richy
New member
I have known (online and through phone calls) Richard Wright for many years. I believe him to be an honest and honourable man. I like the fact that he has (and continues to) serve his country. As a Canadian, I think his Southern US accent is cool...but I digress. I found out that Richard was producing an automotive coating for his new Gloss Shop line. I was also under the mistaken belief that he was jointly doing this venture of The Gloss Shop with Eric from Autoality. He is not. Gloss Shop is strictly Richard`s and his wife (Virginia??). Anyway, knowing the kind of guy Richard is, I wanted to try his coating. I called him and he most generously sent me a bottle to try out. He explicitly asked me to be brutally honest in my assessment of it. What follows is that assessment:
The car to be used in this case is my mother-in-law`s 2001 Sunfire. Quite an old car for a test but I have maintained the car for years, so it`s in good shape for the year (showing some signs of rust under the surface in a few areas). The last thing I had done to the paint was to apply Opti Seal about a month or so ago. It was still looking OK but upon washing it, the water was not sheeting or beading satisfactorily. Here is how it looked after I had already cleaned the wheels:
The car was washed with Megs HW followed by a clay towel.
For paint correction, and surface preparation, I used a 2 step process namely M100 + black TB wool + 3401 followed by Essence + CP Gloss Pad + 3401. An ONR wipe down was done prior to coating. I had asked Richard about doing a double coat and he advised that they had just been testing single coats so far and invited me to try a double coat and report my findings.
Here is what the product looks like:
Yup, another clear bottle with clear liquid paint coating in an increasingly crowded market. It needs to be really good, easy to apply, slick and long lasting just to get anyone`s attention. Does it do it? Let`s see, shall we.
I applied it like I do all coatings: Car Pro orange suede mf with their orange block. I put a few drops on like usual. It acted like many of the coatings I have used which include all 7 versions of Finest, regular CQ (both versions) CQUK, the original and professional version of Opti Coat, Gloss Coat, Americoat, the Duragloss coating and the Autogeek ones. It might be a wee bit thicker than usual but this did not affect its ability to be spread. The viscosity of it is not a negative..it`s just a bit thicker. The bottle lists a range of cure times from 1-5 minutes. Anyone who has played with coatings knows many things affect that: temperature first and foremost, humidity, air flow and whether it`s the first coat or second. I don`t care what coating you use, you need to pay attention to get a feeling for the optimal time to remove it. For me it seemed to be every panel. When I apply a coating, I work it in quite a bit so by the time I do remove it from the panel, it`s been on there for at least a minute, if not longer. It removed easily. I left it deliberately longer to test removal. It was more grabby if left on for several minutes (and it seemed like a long time) but still removed with no problem. These are strong chemicals and you need to respect them and allow them to work at their peak performance. 1-2 minute removal time for my conditions were optimal on that day.
How did it look? It definitely improved the look of the freshly polished paint by making it more glossy. It had a nice slick feel to it too which not a lot of coatings do. I know when my customers come to get their car, the first thing they want to do is touch the bloody paint!
Unfortunately, I was under a severe time crunch to finish the job as I was leaving town on an overnight trip with the wife. I did not get a chance to double coat the whole car. I did however double coat the hood. What I immediately experienced was typical of double coating: you need less product because it spreads easier and it flashes a bit quicker. It applies faster as a result. I know I can usually trim at least 10 minutes off the time it takes to do the 2nd coat vs the first.
How did the 2nd coat differ? Well, no question it improved it. I assumed it would and was right. The flake was jumping, the gloss was insane and it felt amazing. It was hard to believe I was dealing with 15 year old paint. I only had time for inside shots but I did some extreme close ups to give you an idea:
I wish I had the time to get some better shots, but in all honesty, I think you can see how great it looked. As far as my feedback to Richard goes, for someone who has been playing with coatings since back to AQuartz (before CQuartz existed) and the original Optimum coating, I think he has a very good product on his hands. I believe he`s priced it at $50 for a 50 ml bottle. That is a very fair price too as far as I`m concerned. I`m not supplying any links. I`m pretty sure you`ll be able to find it if you goog...I mean look for it.
I obviously can`t attest to durability although I`m told 2 years is the expectation. I`m looking forward to finding out!
Thanks for looking, as always comments are appreciated.
The car to be used in this case is my mother-in-law`s 2001 Sunfire. Quite an old car for a test but I have maintained the car for years, so it`s in good shape for the year (showing some signs of rust under the surface in a few areas). The last thing I had done to the paint was to apply Opti Seal about a month or so ago. It was still looking OK but upon washing it, the water was not sheeting or beading satisfactorily. Here is how it looked after I had already cleaned the wheels:
The car was washed with Megs HW followed by a clay towel.
For paint correction, and surface preparation, I used a 2 step process namely M100 + black TB wool + 3401 followed by Essence + CP Gloss Pad + 3401. An ONR wipe down was done prior to coating. I had asked Richard about doing a double coat and he advised that they had just been testing single coats so far and invited me to try a double coat and report my findings.
Here is what the product looks like:
Yup, another clear bottle with clear liquid paint coating in an increasingly crowded market. It needs to be really good, easy to apply, slick and long lasting just to get anyone`s attention. Does it do it? Let`s see, shall we.
I applied it like I do all coatings: Car Pro orange suede mf with their orange block. I put a few drops on like usual. It acted like many of the coatings I have used which include all 7 versions of Finest, regular CQ (both versions) CQUK, the original and professional version of Opti Coat, Gloss Coat, Americoat, the Duragloss coating and the Autogeek ones. It might be a wee bit thicker than usual but this did not affect its ability to be spread. The viscosity of it is not a negative..it`s just a bit thicker. The bottle lists a range of cure times from 1-5 minutes. Anyone who has played with coatings knows many things affect that: temperature first and foremost, humidity, air flow and whether it`s the first coat or second. I don`t care what coating you use, you need to pay attention to get a feeling for the optimal time to remove it. For me it seemed to be every panel. When I apply a coating, I work it in quite a bit so by the time I do remove it from the panel, it`s been on there for at least a minute, if not longer. It removed easily. I left it deliberately longer to test removal. It was more grabby if left on for several minutes (and it seemed like a long time) but still removed with no problem. These are strong chemicals and you need to respect them and allow them to work at their peak performance. 1-2 minute removal time for my conditions were optimal on that day.
How did it look? It definitely improved the look of the freshly polished paint by making it more glossy. It had a nice slick feel to it too which not a lot of coatings do. I know when my customers come to get their car, the first thing they want to do is touch the bloody paint!
Unfortunately, I was under a severe time crunch to finish the job as I was leaving town on an overnight trip with the wife. I did not get a chance to double coat the whole car. I did however double coat the hood. What I immediately experienced was typical of double coating: you need less product because it spreads easier and it flashes a bit quicker. It applies faster as a result. I know I can usually trim at least 10 minutes off the time it takes to do the 2nd coat vs the first.
How did the 2nd coat differ? Well, no question it improved it. I assumed it would and was right. The flake was jumping, the gloss was insane and it felt amazing. It was hard to believe I was dealing with 15 year old paint. I only had time for inside shots but I did some extreme close ups to give you an idea:
I wish I had the time to get some better shots, but in all honesty, I think you can see how great it looked. As far as my feedback to Richard goes, for someone who has been playing with coatings since back to AQuartz (before CQuartz existed) and the original Optimum coating, I think he has a very good product on his hands. I believe he`s priced it at $50 for a 50 ml bottle. That is a very fair price too as far as I`m concerned. I`m not supplying any links. I`m pretty sure you`ll be able to find it if you goog...I mean look for it.
I obviously can`t attest to durability although I`m told 2 years is the expectation. I`m looking forward to finding out!
Thanks for looking, as always comments are appreciated.
