Originally posted by Michael Stoops
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The biggest potential issue with quick summer rains is that it's such a gentle rain that the water just sits there - there is no motion of the vehicle to create air flow to move it off the surface, and gravity really can't move water spots off a flat, horizontal surface. Sheeting may or may not be better here as it really depends on just how the rain came down - how heavy, how long, etc. In some cases, where there is enough water, sheeting would likely help to alleviate some of this, but a very light rain will sit in droplets on the paint no matter what, and that may or may not cause some issues. Whether you've got really tight little beads of water, or slightly larger puddles, if you're dealing with an acid rain situation then you've got that low pH liquid sitting on the paint doing what it does that we don't like. If there is heavy mineral content in the water, when the water evaporates those minerals will be left behind regardless, and they can and will etch the paint. And remember, anything that can etch paint can and will get through any wax or sealant in fairly short order. To expect a wax or sealant to prevent that from happening assumes that the wax/sealant is actually stronger than the paint, which obviously it is not.
In an ideal situation a wax/sealant would cause water to totally "wet the surface". That's actually a technical phrase that means the exact opposite of beading. Imagine putting your garden hose on a medium flow and you adjustable nozzle on a fine mist. Aim the nozzle into the air above the hood of your car and let the water flow, simulating a light rain fall. On a properly waxed car this water will land on the horizontal surface and create some very nice beads. A wax/sealant that did a truly outstanding job of sheeting would instead cause this same light mist to make the entire surface wet with a sheet of water - it would totally "wet the surface". On vertical surfaces most of this water would be pulled off the paint by gravity, but again, on a horizontal surface gravity can't pull the water sideways and off the vehicle, so it would lay there in a sheet. This may or may not actually be preferable to beading, depending on your point of view, how you maintain the vehicle, etc. What we do know for sure (and some may not want to hear this) is that such a product would fail miserably in the marketplace. As much as we know that beading alone is not necessarily an indicator of protection (you can apply M07 Show Car Glaze to a finish, spray some water on it and that water will bead like mad, but there is zero protection in M07), the consuming public directly equates beading with protection. If a wax doesn't bead for several weeks, in their mind the wax is gone already and they're not happy. We even see this on detailing forums around the great Interwebs...... someone posts a picture of water on their car that really isn't beading very well and they complain that the lousy wax they applied just a couple of weeks ago is already gone. Rants against the product go dang near viral, and everyone thinks it's junk. We used to hear this all the time with the original formulation of NXT Tech Wax; easy to apply, nice shine, but the junk doesn't last but a week or so and the beading is gone. Save your money and get XYZBoutique Wax instead because it lasts soooo much longer. Uh huh. We wanted NXT to sheet, but the world saw sheeting as failure - even detailing enthusiasts who should know better saw it that way.
Perhaps the ideal would be for a surface that is so incredibly hydrophobic that the contact angle of the beads is so sharp that they literally roll off the paint, even on the slightest deviation from horizontal. It's possible. And expensive. Crazy expensive.
In an ideal situation a wax/sealant would cause water to totally "wet the surface". That's actually a technical phrase that means the exact opposite of beading. Imagine putting your garden hose on a medium flow and you adjustable nozzle on a fine mist. Aim the nozzle into the air above the hood of your car and let the water flow, simulating a light rain fall. On a properly waxed car this water will land on the horizontal surface and create some very nice beads. A wax/sealant that did a truly outstanding job of sheeting would instead cause this same light mist to make the entire surface wet with a sheet of water - it would totally "wet the surface". On vertical surfaces most of this water would be pulled off the paint by gravity, but again, on a horizontal surface gravity can't pull the water sideways and off the vehicle, so it would lay there in a sheet. This may or may not actually be preferable to beading, depending on your point of view, how you maintain the vehicle, etc. What we do know for sure (and some may not want to hear this) is that such a product would fail miserably in the marketplace. As much as we know that beading alone is not necessarily an indicator of protection (you can apply M07 Show Car Glaze to a finish, spray some water on it and that water will bead like mad, but there is zero protection in M07), the consuming public directly equates beading with protection. If a wax doesn't bead for several weeks, in their mind the wax is gone already and they're not happy. We even see this on detailing forums around the great Interwebs...... someone posts a picture of water on their car that really isn't beading very well and they complain that the lousy wax they applied just a couple of weeks ago is already gone. Rants against the product go dang near viral, and everyone thinks it's junk. We used to hear this all the time with the original formulation of NXT Tech Wax; easy to apply, nice shine, but the junk doesn't last but a week or so and the beading is gone. Save your money and get XYZBoutique Wax instead because it lasts soooo much longer. Uh huh. We wanted NXT to sheet, but the world saw sheeting as failure - even detailing enthusiasts who should know better saw it that way.
Perhaps the ideal would be for a surface that is so incredibly hydrophobic that the contact angle of the beads is so sharp that they literally roll off the paint, even on the slightest deviation from horizontal. It's possible. And expensive. Crazy expensive.
I'm one of those people - guilty as charged! I've always thought that beading is a sign of protection and the presence of wax/sealant on the paint. So if certain waxes are designed to sheet the water (like NXT 2.0 - didn't know that), how could we tell if there's any wax remaining?
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