Clear Coat Safe?

[BillE]

What does the statement, that is one many Meguiar's products, "clear coat safe" mean?

This question was (kinda) brought up over on AGO last week and we all just kinda went brain dead.

Thank you...

Bill

[Murr1525]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

Back when clear coats first came out, most of the products were basically the rocks in a bottle type.

On the single stage paints, the rocks in the bottle could leave small scratches behind and not be noticed.

On clear coat paint, the scratches would stand out as a haze.

[wifpd4]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

Bill,

It's universally thought it has to do with particle physics and the collision of matter and anti-matter and the conservation of energy. Using a product that is not clear coat safe would have an unpredictable reaction of galactic proportions creating an anomaly of celestial swirls of macroscopic proportions even Marc could not remove.

Thus ends today's science lesson....

Just call me Dr.D the PhD.

[BillE]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

Mat,

That's pretty much what we all came up with, just thought there may have been more to it. I remember guys grabbing a can of Number 7 Rubbing Compound (in the CC beginning) and just going ballistic on an area...not a pretty sight.

Thanx for the feedback.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David,

Too funny! Is this going to be on the final?

Bill

[drumdan]

Love the use of the term "ballistic"! The images that come to mind... Haha!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

In all honesty, this is one of those "marketing" versus "marketing hype" things. In this regard, "marketing" is when the label calls out something specific that the customer is looking for to solve a problem, or put them at ease. The average guy on the street knows nothing about what is actually going on with the paint on their cars and they've heard all kinds of stories about clear coat being a "no maintenance" specialty coating, or being super delicate and you can't use traditional products on it, yadda yadda. So when we put the words "Clear Coat Safe" on a consumer product, it's really just to give peace of mind to the buying public that, yes indeed, this product is perfectly safe to use on their new car. When we took these words off of the Gold Class Carnauba Plus containers our call center lit up with people asking how we changed the product and was it no longer safe to use on clear coat? Yikes! Really? 99+% of all new cars sold today have clear coat on them, so why on earth would we make a consumer product that can't be used on them? But they simply have not been educated on the subject so they don't know - even though it's just a wax, and not a heavy cutting product.

By the way, "marketing hype" would be making promises that you just can't keep or that are totally outlandish. If we said that Gold Class Carnauba Plus was "clear coat safe" and "provides impervious protection for 5 years" (or some other such nonsense) that would be combining the two concepts. The first one is true and puts the buyer at ease, the second one is an outlandish claim that preys on the lack of knowledge of the consumer but ultimately harms the manufacturer's reputation as it simply isn't (and most likely can't be) a true statement.

[BillE]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

Thank you Mike!

That makes complete and total sense.

May I quote you, if this subject comes up again?

Thanx again...

Bill

[BillE]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

Love the use of the term "ballistic"! The images that come to mind... Haha!

RUB RUB RUB with the 'standard red shop towel'. "Oh the humanity."

Bill

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

Thank you Mike!

That makes complete and total sense.

May I quote you, if this subject comes up again?

Thanx again...

Bill

Please, feel free to quote should the subject come up elsewhere.

[SpoolMe]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

What did they use before clear coat?? Just primer and paint?? :O

[Spyder]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

What did they use before clear coat?? Just primer and paint?? :O

White out and sharpies.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Clear Coat Safe?

What did they use before clear coat?? Just primer and paint?? :O

Basically, yes. Single stage lacquers and enamels meant just that - instead of a color coat with a clear coat on top it was just the color coat. The chemistry is vastly different between the color coat in a single stage paint and that of a modern base coat/clear coat paint finish. The base, or color, coat in the modern two step finish is not designed to be glossy but instead relies on the clear coat to provide the gloss, UV protection, etc.

[drumdan]

Love the use of the term "ballistic"! The images that come to mind... Haha!

RUB RUB RUB with the 'standard red shop towel'. "Oh the humanity."

Bill

Haha! Been there, done that! Trying to remove 3M Hand Glaze way back in 1998... I was thinking "What the heck? This looks terrible!"