Coating Boosters

[engineerwolf]

What is everyone’s thoughts on the use of a coating booster? I coated my car about 8 months ago with Pinnacle Black Label Paint Coating. Went on and looks great. When I wash the car I usually apply bead maker to it, but am thinking of using a coating booster periodically to increase the slickness and gloss.

Thoughts on this and if recommended, which booster you prefer.


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[scv2005]

I just hit my wife's car that has about an 18 month old Xpel Fusion coating on it, with CarPro's reset, essence and reload treatments, after a nice decon wash...Couldn't be happier!

[acuRAS82]

I’m a fan of boosters more than BM in a vehicle with ceramic LSP. I use Blackfire Booster and just tried WG Booster. Both make the paint very glossy and although I haven’t seen WG Booster under water yet, BF makes the undercoat behave new for awhile, but maybe only a couple weeks. It’s a thin formula. I would imagine WG lasts much longer based on it’s consistency. And would probably do very well on PBL.

And I’m a big fan of many ceramic sprays which can be used standalone or as boosters. There’s a ton of good ones.

[Mike Phillips]

If you keep the paint in really nice shape - the Pinnacle Black Label Surface Coating is a great maintenance spray.

It is a stand-along coating but I use it on the hood and front windshield after washing and drying my car. Sometimes I also hit all the paint and side glass from my belt or waist up.

Quick, fast and easy. Always impressive results.


See this thread,

Coated under 15 minutes using PBL Surface Coating

Here's the ket, cut out a section of a microfiber towel like this,




Draw and X across one side. This is the side you'll place your hand. Then use the other side to spread the coating. Have a separate clean, dry towel for the final buff. By using this small patch of cloth you don't fill it up with your expensive coating. And it works great. Try it and you'll see.

[Desertnate]

For a quality coating, I've found they are not necessary. HOWEVER...I do find them interesting and I do use them occasionally just for fun.

Two years ago, I coated my daughter's car with CQuartz UK v2.0 right before she got married and moved away. Since that time the vehicle has only been occasionally washed and wiped down with Ech2O. It still looks fantastic and the typical coating properties are still in play. There may be a little "something" in the Ech2O, but I doubt it's much and the infrequency it's been used, I feel comfortable saying the original coating is doing all the work.

I did use CURE on my car which wears CanCoat at the moment. I did notice CURE would add a boost to the shine and the surface would feel more slick (not important to me), but the water properties would remain the same. On this car the CanCoat has lasted just short of a year...double the claimed lifespan. Is that due to the CURE applications? Not sure, but it probably didn't hurt. I applied CURE about once a month.

On my other two cars I don't use a booster but do wipe down with a coating specific QD spray, Ech2O right now, after a wash to get rid of water spots and the coating (CQuartz UK 3.0) seems to be holding up just fine. I have started to play around with Elixr and found it to be more of a booster than QD as it's sold.

[BudgetPlan1]

Why use a booster/topper? Dunno, but perhaps…

1. The elements that provide the durability and chemical/environmental protection of a base coating do not provide/are not compatible with the more entertaining aspects folks associate with a ‘good’ LSP.

Things like slickness, exciting water behavior, beading, added gloss. In other words, the base coating provides the functional aspects, the booster the aesthetic aspects. Gyeon Mohs, Gtechniq CSL for example are some pretty tough customers but the visible water behavior is visually not that entertaining (especially after they age a bit), hence the Skin topcoat in the Mohs-based Syncro kit and the ‘preferred’ CSL +EXOV4 application combo.

On their own, Mohs and CSL are more hydrophillic as opposed to hydrophobic and that’s just not as visually entertaining as when topped with a more hydrophobic top layer. While Skin and EXO are ‘kinda coatings’ like CarPro Gliss, Feynlab Topcoat and TAC Topcoat, the concept of topping a coating via dedicated ‘topcoat’ or booster is, to me, kinda the same. The base coating, for whatever reason, can’t encompass all characteristics people recognize as ‘quality’ behavior of an LSP.

2. Sacrificial layer or protecting the protection. Better to contaminate a top layer than the more expensive base coating.

3. Revenue generation. More products needed to maintain the base coating benefits, real or perceived. “You spent all this money on getting it coated, what’s a little bit more?” Kinda akin to changing oil every 3500 miles instead of following mfg recommendations of up to 10k intervals. Better safe than sorry?

4. Just following directions. Most mfgs recommend some kinda maintenance topper, necessity of it being irrelevant. Again, better safe than sorry?

There’s plenty of well-respected coating aficionados who coat and let it ride…with excellent results so topping is definitely not necessary in all cases. May as well throw ‘personal preference’ on the list as well.

I dunno, really…interesting topic but at the end of the day, gotta do what works best *for you*. If that involves toppers/boosters then so be it. If not, no harm, no foul. Variety is the spice of life.

As for myself, I enjoy using them so a lot of it for me is pure entertainment. Now that I've finally settled on 'my' coating, one that works best for my specific needs, wants, climate and vehicle usage patterns there ain't much entertainment involved aside from washing (which I find to be a chore); sometimes I think I wash an otherwise 'acceptably clean' car just so I can squirt some other stuff on it. It's easy, quick and I *think* it makes a difference in appearance in water behavior but lacking proper instrumentation, who really knows....but I like doing it.

Once thing I have noticed regarding the relationship of coatings and toppers is that toppers seem to become less effective (longevity and overall performance) as the base coating ages. I first thought "Eh, I can extend the life (or apparent life) of the coating by just topping it more frequently as it (the coating) loses it's 'goodness'" but it doesn't seem to be a linear situation. :shrug:

[WillSports3]

For a SiO2 based product, a booster layer prevents oxidation of the actual coating. Basically, Siloxane/SiO2 based products will oxidize bit by bit at a very slow rate. However with a good topper on it, it will stop the process and oxidize the coating booster product, whatever it is.

I can go on ages about toppers and coatings, but long story short, most toppers are designed to sit on top of a coating so the water behaviour and self cleaning stay the safe. It's why Budget has noted that when the coating itself degrades, the effectiveness of toppers become reduced. That's because most toppers on their own don't do too much. It's just an edge, an add on to the actual coating itself. If you're using the PBL coating, by all means use the PBL coating detailer after each wash. I'd recommend that over beadmaker.

The coating detailer/booster will enhance the base coating's life span while beadmaker will just sit on top and clog up the mountain peaked spikes of the coating (Microscopic level) that makes it hard for things to bond to it.

[acuRAS82]

For a SiO2 based product, a booster layer prevents oxidation of the actual coating. Basically, Siloxane/SiO2 based products will oxidize bit by bit at a very slow rate. However with a good topper on it, it will stop the process and oxidize the coating booster product, whatever it is.

I can go on ages about toppers and coatings, but long story short, most toppers are designed to sit on top of a coating so the water behaviour and self cleaning stay the safe. It's why Budget has noted that when the coating itself degrades, the effectiveness of toppers become reduced. That's because most toppers on their own don't do too much. It's just an edge, an add on to the actual coating itself. If you're using the PBL coating, by all means use the PBL coating detailer after each wash. I'd recommend that over beadmaker.

The coating detailer/booster will enhance the base coating's life span while beadmaker will just sit on top and clog up the mountain peaked spikes of the coating (Microscopic level) that makes it hard for things to bond to it.

In line with WillSports3, I don’t get as good of behavior out of toppers when used as standalone. I get better results when putting multiple coats of toppers on top of each other over time (such as two coats up front and then a coat every 2-6 week after). That is how I get my best performance out of toppers when used as standalone.

When used on something of ceramic significance, they definitely amp things up or back to how they used to be.
It promotes the idea that these are in fact toppers.

[DUBL0WS6]

I don't know what the difference is between a spray booster and a SIO2 spray sealant. Seems like essentially they both do the same job.

[WillSports3]

Concentration of Siloxane usually. Spray boosters also have strong solvents due to the higher percentage of siloxane. But manufacturers also call everything spray boosters so depends on the manufacturer.