I know that this is a month old thread, but I’ve been away (heavy meds, padded walls, wrap-around sleeves) for six months.
As some of you may know I’ve got a ‘75 ‘Vette (non-operational) with badly oxidized non-clearcoated orange paint that I occasionally use as a detailing test bed. Perfectly suited for this NXT thread!
Prepped the test area by scrubbing with a pretty strong Dawn/water solution using a terry washcloth. Then sanded an 8�x8� area with some very fine sandpaper - don’t know what number, maybe 800? - to get rid of the oxidization layer and leave a good hazing. Washed again with Dawn/water to clean up any paint dust. Rinsed with water and then wiped down with isopropyl alcohol. Rubbed dry surface with heavy pressure using a white terry towel to ensure that no orange was picked up. Used a black Sharpie Permanent Marker and put some test lines in the test area. Waited about 20 minutes for the marker to stabilize. Test area is now prepped and ready to go.
To test the marker’s ability to withstand a solvent I put some alcohol on a cotton ball and found that it took only a couple of wipes with very light pressure to start removing the marker. Repeated on another line using NXT and found that using the same pressure it took between two and three times and many strokes to remove the same amount of marker. Repeated with Z-1, Z-2, and Z-5 and found that even with heavy pressure they didn’t affect the marker. Aha, I’ve learned a little about the solvent content of these products.
To test NXT abrasiveness I positioned an obsession lamp so I could get the best view of the surface hazing that I caused with the sandpaper. Used NXT on a scrap of microfiber towel and using medium pressure rubbed half of the test area until the NXT hazed, then I buffed it off. After three cycles of this much of the surface hazing was gone. Since moving to SoCal I haven’t been able to find my high power loupes, but using a 4X glass the marring appeared to be smoothed, not filled. Since I didn’t do a comparison, and it’s been awhile since I’ve done any serious detailing this is just a WAG, but I’m guessing that NXT is similar to 3M SMR is abrasiveness.
To remove the NXT and Zaino I used a terry washcloth and alcohol with fair pressure and rubbed until I just started to pick up a little bit of orange - - so the NXT, Z, and marker are gone for sure, but the alcohol hasn’t done much to the paint surface. The surface (using the glass) appears only slightly more hazy than before the alcohol wipe, so most likely the NXT was doing very little filling of the marring - certainly not like IHG. I should have just used alcohol on half of the area to get a better comparison, but my brain wasn’t properly engaged (that’s what happens when you get to be an old fart).
Did a water wipe down and then more Sharpie lines. Applied a coat of Z-1 to the entire area. Then Z-2 on half and Z-5 on the other half. Let it sit for almost an hour then buffed it off. The area that was polished with the NXT looks pretty good. Tomorrow or the next day I’ll play with NXT and SMR on the cured Zaino.
{rant ON}
Most of you should be ashamed of yourselves - - Bret, Brad, Edwin, and several others - - you are knowledgeable enough to get your butts out to the garage instead of doing all the bickering and name calling!
As for the reliability of what industry representatives say about their products, Steve was very generous in what he said. A year or two ago I did some UV shielding research and corresponded with 303, Meguiar’s, Vinylex, and others. All, except 303, ran the gamut from evasiveness, to misleading, to outright lying about their products. They are not in business to make your car look better or to make your life easier, they are in business to make as much return on investment as possible!
Don’t believe what the manufacturers say! Don’t believe what people who post on the message boards say! Don’t believe what I say! If you want to know how a product performs for you, then beg, buy, borrow, or steal the product and get out to your garage and try it out. Engage your brain and devise methods of comparison. Read some of the old Roadfly posts where Steve tells how he did the Wax Test comparisons. Get ideas, not facts, from others!
{rant OFF}
) and he was right.
