Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

[TxRado]

Saw this on a local car forum and found it interesting. It's the first time I've heard of it. Any comments?

I know we've talked about waxes on here, but there has recently been a new wave of chemistry that has lead to new discoveries in surface care.

Long ago, waxes were king of all the detailing talk, then, when polymers were introduced to those same waxed, sealants were formed and became king and really, they still are.

What's happening now is a revolution in the detailing industry and the new kid on the block is COATINGS.

Coatings have now surpassed anything that waxes and sealants could offer.

Many detailing companies are testing new chemistry and using Nanotechnology to create products that are surely the next generation in surface care.


Years ago, when waxes were all the rage; companies were pushing the "SHINE" factor and Shine they did, but without longevity. Most Carnuba and silicone waxes only lasted 2 months at best.

In the late 80's and early 90's, the use of Synthetic Polymers led to Sealants. Sealants were typically quite expensive in the beginning, but have since dropped in price now that the technology has become more widespread.

Sealants offered the look and shine of wax AND they offered longevity. Where a typical Carnuba and/or Silicone wax fails within a couple of months, the Synthetic Polymer Sealants lasted well beyond any wax. Mostly 5-8 months for well maintained cars.

This spawned a whole new market in the detailing industry. Many detailing companies and dealerships were selling Sealant Packages with new car purchases and the prices ranged from $200.00 to will over $800.00 for a wash and Seal.

Now we're beginning to see Coatings take off in the same fashion.

Coatings offer the same "shine" as a wax and they also offer longevity, but can the it match the sealant longevity?

Oh, it can do that and so much more!

Coatings have gone well beyond any product that has hit any store shelf.

Most tests have resulted in 3-4 year longevity out of one coat.

Imagine only waxing....er...COATING your car only once every 3 years.


What makes the Coating such a wonderful thing is that it forms a true barrier on your surface much like an extra layer of clear coat, unlike a temporary layer from a wax or sealant.

It also has water shedding capabilities unlike anything you've ever seen.

see vid:
YouTube - Splash And Dashing - Nanocoating Technology 813-484-9225



Coatings also have wonderful dirt shedding properties which will not allow contamination, dirt, or grime to adhere to the surface.

How many times have we tried to clean a wheel, but the brake dust was baked on and we had to forcefully scrub the wheel?

With Coating, that is a thing of the past.

see vid:
YouTube - 100_5681.MOV



What most people have seen in Coating Testing is what we call the "Lotus Effect".

see vid:
YouTube - lotus effect


Notice how the waters molecules will not seperate, but actually stick together.

This is the effect we get when we have applied a coating to a vehicle surface.


Not only do Coating benefit the Auto Paint and Surface Care world, there have been new experiments of Coatings being applied to fabric such as clothing and carpeting.

see vid:
YouTube - Nano Carpet & Cushion Coating

see vid:
YouTube - Nice Suit, Bob! Nano-Tex Suit Goes For a Swim.


This will eventually lead to TRUE stain resistant fabrics in our automobiles as well.


After seeing how Nano Technology and Coatings work on paint and fabric, how could it get any better?

Well...how about fire resistance

see vid:
YouTube - Nanotechnology Fire Protection for Wood


Here's to the new New Wave of detailing!

Happy Buffing!

David Barnett
[dd]dentlessdave

Discuss...

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

Cool stuff, but somewhat of a re-post I believe. There was a topic on this a few weeks ago.

My main concern would be maintaining a swirl-free surface...wonder how it holds up to washing? If you polish it, how quickly will it lose effectiveness? Etc

[TxRado]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

Great questions and my thoughts exactly.

My apologies if it's a repost.

[PorscheGuy997]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

I heard about Optimum's new coating that is supposed to last a few years. Supposedly, it actually adds to the thickness of the paint (measurable), but it can be easily applied wrong. Also, Optimum will only sell it to professional detailers and it is very expensive.

Personally, I think it is great that there is a coating that will last an extremely long time. But, how will the customer react? I'm pretty sure the customers in my area would not pay $300+ for a coating. Also, I like to apply a protectant to my car fairly often, so I'm not concerned about the protectant lasting years.

Only time will tell how well these coatings perform in the marketplace.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

This has topic has come up in the recent past; the post comes off sounding like some kind of sales pitch for whatever the product is they're highlighting.

What's in a word?
If you apply a car wax to your car, you just applied a coating to the paint, so maybe they need to define a little more specifically what they mean by the word coating?

Also, as discussed on this forum in the past, the word polymer is a very vague term, all it means is a series of repeating monomers. Most people confuse polymer to mean synthetic but human skin is a type of polymer and so is Carnauba wax.

One thing I've learned over the years is to never try to act like a chemist when you're not and never post over your head or someone that is a chemist will chime-in and straighten you out.




Even if someone comes out with a coating that lasts for years on the surface, does that also mean it creates a swirl-free, show car finish that lasts for years? As in no amount of running the car through the car wash will instill swirls and scratches into this coating?

If the coating lasts for years but can be instilled with swirls and scratches, how then does one remove the swirls and scratches out of the coating?

Aren't you in effect just back to the original problem which is taking care of the coating? (the paint on the car).

Regardless, at the end of the day, see my Sig Line...

[TxRado]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

Very informative as always Mike.

I'd like some feedback from someone who has seen this stuff first hand. Anyone?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

While it sounds great on the surface (is that a pun???) my question has always been this:

If this, or similar, product is applied to the vehicle and then the vehicle is run through multiple automatic car washes, will fine swirl marks still show up? This question is usually ignored and one can only guess it's because the answer is "yes, you'll still get swirls". Unless this applied coating is considerably harder than clear coat paint it just seems very likely that these fine swirls will show up just as they always do, whether the vehicle has been "waxed" or "sealed", whether the paint is single stage or clear coat. Remember too that modern clear coats tend to be much harder than single stage paints, yet they still are prone to swirls. We've all seen comments about how difficult it is to correct the paint on the C6 Corvette (ie, how "hard" the paint is). So, is this new coating technology "harder" or more "scratch resistant" than clear coat?

Why does that matter? Well, if you get swirls in your paint and you're a member of MOL, Autopia, etc then odds are you want to get rid of them. And how do you do that? You level the surrounding paint. Which removes your wax. Or your sealant. Or your "coating"? Sound logical?

What's the cost of these new "coatings"? If you're going to have to polish out swirls and therefore remove the "coating" in the process, is the extra cost worth it? Is the extra longevity truly a benefit then? For the really Car Crazy among us, probably not. Hey, we don't look at this whole process as drudgery or some terrible chore we have to do. No, this is a labor of love for Car Crazy types, a passion, therapy, a hobby. It's even fun.

To the average guy on the street who never does anything more than run their car through the automatic car wash once a week it may make a difference or been seen as beneficial. Then again, we get plenty of calls to the Customer Care Center asking one simple question: "how do I get rid of the swirls in my paint?"

[Dentless Dave]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

This has topic has come up in the recent past; the post comes off sounding like some kind of sales pitch for whatever the product is they're highlighting.

There were 4 or 5 different companies' products mentioned..so how could it be a sales pitch?

This post was written on another forum with the intent of informing the general public of the new technology that will be coming out in the next 20 years....provided Nanotechnology and Coatings will find their place in the detailing world.

That said....it's been a long time since I've been on here...


dave.

[Dentless Dave]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

While it sounds great on the surface (is that a pun???) my question has always been this:

If this, or similar, product is applied to the vehicle and then the vehicle is run through multiple automatic car washes, will fine swirl marks still show up? This question is usually ignored and one can only guess it's because the answer is "yes, you'll still get swirls". Unless this applied coating is considerably harder than clear coat paint it just seems very likely that these fine swirls will show up just as they always do, whether the vehicle has been "waxed" or "sealed", whether the paint is single stage or clear coat. Remember too that modern clear coats tend to be much harder than single stage paints, yet they still are prone to swirls. We've all seen comments about how difficult it is to correct the paint on the C6 Corvette (ie, how "hard" the paint is). So, is this new coating technology "harder" or more "scratch resistant" than clear coat?

Why does that matter? Well, if you get swirls in your paint and you're a member of MOL, Autopia, etc then odds are you want to get rid of them. And how do you do that? You level the surrounding paint. Which removes your wax. Or your sealant. Or your "coating"? Sound logical?

What's the cost of these new "coatings"? If you're going to have to polish out swirls and therefore remove the "coating" in the process, is the extra cost worth it? Is the extra longevity truly a benefit then? For the really Car Crazy among us, probably not. Hey, we don't look at this whole process as drudgery or some terrible chore we have to do. No, this is a labor of love for Car Crazy types, a passion, therapy, a hobby. It's even fun.

To the average guy on the street who never does anything more than run their car through the automatic car wash once a week it may make a difference or been seen as beneficial. Then again, we get plenty of calls to the Customer Care Center asking one simple question: "how do I get rid of the swirls in my paint?"

There have been a lot of questions about how well it resists micro-marring and honestly, these coatings are in their infancy so they do have a lot of "growing" to do, so to speak.

From what I can gather and what I've seen with my own two eyes, is that these coatings are great at repelling water and keeping dirt from sticking to the surface, but at the same time, will it protect from airborne contamination such as rail dust or industrial fallout?

I honestly can't say.

There has been some questions over the Opti-Coat's resistance also. I've worked with two of the detailers who can get the product and so far, from what I've seen, it's pretty impressive.

I have also polished a car with the Opti-coat and the coating held up nicely.

While a heavy machine polish will finally break the coating down (much like Clearcoat) I don't think it would be a problem in the long run.

But, like I said, these products are still in their infancy....and like any new products, they will advance in technology.

If these coating do take off and become a lasting trend in the market, I have no doubt that Meguiar's will jump on it too.

dave.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

There were 4 or 5 different companies' products mentioned..so how could it be a sales pitch?

Was just speaking in general...

If in fact a coating can be invented that can be applied to paint that will resist swirls and scratches and will look good and protect for 1, 2, 3+ years then maybe car manufactures can just apply it while the car is traveling down the assembly line or the paint manufactures can include it as part of the process?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

That said....it's been a long time since I've been on here...


dave.

Did you have a different account that you posted under?

[TxRado]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

Did you have a different account that you posted under?

His Join date says 2005

[akimel]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

Beware of anything that uses nano-technology! Those of us who have watched Star Gate over the years know that nano-technology means nanites, and nanites mean replicators, and replicators mean the end of the universe as we know it!

Beware! You have been warned!

[TxRado]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

lol

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Nano Coating: The new Non Wax?

His Join date says 2005

Checked and noted, joined in 2005, first and second post in 2009, (today).




(Sorry, I'm multi-tasking behind the scenes)