Sizzle Chest
Well-known member
Thanks for putting this together and taking the time to do this `experiment` for your as well as our benefit! Sub`d!
Silica spray showdown: McKee`s v. Gyeon v. CarPro
- Thread starter kevincwelch
- Start date
runrun411
New member
Too often we judge a products durability and sheeting capabilities based on the horizontal panels. The real test is on the vertical panels. This is where all the real abuse takes place. Abuse from salt, brake dust and other corrosive contaminants that breaks down an LSP. And while yes, we all like to see how shiny the hood looks or how slick the trunk feels is a factor, let`s also remember paint that is properly prepped will look shiny with any LSP. Just my .02
House of Wax
Active member
Wow....A for effort. Can`t wait to see the results
kevincwelch
New member
Thanks, guys. Appreciate the comments...
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
Tc99m
Member
Thank you for all the hard work you put into review. Excited to see the Winner/Reveal.:yourrock
ShakingHorizons
New member
This is AWESOME!!! Cannot wait to see this continue.
Paul@Autopia
New member
Brilliantly written/planed/executed review! Can`t wait for the updates and to see which comes out on top in terms of durability.
WashRinseRepeat
Member
Well done sir! Looking forward to the results.
Philips146
New member
where did you get the clear spray bottles?
kevincwelch
New member
kevincwelch
New member
Thank you, all! I appreciate all your comments and Labeouf meme!
Marc08EX
New member
Congrats on your FB feature Kevin!!! Well deserved.
Oneheadlite
New member
Thank you for the incredibly well thought out, executed, and documented write up!
Looking forward to seeing the updates!
Looking forward to seeing the updates!
kevincwelch
New member
kevincwelch
New member
Non-essential update.
Cleaned the hood with the 1:128 dilution of McKee`s N914. This stuff let the MF just glide across the entire panel except where the taping marks were - not entirely surprised.
N914 on Panel A/Product A
On Panel B/Product B
On Panel C/Product C
Freshly cleaned!
There`s a single water spot (Panel A) that didn`t come out with N914. Normally I would try a little Gyeon Spot remover and then move up to CarPro spotless, but I didn`t want to affect the coating.
Cleaned the hood with the 1:128 dilution of McKee`s N914. This stuff let the MF just glide across the entire panel except where the taping marks were - not entirely surprised.
N914 on Panel A/Product A
On Panel B/Product B
On Panel C/Product C
Freshly cleaned!
There`s a single water spot (Panel A) that didn`t come out with N914. Normally I would try a little Gyeon Spot remover and then move up to CarPro spotless, but I didn`t want to affect the coating.
kevincwelch
New member
Here is my 2 week update. I have opinions about which is leading the race.
Conditions
Over the past two weeks, the car has seen rainy weather and has traveled on interstate highways. I would say that it got less than its usual use and abuse since we were out of town for a few days and it sat in the garage. I cleaned the hood a total of 2 times with N914 using the waterless dilution and heavily saturated the hood each time.
My wife parked under a tree Friday evening and I didn`t discover these goodies until this afternoon when I did the test.
There was one on each side of the hood, and the outcome was the same on both sides. I used the technique to clean bird bombs as described by Mike Phillips.
So, whatever is protecting Panel A and Panel C (Panel B was not affected by any bird bombs) did a fine job. I did not see any etching at all after about 18 hours of massive bird bombs sitting on the hood.
Cleaning
Today I cleaned it with a heavy saturation of N914 using the waterless dilution before performing the test. There wasn`t much beading when applying the N914, but I don`t consider that a good test of a LSP`s ability to bead water. N914 did a fine job of grabbing the grime and dirt off the hood, and it certainly was no skin off my back to wipe the hood dry afterwards. The panels felt uniformly smooth and slick. I used Shine and Buff towels to do the cleaning and Eagle Edgeless towels to do the buffing. Looks great across the board.
Beading Test
Here are the pictures of the beading. The first picture is the beading immediately after the application of the silica spray, and the second picture is the beading of the same panel today (2 weeks).
Panel A
Panel B
Panel C
My opinions: all three panels demonstrate decreased performance. Hard to tell, but A and B look similar. C definitely is more disorganized and amorphous.
Sheeting Tests
Judge for yourself.
Conclusions
All panels are slick and reveal that mirror shine, and I think it looks particularly good for a light metallic paint. In terms of wetting ability, all three panels show decreased performance in their ability to bead water. The water droplets are more disorganized, show less contact angle and are more amorphous in appearance. The sheeting is slower in my opinion; however, the materials still do a fine job of getting the water off the hood. Products A and C seemed to protect the clearcoat from those bird bombs, so I feel great about that. Nevertheless, I am getting a feeling that one or all of these products is going to tank somewhere around weeks 4-6. My next report will be 2 weeks from now, and that will be the 1 month mark from the product applications.
Conditions
Over the past two weeks, the car has seen rainy weather and has traveled on interstate highways. I would say that it got less than its usual use and abuse since we were out of town for a few days and it sat in the garage. I cleaned the hood a total of 2 times with N914 using the waterless dilution and heavily saturated the hood each time.
My wife parked under a tree Friday evening and I didn`t discover these goodies until this afternoon when I did the test.
There was one on each side of the hood, and the outcome was the same on both sides. I used the technique to clean bird bombs as described by Mike Phillips.
So, whatever is protecting Panel A and Panel C (Panel B was not affected by any bird bombs) did a fine job. I did not see any etching at all after about 18 hours of massive bird bombs sitting on the hood.
Cleaning
Today I cleaned it with a heavy saturation of N914 using the waterless dilution before performing the test. There wasn`t much beading when applying the N914, but I don`t consider that a good test of a LSP`s ability to bead water. N914 did a fine job of grabbing the grime and dirt off the hood, and it certainly was no skin off my back to wipe the hood dry afterwards. The panels felt uniformly smooth and slick. I used Shine and Buff towels to do the cleaning and Eagle Edgeless towels to do the buffing. Looks great across the board.
Beading Test
Here are the pictures of the beading. The first picture is the beading immediately after the application of the silica spray, and the second picture is the beading of the same panel today (2 weeks).
Panel A
Panel B
Panel C
My opinions: all three panels demonstrate decreased performance. Hard to tell, but A and B look similar. C definitely is more disorganized and amorphous.
Sheeting Tests
Judge for yourself.
Conclusions
All panels are slick and reveal that mirror shine, and I think it looks particularly good for a light metallic paint. In terms of wetting ability, all three panels show decreased performance in their ability to bead water. The water droplets are more disorganized, show less contact angle and are more amorphous in appearance. The sheeting is slower in my opinion; however, the materials still do a fine job of getting the water off the hood. Products A and C seemed to protect the clearcoat from those bird bombs, so I feel great about that. Nevertheless, I am getting a feeling that one or all of these products is going to tank somewhere around weeks 4-6. My next report will be 2 weeks from now, and that will be the 1 month mark from the product applications.
rlmccarty2000
Active member
I hope you get more than 4-6 weeks out of them. I`ve gotten up to 12 weeks with Hydro2. My Hydro2 was not beading like new but you could see it was still protecting the paint.