Bad news to those following this idea: MOTHERS SEALER AND GLAZE STRIPS KLASSE 
A couple weeks ago, this thread: Mothers Sealer and Glaze appeared, and based on the info within (and another thread) I decided to try it tonight.
I did the actual test at night so I could enlist the use of my 2x500W worklamp as a consistent (and movable) light source. Carguy calls these "obsession lights" with good reason. In my methodology I try to be as consistent and scientific as possible so my results can be trusted (at least, by me).
Earlier in the day I had tried the Mothers Sealer and Glaze on a small 1x1 sized area of my hood, illuminated by sunlight. I couldn't see much difference, but I thought the area actually showed a few more swirls and spiderwebs. I decided to wait until later to use my worklamp to do a better test. Once it was dark I set up the lamp so that it was at the best angle to show swirls on the hood. Then I carefully chose very small (about 3" or 4") areas to test. The area had to have a consistent amount of swirling to the left and right, or have a few easily remembered swirls. Either way, this was a half and half test with the glaze applied to the right. I divided the test area in half with 2 bits of tape, using them to also center the reflection of the light so I had a point of reference. It was set up in such a way that all I had to do was see the light between the tape pieces and then move my view left and right. To be extra sure I also planted my feet in one spot and didn't move for the whole view, apply, wait, remove, view again process. All application and buffing was unidirectional towards and away from me so I know I did not introduce new swirls.
Three test spots later I was convinced. The product was definitely stripping the Klasse and the side the glaze was applied to was showing more swirls than the other untouched side as well as having more swirls than before. The last test spot was the most evident in this, which is why I stopped at 3. Upon feeling this spot I also noticed it was squeaky clean unlike the slick Klasse coating elsewhere. While this feeling itself doesn't mean the Klasse is gone (it could be covered up with a non-slick substance), adding the two observations together makes sense to conclude it is being removed.
The difference was great enough that it showed up on a digicam picture, but it is borrowed and I won't be able to get at the pics for a couple days. Although I did not take a "before" picture of the glazed area, the unglazed side looks very similar to what a "before" shot would look like, as per my criteria for choosing test areas.
I don't know what component of the Sealer and Glaze is removing it, but I will guess that it is some kind of cleaner since the product itself smells identical to their Pre-Wax Cleaner and it makes the surface squeaky. Mothers does claim that it is formulated to use over previously waxed surfaces, and if it contains a mild cleaner this would make perfect sense since it would just strip the old wax and glaze it. I had previously thought it meant it just glazed right over the old wax.
One postive thing I noted about this product was the ability to hide light scratches, much like dedicated scratch removal products. It would be a good product for those who use a traditional carnauba wax rather than a sealant.
Knowing I would have to re-SG about 1/4 of my hood, I also decided to test if Dawn (Ultra Ivory actually) would harm the SG. There is a current thread about stripping Klasse, and I had read that Dawn strips anything but Klasse, but had not actually tested this. Using one of my test halves, I gave it a good rubbing of fairly strong solution and concluded that if Dawn does anything to the Klasse at all, it must be very very slow about it.
This test highlighted several things for me:
1) The conventional wisdom that glazes such as IHG and the like are bad for Klasse are not meant to be challenged.
2) Dawn won't hurt Klasse.
3) The swirl filling ability of Klasse SG is very real and pretty effective (to an extent). On the side of the hood I conducted the test on I only had 3 coats of SG, versus 6 coats for the rest of the car, and it still hid minor swirls. It is interesting to note that a few SG coats were more effective than a conventional swirl hiding product. This SG effect wasn't noticable to me when I was doing the 1/2 hood test (6 vs. 1 coat), but on a close-up test like this it was quite apparent. It didn't hide the bright deeper swirls or spiderwebs, but many of the very fine swirls you can only see at the very edge of the light were hiding very well, as were many bigger ones. Klasse rules! :bow
I was a bit disappointed that this didn't work out, and only mildly annoyed that I would have to re-SG some places, but it's only limited to 1/4 of my hood and some places on my trunk, so no big deal. Such is the nature of experimentation.
Oh yeah, the other bad news is that the worklamp fell over when I was finished, leaving a 3" scratch on my door. NOW I'm p***ed off!!
(At myself of course) :sosad
PS sorry for the massive post!
A couple weeks ago, this thread: Mothers Sealer and Glaze appeared, and based on the info within (and another thread) I decided to try it tonight.
I did the actual test at night so I could enlist the use of my 2x500W worklamp as a consistent (and movable) light source. Carguy calls these "obsession lights" with good reason. In my methodology I try to be as consistent and scientific as possible so my results can be trusted (at least, by me).
Earlier in the day I had tried the Mothers Sealer and Glaze on a small 1x1 sized area of my hood, illuminated by sunlight. I couldn't see much difference, but I thought the area actually showed a few more swirls and spiderwebs. I decided to wait until later to use my worklamp to do a better test. Once it was dark I set up the lamp so that it was at the best angle to show swirls on the hood. Then I carefully chose very small (about 3" or 4") areas to test. The area had to have a consistent amount of swirling to the left and right, or have a few easily remembered swirls. Either way, this was a half and half test with the glaze applied to the right. I divided the test area in half with 2 bits of tape, using them to also center the reflection of the light so I had a point of reference. It was set up in such a way that all I had to do was see the light between the tape pieces and then move my view left and right. To be extra sure I also planted my feet in one spot and didn't move for the whole view, apply, wait, remove, view again process. All application and buffing was unidirectional towards and away from me so I know I did not introduce new swirls.
Three test spots later I was convinced. The product was definitely stripping the Klasse and the side the glaze was applied to was showing more swirls than the other untouched side as well as having more swirls than before. The last test spot was the most evident in this, which is why I stopped at 3. Upon feeling this spot I also noticed it was squeaky clean unlike the slick Klasse coating elsewhere. While this feeling itself doesn't mean the Klasse is gone (it could be covered up with a non-slick substance), adding the two observations together makes sense to conclude it is being removed.
The difference was great enough that it showed up on a digicam picture, but it is borrowed and I won't be able to get at the pics for a couple days. Although I did not take a "before" picture of the glazed area, the unglazed side looks very similar to what a "before" shot would look like, as per my criteria for choosing test areas.
I don't know what component of the Sealer and Glaze is removing it, but I will guess that it is some kind of cleaner since the product itself smells identical to their Pre-Wax Cleaner and it makes the surface squeaky. Mothers does claim that it is formulated to use over previously waxed surfaces, and if it contains a mild cleaner this would make perfect sense since it would just strip the old wax and glaze it. I had previously thought it meant it just glazed right over the old wax.
One postive thing I noted about this product was the ability to hide light scratches, much like dedicated scratch removal products. It would be a good product for those who use a traditional carnauba wax rather than a sealant.
Knowing I would have to re-SG about 1/4 of my hood, I also decided to test if Dawn (Ultra Ivory actually) would harm the SG. There is a current thread about stripping Klasse, and I had read that Dawn strips anything but Klasse, but had not actually tested this. Using one of my test halves, I gave it a good rubbing of fairly strong solution and concluded that if Dawn does anything to the Klasse at all, it must be very very slow about it.
This test highlighted several things for me:
1) The conventional wisdom that glazes such as IHG and the like are bad for Klasse are not meant to be challenged.
2) Dawn won't hurt Klasse.
3) The swirl filling ability of Klasse SG is very real and pretty effective (to an extent). On the side of the hood I conducted the test on I only had 3 coats of SG, versus 6 coats for the rest of the car, and it still hid minor swirls. It is interesting to note that a few SG coats were more effective than a conventional swirl hiding product. This SG effect wasn't noticable to me when I was doing the 1/2 hood test (6 vs. 1 coat), but on a close-up test like this it was quite apparent. It didn't hide the bright deeper swirls or spiderwebs, but many of the very fine swirls you can only see at the very edge of the light were hiding very well, as were many bigger ones. Klasse rules! :bow
I was a bit disappointed that this didn't work out, and only mildly annoyed that I would have to re-SG some places, but it's only limited to 1/4 of my hood and some places on my trunk, so no big deal. Such is the nature of experimentation.
Oh yeah, the other bad news is that the worklamp fell over when I was finished, leaving a 3" scratch on my door. NOW I'm p***ed off!!
(At myself of course) :sosad
PS sorry for the massive post!
