Review: Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection

[CEE DOG]

Review: Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection

Introduction:

A few years ago in an effort to educate myself on how to better care for my new Sky I came across the first product line that really intrigued me which was Ultima. Ultima belongs to a family of car care products created by Premium Finish Care. The Four Star Brand is another of those 4 lines.

I recall in those days Scott (Killrwheels) would often speak of 4*UPP with the same admiration I have for the Ultima line. I wouldn't have the opportunity to use UPP until a few years later (7-9 months ago) when my friend Heath sent me a sample.

After using many sealants over the years I know that many of them are similar and sometimes indistinguishable. So of course I wasn't expecting to see anything that impressed me more than say Ultima Paint Guard Plus or Blackfire Wet Diamond. When selecting a polymer sealant at the time (depending on the situation) I always looked to UPGP, BFWD, with Wolfgang and Power Lock deserving of a mention as well. What could any other sealant do for me that one of those did not? Let's get to the details and then find out if there was anything new here.

Product Description and Manufacturer Claims:

Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection delivers a high gloss shine in an easy-to-apply, liquid paint sealant. The synthetic sealant with Polycharger polymers offers months of protection and a depth of shine similar to a carnauba wax.

Traditionally, paint sealants did not offer the kind of head-turning shine that are characteristic of carnauba waxes. However, if you wanted speedy application and long-term durability, a paint sealant was and is the only way to go. Four Star married the best characteristics of both polymer sealants and carnauba wax into their Ultimate Paint Protection paint sealant.

Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection’s proprietary formula shields your vehicle’s paint from environmental pollution, hard water, acid rain, salt, and UV rays. The slick, shiny finish lasts for several months through numerous washes with a non-alkaline car wash.

Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection’s finish has the depth and reflectivity that was formerly only available from a carnauba wax. The sealant works beautifully on all colors and types of paint.


Product Observations:

1.- Manufacturer Claims: True
2.- Packaging: See Image
3.- Directions: Clear and Detailed
4.- Consistency: Medium/Thin
5.- Color: White
6.- Scent: Petrol
7.- Size: 16 oz.
8.- Price $29.99
9.- Manufacturer: Four Star Products (Premium Finish Care)
10.-Made in: USA






Application and Slickness story:

A couple months after I first used Ultimate Paint Protection (UPP) I had a yellow 07 'vette scheduled for an interior, decon, 1 step polish, and polymer sealant protection. That request narrowed it down to 2 products for me (UPGP or UPP). While UPGP is a wipe on walk away product UPP must be buffed off.

As far as looks go UPP offers the deepest wet look you can find from a polymer sealant (closer to that of a carnauba wax) than a sealant in my opinion. UPGP on the other hand (especially with 2+ layers) offers a “hard candy shell”, glossy, and sharp look.

Either would have complimented the "Velocity Yellow" of his 2007 Corvette.

Preparation:

It was a very windy day so I decided to skip the canopy and leave it in the trunk. I hate washing in direct sun but it was what it was and I would be polishing anyway.

After being washed outside with Permanon applied to wheels and wheel wells I pulled her into his garage for a one step polish with M205 and Lake Country HT pads. Machines used were the Flex PE-14 and Flex 3401. During the polishing phase the results were checked randomly and occasionally with CarPro Eraser, PS Ultra Plush mf, using LED lights and halogens.













The video below goes through a section of the polish process, detailing of the badge, a couple sections of UPP application, buffing off, and final inspection. Please excuse the 640-480 resolution, as this was taken before I purchased my new camera.

Video: Four Star UPP / Corvette

Icing on the cake:

UPP should be applied thin (as should every lsp I can think of) but in my experience it is more forgiving than many. It can be applied by hand or machine and I chose machine. A couple dime sized drops allowed me to prime the pad and complete half the hood while another couple drops finished it. I repeated the procedure across all glass and paint surfaces.

UPP is forgiving on the haze time. You can wipe it off after 15-20 minutes, or any time after if you prefer to leave it on a bit. It’s fine either way. Just check that it has hazed and wipes off easily. If so it’s ready to come off. If not then you applied it a bit thick and should let it sit until it is hazed all the way through.

By the time I finished applying it to the ‘vette it was ready to come off. Using my buffing towels I easily wiped the haze free of the paint. It’s really a pleasure to work with and barely any pressure is needed at all. It wiped off easily and left no traces behind.

Interior was cleaned with Ultima Interior Shampoo Gel and dressed with CarPro PERL.

Unfortunately it was completely dark by the time I was finished so the visual payoff was unavailable. I wasn't able to see this beauty in the sun. I moved some lights and flashes around to get a few pictures and the video I posted above.













































A few days later the owner called me with a "complaint". He was actually happy about it but knew I’d get a huge kick out of his problem. He said he was unable to place the car cover over his ‘vette. The surface was so slick it would slip and slide with each attempt! Fast forward a couple months and he told me he's still having issues trying to install that car cover


Application, Slickness, Depth/Gloss: UPP vs. BFWD

Tale of the Tape:

Some time last year I sealed my Sky with a combination of UPP, BFWD and C2. The verticals received C2 as did a section of the hood. The hood received mostly BFWD but also a section of UPP. The rear lid received almost all UPP except for a small section of BFWD.

Ease of application: UPP wins in this category no question. BFWD is very easy to apply and remove but UPP takes the cake by a slim margin. You can buff it off a bit sooner (not that I care to) and it buffs off at least as easy as BFWD. Furthermore it has never dusted on me like BFWD sometimes has. As my friend Pat said to me at Detail Fest, "You could almost blow it off!"

Slickness: Oahu, so close between UPP and BFWD. UPP felt just slightly slicker but it was all but impossible to tell the difference.

Depth & Gloss: Both give a beautiful, deep wet look in my opinion but UPP just seems to have that 3D look to it like the reflections are painted beneath or above the surface.

I had no pictures from that story (Didn’t plan on a review back then) so I re-applied UPP to my Sky specifically to grab some pictures for this review. The pictures had to be re-taken about a week after application (wrong photo mode the first time) with a bit of driving in between but still look good regardless.

[CEE DOG]

Through the eyes of a Waxaholic:

I enjoy certain waxes but I also love sealants and coatings so what would a TRUE wax fanatic say about the looks of 4 Star UPP?

Thanks to my good friend Tad we have an answer to that question! About a week ago we were chatting and he was telling me how the polishing was going on his gorgeous Mustang. Tad takes detailing and refinement of a vehicle to a whole different level. I mean, I'm OCD to a disturbing point and he has me beat. I am in awe of his work to be perfectly honest....

As long as I've known Tad I believe he has used wax (no sealants) to protect the paint of his garage queen. Only one or two other guys I know respect the depth and wet look of a wax as much as Tad does. Have you ever heard of someone detailing the paint under the hood with Vintage, and the sway bars with Crystal Rock in one sitting? You have now…



Anyway, we were talking about what he wanted to use on his mustang this time around. If you have the most perfectly polished paint anywhere, it's black, and you are compelled to eradicate even a few specks of dust, there's a good chance that the dust will start to gnaw at you. After years of effort keeping the dust off his baby Tad was giving thought to using a sealant in hopes it would help with this issue.

He brought up using the UPGP, which he knows I love dearly and also knows it releases dust and pollen easier than a wax. . As we were discussing it UPP clicked into my mind and I said, "Hey!, Do you have any UPP?" Sure enough he did! Our buddy Jim (Old Tiger) sent him a sample about a year ago and he hadn't tried it yet. Well, I wasn't sure if UPP would avoid dust as well as UPGP, but I was pretty sure he would be impressed with it!

So, a day or so later Tad calls me up to give me his honest feedback. He said something along the lines of, "It's good but it wasn't any easier to buff off than WG. If anything WG is easier." I was thankful for the honest second opinion from someone I hold in high regard but my next question was, "Have you looked at it outside yet?" He had not yet pulled it out of the garage and told me when he did he would let me know if he could see any difference between UPP and any other sealant.

The next day he calls me up to pronounce, "This looks absolutely incredible!" He told me, "It's probably as wet, and deep as anything else I've seen... more like a fine carnauba wax than a sealant. At that moment I thought how cool would it be to have the opinion of a wax connoisseur in my review! Tad was happy to snap a couple pictures for me for the review and ended up taking quite a few... At one angle in particular he swore he could see the paint literally shimmering it looked so wet! He couldn't choose just a couple pictures and asked me to pick what I wanted myself. It was very painful to eliminate any of them… One thing, the sun shots didn’t turn out unfortunately. You can see the light orbs and such freaking things out… not sure if moisture got in the lens or what. My theory is the computer could not comprehend, calculate, or translate the light that was hitting it!! I'll shut it now and let you see the photos. Please give thanks to Tad for sharing these with us!!

REMEMBER THE MAIN REASON THE PAINT LOOKS AMAZING IS DUE TO TADS SKILLS WITH THE POLISHER, AS WELL AS HIS TIME, AND EFFORT. UPP REALLY DOES HAVE A DEEP WET LOOK TO IT THOUGH.

































































Durability Test:

On a garaged vehicle like my Sky UPP will last a very long time but so will most sealants. A true durability test must take place on an outside 24/7 vehicle.

Back in October of '11 I was creating a video of IPA vs. CarPro Eraser at the request of forum members. If you recall the drivers half of the rear lid was prepped with IPA and the passenger side with Eraser. After my testing of course I had to reseal the surface and I selected UPP. This would turn out to be my focused durability test for this review.

Conditions:

Applied: 5 months before my durability testing ends.
Quick detailers or Waterless wash used since: NONE
Driven: Approximately 7000-11000 miles
Exposure: Outside in Florida Sun 24 hours a day 7 days a week
Total minutes exposed to elements: Approximately 200,000
Maximum ambient temp: 95F
Minimum ambient temp: 27F
Maximum surface temp: 140F (Estimated)
Minimum surface temp: 27F (Estimated)
Total times car became wet and dry again through nighttime condensation: 140
Total rainy days: Unrecorded (Estimated10-15)
Total times washed: 8+/-
Max. Time between washing: 6-7 weeks
Min. Time between washing: 1 week
Washes used: Ultima (6), Blackfire (1), Primo Hydro (1)

I'll draw special attention to how little the vehicle was washed and the fact no detailers were used on these surfaces at any time.

The video below starts out at the tail end of the IPA vs. Eraser video created last year. At the time I thought that was the end of that. It was clear to me that Eraser was much more functional than IPA as a step between polishing and coating with CQ or OC. However, I did not believe it would make a difference in the durability of a sealant. Chad posted before that because a polymer sealant has solvents in it any remaining oil that IPA doesn’t remove should be removed by the solvents during application. This made perfect sense to me as well. Anyway, as I recorded video every few weeks I had forgotten completely about the prep step. I assumed it would have no bearing and there was no reason to consider it so I wasn’t looking for what I found…


VIDEO: Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection - 5 Month Time Lapse

(Click below to Play)





I know, I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it myself! I wish I had some Four Star Paint Cleaner on hand back then. I’m curious to see what I would find in how might affect UPP durability… for better?


Tin Foil Hats:

Often you consider the effect of how much you wash the vehicle but do you ever consider the effect of not washing it? Lack of washing is detrimental to the sealant and paint. It eventually allows particles to erode a sealant and bind to your paint. Anything that sits on the sealant is going to hold moisture, dirt, iron, or worse around it. The offending particle or object is either rotting or oxidizing atop your paint as I write this. That's why you have that sealant, wax, coating, or tin foil hat. Woohoo! Anyway if it sits on the sealant for extended periods of time the moisture that it absorbs and dries over and over and over again is most certainly trying to do very naughty things to your sealant!

I say all that just to put in context the added pressure the gaps between washing placed on this durability test. How much longer would it have lasted if I had washed it every week or two? The world may never know...

Now, if you have urea bird goo or some acidic type of bug (love bugs for instance) on there forget about it. That eats though any polymer sealant and even into your clear coat quick. I found out first hand on my Sky what a bird could do in just minutes! Literally! A couple years ago I had 3 coats of sealant and it ate through them and started to get the clear coat by the time I got it off maybe 15-30 minutes later. A little polish solved that but clearcoat is a precious substance! Get it off ASAP if you care about your paint. Some birds may be car lovers like us and have less acidic goo, which explains why bird goo doesn’t always penetrate the sealant, or etch the paint.
































Pros:

1.- Looks: Deep wet look
2.- Ease of Removal
3.- Slickness: Wow
4.- Layer in half the time of most sealants (6 hours)
5.- Made in USA


Cons:

1.-None

Final Observations and Summary:

Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection is my favorite “buff off” sealant, PERIOD.
It doesn't have a single weak point in my opinion. The only reason to use a different polymer sealant in my opinion is if you want a wipe on walk away application or that glossy candy shell look in which case Ultima Paint Guard Plus is what I use.

Four Star UPP looks amazing, is very slick, does not dust, does not streak, does not sweat, is the easiest to buff off of any sealant I've used, and has decent durability. It can also be layered after only 6 hours (1/2 the time of most sealants). The only sealant I know of that can be layered sooner than that is UPGP, which Rick says was modified to allow layering after only 45 minutes!

Thanks for looking! I hope you will share any comments, questions, knowledge, or differences of opinion with me.

Cheers


The Product: http://www.autogeek.net/four-star-ultimate-paint-protection.html

[rwright]

Outstanding review Corey! I'm sold.

PS - Tad's car looks even more amazing in person! It's the only time I've been in a car and the reflection of the sun off the hood scoop blinded me.

[CEE DOG]

I KNOW MAN!!! I know pictures don't do that kind of perfection justice! Man I wish I could visit him up there and see that beauty in person!!

[snellvilleauto]

WOW, what a gorgeous pictures and details of the reviews. Thanks CEE DOG

[drsullivan]

Very nice CEE DOG!!!

[HellDemon]

Holy crap that's a gorgeous sky with UPP!
I was abit unsure cause I bought 2 of them when they were 50% off, since no one ever seems to talk about it, but damn, you've just made me very happy with my purchase!

Love your reviews as always!

[Jomax]

Great review! So how does this compare to 845 on durability? Beautiful SKY btw, first time I ever saw it.

[dougaross]

Corey, you have outdone yourself once again.

[Larry S]

Excellent review Corey. I've learned many things watching and reading your reviews.

Thanks,
Larry