What I said was, most amateurs don`t know how to apply properly to minimize collateral contamination inside weather seals, trim, jambs, hinges, inside window regulators and glass etc - stuff where you cannot and will not be able to remove all of it, because a) it`s not accessible, and b) it`s transparent / invisible, so it`s impossible to know if you`ve removed it completely.
If you sprayed this product onto the car and then wiped, instead of spraying the product away from the car onto a cloth, and THEN wiping onto the car - you`ve sprayed it in areas that aren`t accessible unless you take most of the car apart. Silicone needs to be mechanically removed, i.e. you must wipe it to remove it - chemicals alone won`t remove.
Example: if you sprayed on the car, you got it on your glass. Then when you roll your window down, it spreads to the inside of your door. I can`t clean that 100%. So when it goes in the paint booth, the air circulates through everything, and picks up that silicone inside that I couldn`t clean - and that messes up the entire job that I`m doing at that moment - whether it`s a complete paint job or just a single panel - it won`t matter - the entire job will have issues.
No professionally trained detailer ever ever sprays any product onto any surface of any vehicle. Interior or exterior. It`s one of the first things you learn. For many reasons, this is just one.
Believe me. I`ve tried. I sprayed an entire car (it was disassembled) with 99% isopropyl alcohol to try and get around a severe contamination. Doors trunk glass hood engine everything was out. Still got millions of fisheye contamination pops due to silicone contamination.
All of these companies, when I ask, acknowledge this will cause issues with paint work. But they don`t care. They just want to sell stuff.
To me the trade off of seeing water beading on a car vs spending hundreds of additional $ to paint a single panel..... just doesn`t make sense to me. Want hydrophobic? Go get a ceramic coat done.
Hey do what you wanna do. Just tell the truth when your painter asks. ��
If you`d like to learn more just search for the keyword "silicone" within the club
My recommendation: avoid any and all spray on hydrophobics. If you must see beading water on your car to be content with life, then please do it right and ceramic coat it. The cheaper spray on route is cheaper now, but can cost you thousands later. Trade off isn`t worth it.
And please for the love of God if your painter asks about products on the car please tell him / her the truth, or it will cost them hundreds and hours of time to replace contaminated equipment.
And to those who feel this is needed for paint maintenance: it`s not a Honda or Subaru or Kia - they use absolutely ```` clear as is self evident on any 8+ year old daily JDM. The same clear on your VW is the same clear on Aston, Koenigsegg, Pagani, Bentley, Porsche..... it has a half life of 10 years, all spectrum UV protection, anti fade, anti etch - etc all the bells and whistles. I`m telling you - absolutely nothing that you spray on is of any benefit to your clear coat whatsoever. Usually, it`s a detriment. Somehow, enthusiasts aren`t understanding this. Your German car doesn`t need anything but regular proper washes (2 bucket / microfibre everything / basic soap with no gloss additives).
Those of you into ceramic coatings: a lot of *NEW* coatings coming out are silicone / polymer based.
You want to avoid these at all costs. Or hope you never get a scratch or get into an accident. Because if you do, it`ll be next to impossible to achieve a clean paint finish.
PSA.
TO BE COMPLETELY CLEAR:
I`m speaking of *NEW* coatings coming out to market very soon by sonax, Xpel, and a few others. Sonax was tested at Glasurit - definitely is heavy with silicone and causes massive problems with paint work. IVE WORKED ON CARS WITH OPTICOAT, CERAMICPRO, IGL & FEYNLAB WITHOUT ISSUE. It`s the NEW stuff that`s about to be released that`s the problem. Read first before spazzing!
Most times - silicone contamination is invisible. There is no 100% way to get rid of it, or to even know that you completely got rid of it. No test or visual indicators.
I`ve cleaned cars with special soaps, isopropyl alcohol, silicone and tar remover, silicone degreaser, specific products to remove silicone - 8 times, on the same car - AND I STILL GET FISHEYES EVERYWHERE.
This is because: only a miniscule amount of silicone is needed to ```` up the entire job. And since you can`t get all of it, it`s impossible - it will always be an issue.
Now say you are contaminated, and don`t tell the shop. Now all their tools are contaminated. Can`t clean them, for the same reasoning as stated above. And if you use them on other cars, then the problem will spread. So with no other choice, you end up buying Sanders, backing plates, sanding blocks, interface pads etc - which gets extremely costly. Hundreds each time.
) sometimes had issues removing *conventional LSPs* that I use. I`ve heard lots of "I`ve been doing this for decades and I never had to work so hard to prep for painting!"
