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I went ahead and took advantage of today's heat wave (48*) and picked up a bottle of Meguiar's Hybrid Ceramic Wax at Advance Auto ($14.99 + tax with a $5.00 online rebate).
The car was in dire need of a good wash since it hasn't been touched in months and was a bit crusty with salt.
Using a fairly strong wash mix ... 3 oz of Hyperwash to 5 gallons of water, I hosed off as much of the crusted salt as I could, then did an involved two bucket wash.
Once the car was clean and still wet, I started with the HCW. Between the directions and what I've seen on the internet, I decided to spray it on and wipe it in. I have the strong feeling that I used too much. It IS thick and comes out of the bottle in a heavy spray.
I sprayed it on and wiped it in, the mf quickly became soaked and I probably made a mistake by not wringing it out, but I kept wiping it in until I went over the whole car.
The HCW was on the paint THICK and I didn't see it coming off easily so I decided to try the hose off method. Apparently my hose doesn't have enough pressure to work the HCW off the car, so after getting the car totally soaked again, I began with a fresh microfiber and began drying the car - wringing the towel out this time and it did fairly well removing the haze of the HCW. Once I had dried the whole car, It looked similar to after applying Ultimate Fast Finish, but before wiping off the residue.
So as a final wipe, I took a second fresh, slightly damp cloth and lightly went over the car. This did a fantastic job of removing the 'high spots' that remained.
Once finished, I used the back of my hand and felt the finish. It felt very similar to UFF using my hand, but not quite as slick when wiped with a mf.
It's supposed to rain tonight and maybe tomorrow, so if it does, perhaps I'll take the car out and check out the beading.
I know it didn't happen unless there are pics, so here they are. The car actually looks better in person, my phone's camera has been acting up.
Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I tried a second, dry application a few hours later. Taking a clean, dry mf I sprayed it once with the HCW and going panel by panel, I wiped it on, then buffed it off with a new dry mf and buffed the panel.
It flashed pretty well and only left a few ... smears? high spots? that needed buffed off. The exterior glass came out crystal clear.
Time and probably some more experimentation will tell if it is worth the effort.
The car was in dire need of a good wash since it hasn't been touched in months and was a bit crusty with salt.
Using a fairly strong wash mix ... 3 oz of Hyperwash to 5 gallons of water, I hosed off as much of the crusted salt as I could, then did an involved two bucket wash.
Once the car was clean and still wet, I started with the HCW. Between the directions and what I've seen on the internet, I decided to spray it on and wipe it in. I have the strong feeling that I used too much. It IS thick and comes out of the bottle in a heavy spray.
I sprayed it on and wiped it in, the mf quickly became soaked and I probably made a mistake by not wringing it out, but I kept wiping it in until I went over the whole car.
The HCW was on the paint THICK and I didn't see it coming off easily so I decided to try the hose off method. Apparently my hose doesn't have enough pressure to work the HCW off the car, so after getting the car totally soaked again, I began with a fresh microfiber and began drying the car - wringing the towel out this time and it did fairly well removing the haze of the HCW. Once I had dried the whole car, It looked similar to after applying Ultimate Fast Finish, but before wiping off the residue.
So as a final wipe, I took a second fresh, slightly damp cloth and lightly went over the car. This did a fantastic job of removing the 'high spots' that remained.
Once finished, I used the back of my hand and felt the finish. It felt very similar to UFF using my hand, but not quite as slick when wiped with a mf.
It's supposed to rain tonight and maybe tomorrow, so if it does, perhaps I'll take the car out and check out the beading.
I know it didn't happen unless there are pics, so here they are. The car actually looks better in person, my phone's camera has been acting up.
Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I tried a second, dry application a few hours later. Taking a clean, dry mf I sprayed it once with the HCW and going panel by panel, I wiped it on, then buffed it off with a new dry mf and buffed the panel.
It flashed pretty well and only left a few ... smears? high spots? that needed buffed off. The exterior glass came out crystal clear.
Time and probably some more experimentation will tell if it is worth the effort.
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