Silica Spray Showdown: McKee's v. Gyeon v. CarPro

Which product provided the best beading throughout the testing period?

  • Product A

    Votes: 11 31.4%

  • Product B

    Votes: 10 28.6%

  • Product C

    Votes: 6 17.1%

  • They were all roughly equivalent

    Votes: 8 22.9%
  • Total voters
    35
Thanks, all.

I think I'm going to stretch them until 6 weeks because I'm starting to notice some water spots on the hood near the cowl where the water seems to pool, and then I'm going to probably use my left over Uber Ceramic on the hood.

In my opinion, these are good maintenance sprays and should be used on paint every 3-4 weeks depending on car use. In my opinion, I don't think they make a good solo coating.

I'll do the reveal at that point.

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kevincwelch said:
Thanks, all.

I think I'm going to stretch them until 6 weeks because I'm starting to notice some water spots on the hood near the cowl where the water seems to pool, and then I'm going to probably use my left over Uber Ceramic on the hood.

In my opinion, these are good maintenance sprays and should be used on paint every 3-4 weeks depending on car use. In my opinion, I don't think they make a good solo coating.

I'll do the reveal at that point.

(Sent via my mobile device...)
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100%. I think these products are really easy to use toppers for a coating or traditional LSP and should be used as such. I'm still of the opinion that it's a really easy to use product that could help prolong the life of a coating if used on a dedicated regimen of like you say, every 3-4 weeks. I wouldn't use these as a stand alone unless I just needed to make it a few weeks until I could dedicate the time to do a full detail with a coating or traditional LSP. I'm really anxious to see the reveal.
 
Can you go a baggie test for us before you remove them please?

Also I'd go as far to say that megs fast finish is holding up better and longer then any if these.

Here's fast finish at 6 weeks unwashed

cf56c35532d5b28bb7db6ec5391689e3.jpg


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Your test reminds me of a thread I was following with great interest last fall about Sealant durability. Will have to go search for the results now. I will follow your progress on this as well although I don't plan to use any of these products. I have a bottle of Hydro2 (not the light version, but the actual full strength product) that I use for wheels. I like it but I think it's pretty expensive, so I am not sure I will buy again. For paint I like to use Powerlock or Reload when it comes to sealant. But with all that said, great post, I admire your dedication and patience. Can't wait to see if any product can really set itself apart from the competition. My guess is that they will all do about the same in terms of durability.
 
kevincwelch said:
More or less agree.

Do you have opinions on which performed the best throughout?
Click to expand...
I went with all being equal. I appreciate your effort and I thought the test was very well done!

I've been using CP Hydro for a while now and about 4 weeks was it for me, still for the effort involved it's a solid option
 
Today.

Cleaned the hood with N914. Light misting of distilled water.

A
2f46052df3dfa04515f4b6aa11021ab3.jpg


B
ab99fa344d9d54af27895ec84dd8524f.jpg


C
5158d61a30a45222eec6233a7bc94b0b.jpg


B looks the best today.



Had to add some ECH2O near the cowl. Water spots were getting out of hand there.

6384a6e6289518ad582a5200cd0d118b.jpg


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Routine week. Entire car washed with DP Xtreme Foam and then hood wiped down with N914 in the waterless dilution.

Sheeting is non-existent across the board. Still getting "beads."

A
4d335449cd8f5eb47a7cdda3ef29bbf6.jpg




B
bed1f35ebf77d676fa8d9bd94b21c17d.jpg




C
9003a869e2baa12b2d970b82a4462010.jpg



(Sent via my mobile device...)
 
Heading into week 8; it`s basically been 2 months since application. Lots of water spots on the hood now. Bird bomb (Panel C/Product C) was harder to clean with N914 and wet MF towel. Some very minor etching from the bird bomb present. Here are the shots and video.

Panel A/Product A
2ea1a7d289a24784d12219fcf0ae3e55.jpg




Panel B/Product B
20caa301f61c6c12972fb248e91bb8b5.jpg



Panel C/Product C
d077f1ba79862fdf371638434deaf81c.jpg



Video


Comments
I find the beading to be variable after rain and after spraying it with distilled water (on a cleaned hood). The sheeting with high volume water is miserable to watch. Low volume sheeting is easier to take, but it is obviously slower on all three panels. I`m still going to conclude that there is some protection still there given the nature of the beading. Neither the beading nor the low volume sheeting are terrible at this point, so these products just may make it to 3 months. I suspect, however, that the level of protection will be far less than what we would all consider acceptable at that point. I may be judging.

I haven`t used any Gyeon spot remover or CarPro spotless for fear of degrading the coating somewhat. I`ll see how far it goes up to the three month mark.

At three months I`ll do the reveal, polish and coat with Wolfgang Uber.


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The results are in!

It`s been a little over two months since the application of my blinded silica sprays. Initially they exhibited some strong hydrophobic characteristics: tight beads and rapid sheeting. If you haven`t followed my thread, basically by 1 month, the coatings lost that super tight beading and rapid sheeting. Rapid sheeting precipitously worsened between months 1 and 2, and while beading took a hit, the fact that there were some tight beads here and there made me conclude there was still some protection.

However, between months 1 and 2, I started noticing water spots. There were a lot of them this weekend when I washed my wife`s car.

Water was just sitting on the hood. Here are the shots at 5 minutes. Not ideal.

Product A
394e10a213370f3113cfec1c855e406a.jpg



Product B (look more in the center)
26159f91daf205215095dfe75fb0627c.jpg



Product C
71dd610442af534d9c7886cd2a9dde8a.jpg


I decided that it was time to do something about it. Good thing I did. I used Gyeon spot remover and it got rid of some. I polished the car with HD Polish and it got rid of all of the spots except one, and that required some Menz FF3000. After prepping with Panel Wipe and then with Wofgang prep (uh, synergy maybe?), I applied Uber Ceramic to the hood.

So, here`s the reveal.

First, here`s how you voted:

1. Which one looked the best: 14% Product A, 86% can`t tell.

2. Which product beaded the best: 29% Product A, 71% can`t tell.

3. Which product sheeted the best: 29% Product A, 14% Product C, 57% can`t tell.

4. Which offered the best protection: 100% can`t tell.


The products used...

7f943070401175fd7f0d5a0bc7afca5f.jpg

fb1fa3f1df5725964be627c5cb487f80.jpg



69d32fcba74b8eb9c9c0f86d66ae33ea.jpg

65a8ffd15db05e7ca73b1f7b32e47e15.jpg



466ad471b95c325d6c1a4a7c0c1f9751.jpg

e48c46f4b996941f2485dec172c4f4bd.jpg



Final thoughts:

First, let me reiterate that I had no idea which product was which during the test. If my wife randomized them or even if she simply labeled them as I placed them, I had no idea and no biases throughout the test.

I felt that Product A (Wet Coat) started strong, but I`m my opinion, it ended up like the other three. I think the sheeting universally fails around 6 weeks and that the beading around 2 months. The protection is pretty good for about 1 month, and then stasis causes water spotting to form. In terms of durability, I did not get 3 months of protection out of these products. I did get more than 2 months of "beading," but not ideal beading. Certainly not the "protection" that I wanted. Some will say that even a good coating can display water spotting, but I generally have not experienced this with any traditional coating so soon.

I think these products do have a place - topping traditional coatings and using as a quick spray on wheels to help them maintain their shine and cleanliness.

Nevertheless, I think that if you`re going to ask the question of which you should buy, I think any one of these three will suffice for your application. But, if you are hoping to get at least three months of durable protection, you may want to think about boosting the silica spray coating every month.

Just my thoughts, as always...

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