CSL vs CQ UK

[Ronin47]

Hi there

Anyone use both? I’ve done many CQ coatings and want to know the scratch resistance and gloss of CSL vs UK(Best looking most scratch resistant I’ve used).

I’m sure there are many here experienced on both.

[zmcgovern45]

I honestly don't put any weight into the theoretical scratch resistance of a nano coating, but I can tell you that everyone in my shop would pick CSL over CQ or CQUK based entirely on ease of use. CSL wipes away so cleanly and easily. We could coat a vehicle with CSL in about half the time of the CQuartz products. If time is not of the essence, perhaps this is not a factor.

In terms of overall gloss, water behavior, etc., I found CSL to be a great product on my personal vehicle. CSL is far slicker upon application, but the slickness will fade away after a few washes.

[Ronin47]

I honestly don't put any weight into the theoretical scratch resistance of a nano coating, but I can tell you that everyone in my shop would pick CSL over CQ or CQUK based entirely on ease of use. CSL wipes away so cleanly and easily. We could coat a vehicle with CSL in about half the time of the CQuartz products. If time is not of the essence, perhaps this is not a factor.

In terms of overall gloss, water behavior, etc., I found CSL to be a great product on my personal vehicle. CSL is far slicker upon application, but the slickness will fade away after a few washes.

Thanks, am definitely going to give CSL a chance, from fellow detailers I know, many opt for CSL above all other coatings. I’m assuming its a wipe on wipe off product that flashes quickly.

[zmcgovern45]

Thanks, am definitely going to give CSL a chance, from fellow detailers I know, many opt for CSL above all other coatings. I’m assuming its a wipe on wipe off product that flashes quickly.

Yep - apply to a section, then immediately wipe off. I prefer to use two towels, the first a shorter nap and the second a bit "fluffier". It is a little different if you are used to applying, waiting, wiping... but you will get the hang of it after a couple panels, I'm sure.

[Ronin47]

Yep - apply to a section, then immediately wipe off. I prefer to use two towels, the first a shorter nap and the second a bit "fluffier". It is a little different if you are used to applying, waiting, wiping... but you will get the hang of it after a couple panels, I'm sure.

Do you find CSL more glossy than UK?

[BudgetPlan1]

While I used the 'standard' CQ, the below were my initial thoughts after application and watching them for 6-8 months:

Cquartz Classic/110/TiO2: Applied in January 2017 to a 2016 Ford Transit Extended Van. It’s a solid product, especially given the generally low cost. Application is easy, the looks are good. Finished application is not especially slick, so I topped it with Gyeon Cure. It has remained nice looking, resisted permanent water spotting. A solid, middle of the pack product that likely won’t disappoint. Nothing extremely notable about it to me, however.

Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light: I really wanted to like this; I like the name, the packaging and the company and upon initial application (topped with Liquid Crystal C2V3) it darkened the bright red paint of the 2014 Ford E250 van I used it on. Nice, deep, rich gloss, easy application. Unfortunately, once released into the wild it was prone to water spotting (easily removed) and was probably the worst of all I tried in self-cleaning abilities. Oddly enough, about 3 months in it started keeping itself cleaner with no outside intervention except for Mother Nature and her rain. Have seen evidence that if topped with EXO, it’s a whole ‘nuther animal, with incredible hydrophobic properties which would significantly aid in self cleaning abilities.

Thoughts upon *finally* getting around to looking closely at them:

CSL Update; finally decon`d and washed it. - 11/30/2017 or so
CSL w/ C2V3 applied probably sometime in January or February of 2017.
Around 15k miles since application, maybe run through a touchless soap/rinse only once or twice since then.

Vehicle is a 2014 Ford E250 van, 80K miles at application time, about 94K now, used daily from March thru current, parked outside likely 75% of the time. As a Technician vehicle for a swimming pool service company in NE Ohio the truck pulls in out out of a lot of residential driveways each season, obviously many with trees as there are faint scratches running along the side of the body. Prior to CSL application the truck got the full deal...decon, clay, compound and polish so paint was pretty near as flawless as it could be with regard to surface defects that could be removed by either Megs M101 or D300 on microfiber pad. The CSL did darken the paint a bit after application, giving it a deeper glossy look; I thought it was gonna be one of my favorites.

As I`ve mentioned before, the CSL was kinda an odd bird. After application and release `into the wild` it was among the worst of all I tried at keeping itself clean. Rain would always leave dirty/dusty waterspots, albeit easily removed for the most part. Some were a bit more stubborn. About 3 months in (maybe when C2V3 wore off?) the paint started to stay cleaner, matching many of the other coatings such as Cquartz. By the time I got to it last night, the things was looking pretty good despite the minimal attention paid to it during the past season.

Feeling the paint after a simple wash, the surface still felt relatively slick...much more so than the Gyeon Mohs did after a similar amount of time/miles. Using the `ol baggie test, there was some obvious contamination on the surface. So I hosed the whole vehicle down with Sonax Fallout Remover (and then agitated), then washed again. Probably about 60% of the roughness to the surface was removed and there was some visible bleeding from the Fallout Remover. After this process I really didn`t see any water spot staining or etching.

The Tech who drives this van says he does, in fact, have a few driveways with pine trees close enough to run down the side of the van which would nicely explain the marring (very light but easily visible). As I wasn`t going to do any machine work on this van, didn`t want to clay and possible mar up the surface. These scratches did diminish somewhat after an aggressive washing so perhaps a light clay would help? I dunno...

Anyway, I`d have to say that after the initial period of not staying so clean, the CSL performed nearly as well as the Gyeon Mohs; it didn`t stay as clean all the time but certainly had a better feel to the paint after 10 or so months. I`m not quite ready to give up on the CSL...there`s just something intangible about it that I like despite it`s initial poor performance at self-cleaning. There is perhaps a CSL/EXO combo in my future.

After the decon/wash/panel wipe (really starting to like the Gtechniq Panel Wipe) I dropped 2 coats of Gyeon CanCoat on it which I`ll top with IGL Premier later today...just because I can. We`ll see how that holds up over the NE Ohio winter although the mileage will likely be down to about 5k between now and March 2018 and the van will probably be parked inside 75% of the time this winter.

After Cleanup:
61321


CQuartz Update; finally decon’d and washed it - Around 12/8/2017
Cquartz ‘Classic’ or ‘110’ as I think it’s called now; applied in January 2017.

Around 19k miles since application on this 2016 Ford Transit Extended van. As far as I know has never been washed since application and probably sat outside 24/7 since then. Well, when it wasn’t at the dealer having recall work done anyway; throttle body, driveshaft bearings and latest was the instrument cluster that blew out and took the entire vehicle wiring harness with it. Apparently Ford didn’t quite get the firewall sealed all the way and water got into the towing module, shorted out the Instrument cluster and the rest of the vehicles main wiring harness.

Was in pretty good shape last January so I believe it got the standard wash/clay/polish/prep/seal routine done to it. No Iron decontamination done, though, if that matters anyway. Hey, it was January in Cleveland and if I woulda done that inside the warehouse the stench would have made me pretty unpopular around here.

It was the first coating I did outside of the Kamikaze/Wolfgang/McKees realm for personal vehicles…little did I know at the time what I was getting myself into; every addiction starts somewhere, no? I don’t remember it being very difficult to apply, but do remember thinking afterward that the freshly coated surface was not very slick so I topped with Gyeon Cure which fixed that situation. Wasn’t into buying complimentary products at that time so no Reload, which I still haven’t used to this day. I started with a 50ml bottle and think I ended up using 40ml or so for 2 coats. To illustrate my attention to detail (or lack thereof), I thought I had ordered (and applied) CQuartz UK until I closely looked at the bottle afterwards and saw it was 110/Classic. Oops.

Anyway, prior to wash last week the surface felt contaminated via baggie test, not crazy contaminated but definitely needed a little something. Hosed the whole truck down after a quick wash with Sonax Fallout Remover, agitated, let dwell and hosed off. Then bucket washed, and probably about 70-75% of the contamination felt in baggie test was gone. Since I’m not doing any polishing to these ‘refreshes’ it is what it is and I prepped and put on 2 coats of Gyeon CanCoat (which I seem to be using like a Quick Detailer these days) and then topped with Kamikaze Overcoat. I think I missed noting it regarding the Gtechniq CSL ‘refresh’ summary last week but I topped that one with IGL Premier after 2 coats of CanCoat so I wanted to use something different on this one to see how the boosters compare.

As an aside, I’m kinda getting frustrated with Iron decontamination as I never really see it bleeding like I do in some peoples pictures. Sonax, Optimum, Gyeon…have tried a variety of Iron decontamination products and am missing the glorious bleeding others experience. This is Cleveland for God’s sake, where our river was so polluted it burned back in the 1970’s; there simply *has* to be airborne contamination all over this area and yet only 1 or 2 vehicles have ever showed any of the bleeding that makes putting up with an iron removers stench justifiable. Color me disappointed.

Overall, I’m kind of quietly impressed with CQuartz. I really didn’t see the vehicle that often this summer as the Technician assigned to it starts and finishes his day from home during the season. It didn’t do anything particularly stellar to stand out from some of the others but at the end of the day, given the lack of maintenance, it held up well and cleaned up quite easily. Even before topping with CanCoat and Overcoat, the paint was quite glossy and felt relatively smooth after a decon and wash. It stayed pretty clean and looked relatively good every time I did happen to see it last summer so despite its lack of slickness on its own, the self-cleaning is pretty good. Beading was still slightly visible before I started this refresh and after decon, was a bit better. Looking around the door handles where light scratches usually appear showed more of this light marring than the CSL and Gyeon Mohs did but since I haven’t checked the respective drivers’ hands for rings or other jewelry (which could probably cause a, uh..’Incident’ back in the warehouse should I start grabbing people’s hands ) I can’t say for sure if it truly offered more resistance to this kinda thing than the other products. I do get somewhat of a totally subjective and unsubstantiated feeling that it is less resistant to light scratches than the Mohs or CSL.

The feeling of the surface after decon/wash fell in between the CSL and Mohs with Mohs feeling completely naked (yet still remaining very clean) and the CSL retaining a good bit of that coating ‘feel’ to it after decon/wash.

Given its relatively low cost in relation to some of the others I used and its overall performance, I can see why it is so popular; it’s a solid performer that looks good and stays pretty clean. The addition of the recently released CarPro Gliss would likely elevate Cquartz closer to my favorite’s performance. I would be interested to see Gyeon Mohs + Booster, CSL + EXO and CQuartz + Gliss compared sometime. While I likely won’t use it again, CQuartz is definitely a good, all-around choice. Catch a 25% off sale and you’re nearing $45 for a 30ml bottle, enough to do 2 coats on a standard sedan perhaps. Pretty good deal, methinks.

EDIT: In the interest of science (and no small portion of general laziness) I`m not using the CanCoat/Booster on the roofs of these vans so we`ll see how the coating alone fares as time moves on. Additionally, since this vehicle has a lot of black/plastic trim I decided to see how CanCoat protects that going forward as well. I was gonna use Gyeon Trim on one side and (new for me) Gtechniq C4 TRim Restorer but laziness took over and I just covered it all with CanCoat; CanCoat sure goes a long way, too. Still have about 10% left in my first can and have done 2 coats on a Ford Ranger, an E-250 Van, this 2016 Ford Transit van and a couple of misc hoods here and there.

After Cleanup:
61322

[Ronin47]

Good info, seems like csl likes being used on its own without toppers, you not the only person to tell me this.

[BudgetPlan1]

Good info, seems like csl likes being used on its own without toppers, you not the only person to tell me this.

Yeah, it was really odd how it started doing much better once the c2v3 ?wore off? Really didn't know what to think of that but it is what it is (or was). Glad I'm not the only one who thought so...