Dear V-8 Buick car finish protection fanatics . . . . . (and isn't that all of us?) Help! Something awful happened to me last night!! I was watching TV and actually learned something!!!! :shock: Maybe! :grin: I was watching a History Channel series Modern Marvels (very entertaining by the way) on waterproofing when they featured a segment on a new Simoniz product called GlassCoat. Here is the Modern Marvel segment describing this stuff on YouTube: http://youtu.be/zZ7bnTQDPcU There is another YouTube describing a Simoniz test of the product: http://youtu.be/boQ5unUxjuY This product has to be applied by a "dealer" so I suppose it is an expensive stuff. However, it is based on a product that used to protect bridges - golly there has to be something to this. Worse still, my vague recollections of college chemistry suggests that the stuff really is forming a coat of glass (silicon oxide) over the top of your paint finish. In a market with soo much hype, this product might actually a technical innovation! Oh well, after all, mistakes do happen!! :laugh: Cheers, Edouard :beer
I think Zaino products are the best. Been detailing cars since the '60s, and their stuff is top notch.
Supplement - not wax replacement (Re: Simoniz Glasscoat) Hi Paul and V-8 Buick detail experts, I've heard good things about Zaino too, but Simoniz Glasscoat is a fundamentally different kind of a product. What the stuff is doing effectively is creating a layer of glass (silicon oxide) a few molecules thick over your clear coat paint finish. Glass is tougher than paint finishes so it should extend the life of your paint by creating a barrier from things like acid rain, solvents, and other nasty materials like tar and bird droppings. However, it cannot provide protection from two important sources of paint damage: UV and impact damage. So I would assume you would want to apply something on top of this coating for maximum production. I don't know if regular waxes would work or not. Wax normally isn't applied to glass, but this isn't a normal case of applying wax to glass. I assume Simoniz will come up with a product because of the very problems I just mentioned. I need to apologize a bit. I forgot that this episode of Modern Marvels was brand new and this product appears to be just entering the market. So it isn't clear how Simoniz is going to position themselves with it. I certainly hope they don't try to force detail shops to switch their entire product line just to add this service. I'm going to check with the two local detail shops I work with and see what they understand about this product. However, it may be a while before anyone will really want to try this stuff. Cheers, Edouard :beer
There is another wax of this type I tried some years back, it is called Glass Wax. Great stuff , we used on cars and on boats. Used to have an RX7 and our cat liked to jump up and was putting scratches on the car. :af: Put 3 coats of the glass wax on and watched the cat try and jump on the hood and slide right off .
Know anything more about "glass wax" ? (Re: Simoniz Glasscoat) Hi Mark and V-8 Buick car finish fanatics? Do you recall anything more about this product? Unfortunately, there is apparently a product called "Glass Wax" by Johnson and Johnson that was used to clean windows. So any traces of your product are going to be hard to dig up. I would be interested to know what was the basis of the product you used. Simoniz was claiming their stuff was original, but then, . . . . what would you expect? Cheers, Edouard :beer
From a painters standpoint, my question is always: Is there anything that will remove it if you ever have to have any touch up work done?
"Liquid Glass" - what *IS* this stuff!?!?! (Re: Simoniz Glasscoat) Hi Mark and V-8 Buick car finish experts, Ah, with this name I can cruise the Internet and learn some stuff. . . . . . . Put Google on the case and get a link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Glass-LG-100-Ultimate-Polish/dp/B0002JMIEK/ref=cm_cmu_pg__header Okay I start reading and find: Huh? Check the Google listings a little further and find the company got slapped with a $100,000 fine from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) http://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/casesett/liquid_glass.htm Supposedly this product violates California's "exceeded the volatile organic compound (VOC) limits in the Automotive Wax/Polish and Automotive Rubbing and Polishing compound regulations (title17, California Code of Regulations (CCR), section 94509(a))" Besides giving me yet another reason to consider an armed revolt against the "Socialist People's Republic of California" :rant: I'm definitely intrigued . . . What IS this stuff? What's in it that make California bureaucrats mad? and How does it work? Cheers, Edouard :beer P.S. There are 107 customer reviews of the stuff on Amazon. 97 are 5-stars, 7 are 4-stars and the worst review are 2 3-stars. People like this stuff!
I am not sure of the chemical make up, but It does have a very mild organic smell. I can tell you this, when applied correctly, it is very durable, and creates a very slick surface by filling in the pores of the paint. Back when I owned the boat dealership, we raced in mod vp class. We used this on the hulls to reduce friction, and keep the hulls clean. We would do 3 coats and it was good for the season. Water scum didn't stick, and the boats were a breeze to wipe down at the end of the day. Still use it on my boat. I also did my 70 convertible a couple weeks ago. 2 coats and a nice soft hand buff when finished, drop a rag on the trunk, and the rag just slides right off! I like it, I even used some today on an enameled cloisonn grill badge that was showing some scuffs in the hard enamel. Two coats and the badge looks just like it was made yesterday, instead of 60 years ago.
This has been around for awhile, I used it on my cars and boat many years ago. It did seem to make the boat easy to wipe down. Nelson
Orinda Auto Detail recommends: Opti-Coat (Re: Simoniz Glasscoat) Dear V-8 Buick car finish fanatics, I finally got around to checking with the "Auto Detail" division of the Orinda Motors empire. According to "Joe" (their expert) Simoniz Glasscoat is actually a late arrival in this new field of coatings that apply a layer of effectively glass to the top-coat of your car. Joe's personally recommends another product: Opti-Coat from Optimum Polymer Technologies: http://www.optimumcarcare.com/ If you look at the link it costs $70 a little tube (just enough for one car) - this is seriously expensive stuff. However, it incorporates some ceramic chemistry that bonds with the Silicon Oxide to make something even tougher than glass with better UV resistance. According to Joe, this makes the car surface extremely slippery and even SUVs that are doing the California ski runs to the Sierra, clean up with little more than light spray. The stuff is so new, the durability tests are on-going, but there are 3 and 4 year old cars with this stuff on them that look great. Joe suggested that this sort of a coating makes good sense for a classic car that isn't outside all the time. UV protection remains the weak-link for the durability of a product like this. A car that is outside all the time needs the UV barrier renewed or the UV will attack the paint right through the clear coating of this product. However, if your car spends most of the time in a garage, then the paint is protected from the sun. In that case, the shine is very durable. Want a little more shine? Just apply a little detail wax. As long as you are careful in applying it, you won't damage the coating thus your actual paint is fully protected. It might be a interesting strategy for the lazy guy who is still an appearance fanatic. Cheers, Edouard :beer P.S. Can there be such a thing as a lazy fanatic? :Brow:
