Sealant Test

Last Sunday, a few detailing enthusiasts dropped by at my place to do a sealant test, we're all on the Meguiar's Malaysia forum, so drop by to join us when you're free!

Our plan was to test four sealants on the roof of a E30 BMW. The main objective of the test was durability, and not the looks.

We started by washing the car down with Osren Shampoo, and clayed with Osren's Magic Cloth. Then the wheels and fenderwells were cleaned with Meguiar's All Purpose Cleaner







here Kok Yi is actually coughing, but looks like he's choking on the APC!



Everybody brought some of their own toys



After washing, the car is dried with Meguiars Water Magnet cloths while Joe takes out his leaf blower and dry the cracks and crevices.



Looking pretty good after only a wash and clay, the owner of the car details the car himself by hand.



Even after the clay, the paint feels very slick and is still repelling water quite fast! So Azizi gave it a DuPont prepsol wipedown to remove as much remaining protection as possible.

At the back of the car, we were playing with some new toys while the 'Lich King' looks on.



And behold, all the way from Britain, Dodo Juice Supernatural



and Dodo Juice Lime Prime (which is fantastic!!! I'll make a write-up on that product soon)



Here, to the right side of the finger, Lime Prime has been applied and buffed off,



here it is from another angle, it was quite obvious that the oils in the pre-wax cleaner darkened the paint,



The same picture with higher contrast



After playing around with the Supernatural and Lime Prime, we turned our attention to the actual state of the paintwork, although it is already very very glossy, there were some pig tailing marks which Kok Yi says it is from machine sanding after the repainting process.



So he set about using a Lake Country 4 ply wool pad and Osren Perfect Cut 2.2 compound



We tried many different combinations, all it needed was a good cut and then refined from that stage onwards. However, the Glasurit paint is very hard, I tried to use Meguiar's Diamond Cut 2.0 on 4 ply wool followed by Meguiar's Dual-Action Cleaner/Polish on a polishing pad. The second step was not aggressive enough to remove the compounding marks. Therefore, will need an additional step between M85/wool and M83/polishing pad.

I didn't have a cutting pad and Charles said to just let it be, Kok Yi continued to prep the roof, while I prepped his ...



With the roof prepped, it is given two M6000 Wax and Grease Remover wipedowns...



And split into four sections, the middle diamond acts as the control. Nothing is applied on that area.





Each of use applied the products at the same time.




A friendly Osren and Zaino competition.



A not so friendly Meguiars and Duragloss competition





It is left for about 20 minutes and then all panels are buffed off at the same time.









Later Charles finished up the rest of the car with Duraglos 501 RV/Marine polish and Duragloss 105 Total Performance Polish. He will monitor the water repelling behaviour of the sealants in the coming weeks, and I will update the results here.





Thanks for looking! and thanks to those who came as well, it was an enjoyable day.