Water spots - topper vs coating.

[rover137]

Thought this might interest some people here… it did me anyway..

Since coating my car with CarPro Lite in April 2021 I have been using Elixir as a drying aid after each wash everywhere but one side of the roof. I wanted to see how just bare coating would get along.

One side Lite + Elixir, other bare Lite. Rained on a short drive yesterday and this is a shot of the roof the next morning. This is actually the first time in 8 months I’ve noticed this.

‘Spot’ the difference

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[Craig Encinitas]

I assume left side has both Lite & Elixer?
You didn’t specify. But yes, according to most experts, a stand alone ceramic coating is prone to water spotting.


Something I’ve also been thinking about lately…

If we constantly top our coated cars off with a topper, are we effectively extending the base multi-year coating indefinitely?

 

[rover137]

Is this when we guess which side has which?



Something I’ve also been thinking about lately…

If we constantly top our coated cars off with a topper, are we effectively extending the base multi-year coating indefinitely?

Yep it’s a ‘spot’ the difference game…

That question I cannot answer. I would think you’d get a bit more life out of the base if topped, as well as have more safety against water spots etc, but then unless you really know what you are looking for how do you tell if the base has failed (especially for those of us who ‘top’ weekly) but just the topper remains? Part of the reason I left half the roof bare coating.


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[Craig Encinitas]

I can tell you that CarPro Gliss absolutely prevented water spots on my freshly coated car (at the time).
I unknowingly parked next to some sprinklers and fortunately they didn’t bake into the surface in the hot summer sun. This was on a passenger side door, not a horizontal surface.

 

[rover137]

Oh and yeah left side is Elixir + Lite and on the right is just bare Lite sorry!

That's good! Always good to see products working as they should. I guess we now have a new CarPro Spotless as well for these occasions.

They came off with a light QD wipe as well.

 

[BudgetPlan1]

If we constantly top our coated cars off with a topper, are we effectively extending the base multi-year coating indefinitely?

Dunno how much sense it makes but i always found that as the base coating fades, the topper becomes less 'functionally exciting' when it's applied.

 

[rover137]

Dunno how much sense it makes but i always found that as the base coating fades, the topper becomes less 'functionally exciting' when it's applied.

Makes sense. I'd also think maybe a topper wouldn't last as long without the coating underneath.

 

[The Guz]

Dunno how much sense it makes but i always found that as the base coating fades, the topper becomes less 'functionally exciting' when it's applied.

Exactly this. The drop is exponential once the coating gets to the point where a topper won't help anymore.