future.
I like the way it works on my wheels but not sure about durability.
I used it over a 15 month gloss coat application on my car and rode through the winter with it.
I always use boosters of some sort after every wash so my results are always skewed.
MrOneEyedBoh
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Hey I'm a day late dollar short, but how did you apply reset? Heavy, double wipe, wait X amount of time before applying etc
RippyD
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Sure, esp since I already have it. Will try to to it when the next panel opens up. If I recall the consensus is that it's not very long lasting.
Are you perhaps asking about Reload, the sealant? Reset is a car wash. I applied Reload per the instructions on the bottle. if I recall it's supposed to flash before being removed. Given I'm using such small areas I likely over-apply everything. I used Reset at 500:1 with a microfiber towel (rinsed, washed with Reset, rinsed, and dried).
MrOneEyedBoh
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Yep that's what I meant, sorry about that
RippyD
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I get them confused all the time. 
I'll try to retest Reload in the future. The results I got here seem to confirm what I was seeing when using it, which is that it doesn't sheet water for a long time. Despite that, I still use it. Reload + Echo is a nice QD that seems to work really well on the wife's Boxster. Could be my imagination, but it seems to look great on darker paint. It's also very slick after it's applied.
When using a drying aid or a QD every 2-3 weeks, longevity isn't very important and may even be undesirable.
I'll try to retest Reload in the future. The results I got here seem to confirm what I was seeing when using it, which is that it doesn't sheet water for a long time. Despite that, I still use it. Reload + Echo is a nice QD that seems to work really well on the wife's Boxster. Could be my imagination, but it seems to look great on darker paint. It's also very slick after it's applied. When using a drying aid or a QD every 2-3 weeks, longevity isn't very important and may even be undesirable.
MrOneEyedBoh
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Yeah exactly, I use SOMETHING every dry time... So whatever lol. I have McKees coating on there now. So whatever is being used is to help mitigate scratching
RippyD
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Really don't feel qualified to say what's best. I'm just some random jackass testing products.
Short answer: I think all the longest lasting products are great. Some of the spray waxes that can be using as drying aids are really nice as well. I've used Aquawax more than the others and have a preference due to familiarity and the low cost. Other sprays are very good as well. I still use Reload as a QD, usually mixed with Ech2o. Can't say it's better than others, but it seems to have visual impact on dark colors. Maybe all in my head.
Longer answer and some things to consider: Do you want the longest lasting sealant, or do you prefer that "freshly waxed" look and you want to apply something every 2 weeks? Do you want the easiest to apply or is a little elbow grease ok?
For my cars to get through the winter I'm likely using Sonax PNS, unless something as durable and easy to apply is discovered in testing. It's pretty hard to beat for ease of application and longevity. The Duragloss products are excellent and less expensive. Finish Kare 1000 is practically free given how little you use per car. I tested what is considered the least durable Collinite product and it was right there with the best of them for durability. Many people think it looks better than other sealants. TBD, but Sonax SFX-4 may make it into this top category
Dodo Future Armour didn't last as long but did well and could not be easier to apply. Also an impressive product.
I would tend to avoid the products that don't live up to their hype, or that are exorbitantly priced. I don't see an need to spend that much money on a sealant.
Visually I can't really say. My daily driver is white it's often hard to tell the difference. My wife previously a black 4Runner and that thing glowed when use AW on it (looked best about 12 hours after applying). Reload and Collinite 845 also look great. Most the others may look as good, I just haven't applied them to a whole car and done side-by-side comparisons. If you have a preference for how one looks and it last long enough for you, I'd choose that.
There are very few bad choices here, and the difference between "best" and middle of the pack is probably not noticeable by most of us. Anybody else with an opinion on how to find the "best" sealant please weigh in.
Finick
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For me finding “the best” really comes down to finding something that checks all the boxes. Those boxes being value, ease of use, water beading, durability and looks probably falling into last place.
I’d say that durability and looks are interchangeable, and I often question how much I care about durability. I think how much I care is directly proportional to ease of use. That’s to say if the product is very easy to use I’m inclined to care less.
My most recent LSP I’ve gotten to is collinite 845, and it’s really ticked all the boxes so far for me. It’s got wicked water beading, piece of cake to use, crazy value given how much you use per car (and how cheap it is), and it seems to hold up better than other LSPs I’ve used thus far. Looks fine.
My first application of 845 was a few months ago. After a few months I notice the crazy beading is starting to diminish. It’s still there going strong, but I imagine in 4-5 months I’d probably be ready to reapply.
Reapplication takes me maybe 10-15 minutes, and doing this 3-4 times a year is totally okay with me. This is all keeping in mind I haven’t used any spray waxes after my rinseless washes with ONR/WGURW just so I could see how the LSP would hold up on its own.
I think if you’re into using a drying aid after every wash, what’s under it may not really matter because you’re constantly putting something on top of it. I’d honestly trust d156 as my sole protection if I was applying it weekly/biweekly.
I think if you reference the list in the above posts, you could probably just pick any one of those top performing products and be just fine. Or you could choose a product not even on there that you love the look, behavior, and use of and just use it as often as you want.
Like Mike Phillips says: Find something you like and use it often.
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I’d say that durability and looks are interchangeable, and I often question how much I care about durability. I think how much I care is directly proportional to ease of use. That’s to say if the product is very easy to use I’m inclined to care less.
My most recent LSP I’ve gotten to is collinite 845, and it’s really ticked all the boxes so far for me. It’s got wicked water beading, piece of cake to use, crazy value given how much you use per car (and how cheap it is), and it seems to hold up better than other LSPs I’ve used thus far. Looks fine.
My first application of 845 was a few months ago. After a few months I notice the crazy beading is starting to diminish. It’s still there going strong, but I imagine in 4-5 months I’d probably be ready to reapply.
Reapplication takes me maybe 10-15 minutes, and doing this 3-4 times a year is totally okay with me. This is all keeping in mind I haven’t used any spray waxes after my rinseless washes with ONR/WGURW just so I could see how the LSP would hold up on its own.
I think if you’re into using a drying aid after every wash, what’s under it may not really matter because you’re constantly putting something on top of it. I’d honestly trust d156 as my sole protection if I was applying it weekly/biweekly.
I think if you reference the list in the above posts, you could probably just pick any one of those top performing products and be just fine. Or you could choose a product not even on there that you love the look, behavior, and use of and just use it as often as you want.
Like Mike Phillips says: Find something you like and use it often.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk