Anybody seal their ENTIRE car in Ultima Tire and Trim Guard (UTTG) yet?

[jbgrant]

I ask this as a followup to CeeDog's awesome Ultima comparison/mythbuster: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/31365-ultima-sealants-mythbuster-5.html

The UTTG has awesome gloss and durability on painted surfaces as I have found using it on painted wheels and polished plastics. It requires a light buffing to get it clear, and it's a bit of a messy process, but I was thinking it could be worth the extra work!?? I'm not looking to replace UPGP, just wondering if it's possible to get even better results with UTTG after buffing off the residual film. Anybody actually try it?

CeeDog's video of UTTG shedding water in a hurry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oaDGk1Sdj4&feature=player_embedded
"I was washing my cars today and also had the camera available as I was washing 2 of the cars with PB SS&S to do a review for Shane. While I was doing it I noticed something I had to videotape for you guys. Remember that UTTG in the middle of the other 2 sealants that I placed on my hood? While its not the right product for the paint it sure does hate water! [CeeDog]"

[sohail99]

I'll also try it on the car's paint!

I'll start with the rocker panels and lower portions of the doors(cuz those areas get the most dirt)

But on the other hand, I've got Opti coat coming in, and seeing how durable UTTG is, I don't wanna not be able to remove it!! :D

[jbgrant]

I can imagine it won't be easy to remove. Please take some pics and record details. When it stops raining here I'm going to do half my hood & roof in UTTG, the rest of the car in UPGP and see what happens long term. I hope AG has an Ultima sale again soon... price went up almost 50 percent!

[jbgrant]

Finally got around to comparing Ultima paint guard versus trim guard on my hellrot red hood. I apologize for not having pictures at the moment. I should have just listened to other forum members on this one. UTTG is not marketed for large flat painted surfaces for a reason.

I expected a fair amount of hand cleanup (microfiber buffing) would be required, but the messy, uneven oil-polymer film left behind by the UTTG is just too much trouble to be worth any additional benefit to be had. On small glossy areas, you can buff it to a deep gloss, but on large clear coated surfaces…the product is simply not formulated to yield good results.

First, I applied UPGP to the right half of my hood after a wash as usual. Then I applied a very small amount of UTTG to a fresh microfiber applicator for an application to the other half. It took about 3-4x the amount of UTTG to get the same coverage as UPGP. However, I had great difficulty in getting even coverage; the UTTG just loves to get blotchy (the paint was not raw, it was sealed recently with UPGP several hand washes ago). It was a sunny afternoon, so after about 15 minutes I lightly buffed the UTTG film. This stuff is TOUGH. I could not eliminate the blotchy/streaky film without heavy pressure with a microfiber so I just left most of it. Two hours later I used some detail spray to try to even it out a bit; this was essentially ineffective.

I’m going to leave the half/half (UPGP/UTTG) hood to weather for a couple weeks (most people would not notice the blotchy uneven darkening on the UTTG side) so I can compare durability (perhaps the blotchiness will vanish?). I strongly recommend against covering your entire vehicle in this stuff, it is clearly designed for plastic trim and small painted surfaces. Perhaps with clean (prepared) paint better coverage could be achieved. I’m impressed that these utlima series products can seem to similar but function quite uniquely.

[CEE DOG]

Very unique indeed!

The blotchiness will subside or at least it did in that little square I tested it on. The durability was still there forever though. LOL. I finally forced it's removal last weekend during some review work on OC and CQ. I used OPC 3:1. That seemed to work well on getting it off paint. I also finished up with mineral spirits and then IPA.

[Dr Oldz]

Interesting find. Thanks for sharing. UTTG does wonders for chrome tho!!!

[sabrina]

Well, looking forward some pics and record details.

[jbgrant]

Well, looking forward some pics and record details.

Honestly I made such a mess of my hood using this I cleaned it off with soap and 1:10 alcohol and resealed the entire car with a different product I wanted to test. UTTG is my favorite trim and wheel product, but it is not suggested to cover body panels for a very good reason. It is extremely hard to spread thinly and results in blotches (high spots) that are very difficult to work back down. UPGP is a great product, but I don't think it's as durable as UTTG so that was my motivation to give it a try. It would have helped to take pics, sorry.

[sohail99]

^yea! I tried it on my painted rocker panels and lower part of the front and rear doors too and though its still protecting there, its quite grabby and real dust magnet!! After a drive, the paint has a very thin dust film over it(which is easily blown away by compressed air) but the rocker panels are like, as if I've been driving through dirt!

But its still there and protecting, so I don't mind a lil' extra effort to clean that up! ;)