The Truth In Sealants?

K

kenny.bacon

New member
So to start it off I'm not looking to start a thread about whether or not I should use sealants, the pros and cons, etc. That's been discussed a lot. I always seal personal clients vehicles. What I'm really wanting to know is every type of sealant I've looked into and used says to let it cure for anywhere between 15 minutes and 2 hours. Although I've heard of people saying it requires a full 12 hour over night cure out of sunlight. Typically what I have done for any sealant jobs I do is to double the cure time recommended on the bottle and take my time to really work the stuff into the paint as if I was removing swirl marks with my DA. Then take the excess off Only using specific pads for sealing on my DA. Anyone know what would make the sealant last the longest? Secondly I was thinking the other day, I wonder if using a wax and grease remover on the paint before applying the sealant would get the full effect of the sealant. I guess to specify my process is always prep, scratch removal with buffer and or or DA whichever it requires, rinse, double and triple check everything, then lastly apply sealant and triple check everything, then call the client.

Thanks in advance.
 
kenny.bacon- Welcome to Autopia!

Isn't the whole "curing" issue (as opposed to flashing or drying) related to either adding another layer or getting the car wet? If only applying one coat, I'd just try to keep the car dry for a while (and I've had just-sealed cars get rained on without any problems...but different sealants will be different in that regard).

While I can appreciate "really working the LSP" (LSP= Last Step Product, i.e., wax or sealant), if the paint is in good enough condition for a sealant I see no reason to be fanatical about this as there's no need to "really work the product into any microfissures/pores/etc." And I generally find that it's paste *waxes* that seem to benefit from the extended working (no apparent benefit from working the paste sealant FK1000P). I find no benefit from extensively working liquid products. So my sealants (again, I guess different products can behave differently) just don't seem to benefit from that the way some paste waxes do.

Heh heh, note all the scare-quotes in the above! Many would say there's no need to do any real working of any LSP, period.

And just FWIW, I apply my sealants so thinly that there's virtually no excess to deal with. Just a light going-over with a microfiber removes any excess/residue, which I consider wasted product anyhow. Most of the time, I'd be very hard-pressed to even see that residue, at least on light colors because I use so little. E.g., it's not like I'd use anywhere near an ounce of liquid sealant for a Suburban.
 
Thank you for your reply. I did find a section on here discussing wait times which cleared up a bit for me. Particularly the difference in curing time and hazing times. I try not to excessively use any sealants as well as the product is rather expensive and as you said it is simply wasteful to use that much. I tend to apply it with my DA and then change to a clean finishing 10 inch pad to remove any little amount of excess. Obviously when I'm done I thoroughly clean all pads and store them until my next sealant job. However thank you for your advice on the LSP sealant and not having to spend extra time working it into the paint. I use Meguiar's 21. And it says nothing on cure time. Just when to wipe the excess.
 
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