Sealants vs Coatings

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PeteT19640

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Hi
I apply sealants about every 4-6 months, and enjoy it

Is there any benefit for me to apply a coating?

Thanks in advance
 
First thing you should do is decide what you want out of a coating; things to consider:

1. Durability, longevity

2. What kind of appearance? i.e. hard, candy-like gloss or deeper, warmer wax-like glow

3. Ease of application important?

4. Climate; what might work nice in Arizona (dry) might not be so nice in New Jersey (rain/snow)

5. Do you like beading or sheeting?

6. Are self-cleaning characteristics important to you or are you gonna wash your car weekly regardless?

7. How much do you wanna spend?

8. Daily driver or hobby car?

While quartz/glass/ceramic coatings are all in the same general category with respect to LSP’s, there are subtle differences in them and you may as well go with one that is strong in your primary areas of concern.

And FWIW, claims of hardness, scratch resistance and such are, IMO, way over-marketed with coatings. While they may provide some minor resistance to light marring, it's a harsh world out there and many things (jewelry banging paint around door handles, boxes hitting trunk areas while loading, leaning on hood of vehicle with grimy sweatshirts, etc) *will* leave a mark. Problem with coatings is the only way to remedy those marks/marring is to re-polish (removing coating) and re-coating that area, generally an entire panel as many coatings don't lend themselves well to spot fixes. If you're horribly OCD-ish about having a totally defect free car for 2 years, a coating may not be the best way to go...or a 'lighter' coating like Gyeon CanCoat may be more appropriate.

I'm a coating junkie but there are certain allowances you have to learn to live with; for me the benefits of a coating far outweigh the downside(s) but that's a decision only you can make. Read and research...there is no *BEST* coating but there likely is a *BEST FOR YOU*.

I live in NE Ohio so all ny findings/thoughts are based on that climate. The characteristics of a coating that matter most to me are:

1. Great Self Cleaning Abilities: Our cars see rain and often get rained on in the morning and then sit outside in the sun in the afternoon; don’t like waterspots. I like clean cars but don’t like cleaning cars.

2. Durability and resistance to environmental contamination like water spots and bird bombs. Don’t wanna have to worry about running home and immediately dealing with removing things that would otherwise etch bare paint. Like hard water spots did to our Corvette during the Zaino years. Also has to last cuz I don’t wanna be hauling out compounds and polishes every Spring, given reasonable maintenance.

3. Appearance: Well, stuff has to look good. Has to accentuate body lines, curves and hard edges. It needs to make me stop and admire it when walking towards it, walking away from it or catching a glance in the garage when I take out the garbage.

To be honest, of all the coatings I've tried, there were really no bad products but some did particular things a little better/different than others so I went with the one (s) that excelled in areas I found important.

YMMV
 
I like coatings as well as sealant and wax. IMO there is nothing that beats the wet look and depth of a wax. A coating IMO is the best PERIOD in terms of durability and IMO gives wax a run for its money. Which one do I prefer? I prefer Wax or a sealant topped with a wax. WHY? Because my ride is a garage queen. I also love to wax my ride or detail my ride on a monthly basis. I don't care about longevity as I am replenishing my ride with a wax or sealant. Additionally, I live in Southern California and the weather is really nice MOST of the time.

A coating would be the best if you don't have a garage queen, the weather is not as nice as Southern California and dust and pollen are your enemy. BudgetPlan1 is pretty much spot on about coatings. I really don't worry about water spots too much as it does not rain very often. He is right about the bird bombs. I have stuff in my trunk to handle the bird bomb in my ride.

IMO you can't go wrong with either, however, based on your post, it seems you don't have the time or can't take care of your ride on a monthly basis. I would go with a coating. I know I would if I could not take care of my ride and it was not a garage queen.
 
Let me start this post by saying that Budget just wrote one of the best posts I've ever read regarding this subject. How incredibly true.

And Kamakaz is also spot-on.

My take is this: Although a part of me is intrigued by the coating lines, as a "99 %er" as I've stated before, It is probably impractical for me.

What I mean by "99%er" is that while I want to protect my truck with the best products, I would really never have the time to get my paint "surgically clean". (No garage, little time, etc.) Also, after all the steps of washing, decon, correcting, and applying sealant/wax, I'm not really that hurt by not getting out every single imperfection that can be seen with a swirl finder light. My truck is a DD, and it's never going to SEMA. Lol

All that said, I am just more comfortable with my routine, and happy with my results.
 
Here are my thoughts. I agree that budget has a great post and he and I talk often about various coatings in PM's.

Kamakaz1961 said:
A coating would be the best if you don't have a garage queen, the weather is not as nice as Southern California and dust and pollen are your enemy. BudgetPlan1 is pretty much spot on about coatings. I really don't worry about water spots too much as it does not rain very often. He is right about the bird bombs. I have stuff in my trunk to handle the bird bomb in my ride.

IMO you can't go wrong with either, however, based on your post, it seems you don't have the time or can't take care of your ride on a monthly basis. I would go with a coating. I know I would if I could not take care of my ride and it was not a garage queen.
Click to expand...

I agree that it comes down to personal preference. But I am going to disagree with this coatings not being for garage queens. I have my camaro coated and it is the garage queen. As a matter of fact I just re-coated it. It is not about not having the time to spend on it to detail it. Coatings require maintenance as well. The coating allows the car to stay looking better for a longer period of time.

PaulMys said:
My take is this: Although a part of me is intrigued by the coating lines, as a "99 %er" as I've stated before, It is probably impractical for me.

What I mean by "99%er" is that while I want to protect my truck with the best products, I would really never have the time to get my paint "surgically clean". (No garage, little time, etc.) Also, after all the steps of washing, decon, correcting, and applying sealant/wax, I'm not really that hurt by not getting out every single imperfection that can be seen with a swirl finder light. My truck is a DD, and it's never going to SEMA. Lol

All that said, I am just more comfortable with my routine, and happy with my results.
Click to expand...

There is no need to get out every imperfection from the paint. In most cases a one step polish is good enough. There is a misconception that the paint has to be 100% perfect prior to applying a coating.

You are practically 95% there based on the steps you are already doing now.
 
BudgetPlan1 said:
First thing you should do is decide what you want out of a coating; things to consider:

1. Durability, longevity

2. What kind of appearance? i.e. hard, candy-like gloss or deeper, warmer wax-like glow

3. Ease of application important?

4. Climate; what might work nice in Arizona (dry) might not be so nice in New Jersey (rain/snow)

5. Do you like beading or sheeting?

6. Are self-cleaning characteristics important to you or are you gonna wash your car weekly regardless?

7. How much do you wanna spend?

8. Daily driver or hobby car?

While quartz/glass/ceramic coatings are all in the same general category with respect to LSP’s, there are subtle differences in them and you may as well go with one that is strong in your primary areas of concern.

And FWIW, claims of hardness, scratch resistance and such are, IMO, way over-marketed with coatings. While they may provide some minor resistance to light marring, it's a harsh world out there and many things (jewelry banging paint around door handles, boxes hitting trunk areas while loading, leaning on hood of vehicle with grimy sweatshirts, etc) *will* leave a mark. Problem with coatings is the only way to remedy those marks/marring is to re-polish (removing coating) and re-coating that area, generally an entire panel as many coatings don't lend themselves well to spot fixes. If you're horribly OCD-ish about having a totally defect free car for 2 years, a coating may not be the best way to go...or a 'lighter' coating like Gyeon CanCoat may be more appropriate.

I'm a coating junkie but there are certain allowances you have to learn to live with; for me the benefits of a coating far outweigh the downside(s) but that's a decision only you can make. Read and research...there is no *BEST* coating but there likely is a *BEST FOR YOU*.

I live in NE Ohio so all ny findings/thoughts are based on that climate. The characteristics of a coating that matter most to me are:

1. Great Self Cleaning Abilities: Our cars see rain and often get rained on in the morning and then sit outside in the sun in the afternoon; don’t like waterspots. I like clean cars but don’t like cleaning cars.

2. Durability and resistance to environmental contamination like water spots and bird bombs. Don’t wanna have to worry about running home and immediately dealing with removing things that would otherwise etch bare paint. Like hard water spots did to our Corvette during the Zaino years. Also has to last cuz I don’t wanna be hauling out compounds and polishes every Spring, given reasonable maintenance.

3. Appearance: Well, stuff has to look good. Has to accentuate body lines, curves and hard edges. It needs to make me stop and admire it when walking towards it, walking away from it or catching a glance in the garage when I take out the garbage.

To be honest, of all the coatings I've tried, there were really no bad products but some did particular things a little better/different than others so I went with the one (s) that excelled in areas I found important.

YMMV
Click to expand...

Thing that stinks with coatings is water spots
 
Are there coatings that do better with water spots? I thought I read CQuartz 3.0 UK version might do better with the spot issue. Idk.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Budget hit the nail on the head. Not much else I could offer.

The Guz said:
There is no need to get out every imperfection from the paint. In most cases a one step polish is good enough. There is a misconception that the paint has to be 100% perfect prior to applying a coating.

You are practically 95% there based on the steps you are already doing now.
Click to expand...

So very true. For my daily drivers, I'm not going to spend hours chasing random scratches. I'd rather correct the minor stuff and save my clearcoat...and time.

Personally I'm a huge fan of coatings. They have made normal maintenance so much easier I'd be hard pressed to go back to a sealant or wax unless it was a garage queen I wanted to constanly detail for fun. The one wild card in all of this is the current crop of products like CanCoat that stand in between coatings and sealants. Their ease of use may be a viable alternative. Even if they only last 6~9 months, the fact you can apply a new coat in 10~30 minutes makes them an interesting alternative. I'm going this direction after a couple years of coatings. It should be interesting.
 
I have applied lots of coatings to clients cars but I still am a sealant and wax guy. All of my garage queens (3) get carnuaba waxes. My daily drivers get sealants. I can't remember that last time one of my cars went more than a couple of weeks without me applying something to it (spray wax, spray sealant, etc). One thing I am not worried about is longevity. One thing I will say is that the gloss to the cars that I have coated is outstanding.
 
Lots of hot sun and clear cot failure.

Living in Texas and having a hi top van I can’t garage it. A year ago I had the second clear coat failure on the top followed by the clear coat failing on the side body panels a year later. Because of my disabilities I’m looking for ease of maintaince but primarily UV protection on plastic/fiberglass.
When the clear coat fails on the non-metal areas it cracks and peals off in big sheets rather than the typical clear coat failure of turning milky white and degrading away.
I’m planning on using a coating that claims it has uv blockers and a no rinse wash that also has uv blockers in it. I’m just not sure that the UV is causing the failure.
Will a coating work better to preserve my paint? Is the sealant applied annually the way to go? I’m not able to strip the van, I have a hard time doing anything but wiping the sealant on and off the top, it’s not going to see the buffer ever after the last $3000 paint job.
Am I doing the right procedure for the sun/heat/pollution that you find in Houston or am I just stuck repainting my 18 year old fan every 7 years?

David
Houston TX.
 
Hi all thanks for your input, interesting.

I don't have a machine to remove to recoat, so is the Can Coat the only product to use for this?
I would like to try it. Is there anything out there that I could use.

Thank you
 
fightnews said:
Thing that stinks with coatings is water spots
Click to expand...

Of all the coatings I have used (Cquartz, CQUK, Sonax CC36, Gloss Coat, Gyeon Syncro, PBL V2, Ameriarmour), I have not had a single issue with water spots. That includes the cars being dirty and being rained on. Even my mom's car that has CanCoat and is parked under a tree was never spotted from all the junk that falls from the tree.

PeteT19640 said:
Hi all thanks for your input, interesting.

I don't have a machine to remove to recoat, so is the Can Coat the only product to use for this?
I would like to try it. Is there anything out there that I could use.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Pick some up. If it is still going strong there is no reason to remove it. Pick up some Gyeon Cure and you can maintain it for a longer period of time.

You can polish later to remove whatever old CanCoat is still on the paint and add another fresh coat. Hand polishing should be able to remove it.

You should also consider picking up a machine to machine polish. Makes the job a whole lot easier.

If you are not ready to go the CanCoat route then perhaps the new Blackfire SiO2 spray sealant is something to consider.

More vides on CanCoat


 
PeteT19640 said:
Hi all thanks for your input, interesting.

I don't have a machine to remove to recoat, so is the Can Coat the only product to use for this?
I would like to try it. Is there anything out there that I could use.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Can Coat would be a great way to start! I use Can Coat on my wheels. It is very easy to apply!
 
Hi thanks again

Can Coat can be polished by hand then reapplied.
Does it have a maintenance e.g. spray say every 2 weeks. Bit like a spray wax over a sealant, I use Meguiars Ultimate Wax, with the Ultimate Spray wax every 2 weeks.

Power to a machine is tricky for me.

Thank you
 
It' amazing how much you learn just by reading a thread that catches your eye.
 
I live in an area of SoCal with bad water spotting and paste sealants seem to do better with spotting then coatings.

This is just as far as coatings are concerned with spots. When it comes to other like shine, durability and those type things the coatings last much longer.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 
Powerman said:
Lots of hot sun and clear cot failure.

Living in Texas and having a hi top van I can’t garage it. A year ago I had the second clear coat failure on the top followed by the clear coat failing on the side body panels a year later. Because of my disabilities I’m looking for ease of maintaince but primarily UV protection on plastic/fiberglass.
When the clear coat fails on the non-metal areas it cracks and peals off in big sheets rather than the typical clear coat failure of turning milky white and degrading away.
I’m planning on using a coating that claims it has uv blockers and a no rinse wash that also has uv blockers in it. I’m just not sure that the UV is causing the failure.
Will a coating work better to preserve my paint? Is the sealant applied annually the way to go? I’m not able to strip the van, I have a hard time doing anything but wiping the sealant on and off the top, it’s not going to see the buffer ever after the last $3000 paint job.
Am I doing the right procedure for the sun/heat/pollution that you find in Houston or am I just stuck repainting my 18 year old fan every 7 years?

David
Houston TX.
Click to expand...

In your situation I would definitely go with a coating. If you were closer I would help you out. IMO you should go over the paint with at least a finishing pad and a paint cleaner before coating.
 
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