Spray on sealants vs. Traditional paste or liquid wx and sealants

[RPPM]

I seem to have hit a crossover point in life. As I am in my mid 50's, now retired, and my wife and I have an empty nest, I want more time to travel, explore and enjoy life (yes, you can read that as less time spent detailing the cars). This combined with an abundance of newer, easier to use, durable spray sealants and "hybrids", I am wondering how many of you have switched over from traditional paste and liquid waxes and sealants to one of these spray sealants that seem to be all the rage?

1) If so, how have they worked for you?

2) What are your favorites, and do you find them to be at least an acceptable replacement for the more traditional products?

3) How often are you using them?

4) Do you use a dedicated topper such as a spray wax over top the newer supposedly more durable and long lasting spray sealants and SI02 hybrids?

5) What has been your experience in using them in a northern climate during winter?

6) How do they apply in a garage where the air temperature is above freezing, but still in the 30's or low 40's?

I appreciate any feedback. The Griot's Ceramic 3-1 has my attention. It has to be much easier to use than Sonax PNS. Their Ceramic Speed Shine Detailer seems like the perfect product to keep the 3-1 like new, just like BSD does for PNS. I really have grown tired of the PNS application and the grabbiness it and BSD have, but their protection is so nice.

[glen e]

I moved to spray sealants 10 years ago with blackfire crystal seal. It worked perfect. I find the new SI02 and graphene sealants to work just as well and all you do is wipe them on, some need a quick buff but it’s so much easier, I’ll never go back. I like blackfire SIO2 303 graphene, and car pro elixir.

Do they last as long? Probably not, but they’re so much easier to put on I don’t mind spending the energy versus something harder to put on and hard buff off.

I just used Maguires Hydro ceramic spray on another car as a drying agent after a wash and it was simple… Especially when you use a leaf blower to dry it.

[The Guz]

You say you want more time on your hands I am going to toss this out to you. Apply something like Gyeon CanCoat. Your maintenance will be less time consuming and you will have more time to do whatever you like. It is not set and forget it but a good option.

[RPPM]

Mike, I never thought of that option. How is CanCoat for wipe off? What do you use to spruce up the look of it from time to time?

[AeroCleanse]

I like GTechniq C2v3 very easy to use and I live in Wisconsin.

[The Guz]

Mike, I never thought of that option. How is CanCoat for wipe off? What do you use to spruce up the look of it from time to time?

The application is pretty straight forward. I personally like to spray it onto a microfiber and apply it that way versus applying it with a towel. It's wipe on wipe off so no need to wait for flash times.

When I use it, I use the Gyeon primer polish, CanCoat and then their spray sealant Cure every so often and I was able to get 15 months in Southern California. I would venture to say you would get about 8-10 months out of it taking into account harsh winter in your area. Gyeon now offers their ceramic detailer so that could also work into the regiment.

I personally like to stick with the product synergy when using it.

Here is my application video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2hpLVbhvHY&ab_channel=MikeG

Here is Gyeon's application


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE_fhnno56c&t=15s&ab_channel=ESOTERIC

[CleanIT]

Good suggestion from Guz.

If you really want "easy", look at Gyeon Wet Coat. I'm using it now as a a stand alone. Will probably stick with it through next winter.

[RevGTO]

I've used various "poly" sealants, Meguiar's Cleaner Wax, and other products, but always found my way back to using Meguiar's #26 Carnuba Paste wax because it seemed to last the longest - especially on my wife's black Pontiac G8, which she was daily driving for a number of years. The car would be parked outside during her workday, and after 2-4 months most of the product finish would have baked off the surface. I would get double the product life with the #26.

A downside to the #26 and other waxes is that it seemed to attract and retain dust, so that the finish would get grimy. It became difficult to get smudges out even after repeated washing and use of detail spray.

Finally I decided to do a full paint correction because of all the build up of old product and grime, and try Mother's CMX Ceramic Spray. I got down to bare, clean, paint and did the recommended double coat. The finish looked clear and bright and was dry to the touch, unlike the soft waxy feel. This I hoped meant it wouldn't collect dust and grime like wax, and that proved correct.

I applied it on Thanksgiving weekend with temps probably in the 50's in my garage. It was incredibly easy to use: spray on the microfiber towel, wipe on, buff lightly a few minutes later. Not much more effort than using detail spray. However, the CMX suffered from the same flaw as so many other products. It only lasted a couple of months on that black car. I will say, though, it lasted twice that long on my silver daily driver Firebird.

My latest experiment has been with the Hybrid Solutions Ceramic. I found it equally easy to use, though it does leave a softer, waxier feel on the finish. People have claimed that it will last a year. If that pans out, and it doesn't seem to attract dust, it may become my new go-to. If not, I may go to CanCoat. That was under serious consideration, but I decided to try the HS first.

In any case, I won't go back to the old paste wax. The newer spray products are so much easier to use and don't leave any residue.

[Don M]

I just tried the 303 Nano Graphene Spray coating on my black Camaro. Wipe on/Wipe Off was EASY and it left absolutely NO streaking/smearing/clouding/residue of any kind. On my car, that is very impressive, since EVERYTHING I have used in the past has left one or more of those things when buffed off. My only 'surprise' was that it didn't feel slick under the towel when buffing off. It's been on the car over a week now (no rain or dew on the car so far) and it has NOT collected any dust on the paint, despite being driven almost 1,000 miles since application.

I plan on washing it tomorrow or the next day, and I will post how that goes.

[DUBL0WS6]

It used to be that paste waxes had more solid wax content. I'm not sure if that's still the case or not.