SiO2 Ceramic Spray Sealant test on Acura TSX

[acuRAS82]

I’m on the cusp of finishing a correction on my Acura TSX.

For the horizontal panels I wanted to test my new Nv spray sealants Nova Jet and Nova Lustre against two heavy hitting favorites, Cosmic Spritz and Kamikaze Overcoat.

Prep:
The horizontal panels have been stripped with Kleen-Strip Prep-All, then coated with Pinnacle fine grade, polished with Megs Ultimate Polish, prepped with Prep-All again and then DP Coating Prep Polish.

Then the front 1/3 of the hood had Essence Extreme applied. The hood will test these 4 products on bare paint and Essence Extreme. The middle 1.5” tape strip and each side of the hood to the right of the indentations will serve as control areas (front 1/3 Essence; back 2/3 bare paint). So each product will be adjacent to a control area.

Observations during application:
1) Application
Overcoat - applies extremely thin, almost invisible, barely needs extra buff after initial wipe
Cosmic - super thick, quick flash, easy if immediate wipe off
Lustre - spreads far with slower flash time, applies super slick
Jet -kind of slick, wipes easily, pretty normal (run of the mill) in all aspects of application.

The Nv products come out much thicker, so it seems like more is used. These have slower flash times and didn’t seem like immediate wipe off was required. Jet spread slickly. Lustre spread with more resistance. But see slickness below.

2) Slickness
Cosmic, Jet and Overcoat - Pretty slick
Lustre - Extremely slick

The roof then had DP Coating applied (very slick). Here, the four products will be tested on top of the coating, with 1.5” tape strips serving as the control (DP Coating) areas between each product.

BONUS:
I also DP coated the trunk and applied my leader from another spray test (IGL Premier) versus 3 sprays I’ve not used yet: Drexler Top Coat Care, Griots 3-in-1, DPC Armor.

Observations during application:
1) Application:
IGL - spreads well, no streaks, not super slick
Drexler - almost invisible, no streaks, not slick
DPC - thick, strong bubble gum odor, buffs away easily
Griots- spreads well, no streaks

2) Slickness:
IGL - Fairly slick
Drexler - Not slick
DPC - Most slick
Griots - Very slick

I will update application thoughts during second coat applications tonight. My wife promised she will take real time notes for me, which solves my biggest problem during applications (lack of scribe).


As is typical, I’ll be monitoring these over time with water tests and any other obvious observations.

Thanks for reading.

 

[acuRAS82]

@William_Wallace, @BudgetPlan1, @The Guz, @coatings=crack, anyone else with any requests (red text) before I move forward tonight?

 

[BudgetPlan1]

@William_Wallace, @BudgetPlan1, @The Guz, @coatings=crack, anyone else with any requests (red text) before I move forward tonight?

Believe it or not, I got nuthin`

Can`t think of anything in particular

 

[The Guz]

I can’t think of anything else.

 

[William_Wallace]

All good homeslice thanks for testing

 

[Coatings=crack]

You’ve covered most of what i could think of. Interested in rhe nova products. Thanks for testing. I’m betting that griots will surprise you.


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[William_Wallace]

the Griot’s I’ve been trying to resist buying it but for 20 seems like a great deal. Love the testing.

 

[Coatings=crack]

I loves me some PA but for $20 its close. Very underrated product


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[acuRAS82]

After the second coat of each product, I expanded on my application and slickness thoughts in the OP (where applicable).

They all look great. I always find it hard to compare small areas of products to each other. But particularly in my garage it’s not worth it.

But if I had to pick the one product that I kept staring at, mesmerized... it would be Overcoat. It’s sharp, high-resolution features really stand out even under my garage lighting. It’s also noticeable that Cosmic does not have the same sharpness which is pretty consistent with the notion that Cosmic appears almost like a wax with it’s warm, softer look.

 

[Coatings=crack]

Kinda my thoughts too ond Cosmic vs Overcoat on uncoated black paint. I felt OC kinda had that sharp gloss of a coating and Cosmic like a luxe carnauba.

I rhink i got the notion from budget and he says its probably in my mind but cosmic over OC


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[acuRAS82]

Too early in my mind since OC is still new to me but I really like the application nd obviously the look caught my eye. I love me my High Gloss (including HG on Cosmic Spritz) and OC gives me some reminders of HG... that vivid, high definition look.

 

[atbalfour]

Great test will be following this with interest

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[acuRAS82]

First water behavior shots, after on and off rain of varying intensities yesterday. These pics were like 30 mins after one of the rains:

Hood:

Passenger side control:

Jet

Lustre:

Cosmic:

Overcoat

Drivers side control:

And then the roof with these on DP Coating, order reversed since pic is from the back (left to right is Overcoat, Cosmic, Lustre, Jet):

Back Trunk:

IGL:

Drexler:

DPC:

Griots:

I’m disappointed with the consistency of distance/angle in which my pics are taken. Next time will be better. I’ll give more detailed thoughts later but here is quick initial thoughts:


Jet is on par head to head with Cosmic and OC. Cosmic sheeted the rain away best (dryest panel). Jet’s beads have a very light look to them, not much shadow around the base, almost transparent. Interesting.

Drexler may also be on par with the big three on the hood, harder to tell not being right next to them on similar panels but looks great, it’s the best on the trunk. IGL is second best beads on trunk. Griots 3rd. DPC isn’t a great beader although super slick.


Oh, and the car looks pretty nice prior to the rain:

 

[BudgetPlan1]

Jet looks interesting.

 

[acuRAS82]

Jet looks interesting.

Yes, I gave thoughts about the hood, but on the roof where these are on top of DP Coating, Jet sheeted the best. Either way, it’s a great water performer in the very, very early going.

 

[acuRAS82]

Some more bead shots of the 4 best after a lot of rain today, taken at the end of the day. I tried to take these from the same close distance and angles for each picture. The distance is around 2 inches max from the closest point to the paint.


But first, the full hood:

Don’t mind the ant.

And trunk:

Jet:

Cosmic:

Overcoat:

Drexler on trunk:

 

[acuRAS82]

Update 9/12/20 (3 weeks)
These pics were taken in the morning after a rain consistent rain period:

Hood:

Jet

Lustre:

Cosmic:

Overcoat

Jet probably has the smallest beads. Standing up to Cosmic and Overcoat nicely so far.

Lustre doesn’t really belong in a beat beading/sheeting (water behavior) showdown.



And then the roof with these on DP Coating, order reversed since pic is from the back (left to right is Overcoat, Cosmic, Lustre, Jet):

None, nothing special to share here.






Back Trunk:

IGL:

Drexler:

DPC:

Griots:

Griots has the smallest beads and I’ll give it the lead here. IGL and Drexler close behind. All 3 of these sheet at similar speed right now.

DPC Armor doesn’t belong in the best water behavior contest.

 

[acuRAS82]

Update 10/10/20 (7 weeks)
These pics were taken today before a wash. General update to show longevity comparisons. I didn’t take individual beading beauty shots, just pics of hose-induced sheeting, every few seconds after the hose is turned off.

Hood:

For the hood I then did the same pics after a wash with Reset... similar results but everything sheeted faster (hood was probably dirtiest part of the car):

Sheeting Ranks:
T-1) Overcoat
T-1) Cosmic
3) Jet
4) Lustre (dead)

Jet kept up with Overcoat and Cosmic for the first 6 weeks I’d guess, but here it looks to be slowing down a step. It would still look impressive on it’s own. I like it, no shame in losing a step on OC and Cosmic.

Lustre is done, or at least 80% done if I’m guessing theoretically.


And then the roof with these on DP Coating, order reversed since pic is from the back (left to right is Overcoat, Cosmic, Lustre, Jet):

Sheeting Ranks (on DP Coating)
1) Overcoat
2) Jet
3) Cosmic
4) Lustre

Everything on the roof sheets faster than on the bare paint on the hood. Makes sense since toppers seem to perform a bit better on coatings (even given DP Coating seems pretty unsubstantial).

Jet looks nearly as good as Overcoat here (except Overcoat literally sheds water the moment the hose goes off. I put Cosmic slightly behind but it may be at a disadvantage due to location closer to middle of the roof.

Lustre does not look dead on the roof, so it’s either bonding to the coating better than paint, or it is dying and the coating underneath is taking over.




Back Trunk:

Sheeting Ranks
T-1) IGL, Drexler, Griots
4) Armor

Water just flies off the trunk, it must not have been very dirty.

I have the three tied, water can’t hang on. DPC Armor isn’t completely dead but I’m guessing 60-70% done. And wasn’t the best water behavior to begin with.

 

[atbalfour]

Great updates - thanks!

 

[acuRAS82]

I apologize, the first picture of the roof in post #18 as well as a few other update posts was meant to be the reference photo.