Last year i had my windshield replaced due to a nice rock from the freeway. This was in October 2011. When the new windshield was installed, 2 weeks later I applied Aquapel on the driver side, and G1 from Gtechniq on the passenger side. I have a few videos showing how the water reacts during driving in the rain. Some of the vids may be a little hard to see the rain in or how it is working, I will explain my findings as well with the videos. I wash the vehicle every week, very rarely do I have to go 2 weeks before a wash but has happened a few times since October. I wash with 1Z Perls, and Wolf's Chemicals Nano Shampoo since I just applied Hard Body to my car this past month. I know people will say that the Perls and the Nano Shampoo may have messed with the coating, either by hindering the performance or helping but thats what I used. When the windshield was installed, I cleaned the windshield for the Gtechniq side per instructions. I used G4 to polish the window, afterwards I cleaned that with G2 (their IPA). I made sure the glass was very clean before the G1, I used the G2 to remove the first application and the 2nd application of G1 as well.
On the Aquapel side, I made sure to clean the window very thoroughly using IPA. The instructions don't say to use IPA but I figured since I used it for G1, I would use it for Aquapel. I then cracked the stick and applied to the windshield, up and down and left to right. Removed right after per the instructions.
Okay, this is the first video of the day I applied the coatings onto the windshield October 21st 2011. Left side (on the video, passenger side) is Gtechniq G1. Right side (on the video, driver side) is Aquapel.
G1 says to apply 2-3 coatings, if i'm not mistaken I applied 2. Aquapel just says to use 1 stick per windshield.
This was taken on the 27th of October while driving between 55-65mph on a freeway. The water can be a little hard to see in the video, but both sides seemed to be equal. Both sides were sheeting the water off the windshield very well.
This is on December 15th, you can see my speed on my speedometer, between 40-50ish mph. Both sides were still doing very well, almost impossible to tell a difference.
I am having trouble downloading the other two videos I have. They are up until March of this year I believe, If I can get them uploaded I all edit the post with them.
Both coatings performed very well. It has been 10 months that the coatings have been on the windshield. I drive it for work and my daily driver. I put between 45-70+ miles a day from Monday-Friday just for work. I am on the freeways 90% of the time getting hit with all the crap coming off the roads and the wheels off 18 wheelers.
I did begin to notice that the Aquapel was doing just a tiny bit better throwing the water off while driving at 50+mph. This wasn't until about May or June that I began to notice this. There was never a huge difference between the two sides through the 10 months that the applications has been on the windshield. Last week (on Aug. 23rd) it rained while I was driving. The coatings had a huge drop off in performance at the same time. Both sides were slowly sheeting the water off and there was more "standing" water towards the bottom/middle side of the Gtechniq side.
Aquapel says their application lasts 6 moths, while Gtechniq says a year I think. Someone chime in if I'm wrong with that. From my experience you can't go wrong with either, they are both great products. Neither side had any streaking with the wipers, if I did use them, clarity was always great, sheeting while driving was great, water running off the windshield while stopped was great. I did notice that the water would sheet off quicker at lower speeds with Aquapel, but not by a huge bit.
My personal opinion is that I will use Aquapel from now on just because it is cheaper and easier/quicker to apply. This is just me, Gtechniq has some great products out there but Aquapel makes more sense to me. I will say that I have used Aquapel before, but not with doing an IPA cleaning before the applications. I think that really helps the durability and sticking to the glass. Now, I have had Aquapel on my side windows and the back window for about 2 years now and it still throws water off like crazy.
I was not told by either company to perform any testing, this was just for me and to help others out with questions between the two. When I was looking around a year or two ago, there were a lot of people wondering which was better, so this is just my findings. Take it how you will. About the other videos, I will try to post them if I can get them to work. Hope you enjoyed the test.
On the Aquapel side, I made sure to clean the window very thoroughly using IPA. The instructions don't say to use IPA but I figured since I used it for G1, I would use it for Aquapel. I then cracked the stick and applied to the windshield, up and down and left to right. Removed right after per the instructions.
Okay, this is the first video of the day I applied the coatings onto the windshield October 21st 2011. Left side (on the video, passenger side) is Gtechniq G1. Right side (on the video, driver side) is Aquapel.
G1 says to apply 2-3 coatings, if i'm not mistaken I applied 2. Aquapel just says to use 1 stick per windshield.
This was taken on the 27th of October while driving between 55-65mph on a freeway. The water can be a little hard to see in the video, but both sides seemed to be equal. Both sides were sheeting the water off the windshield very well.
This is on December 15th, you can see my speed on my speedometer, between 40-50ish mph. Both sides were still doing very well, almost impossible to tell a difference.
I am having trouble downloading the other two videos I have. They are up until March of this year I believe, If I can get them uploaded I all edit the post with them.
Both coatings performed very well. It has been 10 months that the coatings have been on the windshield. I drive it for work and my daily driver. I put between 45-70+ miles a day from Monday-Friday just for work. I am on the freeways 90% of the time getting hit with all the crap coming off the roads and the wheels off 18 wheelers.
I did begin to notice that the Aquapel was doing just a tiny bit better throwing the water off while driving at 50+mph. This wasn't until about May or June that I began to notice this. There was never a huge difference between the two sides through the 10 months that the applications has been on the windshield. Last week (on Aug. 23rd) it rained while I was driving. The coatings had a huge drop off in performance at the same time. Both sides were slowly sheeting the water off and there was more "standing" water towards the bottom/middle side of the Gtechniq side.
Aquapel says their application lasts 6 moths, while Gtechniq says a year I think. Someone chime in if I'm wrong with that. From my experience you can't go wrong with either, they are both great products. Neither side had any streaking with the wipers, if I did use them, clarity was always great, sheeting while driving was great, water running off the windshield while stopped was great. I did notice that the water would sheet off quicker at lower speeds with Aquapel, but not by a huge bit.
My personal opinion is that I will use Aquapel from now on just because it is cheaper and easier/quicker to apply. This is just me, Gtechniq has some great products out there but Aquapel makes more sense to me. I will say that I have used Aquapel before, but not with doing an IPA cleaning before the applications. I think that really helps the durability and sticking to the glass. Now, I have had Aquapel on my side windows and the back window for about 2 years now and it still throws water off like crazy.
I was not told by either company to perform any testing, this was just for me and to help others out with questions between the two. When I was looking around a year or two ago, there were a lot of people wondering which was better, so this is just my findings. Take it how you will. About the other videos, I will try to post them if I can get them to work. Hope you enjoyed the test.
