How does anyone coat a car with only 10cc of product?!?!?!?

[TroyScherer]

Just like the title states.

How does anyone coat a car with only 10cc or less of product and think that ?!?!?!? Or even the 30ml of CQ or any other coating....





If you do the math there is almost no way for any of these coatings to create any kind of measurable thickness barrier; unless you use a lot ore product than supplied.



I bought a 10cc syringe of Opti-Gloss Coat simply to do the wheels on my GTI. The wheels are very simple and easy to detail so there wasn't any wasted product from intricate details I had a hard time with. Just for the wheels and calipers I used the ENTIRE 10cc of product. I didn't have any "high spot" issue I simply applied it as thick and uniform as possible. So based on this I have to step back and ask how anyone does all the paint and/or wheels on a care with 10cc or less of product. In my mind it just doesn't make sense.




Example of my wheels.

http://image.motortrend.com/f/roadtests/hatchbacks/1304_2014_volkswagen_gti_first_drive/46117564/2015-volkswagen-gti-wheels-static.jpg











Discuss.....

[mbkite]

I my mind you can't coat a car with 10 cc..
But what I have been reading here and other forums a good detailer can wax coat or seal a car with the same amount of product that a mosquito
Has in their bladder at any givin time..

[swanicyouth]

The "thickness barrier" thing is BS. Maybe the coatings don't lay 100% flat, so when someone gains a micron or two they are measuring a peak. It's is possible to coat a car with < 10mls of product, as it's possible to wax a car with < 10gm of wax.

[SYMAWD]

User allenk4 used to question this all of the time and never got a real answer. Unfortunately he has been banned, but I really miss his posts.

With that said, I used 15 CC of Cquartz to double coat my Civic's paint, but I doubt I got what the claimed thickness is.

[conman1395]

To actually put a "thick barrier" I coat twice with Cquartz and Gloss Coat. With coatings you can apply it thick, but you'll just end up wiping off the extra (high spots). If you could apply it without having to wipe off anything, there would be no high spots but the fact of the matter is that only a small amount of the coating actually bonds to the paint so you almost always have to wipe something off.

The better you get at applying coatings the better idea you have of how much product is needed to cover an area so you waste less product.

[Vue to a kill]

I did two coats on my Vue and had 10 ml left of my 30 ml CQUK bottle. I go by 2' x 2' sections and overlap. No issues to speak of.


Though with the Opti Gloss I can see how 10 cc may be cutting it close.

[eaglefan]

User allenk4 used to question this all of the time and never got a real answer. Unfortunately he has been banned, but I really miss his posts.

With that said, I used 15 CC of Cquartz to double coat my Civic's paint, but I doubt I got what the claimed thickness is.

Why did he get banned? I also liked his posts

[SYMAWD]

Why did he get banned? I also liked his posts

No idea.

And to clarify for the OP.

He is saying it is mathematically impossible to get the claimed coating thickness not that it's impossible to cover a car. Give me time to dig up some past threads.

[4u2nvinmtl]

I would say "very carefully"

In all honest I have my doubts about claims vs facts. It's not a fact that the coating will be x amount of microns thick it's a claim at best.

I was able to coat my hood with so, little product (WG Uber) it looks like it's still at the 15cc mark on the syringe and I had enough product I could see it on the paint (too much in some opinions).

It's possible to coat a car with 10cc's if your careful but I doubt it will be thick (so to speak)...

[SYMAWD]

To answer the OP, read these 2 links. I think Kyle (allenk4) covered it pretty well.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/84601-how-thick-could-coating-possibly.html

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/86530-so-you-want-opti-coat-do-yah-7.html#post1188891

[silverfox]

I honestly think most users of coatings are assuming they are getting adequate coverage. I'm not sold that is the case because there are just as many coating disappointment cases as are positive ones.

[FUNX650]

Note:
I, too, always enjoyed conversing with Allenk...

______________________________________

{Maybe the following will help in some way :dunno:}


Breaking a vehicle down to panels/panels' areas:

•How many CCs of a Coating will it take to cover a
panel that measures 4'x5' (~hood)...and, of which
you want a Coating at a thickness of 2 microns?

4 feet =1219200 microns
5 feet =1524000 microns

1219200 X 1524000 X 2 =
3,716,121,600,000 cubic microns

1 cubic centimeter =
1,000,000,000,000 cubic microns

3,716,121,600,000/1,000,000,000,000 =
3.7161216 CCs
______________________________________

Measure the remaining panels; add up their
totals. This, then, should be the total amount
of Coating needed.


Bob

[kevincwelch]

Nice analysis, Bob. I'd say your explanation is the reason. The layering isn't completely uniform and there is evaporation and contraction.

2 micron thickness is generous for most coatings.

Average thickness of CQuartz is 0.7-1.5 microns - thicker for Finest. Modesta advertises 10 microns!

I think the point is that coatings:
A. Last longer (they do)
B. Offer more protection (by virtue of thickness since waxes and sealants offer submicron protection), heat resistance and acid/base protection WHEN COMPARED TO WAXES/SEALANTS.
C. Offers more gloss (subjective)

So, I've coated cars with Gtechniq C1, PBL, 22PLE and CQuartz UK. They've all coated the cars with liquid left over.

There was a post back on AG in which the poster measured the paint before and after Finest, and it was about 2 microns thicker.

FWIW....

(Sent via my mobile device)

[zmcgovern45]

Most coatings claim 1-1.5 microns of thickness.... a micron is WAY tiny.

http://www.rainfresh.ca/images/Micron%20size(1).jpg
http://reliabilityweb.com/ee-assets/my-uploads/art16/human%20hair.jpg



The coverage of a coating at a given thickness would be easy to calculate if anyone had a guess at the average surface area of a vehicle.


Assuming a 30mL bottle of product is used, which is common for most coatings except Optimum, and a final thickness of 1.5 microns, 30mL would provide 20 square meters of coverage. This seems WAY bigger than I would estimate a consumer vehicle to be.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/AttentiontoDetailingPeoria/coatingthickness_zpsbjklgtlx.jpg

We typically use 10-15 mL of a coating per layer which would allow for 6.7 - 10 square meters of coverage... again assuming a final thickness of 1.5 microns. So it seems that 1.5 microns would be a stretch here, but there are way too many unknowns to state anything outright.

Now I understand that there is some residual product that is wiped away, so I have no idea how to account for that... but for what it's worth, 10 mL of product can go a long way. There are a ton of assumptions made here, but we can hope some real data can back up manufacturers claims.

-Zach

[builthatch]

wow, OP. you definitely used WAY too much, haha.

Gloss-Coat seems to go a lot further per CC than Opti-Coat. i'm sure there are many reasons for that, but that's my observation either way. in fact, Gloss-Coat is almost like applying Opti-Seal. it's that sparing.

there is no way to apply thick. it levels how it levels. anything more than that is either going to be an attempt at another coat once the initial coat has cured, or you'll just be wasting product.