Effects of condensation on sealants?

[yeebiz]

I hear numbers of anywhere from 8 to 24 hours for a sealant to cure. During this time rain is the enemy.

I live in the NE US. The nights are getting cooler. Each night condensation forms on my car. I am assuming this condensation has a negative effect on the sealants ability to cure.

Am I correct in this assumption?

Is the effect on the sealants durability dramatic?

[ObsessiveAutoDetail]

Yup. I live in Michigan and wake up to a wet car every morning now... How much of an effect...Who knows for sure. This time of year I do a complete detail in one day, minus the sealant. VERY early the next morning I do DP Rinseless wash and apply my sealant. If I get done by 9am, I know I'll be safe from any condensation.

[CEE DOG]

If you seal the car and get condensation right away then yes, the condensation will drown the polymers. The times they give for the sealants to bond are affected by the humidity as well as probably temperatures, wind, etc. So the times they give you are worse case. Still, we should always be as conservative as possible when possible. Personally I don't feel good about putting a sealant on after 3 PM +/- if the car is staying outside for the night. Stuck in that position I would use a wax if possible.

That all being said: A couple weeks ago I removed my hazed WGDGPS at about 3 PM and I believe the condensation was on the cars by probably 8 or 9 at night. On that particular day it seemed to have bonded nicely in the 5-6 hours it was given. Van is slick and beading tight after a good deal of thunderstorms do I think it worked out well.

Awhile back I finished with UPGP after dark. The paint was getting condensation very shortly thereafter. Uh Oh! Well, the paint looked fine the next morning and was slick and beaded for awhile thereafter but not as long as it should and it was clear to me that it wasn't the way it usually is. Needless to say I no longer finish up with sealants at night on a car that sits out.

[sohail99]

I guess it'll affect the durability of the sealant!

It was sunny in the morning so I applied NXT2.0 over my car!

I finished by ~10 AM and covered it up and all.

At ~11 AM suddenly clouds appear from nowhere and there's a huge downpour!(though weather website showed like 10% chance of precipitation and I took it that it wouldn't rain at all!)

I was literally cursing the rains!! :(

[Old Tiger]

Yup. I live in Michigan and wake up to a wet car every morning now... How much of an effect...Who knows for sure. This time of year I do a complete detail in one day, minus the sealant. VERY early the next morning I do DP Rinseless wash and apply my sealant. If I get done by 9am, I know I'll be safe from any condensation.
Great advice. An alternative would be an Acrylic sealant like Klasse which I dont think needs a cure time.

[MI Mike]

I hear numbers of anywhere from 8 to 24 hours for a sealant to cure. During this time rain is the enemy.

I live in the NE US. The nights are getting cooler. Each night condensation forms on my car. I am assuming this condensation has a negative effect on the sealants ability to cure.

Am I correct in this assumption?

Is the effect on the sealants durability dramatic?

Being from Michigan. I would let the sealant wait till next year and put a couple of coats of Collinite wax on. Your choice. Some are easier to apply than others.

[dougaross]

3M Performance Finish is wipe on wipe off and doesn't require curing. If you google you can find a $5 coupon.

Although there no mention of curing it is more slippery after 8-12 hours

[DaHen]

Thus, if we are running late into the evening. Is it safe to put our detailing on "pause" over night after polishing.
Then continue the next morning after drying the dew and condensation off the car with our sealant and wax?
As long as the weather continues to be dry.

[malachi0420]

Thus, if we are running late into the evening. Is it safe to put our detailing on "pause" over night after polishing.
Then continue the next morning after drying the dew and condensation off the car with our sealant and wax?
As long as the weather continues to be dry.

Personally, I would never just wipe off dew, due to the airborne contaminants and abrasive particles in it would have GREAT potential for scratching or marring the paint.

Just give it a quick wash with something like ONR, or at the very least, rinse and dry with a QD spray like FK425.

Then apply your LSP.

[DaHen]

Thanks for your input malachi,

With the cooler weather coming upon us up here in the Northeast, the dew will be less of a problem in the morning.

Got my products lined up on the bench and notes written down. Now I just have to keep an eye on my schedule and the twenty-four hour weather forecasts to get my detailing in.
Had gotten rid of allot of trees on my property. So now my only shade will be on the opposite side of the house from the sun.
O, sure, I could put the car in the garage but then I can't open the door to get out of the car, lol.

[svs]

All good useful information!

[A4 1.8tqm]

If left with no choice but to leave the car out overnight during the cure time of a sealant there is something you can do to minimize the formation of dew. Dew forms as the surface of an object cools by radiating it's heat, because the water is not able to evaporate off the surface as fast as it condenses out of the air.

The trick is used by campers who sleep under the stars, if you sleep under a tree you won't wake up all wet with dew like you would if you slept out in the open. This is because the tree reflects your heat back and has a little of it's own. Often this is just enough to stop the formation of dew. Unfortunately tree's aren't really a nice car cover because of sap, bugs etc..

So what you can do is try to park the car close the the house, under an over-hang, between house and RV, just anything so the car is not out in the open. Maybe the dew forms an hour later, which would definitely be a plus. If it doesn't help then no loss, but it's worth a try.

[DaHen]

Since I had most of the trees taken down last fall, I parked the car as close to the very small overhang of the house yesterday.
Sure enought it rained during the night, lol. Will try again tonight to see if being close to the house will effect the amount of moisture. It's worth a try.

Your story about campers brought back good memories when I did some camping many years ago.

Thanks for the suggestion. :xyxthumbs:

[DaHen]

After I applied Wolfgang's Deep Gloss Sealant and wiped it off after the forty-five minutes or so.
I parked the car with the hood as close to the garage door under the over hang.
Sure enough this morning, the hood was dry while the top and trunk lid did have dew on them.

Thus, those campers knew what they were doing.

(Gonna let the sealant cure for another day and apply the 845 tomorrow.)

[CEE DOG]

If left with no choice but to leave the car out overnight during the cure time of a sealant there is something you can do to minimize the formation of dew. Dew forms as the surface of an object cools by radiating it's heat, because the water is not able to evaporate off the surface as fast as it condenses out of the air.

The trick is used by campers who sleep under the stars, if you sleep under a tree you won't wake up all wet with dew like you would if you slept out in the open. This is because the tree reflects your heat back and has a little of it's own. Often this is just enough to stop the formation of dew. Unfortunately tree's aren't really a nice car cover because of sap, bugs etc..

So what you can do is try to park the car close the the house, under an over-hang, between house and RV, just anything so the car is not out in the open. Maybe the dew forms an hour later, which would definitely be a plus. If it doesn't help then no loss, but it's worth a try.

Thanks for the great tip Dave:props: