We had a little break in the weather and temperatures were mild, so I took the time to (finally) apply one of my STP Vision Blades to all the cars. I was mainly doing it for my own car, but the blade is one of the older, bigger kind that says is good for the fronts of two cars or one car all around, so I did the other 2 daily drivers too (no matter how beat-up and rusty one of them is). I'm glad I finally got this done because I'd gotten the windsheild replaced a few weeks ago and wanted to coat it with something to protect it.
So I cleaned off all three front windsheilds with some shop towels and lighter fluid (whether it needed it or not), made the mandatory paranoid doublecheck, then popped the glass ampule inside. The first thing that happened was that I was almost knocked out by the fumes when I got too close watching the felt strip saturate with fluid. Phhhew! Application was uneventful, if a bit heavy on the first few coats. The instructions recommend to buff, then re-coat, so I did. And then I was done. Just have to wait a bit and then I can buff them off.....
But then I noticed the applicator still was kinda moist... so I re-re-coated my car's front windshield. Hmm, still some left... so I broke out the lighter fluid again, cleaned off my sunroof, and Aquapel'd that too. I experimentally touched the felt applicator. Damn, it's still wet! I can't let this stuff go to waste... So I cleaned off the rear window and applied it to that too.... but there was still some moisture left, so now I got REALLY ambitious. Taking a page from the "guide to applying sealants" I reasoned that I wouldn't need much to treat a surface - as long as there was something being applied. With temperatures dropping and the light fading, I ended up doing all the glass surfaces of my car except the mirrors. And the only reason for this was that they were awkwardly small.
In total, I covered:
Front windsheild 3 times
Back windsheild (pretty much as big as the front) 2 times
4 side windows and 2 smaller ones
1 sunroof
Minivan windsheild 2 times
Rustbucket windsheild 2 times
I am truly amazed at how much coverage I got out of it. I also found that shaking it and rattling around the glass bits inside can help free more fluid. Now, the big question is how well this treatment performs - this version of Aquapel is reportedly old stock, so I will see how well it works and how durable it turns out to be. Hopefully this will be the best $3.75 I'll ever have spent! :xyxthumbs
Questions:
I also noted that the treated glass did not seem as slick and slippery as it was with Rain-X. Is this normal?
I was used to the "dry to a light haze" instructions of Rain-X, but this dried almost clear and the instructions don't mention this either. Is this normal too?
Thanks, and I'll give an update on how things work out.
So I cleaned off all three front windsheilds with some shop towels and lighter fluid (whether it needed it or not), made the mandatory paranoid doublecheck, then popped the glass ampule inside. The first thing that happened was that I was almost knocked out by the fumes when I got too close watching the felt strip saturate with fluid. Phhhew! Application was uneventful, if a bit heavy on the first few coats. The instructions recommend to buff, then re-coat, so I did. And then I was done. Just have to wait a bit and then I can buff them off.....
But then I noticed the applicator still was kinda moist... so I re-re-coated my car's front windshield. Hmm, still some left... so I broke out the lighter fluid again, cleaned off my sunroof, and Aquapel'd that too. I experimentally touched the felt applicator. Damn, it's still wet! I can't let this stuff go to waste... So I cleaned off the rear window and applied it to that too.... but there was still some moisture left, so now I got REALLY ambitious. Taking a page from the "guide to applying sealants" I reasoned that I wouldn't need much to treat a surface - as long as there was something being applied. With temperatures dropping and the light fading, I ended up doing all the glass surfaces of my car except the mirrors. And the only reason for this was that they were awkwardly small.
In total, I covered:
Front windsheild 3 times
Back windsheild (pretty much as big as the front) 2 times
4 side windows and 2 smaller ones
1 sunroof
Minivan windsheild 2 times
Rustbucket windsheild 2 times
I am truly amazed at how much coverage I got out of it. I also found that shaking it and rattling around the glass bits inside can help free more fluid. Now, the big question is how well this treatment performs - this version of Aquapel is reportedly old stock, so I will see how well it works and how durable it turns out to be. Hopefully this will be the best $3.75 I'll ever have spent! :xyxthumbs
Questions:
I also noted that the treated glass did not seem as slick and slippery as it was with Rain-X. Is this normal?
I was used to the "dry to a light haze" instructions of Rain-X, but this dried almost clear and the instructions don't mention this either. Is this normal too?
Thanks, and I'll give an update on how things work out.