Can Polish containing polymers crosslink in the bottle?

[tuscarora dave]

I have been wanting to post this question for some time now and being that I have a vacation day from my day job today I thought that now would be a great time. :)

I've noticed that some of the polishes that I've had/have that contain polymer sealants such as Poorboy's World PWS or ones that list polymers as an ingredient such as Optimum Finish, having sat on the shelf for a great length of time turn into what I can only describe as having a separated watery look with a curd much like cottage cheese in them. I've had this happen with Meguiars #21 Synthetic Sealant as well. The #21 and the PWS no matter how Hard or fast I shake them will not reconstitute into their original consistency however the Optimum Finish does shake back to it's original form and look.

Can the polymers be crosslinking right in the bottle? Anyone else experience this phenomenon? Has this been explained to any of you by the manufacturers of any of these or similar products?


Feed back please

[truckbutt]

I've had water separate from M21 but after shaking it up and getting rid of the excess water, it works fine. I'd be interested to hear what's happening to your products.

[soonervette]

My bottle of M21 shows that it is made from PVC. I'm not sure what polymers they use for the polish (and I doubt that they'd share that info), but PVC is probably not on the list. If I had to guess, they might include Polyethylenes, styrenes or acylics.

As a rule, different polymers will not cross link with each other unless special bonding agents are used, so I doubt if they would bond to the bottle.
Of course, without knowing the ingrediants, I may just be another internet kn ow nothing LOL.

[jfelbab]

I've had a couple bottles of M21 separate over a few weeks time and they were stored in 70° temps. I love the product and Meguiar's has replaced the defective products. Just call their toll free customer line (800-347-5700) and they will take care of you.

I don't know if the product went through a freeze during shipping but It was good one week and a couple weeks later it was all watery. There was not any settling in the bottom, the product just turned into a watery mess.

[Setec Astronomy]

Wow, they are still having that problem with #21? My bottle is from the "first batch" when it first came out in...2004? It was only available in large sizes then so mine is a 12oz sampler that ADS was putting into the Meg's ketchup bottles.

I would shake the crap out of it, then squirt it out and it was all watery and it would last like 2 days on the car so I retired it. Some years later I opened it up and there was a lot of water sitting on the top, so as truckbutt says, I poured the water off, stirred it up, and it was like a completely different product, much better.

At any rate, I thought this problem was confined to that early batch because Meg's was replacing the bottles like that, that separated and couldn't be shaken back together. I never bothered to try and get mine replaced because it wasn't a "real" Meg's bottle. And I'm getting this feeling of deja vu because I think we've discussed this here before.

[tuscarora dave]

Wow, they are still having that problem with #21? My bottle is from the "first batch" when it first came out in...2004? It was only available in large sizes then so mine is a 12oz sampler that ADS was putting into the Meg's ketchup bottles.

I would shake the crap out of it, then squirt it out and it was all watery and it would last like 2 days on the car so I retired it. Some years later I opened it up and there was a lot of water sitting on the top, so as truckbutt says, I poured the water off, stirred it up, and it was like a completely different product, much better.

At any rate, I thought this problem was confined to that early batch because Meg's was replacing the bottles like that, that separated and couldn't be shaken back together. I never bothered to try and get mine replaced because it wasn't a "real" Meg's bottle. And I'm getting this feeling of deja vu because I think we've discussed this here before.
This bottle of M-21 was an old large sized bottle. 64 ounces I think and has been long since thrown in the trash but as I have seen the PWS and Optimum Finish do the same thing I thought maybe it had something to do with the polymers in them. Just figured I'd ask the question here while we have guys like Chris@Optimum lurking who may know lots about polymers.