The ilogikal1 test thread

[ilogikal1]

And after that brief intermission. Act three.

 

 

And now for the bit some of you might have been waiting for...

 

The method here was a tape line across the bonnet, to split the three sections into 6, I applied one coat of each wax and buffed as soon as it passed the swipe test. I then moved the tape down exactly the width of the tape and applying a second coat of each about 20-21 hours after the first coat, this meant that i) there wasn't any unprotected paint on bonnet and ii) each section has a tape width's amount of wax that is only one coat, so I can see if applying two coats actually make any difference at all.

 

That looked something like this;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were all applied with their own, identical applicator and all buffed with separate cloths to avoid cross contamination.

 

And that now looks like this;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I seem to have misplaced the Poorboys specific shot, but you can see it in the others anyway so nuts to it.

 

And the beading looks like this;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surprisingly, Poorboys Blue sheets by far the best. I was expecting FK to be the sheeter, but that cam in second followed by AF Desire, then the Dodo Juices (Blue Velvet slightly better than Purple Haze) and finally Desirable. Beading wise... well, make your own minds up on that one.

 

This is #17 version 1;

 

 

and #17 version 2;

 

 

AF Desire;

 

 

FK2685;

 

 

AW Desirable;

 

 

What the Poorboys didn't just sheet off complete with stone chips.

 

 

Dodo Juice Blue Velvet;

 

 

And Dodo Juice Purple Haze;

 

 

 

So there you have it. Durability will be reported on as time goes on.

 

 

Update at three weeks on post #95.

Edited July 24, 2014 by ilogikal1

[ilogikal1]

And just to finish up (I told you there was a lot!) just some general other stuff.

 

Firstly Nanolex Urban - it's a glass sealant along the lines of those that I've tested previously (as opposed to the more durable coatings). This stuff appears to be expensive, but you should consider that I did a coat on all the glass and a second coat on the windscreen out of the 6ml of samples I had, and I've still got enough to do another coat all round (because I over applied on the windscreen first time).

So the method was, after the usual wash & clay, cleaned with G-Techniq G6, then polished with G4. The windscreen got a 70% IPA swab wipe down before the first coat, the rear window got an Eraser wipe down and the side windows weren't wiped down after G4 was buffed. This was intentional to see what, if any, difference in durability (for the windscreen I'll be taking an area that's not swept by the wipers as a measure as per the rest of the glass on the car). I also gave the wiper blades a thorough clean with Eraser and G6.

I applied the first coat on the windscreen with a foam pad. As you can see above that was a bad idea. Aside from massively over-applying it also ate the applicator, so I resorted to cotton make up pads for the rest which made getting a thin coat very easy indeed. It was left 10 minutes to cure and then buffed, which as an absolute breeze and required no pressure at all to remove fully. The over-applied first coat took a few more minutes to cure but was no more difficult to remove once it had. Again, the advice with Nanolex products is to leave it to cure for up to 72 hours, so I've done just that.

So far, the only water behaviour I've witnessed if from spraying the car with the hose and with all glass sealants they're designed to work with the airflow from a moving car. But even at stand still, the sheeting and beading was very good and looked like this;

 

 

 

 

The wheels were sealed with Dr Beasley's Wheel Seal. It's simply a spray on, spread/buff off. Job jobbed. The first wheel I did, massively over applied but as there's no curing required it did nothing more than to serve as a waste of product really. It's really easy to use but the beading isn't that impressive. It'll be interesting to see just how long this lasts considering it's so easy to apply. The beading looks like this;

 

 

I also used CarPro Perl for the first time. I was expecting it to be more like FK Top Kote in consistency, but it's actually quite a thick gel. Apparently it can diluted but I used it neat this time. It left a good semi-gloss finish - not as glossy as Megs Endurance, but not a matte finish by any means.

 

This might not be the best photo to show it off, but I just like the pic so I'm posting it anyway.

 

 

 

I also forgot about Eco Touch Quick Wax. Very easy to use, it's just spray on/buff off, done. It gives an effortless, streak free finish and look likes this;

 

 

The shine isn't bad considering it's not been polished;

 

 

 

 

And just for the sake of it, I'll leave you with some random shots.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm told that apparently this picture is evidence that "when boys grow up, their toys just get bigger".

 

 

 

 

And one last one for now;

 

[Stutopia]

Just wish you'd use a wider variety of products when you do these tests

 

Epic work. That's a word that's banded around a lot these days, but it is indeed epic. I don't want to be a philistine but the dry look appears to be much the same from the photos, i.e. the paint looks great and reflective. I guess the proof is in the ease of application and then the endurance.

 

Top work as usual.

 

[ilogikal1]

Why thank you very much.

 

There's marginal difference, at best, between some of them in the flesh - FK & Hard Shell, for example, are a little more glossy and the flake pop is more prominent and vibrant than the others whilst Poorboys give a slightly darker, deeper, wetter look but the flake is more muted. It's more noticeable in certain light than others but even then there's really not a great deal of difference. The panels with Poorboys Red & Blue layered seems to offer a closer level of gloss the the layered FK's but still maintain the depth and the flake is slightly more muted still - although still very noticeable.

 

Just wish you'd use a wider variety of products when you do these tests

 

Funny you should say that, there should have been two more on the list. I had been working with someone to produce an ilogikal1 custom wax and we had two different formulas lined up but after some considerable faffing about and sorting out issues and whatnot over the course of the last 7/8 months, it finally just fell through altogether and I've been let down in a big way. That's largely why I resorted to panels with Poorboys being layered as my back up plan.

[Mikeyazure]

wow amazing info... you clearly are *****THE MAN**** , on a serious note i need to come to ull, and get you on my paintwork...

Edited June 21, 2014 by Mikeyazure

[Mikeyazure]

update , Tried clay bar today for the first time, WOW Cant believe the difference it made, i only did half the bonnet. Feels like polished glass.

Washed and dried the car with megs car shampoo, then two goes with the clay bar and megs sloppy stuff then two goes with the DA using PB ssr2, then polished/wax with megs carnuba. very impressed, need to do the whole car now tomorrow...cant believe the difference despite all the hard work.

pictures to follow tomorrow if it stops raining

 

BTW, thanks for instilling in me the confidence to do it !!!

[Stutopia]

What you got for bird lime ilogikal1? Preferably not some mega expensive wipes, but must go in the car and ideally be wax safe.

 

Shoot!

[ilogikal1]

What you got for bird lime ilogikal1? Preferably not some mega expensive wipes, but must go in the car and ideally be wax safe.

 

Shoot!

 

For fresh "gifts from above", I tend to just water (the warmer the better if at all possible) through an adjustable trigger spray head so you can adjust from a jet to get most of it off to more of a fine mist to "rinse" the general area. If it's been on the paint for longer though it usually needs to soak for a minute or two first.

 

Failing that, any QD or waterless wash should suffice with a soft microfibre - I know both CG Speed Wipe and Eco Touch Waterless both work okay. Again it's best to soak it for a minute before wiping it away. Depending on which QD you use, you're likely to add a bit of protection if anything, so perfectly wax safe.

[Stutopia]

What you got for bird lime ilogikal1? Preferably not some mega expensive wipes, but must go in the car and ideally be wax safe.

 

Shoot!

 

For fresh "gifts from above", I tend to just water (the warmer the better if at all possible) through an adjustable trigger spray head so you can adjust from a jet to get most of it off to more of a fine mist to "rinse" the general area. If it's been on the paint for longer though it usually needs to soak for a minute or two first.

 

Failing that, any QD or waterless wash should suffice with a soft microfibre - I know both CG Speed Wipe and Eco Touch Waterless both work okay. Again it's best to soak it for a minute before wiping it away. Depending on which QD you use, you're likely to add a bit of protection if anything, so perfectly wax safe.

 

I've got a little bird @*!# kit in the car with a small bottle of 50% diluted APC, eco touch QD and a microfibre and most importantly some tattoo gloves I use for detailing.

 

Got one hit today at work, can't have been on more than a few hours (though it's been baking hot today) but after gently lifting off, there's still an etch left behind. Was hoping for something PH balanced to help deal with the invisible nasties this?

 

If it's gotten to the lacquer, thats three layers of protection its eaten through in one afternoon, god knows what these birds eat round here

Edited June 23, 2014 by SuperStu

[ilogikal1]

Bird lime is very acidic and will etch the paint given enough time, sadly. If it's left a mark, you'll most likely find that it will need polishing out. A decent LSP, kept topped up, should reduce the risk of it making it through to the paint though. Using APC, I'd use it closer to 10-15% myself as 50% will often be enough to weaken your LSP, IMO.

 

Just imagine the state of all those cars with no protection on and the owners leave it months between washes!

[Stutopia]

***faints***

[Mikeyazure]

UPDATE, First time doing the Clay Bar!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ilogikal1]

Good work, Mikey.

[ilogikal1]

I've just remembered that

 

Although I appear to have mislaid the beading pictures for Nanowax, so I'll get some more later. In the mean time, have this dry picture instead.

 

With now constituting "later", and I do love a good beading picture, I finally have some for you.

 

So, without further ado, Nanolex Nanowax beading porn;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ilogikal1]

Someone elsewhere has mentioned that the Car Chem Hard Shell beading didn't look particularly good in the previous photos. As I was taking new pics for them I thought I might as well share them here too. So this is Hard Shell

 

 

 

A comparison to the Poorboys combination on the panel below;

 

 

Okay, it doesn't sheet as well as the Poorboys (which was the best sheeter on the bonnet), but I think it beads quite well.

 

I've also been playing with Nanolex Textile & Leather Sealant which was, for the most part, bought for the fabric seats in the Impreza and the SEAT and it's impressed me in those applications but I've also been playing with other uses for it. Such as a pair of cheap trainers, for example;

 

50/50 - left side treated, right side not.

 

 

And this one's completely treated.

 

 

No more wet feet.

 

In keeping with the beading theme, I've also been playing Dr Beasley's Leather Lock so I even have some leather beading;

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm just including this last photo because it doesn't have any beading. Or much relevance to this thread, but mainly the no beads thing.

 

[Stutopia]

Just had a crack with some 50cal glass cleaner, liked it, total breeze to work with.

 

Is there an ilogikal1 glass cleaner and rain repellent thread somewhere round here???

[ilogikal1]

No glass cleaner test, no, but I can tell you what I've used and how I rate them.

 

Megs NXT Glass Cleaner - it's okay, cleans well, but takes a bit of effort to get it streak free every time.

 

PIAA Vision Screen Cleaner - easier to use than the Megs, cleans okay but well enough to remove lighter water spots with some elbow grease.

 

AutoGlym Fast Glass - it's adequate but nothing special, similar to the Megs.

 

50Cal 20:20 (version 1 - I've got version 2, the retail version, from the branded Waxybox but not used it yet, apparently it slightly different to version 1 from a previous Waxybox) - cleans very well, the flash time is a little short (version 2 is supposed to be better though) so it's not the most economical. Does smell nice though.

 

Autobrite Direct Hellshine Pain - excellent cleaning, good flash time, easy to get a streak free finish. Also smells quite nice.

 

Car Chem Glass Cleaner - cheap & effective, cleans very well, perfect flash time, perfect finish every time. The only downside to this is Car Chem's flat postage rates which are excellent if you're ordering a lot from them (and there's no reason why you shouldn't... just follow the instructions to the letter with Hard Shell ) but make buying single, small items from them a bit hard to swallow.

 

Auto Finesse Crystal - only used it once so far on fairly clean glass, so I've not really formed an opinion of this yet, but it did the job at the time.

 

GTechniq G6 - Excellent cleaning ability, perfect flash time, perfect finish without any real effort.

 

 

G6 is my 'go to', but I've also bought the full size bottles of Pain and Car Chem after trying samples, so for me it would come down to which one of those three is most readily available to you.

I will offer this bit of advice though; whichever one you buy, I've found that the trigger spray heads that come with the full size bottles tend to spray too much product on the side windows, so I usually decant some into a Waxybox bottle and use it with one of those spray heads instead.

 

 

Glass sealant test though, I've started one of those; http://www.350z-uk.c...40#entry1289288 and as you've asked, there is a little update to that. Basically, the PIAA has given up a couple of weeks ago now (8 weeks since it was applied, we're now on 10 weeks), there's no noticeable difference between that and the untreated areas now in either beading or sheeting but both Car Chem and G5 are still going strong. I have a couple of pictures from the last time it rained (before today) which I've not uploaded yet though, but they're essentially no different to when it was all applied as PIAA didn't bead well anyway.

Also, I've currently got Nanolex Urban on my car (as mentioned somewhere in the wax test stuff, I think), which I'm very impressed with so far but just testing the durability. So far it's been quite comparable to G5 in terms of how it works - beads very well, sheets exceptionally well - and rain rolls off at speeds as low as 19/20mph. Application is much easier with a much better working time than G5 but not quite as easy as Car Chem with it not being a spray on job. Ultimately only the durability, which remains to be seen, will determine if I ever buy any more of this.

 

Nanolex is by far the most expensive at £22 for 100ml (compared to £5, £7 & £10 for PIAA [150ml], Car Chem and G5 respectively). However if it's applied correctly you're going to be using around 3ml to do multiple layers on all the glass on a Z, whereas you'll probably end up using more than that doing 2 layers just on the windscreen alone with G5 (I'd guestimate probably 10-15ml for equivalent coverage), Car Chem quote "100ml bottle will treat at least 3 cars twice a year" (but also suggest re-applying every 6-8 weeks!) so that's 16ml - looking at what I've used from my bottle I'd say it's ~10ml though. So it may seem expensive, but it's actually not that bad in real terms.

 

I've got a bit of Urban left, so I may do a similar durability test on a different window of the house with all four of them at some point (and because that last paragraph has got me thinking now, I'll even measure the actual usage of each product when applied to a given, measured surface area.).

Edited July 6, 2014 by ilogikal1

[Stutopia]

informative as ever.

 

Edit: I remember the hydrophobia test now

Edited July 5, 2014 by SuperStu

[ilogikal1]

Edit: I remember the hydrophobia test now

 

No worries, it gave me an excuse to give an update.

[ilogikal1]

Update on the waxes, three weeks on.

 

These were all taken on Friday, when the car was dirty - the weather here seems to be alternating between a day of rain followed by a day of blazing sunshine for the last week or so; Friday it was raining so I got some beading pictures, yesterday was sun-soaked so I washed the car and true to form it's raining again today so I might get some beading pictures on a clean car. Or I might not. Depends how much arsed I find today.

 

Anyway, compromised beading on the dirty car;

 

Waxybox #17's;

 

 

Severely deteriorated beading. After yesterday's wash, it was restored somewhat but it was clearly weaker than 3 weeks ago. It was a similar story with the sheeting which was still there but much slower. On a side note, there seems to be no difference at this point between the areas with the staggered curing times towards the back of the roof. There also appears to be no difference between the areas with/out the glaze underneath either.

 

 

AF Tripple;

 

 

Similar story here, when dirty it's severely compromised. Once cleaned it revived both beading and sheeting slightly but this doesn't have much longer left in it, in my opinion. To be honest, 3 weeks from an AIO is about what I was expecting, so I'm not surprised by this.

 

 

Britemax AIOMax;

 

 

Same again here really, compromised when dirty, restored to a degree when clean. Not much more to add really.

 

Side note; AF Revive is still going strong on the trim in both of the last two pictures, even when dirty it's still beading well, and on the that topic Nanolex Trim Rejuvinator is still doing it's job - although to be fair it's currently applied in a place that doesn't get particularly dirty as a rule but nevertheless;

 

 

EcoTouch Quick Wax;

 

 

This has surprised me. I was actually expecting this to be struggling by now considering it's a spray wax with no curing time, however not only has it lasted this long, there's no visible signs of it giving up yet either. It's kept the bumper remarkably clean - the unprotected number plate will attest to the mass cull of the local insect population, very few signs of which were visible on the surrounding bumper. This is worth keeping an eye on.

 

Car Chem Hard Shell;

 

 

The beading's not great, but even when dirty the sheeting isn't really compromised much at all. When it's clean again, the beading's so-so - it's better than this but not all that impressive. I must admit I'm quite disappointed by this, it doesn't seem to live up to the rest of Car Chem's excellent products and whilst it's not the worst I've used I can't help but feel there are so many others that are easier to use and give better results. Such as the Poorboys Red & Blue shown on the wing in the above picture.

 

Nanolex Nanowax;

 

 

Clean or dirty, it doesn't make much difference to Nanowax; it'll bead well and it'll sheet well regardless. It's self-cleaning abilities are very good too, the door was noticeably cleaner than both the sill below it (wearing FK1000P) and the wings in front and behind (wearing combinations of Poorboys Red, Blue, EX-P and Dodo Juice Hard Candy & Blue Velvet). Although the sheeting is somewhat slower than both the Poorboys and Dodo Juice topped panels when everything is clean.

 

 

FK2685, Poorboys Blue, DJ Blue Velvet, DJ Purple Haze, AW Desirable & AF Desire;

 

 

Beading wasn't hugely affected by the 3 weeks worth of filth on the car for any of these to be honest, sheeting was somewhat slower on all but the Desirable sections but as that was the worst sheeter out of the lot it just brought the others closer to that - none were actually any worse that Desirable were to be honest.

All sections were still quite clean barring the FK & Desire sections (I'll come back to that shortly), whether that's more to do with the panel itself not getting exposed to much dirt or the waxes doing a good job of protecting it I couldn't say, although it's probably worth mentioning that there was no bug splatter even on the lower, leading edge of the bonnet.

The FK & Desire sections were targetted by a member of the local aves population, mostly on the FK section but when this was washed off (using just a spray bottle with filtered water) I obviously failed to rinse the area fully as the following day's bright sunshine showed some marks left on the paintwork. These were largely washed away with the rain the day after that, however due it being baked on the day prior it wasn't completely removed by the rain - easily removed during the wash routine though and both FK & Desire resisted the birds "present" well and no etching was left.

 

Dodo Juice Blue Velvet;

 

 

Sheeting was not only restored when cleaned but actually improved over when it was freshly applied. Nothing else has changed though, the beading's just as it was, as is the finish it produced.

 

Dodo Juice Purple Haze;

 

 

Again, sheeting has improved since it was cleaned which suggests (to me at least) that DJ waxes would benefit from being left a while after buffing to cure fully.

 

Angelwax Desirable;

 

 

The sheeting is just slow when it's clean as it is when dirty. Or, if you prefer to look at it the other way, the sheeting is no worse when it's dirty. The beading is compromised when dirty but readily restored once it's been geven a wash.

 

Poorboys Natty's Blue;

 

 

The beading is slightly compromised when dirty, sheeting too, both of which are restored post-wash. Unlike the DJ panels, the sheeting hasn't got any better but similarly it's not got any worse at all either.

 

FK2685;

 

 

The beading is comprised ever so slightly, but not as much as the others (despite bign the dirtiest section as mentioned before), sheeting is slightly comprosed but again not by much. Both were restored to their original state with the wash.

 

AF Desire;

 

 

Although the beading is largely compromised, the sheeting isn't affected as much. As with (most of) the others, everything is restored by the wash to it original state.

 

 

Overall, sheeting for both BV and PH (and the Hard Candy one too) have now caught up with that of the Poorboys panel(s), Poorboys is still marginally quicker though. FK, Desire and Nanowax are slower to sheet than the DJ and Poorboys with EcoTouch sitting nicely between them, however Nanowax leaves a much drier panel, followed by Poorboys, then EcoTouch, then Dodo Juice, Desire and FK all being roughly the same. Desirable sheets very slowly and leaves a (comparitably) wet panel, however it's now just marginally better than both #17's which have dropped off considerably. Hard Shell sheets about the same rate as Desirable but leaves a slightly drier panel. Both Tripple and AIOMax have dropped off considerably but are still just about sheeting the same as the #17's.

 

You might remember that there's a tape's width of a single layer of each wax on the bonnet. Well (after the wash and in terms of water behaviour) there was a clear and distinctive line where where the waxes met each other, there was a small difference on both of the Dodo Juice sections between one and two layers - beading was no different, but when sheeting the water seemed to want to run along the line rather than over it, moreso between waxes (as I would expect) but also between layers of the same wax. Sheeting was also marginally slower over the single layer - although this could be due to the water not running over the line and down the panel but rather along it. This was only evident on the Dodo Juice sections, the rest only seemed to differ at the line between the different waxes rather than between the layers of the same wax.

 

 

 

And some other stuff...

 

Firstly, in case anyone was interested, I used Glacier Wax Pure 001 shampoo. As the name suggests, it has no wax/gloss enhancers and claims to be "wax safe", hence the chosing this shampoo (and avoiding the use of any drying aids/QD's/anything else that might affect the results of this wax test). It's a really nice shampoo, very lubricated, quite sudsy without being overly so, a pleasant hint of mint scent (which seems to remain just as strong after it's diluted in a bucket of water as it is in the bottle. Witchcraft I tell you!) and cleans well. Costs a f**king fortune though - usually £35 for 500ml (currently £20 though) - and even at a claimed 1:2000 dilution rate there's absolutely no chance of me buying this - I used it at 1:1200 this time, but will be playing with the dilution rates with the rest of my sample.

 

Dr Beasley's Wheel Seal - I'm not convinced by the durability of this to be honest. Washed the wheels (using Britemax CleanMax, in case you're interested) and found plenty of brake dust in the corners of the spokes and tar firmly stuck to the inside barrel. Considering it's ease of application, this hasn't surprised me a great deal. It would probably be sufficient if you wash & top up weekly, but I've got plenty of this left to try both this as multiple layers.

 

CarPro Perl - used on the tyres, the Michellins on the fron have stood up quite well with this. They needed a wipe over to clean them but there's clearly still something on them. It might not last much longer though as it's clearly deteriorated since application. The Falkens on the back however didn't fare so well. It lasted about a week on them and that was all.

 

Nanolex Urban - still going strong. Nothing sticks to the windscreen at the moment, even baked on bug splatter is removed by rain (let alone having use the wipers), even snow foam & shampoo struggles to stick to it.

 

 

And that's your lot. I think. I've probably forgotten something though, so feel free to remind me.

[Stutopia]

The only thing missing (to my eyes) is a ranking at this point.

 

Given the elapsed time, even the laziest of car washers will probably do it once a month, so it seems a perfect opportunity now the "data" is in to tell us which you'd buy if you only had to have one

 

From reading it appears Nanolex Nanowax and EcoTouch Quickwax would feature in the top half.

[ilogikal1]

At this point I wouldn't be able to chose just one.

 

I could rule a couple out but to chose just one I'd still be very torn between Poorboys and Nanowax. If Nanowax justifies the cost over Poorboys in the long term I'd chose that, if there's not much in it then Poorboys simply due to cost although Poorboys is also easier to use, especially outside.

 

Quite literally the only reason why I wouldn't choose the EcoTouch at this point is purely for the application method. I very much prefer the hands on approach - something that I typically miss when I switch to sealants in the winter so if I had to chose just one product I'd opt for a paste wax. If I were looking for a spray wax I'd certainly chose this - again depending on the ultimate durability, I may even consider it for winter protection but it would have to compete with sealants then.

 

 

The ones I would rule out already are Hard Shell (I just didn't get on with it at all), the #17's and possibly Desirable (not bad waxes but not better than what I have already). For the most part, application of all four let them down a lot and, with the potential exception of Desirable, it's almost not worth the effort. Desirable gets the benefit of the doubt at this point only because of it's claimed 6 month durability; the longer it actually lasts the more likely I am to reconsider that.

Edited July 13, 2014 by ilogikal1

[GIXXERUK]

What a brilliant thread this is

Edited July 13, 2014 by GIXXERUK

[ilogikal1]

I've got a bit of Urban left, so I may do a similar durability test on a different window of the house with all four of them at some point (and because that last paragraph has got me thinking now, I'll even measure the actual usage of each product when applied to a given, measured surface area.).

 

So that happened.

 

 

Top left is G-Techniq G5, top right Nanolex Urban.

Bottom left is PIAA Protect & bottom right is Car Chem Glass Seal v2.

 

All four have been on for 8/9 days now.

 

Nanolex is consistently considerably clearer of rain than all the others which suggests it works better (initially at least). Other than that, the actual beading is very similar between Nanolex, G-Techniq and Car Chem, whereas PIAA's beading is somewhat poorer which is consistent with the previous test (which is still going on by the way).

 

In an attempt to no overdo the pictures (again ) here's one picture showing the beading better (the sections are in the same order as above).

 

 

And for the really geeky bit; all four panes of glass are the same size (615 x 520 mm for those counting). Glass was cleaned with Autobright Hellshine Pain and two microfibres just before applying the sealants. The sealants were applied in the order of Urban, G5, PIAA, Car Chem, each with their own cotton make up pad, and allowed 15 minutes to cure with all four being timed separately. A second coat of each was applied after about an hour, in the reverse order but otherwise following the same procedure.

 

Now, as far as measuring usage went I chose the easy route and and went for the weight (largely because it was easier than measuring ml of these things!) of each before, after the 1st coat and finally after the 2nd coat.

 

Nanolex started at 4.6g. After the 1^st coat it was 4.3g, after the 2^nd it was 4.1g.

Total usage = 0.5g.

 

G-Techniq started at 68.9g. After the 1^st coat it was 68.2g. After the 2^nd is was 67.6 g.

Total usage = 1.3g.

 

PIAA started at 106.1g. After the 1^st coat it was 104.2g. After the 2^nd is was 103.4g.

Total usage = 2.8g.

 

Car Chem started at 100.9g. After the 1^st coat it was 100.1g. After the 2^nd is was 99.2g.

Total usage = 1.7g.

 

My first observation is how consistent my layers are.

 

My second being, strictly on a per use basis; although Urban (£22/100ml) is twice the cost of G5 (£10/100ml), it's actually marginally more economical. PIAA (£5/150ml) is more economical still per use, but there's no doubt you'll be using it more than either G5 or Urban (once the durability has finally been determined, I'll quantify that statement). And Car Chem (£7/100ml) is marginally less economical than Urban but ever so slightly more economical than G5.

 

So there you have it, durability aside (for now) that will hopefully help people make their own decisions. Out of these glass sealants at least.

[ilogikal1]

Back to the wax test. Another wash today as I wont have time at the weekend and there's been some 'developments' - I'll leave you to guess (presuming anyone actually cares too ) what's done what for now whilst I download some po... er, I mean, do the write up.

 

I'll leave you one clue though, one of them was a massive surprise (to me at least).

 

Actual update will follow at some point. Probably.