Keeping that Show Wining Shine
Nano Ceramic
Real World Test
Maintaining
that factory fresh shine to our beloved toys ranks very high on the
to-do lists of every Corvette enthusiast. There are hundreds of
products for sale that claim to be the latest and greatest in the world
of car care. Natural waxes, synthetic waxes, spray shines, spray waxes,
anti swirls and scratch removers flood the shelves at the Mart stores.
We
all have our secret show wining shine formulas that somehow always are
never good enough. Ask ten car guy's for their product recommendation
and application method and you will invariably get ten differing
opinions on what's best.
After trying and evaluating many of
the products currently available we heard about the latest shine craze
that has hit the show car market. That craze is marketed under the
catch all name of Nano Ceramic coatings.
What exactly is is a
nano ceramic coating anyway? They are basically
products
that allow an inseparable transfer of particles from one surface to
another. The coating thus becomes part of the original paints surface
at a molecular level. The adhesion properties of these surface coatings
are according to experts not permanent. The bond between the coating
and the paint will eventually weaken. Like all paint surface products
you will have to reapply them over time.
We contacted several
makers of Nano Ceramic coatings with our request to do a comparison
test and feature article. At first many of them were very
enthusiastic about the prospect of getting some cheap advertising. For
the most part their enthusiasm soon waned once we informed that that
the test and evaluations were going to be fair and honest. As we have
mentioned in many of our test reviews we work for the Corvette
community not the advertisers. This may cost us some ad dollars but in
the long run it really pays to be honest.
Ducoras TopCoat F11
CarPro's Gliss
The
final battle of the nano ceramics boiled down to two companies. Ducora
which manufactures a product called Top Coat F11 and Car Pro that
manufactures a product called Gliss.
After receiving the
products we were anxious to test them on two cars that were in our
garage. The two test cars were a C5 Corvette with a black finish and
the second car was a C6 with a victory red finish.
CarPro's
supplied us with some very soft microfiber pads and a spray bottle of
wax and polish residue remover that they named "eraser"
We
were told by the manufacturers that surface prep is critical to a
successful application of these products. Now we know why body shops
charge an arm and a leg to apply a ceramic coating. The steps include:
- A through wash of the car
- A complete clay baring of the cleaned paint surface
-A machine polish of the surface
- Removal of polish residue
- Application of the nano ceramic
Product 1. Ducora's TopCoat F11
Applying
a nano is no walk in the park. Nano prep should be included in the
Olympics as a sporting event. Our first application was on the red
C6. The paint was is perfect condition to begin with. The C6
is
used to showcase products and is always in a state of show readiness.
We never the less followed the recommendations of the "nano" people and
washed, clayed and polished prior to product application. It took us
about two hours of rubbing to get the car properly prepped.
The
Ducora Topcoat F11 was applied to the red finish of the prepped C6.
Topcoat supplied us with a small micro fiber application cloth. All we
had to do was spray on a small amount of the F11 and wipe it off with
the micro fiber cloth. We worked in two square foot section at a time.
This stuff flashes very quickly and it must be wiped off before it
hazes over.
After each section was treated we re-buffed
it out by hand using a clean soft polishing cloth. The results were
pretty good. A high gloss shine and a very slippery to the touch finish
were the result. The manufacturer suggests that the finish cure for
about a day before exposing it to the elements.
Product
2. Car Pro's Gliss
The
CarPro people are top notch car care professionals. Unlike the other
suppliers of these type of products they took the time to explain to us
in detail what the product was, what it could do and most importantly
how to properly apply it. We explained to them that we were going to do
an unbiased test and report exactly on the final results. Unlike some
of the other nano suppliers CarPro had no problem with an unbiased
test.
One of CarPro's
premier
nano products is marketed under the name of "Gliss". The
packaging included a small bottle of the nano solution, an application
block and pads, a spray bottle of residue eraser and a set of very
detailed and easy to understand application instructions. They even
sent us several ultra soft "Slogger" micro fiber cloths to help in the
final buffing.
Our
test vehicle this time around was our tried and true 98 C5 mule. The
car is used for testing many performance oriented products.
The
finish on the C5 is GM Black. The paint is original and has always been
meticulously maintained. Although the original finish on the C5 was in
excellent condition the Gliss was at a disadvantage as it had to deal
with a twenty year old paint job.
We treated the C5 to the same grueling prep treatment as the red C6.
- A through wash of the car
- A complete clay baring of the cleaned paint surface
-A machine polish of the surface
- Removal of polish residue
- Application of the nano ceramic
Apply
the Gliss to the covered application block
Then gently rub it on a two square foot section
at a time
Immediately
buff it out with a soft micro fiber cloth
Unlike
the spray application of the TopCoat the Gliss is applied via the use
of a small application block that is wrapped in an ultra soft cloth. We
applied a small amount of the Gliss to the block and applied the
product to the C5 in two square foot sections. The product flashes
quickly and was buffed out with the "Slogger" micro fiber cloths.
The
actual application of this product went very quickly. The resulting
finish was incredible. The resulting finish was a super slick mirror
like glaze. We followed the manufactures instructions and let the C5
sit in the garage for a few days to let the finish cure.
The Test
Now
for the comparison. The question being how exactly do you test for a
better car finish? We thought about using light refraction
meters,friction testers and other dubious methods of arriving with some
meaningful testing metrics. We decided on taking the simple and stupid
approach. That's the approach that most car guys use and it has never
failed us in the past.
The light test
The best way to
judge a cars finish is to expose it with an intense white light. IPCW
came to the rescue with one of its innovative LED hand held work
lights. We named their lights "sun on a stick". The output of
these things are incredible. The light is so bright that even a glance
at it will render you snow blind.
We shined the intense white
light at several sections of the newly treated cars. A light
test
will expose any flaws such as swirls, scratches, orange peel or
dullness.
The C6 treated with
TopCoat F11
At
first glance the finish appeared to be really good. The light revealed
some swirls and surface flaws. The shine was excellent but lacked a
deep luster that is expected from a show quality finish. We rated the
shine an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
The next real world comparison
was the finger tip test. We had several of our rough fingered friends
and some of our tender touch ladies feel the cars finish. We asked them
to rate the smoothness of the finish on a scale of 1-10. The average
obtained for the C6 was a respectable 7. Good but not great.
The Winner
The C5 treated with
CarPro Gliss
The
overall finish of the Gliss treated C5 brought our perception of what a
perfect car finish should be to a whole new level. The luster of every
body panel that we light tested revealed almost no surface flaws. The
black paint on the C5 looked as if you could dive into it. It had an
old school deep luster that every show car longs for. We rolled the C5
out of the garage and were dazzled by the shine in natural sunlight. We
rated the finish a 10 on a scale of 1-10.
The feel test was even
more impressive. None of the finger tester could feel any significant
friction on the Gliss treated surface. Even one of our most critical
rough necks commented that "the car feels smooth as a baby's ass". We
rated the surface smoothness a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Our final Thoughts
If
you want to break out of the box of traditional wax's and polishes by
all means give the nano ceramic products a try. Just be advised that
surface prep is the key to a successful application. There are many
professional shops that will apply the nano to your car if you are not
inclined to spend an afternoon of intense rubbing.
The real
test of these products is how the treated paint survives in the harsh
elements of the real world. The layer of nano protection should last at
least a year before an new coat is needed. Added benefits to the nano
are its extreme hydro-phobic properties, or how well it sheds water.
This doesn't matter because as we all know Corvettes never
get
driven in the rain :)
You can get more information about these products from the
manufacturers at:
