I really thought I settled on a sealant some time ago (Zaino), but that doesn't stop me from trying other ones. Like you, I'm "wasting" dollars trying to find if the others are worth a darn.
Your favorite sealant.. and why?
- Thread starter Mindflux
- Start date
I really thought I settled on a sealant some time ago (Zaino), but that doesn't stop me from trying other ones. Like you, I'm "wasting" dollars trying to find if the others are worth a darn.
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
Detailing supplies are like fishing lures - I have two or three things I know that work. Like clockwork, I can catch fish on these two or three things. However, I spend a lot of money trying new things because they are the latest, greatest new color or scent. Yep - just like detailing products. Ha! 
black bart
New member
The only way to know what you want is to do like a lot of us did try them and then you will find what you like.
IMO it is not possible to tell someone else what is best for them I can only tell you what I like.
Last year I had 2 back surgeries it is really hard for me to do my detailing and I own 7 vehicles that I keep looking like new at all times.
Durability is very important to me I get my vehicles ready for the Northern Indiana winter every October.
I clean and undercoat them and then put on a fresh coat of sealant that will last until the next October.
I read on DC how people wax every few weeks if I had to do that to all my vehicles I would not have time for anything else.
While keeping them looking good is important I do have a life other than cleaning cars
So you can see that when someone tells me how great it is to spend 2 days prepping and applying multiple coats of his favorite sealant that would not be my cup of tea, not to say their is anything wrong with applying 20 coats of Zaino but it is not for me.
Each person has different needs and only you really know what those are.
Even posting pictures don't really tell you much because the car will look different when you actually see it so you will need to find what meets your wants and needs.
People can tell you all day long how they like their LSP but it may or may not be what you are looking for.
When someone asks what is the best LSP I'm thinking not enough info what is the top things that he is looking for is it
looks/ price /durability or easy to find locally. or all of these.
I've never had more than maybe 6 coats of Zaino on my car. There's a law of diminishing returns that comes into play. For me, that's right in the 6 coat arena.
Though these days with a toddler, wife, house, etc etc I'm lucky to have one coat on my car. Like you I don't have time to fiddle faddle around with a billion coats of anything.
I'm not asking what's best, I'm asking which sealant people like and why. I just like to hear about peoples experiences with their 'go to' product that they grab off the shelf more than any other.
That said, I've got Blackfire Wet Diamond, Four Star UPP, Menzerna PowerLock, Poli-Seal, Opti-Seal to get around to trying. :rofl
I've got some DuraGloss 501 that I've used on a car or two. I've never used the #601 Pre Bond agent though.
Discount Zaino.. hehehe
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
While I like to joke about that at times, I will say that I've tried a lot of both lines "similar" products and have found that were it not for the bottle, you'd not know which was which. If they're not identical, they share enough characteristics to me to group them together as the same product. Now that my opinion is really out in the open for everyone to see....
So while I don't guess I'd get into a fight about it, nor would I come out and say that I am 100% positive they are the same thing and attack either company's integrity, there's enough proof in my experience that they a lot closer to being identical than to being separate products that share completely different manufacturing processes and makeups. But then again, there's a lot of products I can say that about....And before I start a flame war or get bashed over the head about it - I don't see anything wrong with that. It's logical for companies to farm out parts of the process that are too big for them to handle. Good, healthy companies do it all the time.
While I like to joke about that at times, I will say that I've tried a lot of both lines "similar" products and have found that were it not for the bottle, you'd not know which was which. If they're not identical, they share enough characteristics to me to group them together as the same product. Now that my opinion is really out in the open for everyone to see....
And before I start a flame war or get bashed over the head about it - I don't see anything wrong with that. It's logical for companies to farm out parts of the process that are too big for them to handle. Good, healthy companies do it all the time.
I'm willing to bet almost EVERY sealant available has a remarkably similar composition. It's a lot like baking, you can make a ton of different styles of bread with the same ingredients, just different amounts of each component can change the characteristic.
So Zaino may have more "Component X", where Four Star has more component "Y" and then Blackfire has more "Component Z", or a mixture of several small tweaks.
black bart
New member
I did a interesting experiment about 3 years ago I put 3 different LSP on my show car and while at the show I ask people to tell me where the high end wax was and where my $9.95 sealant was.
Not one person could tell me so when you read about how much better the expensive stuff looks is it because of all the money they paid is influencing their decision because at the show people could not tell.
Makes me wonder.
Not one person could tell me so when you read about how much better the expensive stuff looks is it because of all the money they paid is influencing their decision because at the show people could not tell.
Makes me wonder.
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
I completely agree. Where I'm drawing the DG/Z comparison is at the level of how the product looks coming out of the bottle, how it smells, colors, textures, and the looks and durability of both when used on my vehicle.
Some products there are some minor differences. Others - not so much. While I'm not breaking it down on a ingredient/molecular level, the similarities are there, and in some cases they're downright eerily identical. I'm not naive enough to think that a lot of the vendors have some super-duper secret lab attached to their home like some folks on the detailing boards pretend to be. In fact, if I had to wager something on it, I would venture to say that there's only about 2 or 3 big labs/mixing companies that mix everything together for everyone (with probably some input from each "label").
Again, not saying anything is wrong with that. It's perfectly fine, and it's how business is done in a lot of areas. I'm just past the point of naivety in my detailing progression and try not to make myself nobler-than-thou by insisting that product A is not the same as product B (or vice-versa). All I can realistically base my opinion on is my personal experience.
This makes me wonder (I've wondered it for years, actually) if Zaino's ZFX (flash cure additive) could be used successfully in something like 4*UPP or DuraGloss even. It's just a chemical reaction and I'm sure some of those very same chemicals (to a varying degree) are in all/most sealants.
It would be *SUPER SWEET* to be able to layer whatever your preferential sealant is multiple times in a day if you wanted to do so.
I will say, I've yet to find another QD as much as I like Z-6 spray, and Z-8 is just out of this world too. And yeah, I've used AquaWax. I can't see any similarities, though I *DO* like it.
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
While I don't have any experience with the flash cure additive, I don't see why it couldn't be used/tried. I think polycharger used to be that way - i.e. you had to add it manually or something. I could be really off-base, though. But yeah - I don't see what would be so magical about it not working with any other stuff as long as the composition was similar. Or for that matter, why it isn't just added to begin with. Again, I'm no chemist, but it does sound like it's just some sort of reaction between two or more ingredients.
And while I don't think adding the additive would be all the hassle that some of the anti-Z people spout, it's not really something I want to try and fool with.
And while I don't think adding the additive would be all the hassle that some of the anti-Z people spout, it's not really something I want to try and fool with.
I have no actual evidence to back this up, but Zaino claims that the ZFX additive is only good for "X" hours once mixed (6 I believe). Meaning if the Zaino with ZFX isn't laid down and subsequently cured (via drying) and buffed off it'll "go bad". I've never added ZFX to any Zaino and let it sit around to test that theory but surely there's a reason for them letting you know now to let it fester.
I remember reading that the H2O PolyCharger was only good for a small amount of time too, where the CH2 version is more or less a 'permanent' addition like you see in UPP/BFWD and other products. So there are similarities there.
Which brings up another question. Wasn't Polycharger working to make 'individual' packets of CH2/H2O PolyCharger since exposing those bottles to oxygen once opened degraded their shelf life significantly?
Perhaps that's why they just polycharge everything now, to avoid having to make those "foil one time use packs".
JaredPointer
COME AT ME BRO
Well - you're gettin' over my head now.
Just to make sure no one that reads this thread ever gets the notion to start beating on me - all this is conjecture and personal opinion on my part. I'm not a chemist.
Just to make sure no one that reads this thread ever gets the notion to start beating on me - all this is conjecture and personal opinion on my part. I'm not a chemist.
Well - you're gettin' over my head now.
Just to make sure no one that reads this thread ever gets the notion to start beating on me - all this is conjecture and personal opinion on my part. I'm not a chemist.
:lol2:
Hey at least the conversation is still civil.
black bart
New member
You make an excellent point same is true with Gas, years ago I drove a tank truck and we had a contract to haul Sinclair Gas but sometimes they would be low on gas and they would borrow from one of the other company's and promise to repay them when it was their day to use the pipe line that comes into Claremont, Indiana this is the line that carries fuel for all the major company's.
So when people went to Sinclair they may have got Marathon but next week Marathon will have Sinclair in their tank as they were paid back.
ATF cost much more than jack oil the difference is ATF is jack oil with a red dye.
I could go on and on with this but you get my drift on this.
All gas is the same until the tanker gets to "X" gas station and dumps in a jug of "X"'s branded additive.
black bart
New member
Well you are very close to being correct.
ALL GAS that flows down the pipe line is the same.
The difference is in the additives but they are mixed in as it is loaded onto the tanker not at the destination point.
When you haul gas for a cut rate station when you pull into the terminal and tell them who you are picking up for they look in the computer and see what the settings are for the different additives.
How good it is depends on what they are willing to pay for.
Todays cars are designed to run on nearly anything other than fly spray.
THEIR IS NO REALLY GOOD FUEL AVAILABLE AT STATIONS UNLESS YOU BUY RACE FUEL AND IT IS $13.25 per gallon
I found some threads on Autopia regarding using ZFX with UPP/etc. There seems to be conflicts in agreement (SURPRISE!) to whether this works. Some say sure, some say no.
As an alternative, people suggested using DG PBA (Duragloss Polish Bonding Agent (PBA) #601). This works apparently with any polymer based sealant.
I may pick up a bottle (it's cheap enough) to test when using UPP/PowerLock/etc.. just for giggles.
As an alternative, people suggested using DG PBA (Duragloss Polish Bonding Agent (PBA) #601). This works apparently with any polymer based sealant.
I may pick up a bottle (it's cheap enough) to test when using UPP/PowerLock/etc.. just for giggles.
black bart
New member
I may pick up a bottle (it's cheap enough) to test when using UPP/PowerLock/etc.. just for giggles.
If you buy the 601 get a bottle of 105 also it don't have the sterile look of the Z
If you buy the 601 get a bottle of 105 also it don't have the sterile look of the Z