Sunday, April 30, 2017

Synthetic Waxes Durability Test Update: Week 2

Please see here for the initial post.

I did not intend to publish an update so soon but what I saw today struck me by surprise. This made me very eager to share the initial results.

It was just after 2 weeks since my wife's daily drive had been sealed. Today, I decided to give it a wash. There were a few days of rain and many days of sunshine in between. Since I would not be using any spray wax on the test panel, I decided to go with Meguiar's Ultimate Wash & Wax.

See My Car Wash Shampoos for more on this shampoo

So without further ado, here is a quick update.
Camera, action!
Play the video in full screen to have a better view. I recommend using YouTube to slow down the playback speed.




This is just after the car has been rinsed clean.

Just to refresh your memory, here is what were applied.


Some close up shots below.

Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection

Finish Kare Hi-Temp Paste Wax

Fusso 12 Months Wax

Meguiar's Ultimate Paste Wax

It seems that most of the sealants do not bead water very well after just 2 weeks in our hot and humid climate except for Fusso 12 Months Wax. However, most of them are sheeting water just fine. In order to help quantify the behavior, I have tabularized them with a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the best.



SealantsWater BeadingWater Sheeting
Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection34
Finish Kare Hi-Temp Paste Wax34
Fusso 12 Months Wax55
Meguiar's Ultimate Paste Wax13



Being a first time user of Fusso 12 Months wax, I was really surprised by its hydrophobic properties. Water just would not wet the surface and will just bead up. Looks like we are in for a wonderful ride.
I just wanted to stress that the above rating is very subjective. Again, there is no absolute right or wrong in car detailing.

So, what do you guys think?

That's all for this post. Stay tuned for more updates.
Happy detailing.

Monday, April 24, 2017

Synthetic Waxes Durability Test: Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection vs. Finish Kare Hi-Temp Paste Wax vs. Fusso 12 Months Wax vs. Meguiar's Ultimate Paste Wax

autoglym extra gloss protection, finish kare hi-temp paste wax, fusso 12 months wax, meguiar's ultimate paste wax

I have been wanting to do a formal comparison on the durability of these synthetic waxes. I had been using Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection, Finish Kare Hi-Temp Paste Wax and Meguiar's Ultimate Paste Wax for quite some time. Fusso 12 Months Wax is kind of a new addition. I bought it a few months ago but never really used it. Generally, I already have an idea on the durability of these waxes except for the one from Fusso. However; just to be fair; I decided to test all of them on a same test panel on a same car with the same orientation to get an unbiased result.


I gave my wife's daily drive a full wash, clay, compound, and polish treatment last week. The rear hood was "reserved" as a test panel. This panel was finished off with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish prior to applying the waxes. I did not use an IPA to wipe the panels as all of the waxes are oil based and there is no need for the panel to be stripped of the oils.

I did not tape up the panel as this is still my wife's daily drive and I do not want any part of the panel to go unprotected. I did not want to surprise my wife with a zebra crossing pattern! However, individual applicator pads are used for each wax. There could be some "cross contamination" so take this with a pinch of salt.

The plan is to see durability of these waxes. The car will still go through regular washes except that I would not be using any spray wax on this test panel.


There was some overlapping in the application...


Fast forward a week (today) it rained when I was about to do some inspection... Haha!


The car has yet to be washed. It seems that the entire test area is still beading water quite well.
Some closer shots below.




There entire surface is still slick to the touch. Let see how it will be in another few months time. I will be posting updates from time to time.

That's it for today.
Happy detailing.

Update:
Week 2 results
Week 5 results
Month 2 results
Month 3 results

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Glass Care

Water marks on glass could be rather annoying. Since glass is much harder than paint or clear coat on paint for that matter, removing water marks should be easier.


Good Glass Cleaner


Regular car shampoo should do a good job in cleaning all the glass in your regular wash. In fact some shampoos have some "wax" that will help windscreen repels rain droplets. However, if there is already water spots or marks on the glass, regular car shampoo might not do the trick. Then it is time to move on to more serious glass cleaners.

Get a glass cleaner that is meant for automotive. Try to avoid household glass cleaners as some of them might contain ammonia and acid that could be harmful to both your health and your car. Regular household glass gleaner with "colored" liquids could even stain your car.



What I have in my arsenal is Meguiar's Glass Cleaner and Stoner Invisible Glass. Both of these cleaners are colorless and contain no ammonia and acid. The material safety data sheets could be found here and here, These two glass cleaners contain alcohols. Alcohols are common in glass cleaners. They help in removing oil and give fast drying "evaporating" results. So a little bit if caution here. Try not to get them on your car paint as they would strip away wax and and sealant because of the alcohol content. Right, end of chemistry class. 

These two products smell the same. I could not confirm if they are the exact same product but if they are, the Stoner would be a better buy because of the lower price.

They claimed that they would not create streak marks. However, from my experience, they do streak no matter how many times I wipe with clean towels. The streak marks will become more apparent when the glass are fogged up in cold rainy weather. One other observation besides streak marks is that glass tends to fogged up easily after cleaning with these cleaners. I could not really confirm but it does feel that way.



Polish the Glass


Usually places like front and rear windshields tend to have more stubborn water spots due to their angles. If glass cleaners do not remove the water spots, then it is time to bring out the big guns -  compounds and polishes.

As usual, before any compounding it is wise to clay the surface. I follow the same routine for glass as well. I just do not want any contaminants to "clog up" my polishing pads. As I mentioned earlier, glass is much harder than paint. So we could use a more abrasive cutting pads.

One could use elbow grease or electric power. I chose electric power. I used my DA. Read about my hands-on with it here.



I so happened to have an Autoglym Car Glass Polish lying around.




Let see what the manufacturer has to say:

"Car Glass Polish is specially formulated to increase visibility through your windscreen for safer driving.

The easy to use, deep cleaning solution removes traffic film, grease, wax, nicotine, insects and water deposits.

Suitable for use on interior and exterior glass. If your windows are perspex, acrylic or plastic use Fast Glass instead."

As mentioned above, since glass is much harder than paint, I would normally use a microfiber polishing pad rather than my usual go to CCS pads.




Microfiber pads have thinner foam that would translate to more "polishing" power.

As usual, the pad needs to be primed (see here for more info on priming). Then spread the product using a low speed, say speed 2.




Once spread, turn up the speed all the way to 6 and start polishing in overlapping pattern in a small section, maybe 1/4 of the windscreen.




Half-way done.

Unlike Meguiar's Ultimate Polish, Autoglym Car Glass Polish does not turn clear after several passes. So, after a few passes, stop and wipe off to inspect.

NOTE: In is important not to let the product dry up else, it would be very hard to buff off.



Autoglym Car Glass Polish tends to be very dusty when buffed off. I guess it would be the case as with other glass polishes.

As for correction power, Autoglym Car Glass Polish is somewhat mild. Very stubborn mark like wiper "curve trail" would not go away. Normal water spots are no problem for it.

Actually, I do not think we need a special dedicated glass polish to do the job. Any regular car polish or compound could do the job. I guess the latter would be better as it is more aggressive and could get the job done faster.

I would highly suggest following the steps recommended by Larry from AMMO NYC here.

Once polishing is done, follow-up with an IPA (isopropyl alcohol) wipe. I diluted my 99.7% IPA in a 1 to 1 ratio with water. One could seal up the glass with any coating after that. However, I prefer not to put anything on my front windshield in fear that it would affect my wipers performance and fear of smearing. It is just personal preference.

As usual, the above are just my opinions. Choose a method that might work for you and happy detailing.