3 coating comparison

[RippyD]

Just put three different coatings on my hood: McKee's 37, Polish Angel Cosmic, and Duragloss Nanoglass. Will see how they perform over time. Some details below in Q&A format.

Q: What car? What shape is it in?
A: 2012 Nissan Sentra, blue metallic. In pretty bad shape. Paint is scratched and swirled out, some scratches through the paint and some bad rock chips. This is a semi-beater I bought for the teenage kids to drive.

Q: What correction did you do before coating?
A: HD Adapt and an orange pad on the hood. Got 95% of the scratches. The rest of them will take more work.

Q: Why those three?
A: I'm a DG fan and wanted to try it. Read a lot about Polish Angel so decided to try that. Mike described McKee's as the easiest to apply (I think - could be wrong), it's inexpensive, and why would I not support company that pays for this site? Also don't see a lot of reviews of these compared to others.



Q: Have you used coatings before?
A: A little. I coated 4 wheels. I've coated a bunch of glass (Opt glass coating). And I did a few panels on my LR3. I'm not experienced, but I knew what to expect.

Q: How did they apply? Which one went on the best?
A: McKee's and DG Nanoglass are similar. They're both a clear liquid that volatilizes (evaporates) fairly quickly. Nanoglass seems a little thicker and slower evaporating than McKee's. On dark paint both are easy enough to see with an LED work light. DG was harder to see when I did my white car. High spots were very obvious and came off easily with both of them. These were both similar to other two coatings I used (Opt glass coating and Pinnacle wheel coating.) You need to keep track of what you've covered as it can evaporate to nothing in 20-30 seconds. Despite this, it's easy to apply.

Polish Angel is different. It goes on like a wax and buffs off. I had read that for this reason it's much easier to apply, and I agree that it's easier to see where it's been applied. However, the others are also easy to apply. While easier, I would choose PA over another coating for this reason alone.

Note: I applied all these per instructions with one exception: I didn't use McKee's coating prep polish. And I I did an IPA wipe down before I applied McKee's 37 coating.

Q: How many coats? How did you apply it?
A: Both Polish Angel and Duragloss have their own cleaner. I used a DA and a blue pad for both cleaners. (No pre-treatment for the McKee's.) Polish Angel got two coats of the coating, per the instructions. DG and McKee's have one coat. I applied all the coatings by hand. I used a Megs applicator pad for the McKee's and the DG. I used the sponge provided with the Polish Angel.

Q: Under what conditions did you apply? How long did they cure?
A: In my garage at about 65 degrees and raining outside. I had a heater in the garage and it was 70+ in there after I applied them. I had to drive this morning so they only got ~12 hours of cure time (Polish Angel got ~11 after the 2nd coat). Polish Angel wants 12, not sure about McKee's, and an older post on DG says 24 is preferred. Will have to see what happens.

Here's how the hood looked after I drove it this morning and it sat in the rain for 20 minutes or so.



Here it is after I hit it with the hose. McKee's on the right, Polish Angel in the middle, DG on the left. McKee's and DG both sheeted water. Polish Angle beaded. Not sure what this means, if anything. When I dried it off the Polish Angle was less slick than the other two. Certainly not grabby at all, but less slippery. Maybe I needed to buff it more after applying the glasscoat spray, or maybe it's just less slippery.



I'll report how these look in a few days. I'll try to do monthly updates after that. (Will try to fix these pics as well - too small.)

[jdubs]

Great write up. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to playing with some different coatings.

[Jowillie]

Excellent! Very timely. We will be watching your progress with great anticipation. Thanks

[Vegas1]

Just applied Mckee's coating a couple of weeks ago. Curious to see how they all compare.


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[RippyD]

While easier, I would choose PA over another coating for this reason alone.

Typo. I wouldn't choose Polish Angel based on ease of application alone.

[cyclops]

Thanks for doing the test. Subscribed cant wait for more info.

[RippyD]

One more addition: I clayed the hood before using using HD Adapt. Used my clay mitt. Embedded stuff wasn't nearly as bad as I expected given the poor overall shape of the car. So just to be clear, I washed, clayed, polished with a DA, then did the pre-prep before coating. Pretty obvious, but I neglected to put washing and claying into the original post.

[RippyD]

Update from a day or so ago. Still beading and sheeting. The McKee's and DG coatings look and perform similarly. Can't say I see a lot of difference between the three of them. I may if the sun every comes out.

Hitting it with the hose.


About 2 seconds after hose turned off.


About 10 seconds later.


About 30 seconds after hose shut off.


About a minute. The sheeting action is steady but fairly slow.


McKee's and DG continuing to sheet. Polish Angle beading and shedding water quickly.

[TTQ B4U]

Looking forward to the continued updates. I'm sold on McKee's for the cost/performance of it so far. I've put it on over a dozen different customer cars so far with everyone being more than pleased and happy with the performance of it.

I've began to use CarPro Essence as my base/polish prior to application. In many other cases I've used HD Adapt or Meg's Ultimate Polish as the base.

[fightnews]

Update from a day or so ago. Still beading and sheeting. The McKee's and DG coatings look and perform similarly. Can't say I see a lot of difference between the three of them. I may if the sun every comes out.

Hitting it with the hose.


About 2 seconds after hose turned off.


About 10 seconds later.


About 30 seconds after hose shut off.


About a minute. The sheeting action is steady but fairly slow.


McKee's and DG continuing to sheet. Polish Angle beading and shedding water quickly.

how come u cant see the tape lines? they look the same as the rest of the car?