Sealant comparison

Geez man those results are just like the kind that I get lol. I haven’t done this extensive testing but I have a hard time making crap last too. Makes you always wonder if it’s you when you see people claim months and months from some of these products.

I do know that dodo juice claimed at after the short term beading is gone from at least their wax products the protection is still there

How anyone could actually prove that is beyond me. Imagining the chemical companies that supply the UV inhibitors could actually tell some what of a story about it protecting paint and to what duration out in the elements applied the way it does.

Sure would be nice if someone actually came in and said don’t worry about what you are seeing the contamination and UV protection is still there long after the sheeting and beading

Thanks for sharing.


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Agree on all your points. And to be fair, when I rinseless wash these I can clearly see the tape lines, so all the products are still there. Even with the last set on the hood, I could see tape lines between most of them months after application, which means something was still there.

But if water doesn't move off it any differently and there's no visual difference, what's it really doing? Culd be there's still some protection - I just don't know. And like you I'd be fine if somebody wants to educate us on what protection these are giving after they stop sheeting water.

You just gave me a thought: I supposed I could apply these to glass and then measure UVs coming through over time. Would be interesting to see if UV protection correlates to water sheeting. Need to see if there's a reliable and inexpensive UV meter.
 
I need to correct the results above. Poorboys with Carnuba was clearing at some point. Not sure if I got it and Griots Finishing sealant switched or just missed it. Will restest and correct results today.

A couple of pics below. Here's an animation of the Sentra hood. This is the way to go. If I get a tripod and can figure out lighting for the Rover, this will demonstrate much better what's going on.

Here's the left side of the Rover hood about 2 minutes in. Water is gone from Dodo, 303, and SFX-4, mostly gone from BF Carnuba.
K6kCyySl.jpg


This is close to 3 mins taken from the left side. The bottom is SFX-4, which is clear. Next to that you can see Prima Hydro and Prima Slick not clearing well. On the right is P808 with water and toward the top on the right are Griot's Spray Wax (far right) and Nano Shock just to the left of it.
WFgtUXEl.jpg
 
I just did a quick test and got very different results. Some of these are still not performing, but most are. The order I've ranked them is generally right. I need to take more time later today and watch some video more carefully before I publish. I'll leave the previous results up but I'll call them inaccurate unless the new results validate them. I think these generally performing better. Will update as soon as I get time.
 
RippyD said:
Amazingly, any time you blind test people these differences disappear. Placebo effect and choice-supportive bias.
Click to expand...

That's one thing I set out to remove when I did a poll/survey that was also sort of a blind test. 5 waxes, side by side. Before the waxes were revealed, it was interesting to see what people were choosing and voting on. That was a fun thread for me. On the sister site, link here -> 5 Way Wax Test / Blind Survey



RippyD said:
A couple of pics below. Here's an [animation] This is the way to go. If I get a tripod and can figure out lighting for the Rover, this will demonstrate much better what's going on.
Click to expand...

I clicked the animation link, but just saw a "-" inside a circle. Like it was dead. Ever consider doing video? Seeing water behavior "real time" can help us see what's going on.
 
I have videos, but the lighting is terrible as is my camera work. Would be more confusing (and nauseating) to share. Would be best to do a time lapse with a camera on a tripod, or a sped up video. Will work on it. Forgot to share that animation. Will look at that this afternoon as well. The white hood makes it more challenging.

Edit: trying re-sharing the link for the animation. Please try again.
 
Updated results from this morning. Not dramatically different, but more fair to other products. Some move into the ok category from the dead category. The only difference I can think of is that I dried the hood after washing it this time. I usually just do a rinseless wash, rinse it, and then flood it. Could be that with soft water the soap needs the physical removal from a towel. Really not sure.

Dodo and Four Star are still clearing water the fastest and both under 30 seconds. No change here.
  • Dodo Supreme Acrylic Spritz
  • Four Star Ultimate Spray Wax
These were all between 40 seconds and 1:15. Nano Shock and SFX-4 are still the fastest.
  • Nano shock
  • SFX-4
  • Mystery #4
  • Megs 20
  • 303 spray wax
  • McKee's Fast Wax
Between 1-2 minutes below. Poorboys EX-P a little better this time.
  • Blackfire Carnuba Spray
  • Poorboys EX-P
Working, but longer than 2 mins. I had mixed up Poorboys with Carnuba and Griots Finishing Sealant last time. HD Poxy doing much better today.
  • HD Poxy
  • Poorboys Sealant with Carnuba
Barely working. I'm being as generous as I can. These are bordering on being in the last group.
  • Prima hydro
  • Griots spray wax
The last group are not sheeting water any faster than the areas with no sealant applied.
  • Griots Finishing Sealant
  • Prima Slick
  • Rupes P808
  • 3M Synthetic
 
RippyD said:
EDIT: leaving this results up, but they may not be accurate. I did a quick test a day later and got better results. In the interest of being as fair as I can to all the products, I'd prefer to go with better rather than worse. I don't know why there's a difference.

--------------------

Did some testing with the pressure washer and rinseless washing. Pressure washed the hood, then flooded it and monitored. Then washed with N-914 @ 256:1 and flooded to compare results. Noticed a few things:

1. I was too impatient yesterday. Some of these are working, but very slowly.
2. Some of them aren't working. They may clear after 4-5 minutes and when I wash I can see tape lines, but they aren't doing much at all based on water movement.
3. I didn't see any significant difference in how these behaved after pressure washing or after rinseless washing.

The two fastest cleared water in under 15 seconds. The Dodo product is a little faster.
  • Dodo Supreme Acrylic Spritz
  • Four Star Ultimate Spray Wax
These next five took closer to a minute. The fastest of these was Nano Shock:
  • Nano shock
  • SFX-4
  • Mystery #4
  • Megs 20
  • 303 spray wax
The next two took between 1-2 minutes:
  • McKees Fast Wax
  • Blackfire Carnuba Spray
This group was all 3+ mins. I stopped timing after 3:30.
  • Poorboys EX-P
  • Prima hydro
  • Griots spray wax
The last group appear to not be working. After 3.5 minutes these didn't move water any faster than the areas without sealant. They eventually get clear of water, but so will the un-sealed areas.
  • Griots Finishing Sealant
  • HD Poxy
  • Prima Slick
  • Rupes P808
  • Poorboys with Carnuba
  • 3M Synthetic
Will try to get some pics posted - didn't have much luck getting usable ones.
Click to expand...

I had problems with 808 dying quickly. I would literally spray on and wipe off. I don't believe I was getting adequate coverage with that technique. I then started priming my towel with a light spritz, sprayed the panel, slowly wiped in, and wiped off.

From that point I got the slick feel and longevity. They recommend a second application for more gloss and slickness, so I do that sometimes..

Was 808 slick initially after application?
 
That's how I applied it, and seem to recall doing a 2nd application. If it was in the instructions on the bottle, I did it. Yes, 808 was slick after I applied it. I like to do the fingertip test on all these after I'm done. That's how/why I commented on HD Poxy feeling so different.

If this looks very different from what you've seen I can try it again. Maybe I didn't shake the bottle?

Edit: One more thought on this. I certainly have an obligation to apply these correctly and to allow every product to do it's best. But... if the application is finicky and I have to go over-and-above the printed instructions, that's on the manufacturer, not me. I'm trying to represent the average non-pro consumer/enthusiast who wants their car to look good. If following the instructions doesn't work well that's a product issue, imo.

For the products that are doing this poorly I can probably re-test them to be sure I didn't apply improperly. But I don't think it's reasonable to research how to get the best out of them unless I do this for every product.
 
Update from the weekend. Trying for animations rather than movies to see if how it works. Animations are still shots put into an animation. They have better resolution than movies, which tend to blur movement.

Note that both hoods are performing better with drying. Somehow washing with soap appears to mask some of the sheeting properties on weaker sealants. The stronger ones doesn't seem to be impacted, but weaker ones are. Rinsing helps a little, wiping with water and an MF seems to help more, pressure washing helps a little more, but drying after washing seems to help the most. It's got to be a soap residue issue. I'm sure sure why drying seems to work better, but it does.

Going forward my new process will be rinse and dry after washing.

The Sentra hood as bounced back well after using the drying process. The Duragloss rinseless as a QD side is still doing the best, but the others are working as well. Check the water movement relative to the section of the hood with no product (middle top). Animation here.

Rover hood saw improvement as well. Same general trend with some of the previously non-working products having a little life in them.

Left side

Middle

Right side

The Rover animations don't look great. A better camera and a tripod would make a world of difference. This is the way to go for showing water movement if I can figure it out.
 
Got no comments on the animations. I'll assume they weren't very helpful. No time indication may be part of the problem. Thinking about a better video solution. For now, back to pictures.

We had a couple of days of off and on rain. The hood had standing water on it, so I rinsed, washed with my usual N-914 at 256:1, and dried. After drying it was clear there is some spotting from water having sat on the hood overnight. It doesn't look permanent - maybe areas where the sealants are reacting to hours of water exposure? I mentioned this because of the water behavior.
JLScgZZl.jpg


There was not sheeting any where. The areas that shed water quickly had large beads left, I believe where the spots were. This seemed to be consistent across all products. Here you can see Dodo Acrylic spritz and Four Star clearing. These remain the two fastest products. In the upper left SFX-4 is clearing as well.

A few seconds later here is SFX-4 and BF Carnuba.
inicByDl.jpg


A few seconds after that back to the front we see Dodo Acrylic, Four Star, McKee's Fast Wax, 303 Spray, and SFx-4 have mostly cleared. BF Carnuba is moving.
aa6r7egl.jpg


Concurrently with these Nano Shock and Mystery #4 are clearing.
iLV13QQl.jpg


As is Megs 20.
RhiTUgA.jpg


Here you can see what's moving and what's not from the center of the hood across the left side. At the bottom right Griot's Finishing Sealant isn't doing much, adjacent to the left McKee's Fast Wax, then Four Star and Dodo are clear. In the next row in from the front Groit's Spray wax isn't moving, to the left Mystery #4 and 303 are cleared (spotting). You can see that the entire left side has cleared at this point, and the two products toward the windshield from Mystery Sealant aren't doing much. Prima Hydro is moving some water, but slowly and not completely.
us0fDjB.jpg


On the right side you can see Megs 20 is cleared, Poorboys EXP, 3M synthetic, and HD Poxy are partially clear. Poorboys has a little less movement than the others.
f1GiRng.jpg


Here's where these seem to be in terms of performance, roughly from best to worst in terms of time to move water

Clearing
Dodo Acrylic and Four Star
SFX-4, McKee's Fast Wax, 303 Spray
BF Carnuba, Megs 20, Nano Shock, Mystery #4

Doing something:
HD Poxy
3M Synthetic
Poorboys EXP

Doing little to nothing:
Groit's Finishing Sealant
Poorboys Sealant with Carnuba
Griot's Spray Wax
Rupe's P808
Prima Hydro
Prima Slick
 
From the previous post only the Sentra hood animation worked looking at for me and none of the Range Rover hood.

Intresting foundings about the drying worked better before the sheeting test.

Could you do a beading test also? Would be intresting to see the difference from them in that part too.

Little surprising about the Rupes 808 sealant. And looking forward to the next update.

Missing Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer or Polymer Net Shield. Which both often are strong working products. Don't remember if PNS was in your last test.

Thanks for updates!
 
PNS as in the last testing and in the top 4 I believe

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SWETM said:
From the previous post only the Sentra hood animation worked looking at for me and none of the Range Rover hood.

Intresting foundings about the drying worked better before the sheeting test.

Could you do a beading test also? Would be intresting to see the difference from them in that part too.

Little surprising about the Rupes 808 sealant. And looking forward to the next update.

Missing Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer or Polymer Net Shield. Which both often are strong working products. Don't remember if PNS was in your last test.

Thanks for updates!
Click to expand...
Ugh... will get the animations. I try to access them from another PC where I don't have account access and was sure they worked. Will get that fixed this morning.

Some answers: Yeah, PNS was in the last round. It's right near the top and is probably my preferred sealant based on application and longevity. Although the top ~5 or so are all excellent. Will work on a beading test. So far haven't been able to see a difference - not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'll re-test P808 and a couple of others to be sure it's not an application issues. Will try Brilliant Shine.
 
Last few animations should be working now.

Rover hood left side May 8

Rover hood middle May 8

Rover hood right side May 8

Sentra hood still hanging on with three QDs applied. The DG rinseless as QD still outperforming the others. I washed with N-914 @ 256:1 then dried before testing. These are all still working, surprisingly. Although the middle one (FC&S + AW) is close enough that I can call it done. Marginally better than nothing at this point.

Sentra hood May 11
 
I tried several times to get beading shots - not having any luck and am looking for advice. Here's what I'm seeing:

  • Hose or rain: I get large beads with no apparent difference. I can usually make out tape lines, so there's clearly some difference, but nothing obviously between product ares.
  • Hand pump sprayer: Can't see any difference in beads. Tape lines show up and tend to disappear between products that aren't sheeting well. Beading sizes may be different between products.
  • Pressure sprayer (Kwazar): Gets a very fine mist that I allow to float onto the surface. Similar results to a pump sprayer: I can see tape lines - beading is just slightly larger, and they disappear between products not working well. But no obvious differences on the product areas.
Is there a better way to test this? Hoping I'm missing something obvious.

btw, I read one manufacturer's take on how to measure sealant durability and effectiveness (not linking because it's not a product sold here). The like to use beading and sheeting as a measure. For beading, their opinion is that you need to measure the height, contact angle, and diameter of beads. They acknowledge that paint with no product will also bead water. I may need to get close-up shots and compare side by side. I'd not seeing my difference with my eye.
 
Like you tested a pump spray on a very fine mist setting. And spray to just before it's starts to sheet and hold the bottle as long as possible away. It's hard to do and it's takes some tries before it's satisfieng. A problem could be when you have such many different test spots and they starts to sheeting differently. Maybe concentrate to one spot at the time. But will be time consuming to do.
 
RippyD said:
I tried several times to get beading shots - not having any luck and am looking for advice. Here's what I'm seeing:

  • Hose or rain: I get large beads with no apparent difference. I can usually make out tape lines, so there's clearly some difference, but nothing obviously between product ares.
  • Hand pump sprayer: Can't see any difference in beads. Tape lines show up and tend to disappear between products that aren't sheeting well. Beading sizes may be different between products.
  • Pressure sprayer (Kwazar): Gets a very fine mist that I allow to float onto the surface. Similar results to a pump sprayer: I can see tape lines - beading is just slightly larger, and they disappear between products not working well. But no obvious differences on the product areas.

Is there a better way to test this? Hoping I'm missing something obvious.

btw, I read one manufacturer's take on how to measure sealant durability and effectiveness (not linking because it's not a product sold here). The like to use beading and sheeting as a measure. For beading, their opinion is that you need to measure the height, contact angle, and diameter of beads. They acknowledge that paint with no product will also bead water. I may need to get close-up shots and compare side by side. I'd not seeing my difference with my eye.
Click to expand...
  • Contact angle has always been a measure. Which is why it's common to see a 110 contact angle on many coating descriptions.

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I've gotten good shots with a pressure washer, go to a coin op of you don't have one, put walk as far as astue hose will take you and shoot the water up at an angle to the hood and let the very fine mist find its way to the hood.

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