The ilogikal1 test thread

[Stutopia]

I'm not sure if it's "just" IPA rather than a fettled IPA-based Panel Wipe (or Eraser, or Prep) jobbie, but Rob (Mr GTechniq) always recommends using IPA when G2 runs out.

 

 

Put off detailing because of the weather? Lightweight.

 

 

(It's ruined most of my plans for the day too ).

 

You've got a 60 ft long garage, get busy!! I've got to do it in nature.

[ilogikal1]

That's just not true! It's only 58ft.

 

If it were 60ft, I'd have room to fit my fat a**e in there too and get the front bumper done today.

[ilogikal1]

 

[Stutopia]

For a chap who can correct paint, why so many glazes?

[ilogikal1]

For a chap who can correct paint, why so many glazes?

 

Several reasons; firstly because Waxybox keeps giving them to me, Poorboys pre-dates my DA purchase and Ultra Glaze is flavour of the month so I had to try it for myself. Also there's only a finite amount of top coat one can to remove; whilst I can correct it's not really advisable to continually correct all the time unless you budget for a respray at some point, so the general plan is to reduce the amount of correction I carry out without letting the finish suffer too much for it. Glazes are also a great way to achieve a dripping wet look even on perfect paint.

 

But all of that is really a side note to the reason for using them this time round - the front bumper is (still) in desperate need of paint really between the stone (or boulder) chips, the odd scuff and a patch of peeling lacquer which is now getting worse, and I hate machine polishing the lower panels so I didn't bother with the front bumper again this time and decided to test out some of the glazes I have for a side-by-side comparison. I just need the sun to appear now.

 

You'll be glad to know that the car is done, some pictures have been taken and I've got a free afternoon to do the write up. Expect an update shortly*.

 

*Disclaimer; I may be using the term "shortly" quite loosely.

[Stutopia]

For a chap who can correct paint, why so many glazes?

 

Also there's only a finite amount of top coat one can to remove; whilst I can correct it's not really advisable to continually correct all the time unless you budget for a respray at some point, so the general plan is to reduce the amount of correction I carry out without letting the finish suffer too much for it. Glazes are also a great way to achieve a dripping wet look even on perfect paint.

 

 

This is a good point, not thunk about it like that.

[ilogikal1]

A little preview of what was used to bring you the following update(s);

 

 

So yeah, just a few products.

 

I'll start with the one that Stu's interested in and the sample that he very kindly provided for the "ilogikal1 product testing procedure". This essentially started when Stu, on his build thread, said,

To top it off, this lot arrived too and should see me right for another year and there's even some new products to try. If only I knew someone who could test some samples...

 

At which point I pounced and bullied him into giving me some of his new toys.

 

Discussions commenced and a couple of products in my armoury were selected for comparison (then another was added later when I remembered that I actually had it ), and before long I received a bottle of yellow in the post that had my name all over it;

 

 

Stu also kindly provided the description and instructions from the proper bottle's label, including the advice not to consume the contents on threat (warning) of (possible) death. Which was good because the website offers much less information than the label. So, presenting Ammo Skin Defense Coat;

 

 

 

On the basis of that description, the contenders were agreed to be Poorboys EX-P and Finish Kare Ultra Polymer Sealant (#2180). Both of which are very similar products, the latter in particular is very much FK's version of Skin. Or Skin is Ammo's version of #2180 if you prefer. With that, the plan was formed that EX-P, Skin and FK2180 would share the bonnet. And so it was. EX-P on the driver's side, Skin in the middle and FK on the passenger's side;

 

 

Starting with application; they are all quite different in some ways but similar in others.

EX-P spreads quite well but it really doesn't matter whether you get it thin and even or just slap it on and wait really because it's always easy to remove (although thin layers are always best as it just wastes product otherwise). It can be applied in direct sunlight too you just need to make sure it doesn't bake on if applying a thick layer as that may require a QD to buff off. Once spread over the paint, it needs between 15-30 minutes (or more) to cure before buffing - you can leave it forever if you wish, it'll still come off easily anyway, but ~60minutes gives longer durability. Buffing can be a bit dusty if it's over applied, but otherwise it's fine and remarkably easy as a rule. EX-P has a coconut scent to it when applying but by time it's cured that's long gone and smells almost chalky.

 

Ammo Skin however is best applied thin and even; if it's over applied it requires a much more effort to remove, get it right though and it virtually wipes off with very little difficulty - the only issue I had with it is that it can leave an oily residue when the cloth becomes saturated (which seems to occur at random in my case) but is easy resolved with changing buffing cloths. Skin is very easy to work, it spreads far and easily, so getting it thin isn't an issue providing you're paying attention. It advises to leave a 1-3 minutes before buffing, which I did for the main part, however I experimented a bit leaving it up to 10 minutes (ish) and only found that any over-applied bits were a difficult to remove (to the extent that I ended up reapplying more to get it off) so don't do that. Although I can't quite place it, Skin's scent is quite familiar. It's a bit cologne-like and I thought it was quite pleasant and different to the usual fruity scents that LSP's tend to lean towards, it was quite strong (although not over bearing) so it left the car/garage smelling quite pleasant for an hour or two as well. It does tend to dry out and bake on in sunlight though.

 

FK2180 is a little more forgiving than Skin in terms of applying in thin layers but not quite as forgiving as EX-P, it'll let you get away with mild over-application or not getting it quite as thin as it can be but it'll punish you for just slapping it on to the point where it'll take a fair bit of buffing and probably a QD too in order to remove it. It does however forever and a day, so it's very easy to get it thin enough once you learn at which point it turns against you. The thing with FK is that the first layer seems to disappear into the paintwork as you're applying it so it requires a systematic application process to avoid wasting product going over areas you've already done, the flip side to that though is that there's actually less to buff off on the first layer. The second layer doesn't do this as much unless you missed bits on the first pass. Curing times are basically made up as you go along; providing it passes the swipe test it's ready to buff, otherwise leave it a few more minutes. In my experience it only takes a couple of minutes to cure but it can also be left indefinitely without any adverse effects. Buffing the first coat is little more than a wipe over really, the second coat is more a typical buffing technique though. It does however dry out and become dusty in direct sunlight, so apply in cool, shaded areas. It has no added scents that I've noticed and smells a little bit chemically.

 

FK don't give any sort of application advice anywhere it seems, however I have applied additional layers of 2180 within minutes of buffing the previous layer previously without incident. Poorboys cures before buffing, so layers can be applied immediately again although like waxes it's usually advisable to give it a few hours at least before adding layers. So partly because of that but mostly because Ammo stated a 24 hour curing period before adding layers of Skin, I gave them all the same and applied a second layer of each the following day.

 

In short, for application; EX-P you should apply to the whole car, go and have a brew, maybe a spot of lunch, have another brew, have a nap, have another brew and then buff off. Skin you should apply panel by panel and buff sooner rather than later but have a lot of cloths to hand. 2180 you can do whatever the hell you like, frankly.

 

Sadly the sun is currently grounded or something because it's not come out to play yet today, hopefully it will later and I'll be able to capture the difference in finishes across the three, so far this is the best that I managed to get;

 

EX-P;

 

Skin;

 

2180;

 

I'm told that there's a sun behind all that cloud.

 

In terms of finish, Skin offers a little more depth to 2180's slightly more sterile finish whilst EX-P provides more flake pop than Skin (with 2180 between the two). All three give good gloss but I'd say 2180 offers marginally better clarity, followed by EX-P. Here's a terrible photo that shows none of that.

 

 

So I tried to capture some if the differences better...

 

 

... and largely failed it would appear.

 

You can sort of see a small difference here between Skin and the two either side of it (at least I hope you can and I'm not imagining it );

 

 

With the test panel sorted, it looked like I'd used next to nothing of my sample so I decided that the rest of the car (without a nominated LSP already) would get the same 2 layers of Skin. That left me with shininess like this;

 

 

And this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah, it's not bad. For my first time using any Ammo products, I have to admit I'm quite happy with Skin.

 

Having then given the both front wings, both rear wings and both doors 2 layers of Skin, I'd guestimate that I've used about 20-25ml of product.

Whilst it's arguably the more fussy sealant of the three, I actually quite liked Skin and could see it easily replacing either EX-P or 2180 in my arsenal. The downside to it however is that there are currently no UK resellers of Ammo products (I've heard rumours that Larry [Mr Ammo] is in discussions with someone over here but I have no idea who, when it might happen or even if it's true) so as it stands you'll have to import the products from 'Merica yourself. I'll leave it to Stu to decide if he wants to share what it cost him, but suffice it to say it's likely that the postage alone would cover the cost of EX-P.

 

Poorboys EX-P currently retails at £13.95 for a 500ml bottle (or 16oz in 'Merican).

Finish Kare Ultra Polymer Sealant #2180 currently retails at £12.95 for a 444ml bottle (or 15oz in 'Merican).

Ammo Skin Defense Coat currently retails at $65 for... an amount not listed on the website, but Stu tells me it's 473ml (or 16fl. oz in 'Merican).

 

I'll reserve judgment on "value" until I've got some durability data to hand. In the mean time, more LSP's will follow (starting with that other one you were interested in, Stu ) later today, beading pictures will occur in the near future too but I'll leave this with;

 

 

To be continued...

[Stutopia]

Already an interesting read, looking forward to beads and longevity. I've never done a second layer of Skin after 24 hours, as I never had two good days of weather off work since I found it.

 

For info, AMMO charge a flat $50 shipping fee worldwide, however many produtcs you buy, so it's either extremely expensive (for one item ) or great value if you fill your boots like I did! They also chucked in a free bottle of Citrus APC and there's a 10% discount code if you check advert banners on The Smoking Tire [sic] website before you order. It'll never compete on price per fl oz basis until there's a UK distributor.

 

Thanks very much for taking the time to do this mate, much appreciated I can't imagine doing it myself as having different products all round on the car my OCD would explode

[ilogikal1]

The rest of the car then.

 

The plastic & rubber trim was treated to either HubiKote HubiTrim or Nanolex Trim Rejuvenator, along with the (now) 4 'Z' badges, kickplates and grille. The exhaust was treated to a polish and then sealed with 50Cal Track Wheel Wax and HubiKote HubiRims as previously mentioned. Three wheels are treated to Slick Rims and one to HubiRims. All tyres have Blackfire Total Eclipse Tyre Dressing on. Door & boot rubber seals were given a dose of Einzett Gummi Plfledge. The interior was given a clean and dressed with Auto Finesse Spritz, the seats were given a coat of Dr Beasleys Leather Lock. The engine bay got a quick clean and dressed with Auto Finesse Dressle.

 

On the roof and A pillars resides Gyeon Cure. As I recently did Cure, I decided to go for two coats this time whereas I went for the one last time. That looks like this;

 

 

 

Cure is very easy to use, in this case I simply sprayed onto a 600gsm microfibre, wiped over the surface, turned the cloth to a dry side and buffed the streaks out. Job jobbed.

 

The boot lid is currently hosting neat Car Chem Hydro Coat, largely because I didn't give it a chance to fail last time and ended up removing it (with some difficulty!). Again, 2 coats this time. First coat was applied with a cotton make up pad, the second I tried something a little different - I got some new Gyeon Q2M Suedes, so I first attempted to apply the second coat just with one of those. The cloth kept grabbing to the paint and it was a paint in the arse to use that way, so I ended up using one of the small "Suedes" wrapped around the foam block from the Prime applicator set (I used the small "Suedes" because I had earmarked the same suede [but smaller] cloths from the applicator set for the coatings - quartz coatings tend to crystallise on the cloths so it's advisable to dispose of them after use and certainly not to re-use then, however Hydro Coat isn't a quartz coating and doesn't crystallise so you can reuse the cloths use with Hydro Coat). Anyway, once I got all the streaks out of that, it looks like this;

 

 

 

And that's it for the sealants.

 

Moving onto the coatings; the plan was that the skirts would get a coat of Gyeon Prime whilst the rear bumper gets something else. This changed when, after doing the driver's side easily enough in the garage, the remainder of my Prime leaked. So the passenger's side skirt got the other coating. Apparently I forgot to get pictures of Prime, but you can see it in this picture;

 

 

The other coating was...

 

 

...Dodo Juice Supernatural Infinity. There's not of information available about this, it seems that Dodo Juice don't do marketing these days. So armed with information from the one and only person in the whole entire internet to actually have used this I... pretty much made it up as I went along. Despite the warnings, opted for a well ventilated garage instead of a mask, not pouring it in my eyes instead of safety glasses but opted for the gloves still - to be fair, the instructions are much more realistic than the panicky packaging my sample came in. As my sample came without any applicators or anything (literally just a bottle of product and an small sheet of "instructions") whereas the actual product comes with an applicator and 2 A4 pages of instructions (apparently), I opted to use the Gyeon applicator set which I had spares of. Having gained experience from applying Prime previously, I essentially used this in the same manner but heeded the timings given by Dodo Juice - essentially the method is to wet the applicator, apply to a section in a cross-hatch pattern until the product is well spread and there's no sign of bubbles and minimal smears, then buff with a microfibre cloth until all the smears are gone. Repeat for all sections. Prime is remarkably easy to use, it's great for coating novices and it's very forgiving. Dodo Juice Infinity isn't much different but I'd say it's probably one (small) step up from Prime as it has lower working times which make it easier to get wrong - when applying coatings, timing is everything; buff too late and you're left with smears that need to be polished out - but it's not so difficult that you're likely to mess it up (unless you completely ignore the instructions of course).

Prime adds a bloody tremendous level of gloss, get it right and it really is like there's a layer of glass on top of the paint. Infinity is a little odd in that when it's applied it appears to dull the finish somewhat - comparing it to Hydro Coat above it, the reflections from Hydro Coat were noticeably sharper than Infinity was - however that seems to have subsided now and whilst it's still not as glossy as Hydro Coat, it's not as dull as it was at first. I'm not sure at what point since it was applied that it changed but it does appear to become glossier as it cures.

 

Also every other coating that I know of has a "topper" product to go with it that is designed and used to protect the coating from water spotting whilst it cures fully. In Gyeon's case that topper is Cure. In GTechniq's it's Exo. In Car Pro's it's Reload. And so on. However Dodo Juice have no such product and on the one thread on the interwebs that I've found on Infinity they even go as far as to say that it doesn't need one "but you can use Acrylic Spritz if you really wanted to use something". They later go on to say that it's best to wipe away any water with a QD as soon as possible to avoid water spots, however I have no real desire to spend rainy days wiping water off the car, so I topped both with a single layer of Cure - I want to try to treat both coating identically to give as best a chance as possible for a fair comparison - however with Infinity I only topped the top and sides of the given panel, leaving the undersides alone to see if waterspotting does occur (because I can't see it without specifically looking for it, it's okay.

 

Prime has a life expectancy of 12+months, Inifinity has a life expectancy of "something like 1-2 years probably".

Gyeon Prime currently retails at £43 for a 30ml set (which was plenty to coat an entire SEAT Leon, a 350Z side skirt and door shut with enough left over to spill).

Dodo Juice Supernatural Infinity retails at £34.95 for a 30ml set - my sample was 10ml, that was plenty do the rear bumper, one side skirt and door shut of a 350Z with enough (2-3ml perhaps) left over not to know what to do with.

 

When it's topped with cure it looks like this;

 

 

 

 

And there's almost even a Hydro Coat reflection comparison here;

 

 

Now I said that's what it looks like topped with Cure, but that's not strictly true. Most of it is, however the number place recess got a coat of one of the waxes... I think it was instead, but I can't actually rememeber now. Anyway, the recess and the spoiler got a coat of Obsession Wax Phaenna, which is a show wax (so less durability, more deep, wet, shiny flake popping looks) and the driver's wing mirror got 2 coats of this. Which looks like this;

 

 

I'll get a better picture of it some other time with a proper light source on it. It'd look great if the sun actually ever comes again. Until then, take it from me, it looks better in proper light. Whilst I did really like using this wax, it taught me three things; I'm not too keen on passion fruit as a scent, topping coatings with this wax is a good idea and topping Hydro Coat with this wax is not a good idea! Whilst Phaenna was remarkably easy to use on bare paint and on Infinity, it became a **** on Hydro Coat and left an oily residue that I'm still not convinced I've fully removed now! That aside, Phaenna has ignited a desire to try other Obsession Wax waxes now, which doesn't happen often. It's a good thing they only do three.

 

On the other mirror I have Wax Addict Candy Gloss Whipped. Largely because I realised I've never actually used it until now. Slightly more tempromental than Phaenna to use in that has a 5-8 minute window to buff, after which time it becomes difficult to remove oily residue. That, in equally poor light as Phaenna looks like this;

 

 

Again, this is a show wax, so durability won't be all that, and again it looks better with a proper light source which I may get a photo of at some point.

 

That just leaves the front bumper...

[ilogikal1]

Already an interesting read, looking forward to beads and longevity. I've never done a second layer of Skin after 24 hours, as I never had two good days of weather off work since I found it.

 

For info, AMMO charge a flat $50 shipping fee worldwide, however many produtcs you buy, so it's either extremely expensive (for one item ) or great value if you fill your boots like I did! They also chucked in a free bottle of Citrus APC and there's a 10% discount code if you check advert banners on The Smoking Tire [sic] website before you order. It'll never compete on price per fl oz basis until there's a UK distributor.

 

Thanks very much for taking the time to do this mate, much appreciated I can't imagine doing it myself as having different products all round on the car my OCD would explode

 

I rarely do multiple coats on this thread, so I thought whilst I was using free products...

 

As I understand Ammo's business model, all the products are designed by Larry effectively for his own use and sales, as such production runs are small which means costs are high. With any luck it'll be something like 50Cal (who I slated for their high costs) and as he gets more resellers, he too will be able to benefit from economies of scale and reduce prices with costs. If it is true that he's looking at UK resellers, I'd say there's probably more than a chance of that happening at some point.

 

Always happy to play with new products, especially when I don't pay for them. Having said that though, it's usually the ones I don't pay for that end up costing me a lot... I may regret this! Thanks go to you for supplying the product mate, this simply wouldn't have happened without.

[ilogikal1]

Before I get to the front bumper, I thought I'd chuck this in here first;

 

 

Largely for reference of how the sealed exhaust looks before covering any mileage.

 

At the other end of the car is this mess.

 

 

From left to right is Dr Beasley's Finishing Glaze up to the angle, AM Details AM Glaze from the angle to the badge, Poorboys Black Hole from the badge to the angle, Auto Finesse Ultra Glaze from the angle to the wheel. All topped with Car Chem Origin courtesy of the SuperStu lucky dip method. The bottom centre section has Ultra Glaze topped with FK2685 (pink wax).

 

Aside from the stone chips aplenty, this is the biggest reason why the bumper needs to see some paint soon;

 

 

On the left is Poorboys Black Hole (which, incidentally, does nothing to mask lacquer peel, in case you were wondering. ), on the right is Ultra Glaze.

 

And here is a lot of stone chips filled with Dr Beasley's on the left and AM Glaze on the right;

 

 

Then the sun came out. Sadly by that time of day, at this time of year, it's in completely the wrong place to get any decent pictures, so these are the best I can do for now;

 

 

Trying to give an idea of any differences...

 

 

... and failing. Again.

 

So I resorted to artificial light, so at least in the following pictures the light source is consistent in each.

 

Dr. Beasleys Finishing Glaze;

 

 

AM Details AM Glaze;

 

 

Poorboys Black Hole;

 

 

and Auto Finesse Ultra Glaze;

 

 

Remember, this panel has not been polished at all, there's pictures further back in the thread to give you an idea of what I started with - one day I'll do a proper 50/50 with some glazes, but for now this will have to do.

 

It would seem that all four glazes have masked a lot of the swirls however, for me Ultra Glaze masks the most. I've found one or two that Black Hole hasn't quite filled, similarly with AM Glaze and Dr Beasleys - I really can't choose between the three there. In terms of finish... again I really can't distinguish which is best.

 

In terms of usage, Dr Beasleys is the thickest consistency so doesn't spread quite as far as a result and requires an extra 0.75% (or something) effort to work but it still buffs easily no matter how much or little you apply, it has a minty scent which, whilst pleasant enough, just makes think I'm using toothpaste.

 

AM Glaze is a thinner consistency but not overly liquid, as a result it spreads fooooooorrrrrreeeeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeeeer. When you load the applicator, pour out what you think you'll need, scoop half of that back into the bottle. Scoop about half again back into the bottle. You see that amount that you have there? Yeah, that's still too much! Which makes it awesome value. You don't so much work AM Glaze as you do just spread it about a lot. Now that you've used too much (and you will) you'll discover that it doesn't matter because it buffs off with no problem regardless of how much (or little) you use. It has an annoying scent though. Annoying because I recognise it but I can never place it. Ever. It's nice though. Sort of fruity to an extent - since writing this I've discovered the website sates it's a "fruity cherry scent". That doesn't help me place where I recognise it from though.

 

Black Hole is Black Hole. I'll assume you've used it before because everyone has Black Hole. Or White Diamond. If you have White Diamond, it's like that, but blue. Probably smells different too. Black Hole smells lovely! But for the purposes of fairness, Black Hole spreads well and far, it's easy to work, it's Poorboys so you can use it in direct sunlight and you can apply it in any quantity and it'll still be easy to buff. And it smells lovely too. No idea what the actual scent is though.

 

Ultra Glaze is more liquid than the others and tends to separate in the bottle when left to do so, so needs a good shake before use (the others it's best to shake too, but not necessarily essential if you've not left them for long), it spreads well with a decent work time, it's somewhere between Black Hole and AM Glaze for this. Doesn't seem to matter how much you use, it'll buff off easily regardless. It smells like... er... some sort of shampoo. The ones you find in hotel bathrooms, that have fancy names that you've never heard of before. It's actually quite pleasant to be fair.

 

All we applied and given a couple of minutes to cure before being buffed, however I know from experience with all of them that they can each be left on for as long as you like without any problems removing, so you can work panel by panel or do the whole car before buffing providing it's in the shade (unless you're using Poorboys which I'm failry sure would work ON the sun... okay maybe not but certainly in direct sunlight).

 

Dr Beasley currently retails at £20.11 for 12oz.

AM Glaze currently retails at £10.00 for... some amount, which according to other sources is 500ml.

Black Hole currently retails at £14.00 for 473ml.

Ultra Glaze currently retails at £13.00 for 500ml.

 

I believe 12oz is 355ml (give or take), assuming it's 'Merican oz's. Less if it's UK oz's.

 

Because the sun came out long enough for me to notice that the sun came out before finding a cloud to hide behind before I could get the camera, have these;

 

EX-P;

 

 

Skin;

 

 

FK... whatever number it was, I'll call it UPS now;

 

 

And trying to get all of them in the sunlight only to realise the sun is in the wrong ******* place!

 

 

And just these (after I put the plates back on).

 

 

 

Beading pictures may occur tomorrow, even if I have to fake them. Until then, that is all.

[Stutopia]

I'm glad Skin looks best (at that price!)

[ilogikal1]

looking forward to beads

 

Beads? You want beads? I can do beads! Beads!

 

Some beads then. And by "some" I mean a lot. I might have got carried away again, but I don't care because beading is good. (bonnet beads are in part two. Too many pictures, again!).

 

Dodo Juice Supernatural Infinity... by which I really mean Cure at this stage (complete with bead reflections. );

 

 

 

 

Infinity topped with Obsession Wax Phaenna in the recess, topped with Cure on the lower part;

 

 

 

HubiKote HubiTrim with Car Chem Hydro Coat over it on the badge (and just Hydro Coat on the paint);

 

 

 

HubiTrim and/or Hydro Coat and Infinity that's really Cure;

 

 

Hydro Coat (top) and Phaenna over Hydro Coat (bottom);

 

 

*Deep breath*... Phaenna, Nanolex Trim Rejuvinator, Cure and G1;

 

 

Phaenna;

 

 

Those other three things;

 

 

Two of those other three things;

 

 

*Deeper breath*... Wax Addict Candy Gloss Whipped, HubiKote HubiTrim, Gyeon Cure and GTechniq G1 (and a little bit of Ammo Skin Defense Coat);

 

 

Candy Gloss Whipped mainly;

 

 

Cure & HubiTrim;

 

 

Settle in for a few of Cure;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Car Chem Origin;

 

 

 

Gyeon Prime (that's really Cure);

 

 

 

Ammo Skin Defense Coat (top) compared to Gyeon Prime (well, Cure) (bottom);

 

 

[ilogikal1]

Onto the bonnet then!

 

Poorboys EX-P;

 

 

EX-P isn't known for it's beading, although it's not too bad the beads are quite flat compared to all of the other LSP's and not quite as consistently round.

 

On the left is EX-P, on the right is Ammo Skin;

 

 

Ammo Skin;

 

 

Quite impressive. Consistently small, tight, round beads.

 

On the left is Ammo Skin, on the right is FK Ultra Polymer Sealant;

 

 

FK854315846843184 or whatever (Ultra Polymer Sealant);

 

 

Similar to EX-P, inconsist shapes & quite flat. Again though, this is a sealant that's not known for it's beading so it's not a bad effort.

 

More FK;

 

 

 

Skin;

 

 

 

EX-P;

 

 

 

Skin (top), EX-P (bottom);

 

 

Skin (top), FK (bottom);

 

 

For me, Skin takes the beading round.

[ilogikal1]

S'more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ilogikal1]

More pictures happened today (because there aren't many already ), if anyone's interested? There's ducks any everything... well, not everything, but there are ducks.

[Stutopia]

Like this, particularly the bead on the black art of the Z badge.

 

 

[ilogikal1]

2 weeks have passed, 450ish miles have been covered, "blood rain" (that's slightly sandy rain for those who aren't headline writers), the worsteristest air pollution of all time evarrrrr (or something) and some lovely, lovely sunshine has happened.

 

There's quite a lot to report, so for tonight I'm going to focus on the wheels but the rest will follow when I find some arsed.

 

So, just to remind you, three wheels were treated with Slick Rims whilst the remaining wheel (OSR) got a coat of pre-production HubiRims. The car was parked up in the garage for several days after application so it's fair to assume that everything was about as cured as it could possibly be. The discs were rusty from the clean so the first outing shed quite a bit of that rusty dust over the wheels - the fronts in particular - combined with the DS2500 pads which are commonly known to be "dusty" pads. This is the first time they have been washed.

 

Starting with;

 

NSF.

 

 

 

NSR.

 

 

 

OSR (the HubiRims one).

 

 

OSF.

 

 

 

 

If you were looking closely you might have seen what is about to become the larger issue.

I started with a snow foam (Car Chem Snow Foam at ~5% PIR), allowed to dwell for 7 minutes followed by a thorough rinse. That left me with this;

 

NSF.

 

 

 

 

 

NSR.

 

 

 

OSF.

 

OSR (HubiRims wheel).

 

 

There was also a film of dirt still on all the wheels - largely on the barrel where it's difficult to aim the pressure washer at it. So out came the Wheel Woolies and the Britemax Cleanmax (yes, I know it adds protection but it doesn't last on the wheels, and all four were treated the same). With considerable (and I do mean considerable!) Wheel Woolie scrubbing, I was left with this;

 

[ilogikal1]

I resorted to using a Megs Microfibre Wash Mitt, which still required scrubbing the spots to lift them and left me with this;

 

 

 

 

 

 

The HubiRims wheel.

 

 

Slick Rims wheel.

 

 

 

The beading after wash 1.

 

Slick Rims;

 

 

And HubiRims;

 

 

 

 

A few observations from this;

 

Firstly, I don't have a ******* clue what what has caused those spots. What I do know is this;

1. Snow foam didn't touch them.
    
   
2. They were plentiful on the Slick Rims wheels - moreso on the near side, but still present on the off side.
    
   
3. They did not affect the HubiRims wheels at all.
   

That it only occured on the Slick Rims wheels but not on the HubiRims wheel suggests that it is to do with the sealant. That the least of this occured on the last wheel treated with the dregs of the Slick Rims (and therefore I used a little less sealant) seems to back this up. That HubiRims required nothing more than a once over with Wheel Woolies and shampoo to clean and that Slick Rims required much, much more attention means that this is not a strong showing for Slick Rims. The next few washes need to prove to be very good for Slick Rims to redeem itself to me!

 

On the plus side, it's still beading quite well - even when not quite clean. Also, they do still clean up well, even if it does require a fair bit of effort; there's no sign of tar spots and appears to be no brake dust left over.

 

I will submit this feedback to Slick Rims and update with any comments they care to make, in the mean time I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now and see how it goes from here.

 

 

 

On a more positive note, Blackfire Total Eclipse Tyre Gel continues to impress me every time I use it. This was one coat, after 450 miles with nothing more than a snow foam and rinse to "clean" (it does well at repelling dirt too).

 

 

 

 

It does seem to like Michelins more than Falkens though. The Falkens, whilst still repelling water and dirt, are a little more satin than the Michelins - it is a satin finish dressing with one coat, but the Michelins are about the right amount for my liking whilst the Falkens are a little too satin for me. For that reason and that reason alone (it's got nothing to do with my finally killing those Falkens off, honest) they Falkens are getting swapped for Michelins when i get round to ordering them just so that the dressings match.

[Stutopia]

Are those spots not a bit of rusty water off the disk, after the car's sat for a while, then been out for a spin, then sat again?

[ilogikal1]

Are those spots not a bit of rusty water off the disk, after the car's sat for a while, then been out for a spin, then sat again?

 

Interesting theory, but I suspect that it's unlikely. The car was stood in the garage for almost 2 weeks between the brakes getting wet and the car being driven and there was no sign of these spots before the car was driven - it was also moved from the garage to the driveway where it sat for a day, give or take, so it had been moved too - so I'd be surprised if there was any water trapped around the discs by then let alone enough to cause this level of staining. The car wasn't driven in the wet at all since being cleaned either - the rain occurred whilst it was parked up and was then followed immediately by 2¹/₂ hot, sunny days. It's not like it's where rusty water spots have just dripped down when it rained as it was sat either as the spots cover the full circumference of the wheels.

I'm not sure they were rust marks either, they appeared to be heavy carbon spots at first but do look more rust/iron spots after a scrub with a Woolie. But then they lifted off with a m/f mitt, so...

Also, it only affected the three Slick Rims coated wheels, there was no sign of these marks anywhere on the HubiRims wheel.

 

As I say, the spots were around the full circumference of the three wheels but along different areas on each wheel; one nearer the back of the spokes, one near the middle of the barrel and the other was all over the place (including outside the spokes). I'm at a complete loss to explain what the marks actually were, let alone where they came from and why they only appeared on those three wheels to be honest.

[ilogikal1]

The paintwork then. It started off not too bad, like this;

 

EX-P.

 

AMMO Skin.

 

FK UPS.

 

Basically just some dusty waterspots and traffic film.

 

 

And some bug corpses on the front facing panels...

 

Cure.

 

 

Hydro Coat.

 

 

 

Phaenna.

 

Phaenna & Infinity/Cure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ilogikal1]

Some snow foam happened. After a couple of minutes, that looked like this;

 

 

Particularly of note was what was going on, on the bonnet (after struggling to get any foam to stick to the two coatings at all );

 

 

 

 

The rest behaved like this;

 

 

 

I also noticed the windscreen. I'm not (yet) sure if that's signs that the wiped area is more worn or more/less dirty at this point. I will be conducting further testing now that it's been cleaned to determine as the G1 is only 2 or 3 months old.

 

 

 

I had to really turn the foam up for the rear bumper and side skirts to get anything to stick to it at all, it just beaded up and ran off straight away with "too much" water in the mix.

 

 

 

And for anyone who thinks snow foam doesn't do anything at all;

 

 

 

The foam was given a few more minutes to dwell and then rinsed thoroughly. At which point I turned my attention to the wheels, so after they were completely clean I was left with a relatively clean car with waterspots (of the non-dusty variety) and the odd fly carcass like so;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, it was clear that the coatings are both awesome - aside from the fresh waterspotting, they both cleaned up in a completely touchless wash. It was also clear from the bonnet that Skin is easily the best sheeter of the sealants, whilst FK is the slowest. EX-P, for the record, was smack bang in the middle. At this point I would normally say that the FK sheeting isn't really all that good, not terrible but not good. EX-P on the other hand is about what I'd expect from a decent sealant at this point, so Skin has thoroughly impressed me already at this point. It wasn't as quick as the coatings, but it was closer to the coatings than FK was to Skin at this "half washed" point. Skin's impressive sheeting came as a bit of a surprise after seeing the snow foam on the bonnet as Skin appeared to be the one that wasn't repelling it at all... although perhaps that allowed for a better, deeper clean of that section.

Hydro Coat continues to impress me too, it was both sheeting and beading away very well at this point - the sheeting was on par with Skin for reference.

 

The buckets and a new shampoo then came out to play. I've been raiding Car Chem again and bought into the Detailing World Award Commemorative Limited Edition shampoo (it's just the 1900:1 with a "unique" scent really) for a bargain price.

[ilogikal1]

After the bucket wash, the first new thing I noticed was that my DI resin filter needs some new resin. I'd replaced the sandy waterspots with fresh waterspots, only to then replace them with even fresher waterspots despite using the filter. As such I'll skip the "finished" photos and go straight to the beading photos.

 

EX-P;

 

 

AMMO Skin;

 

 

FK UPS;

 

 

All with Origin on the front bumper beneath them.

 

Close ups. FK;

 

 

Skin;

 

 

 

EX-P;

 

 

Side-by-sides. Left is EX-P, right is Skin;

 

 

 

Left is Skin, right is FK;

 

 

Skin on top & Origin underneath and... something else on the badge;

 

 

Wax Addict Candy Gloss Whipped;

 

 

Obsession Wax Phaenna;

 

 

 

Nanolex Trim Rejuvinator on the trim, Cure on the A pillar;

 

 

Gyeon Cure;

 

 

 

Car Chem Hydro Coat and what I suspect is Car Chem Hydro Coat by now (the spoiler was topped with Phaenna, not convinced that's still there though);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phaenna and Dodo Juice Infinity (and/or Cure - I'm more inclined to accept that Phaenna is still working here, not so sure about Cure though given the roof);

 

 

Also, beading number plate!

 

 

[ilogikal1]

Infinity/Cure;

 

 

Skin on top, Gyeon Prime/Cure underneath;

 

 

 

 

Prime/Cure;

 

 

Skin on the lower side panel (behind the door);

 

 

Hydro Coat;

 

 

 

Infinity/Cure & Hydro Coat;

 

 

 

Hydro Coat, Infinity, Prime and Ammo are out on their own already.

Phaenna appears to have the legs over Candy Gloss, but they're both show waxes so anything they acheive from this point on is quite impressive.

After the wash either EX-P's sheeting slowed way down or FK's sped right up again, either way in terms of sheeting EX-P is now only marginally ahead of FK, whilst Skin continued to **** all over the other two.

Cure isn't looking too strong at this point. The sheeting is still good (better than EX-P & FK) but the beading is... "questionable" already.

The 50Cal Track Wheel Wax on the exhaust is holding up every bit as well as HubiRims is too.

 

For anyone who's interested, there doesn't appear to be any waterspot etching on the coating sections that weren't topped with Cure (although it's worth noting that the coatings were left several days to cure before being exposed to any water).

 

Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised by how well AMMO Skin is doing. I almost wanted it to be a meh (largely to deter me from spending a fortune importing some for myself ) but it's surpassed my expectations thus far.