Sealant comparison

[RippyD]

It's been too long without an update. I'll try to get caught up with this one. Currently have 7 products going on the Rover.

Some quick news: I won't be testing on the Boxster going forward. Too curvy and too small to see good water movement. The Sentra is gone. Our daughter took it. Collinite 915 went for a solid 9.5 months, outside 24x7 and washed with CarPro Reset repeatedly. No question this is an excellent product. It's still working, but has slowed down the point that I have to call it done. I applied Rupes 808 again - it only went 2 weeks. This was my 6th test. I've been more than fair with it.

I have Bead-It going in 3 different areas. Trying to see if I get different results applying multiple places at the same time.

Jescar Bead-It, Stoner Bead Max, and 303 Graphene are all doing well after 3 months. I'm surprised to see Bead Max holding up so well.

Current Rover status (video from today):

• Bead-It (passenger side rear door, front 1/2): 1 second to clear (applied 4/21)
• Bead Max (passenger side rear door, rear 1/2): 1 second to clear (applied 4/21)
• 303 Graphene (driver side rear door, front 1/2): 1 second (applied 4/21)
• Bead-It (driver side rear door, back 1/2): 2 seconds to clear (applied 4/21)
• Spray+Seal (passenger side rear panel): 2 seconds (applied 6/26/21)
• Bead-It (passenger side front door, rear): 1 second (applied 6/26)
• Power Lock+ (passenger side front door, front): 1 second (applied 6/26)
• Rupes 808 (passenger side front door, middle): Done as of July 10 - only lasted 2 weeks

Video from July 10: this shows Rupes 808 and Collinite 915 are done

The sealant spreadsheet is up to date if you want to check results.

Depending on how the current products hold up I'm hoping to add 6-8 long term products in late September to see how they do over the winter.

[RippyD]

Check the products today. Washed the care with Carpro Reset first. Everything is doing well. Good for the products. Not good for me in terms of adding more products this summer. I added 3 products to the driver side door: Megs #20, McKee's High Def Sealant, and McKee's Jewling Wax. I get that it doesn't make much sense to test the longevity of a jewling wax, but I had it so I applied it. The first two went on with an applicator sponge. The jewling wax was applied with with GG6 and a white LO pad. I also used a white pad and and DG Squeaky Clean on the door before applying them.



Current Rover status (video from today):

• Bead-It (passenger side rear door, front 1/2): 1 second to clear
• Bead Max (passenger side rear door, rear 1/2): 1 second to clear
• 303 Graphene (driver side rear door, front 1/2): 1 second
• Bead-It (driver side rear door, back 1/2): 4 seconds to clear
• Spray+Seal (passenger side rear panel): 2 seconds (applied 6/26/21)
• Bead-It (passenger side front door, rear): 1 second (applied 6/26)
• Power Lock+ (passenger side front door, front): 1 second (applied 6/26)
• Meg's #20 (driver side front door, front): TBD
• McKee's High Def Sealant (driver side front door, mid): TBD
• McKee's Jewling Wax (driver side front door, rear): TBD

The driver side rear panel is available. I'll get something applied this weekend. I could also get something applied to the passenger side door where 808 was applied.

[RippyD]

Washed the car with Carpro Reset and a Big Red Sponge. After testing I applied Carpro Reload to the driver side rear panel. Most products are doing well.

Bead-It on the driver side rear door is still at 4 seconds. Spray + Seal has slowed to 3 seconds. Everything else is clearing almost immediately. The end of the video is showing that the driver side rear panel has no product and is slow to clear before I applied Reload.

Rover status (video):

• Bead-It (passenger side rear door, front 1/2): 1 second to clear
• Bead Max (passenger side rear door, rear 1/2): 1 second to clear
• 303 Graphene (driver side rear door, front 1/2): 2 seconds
• Bead-It (driver side rear door, back 1/2): 4 seconds to clear
• Spray+Seal (passenger side rear panel): 3 seconds
• Bead-It (passenger side front door, rear): 1 second
• Power Lock+ (passenger side front door, front): 1 second
• Meg's #20 (driver side front door, front): 1 second
• McKee's High Def Sealant (driver side front door, mid): 1 second
• McKee's Jewling Wax (driver side front door, rear): 1 second
• Carpro Reload (driver side rear panel): TBD

[RippyD]

Washed the Rover during the weekend with Carpro Reset. The loud background noise is my generator. I had it going to give is some use and keep gas moving through the carb. That's the loud background noise. Next time I'm getting something quieter. (I always run it dry and use gas extender but have still had issues with varnishing in the carb. Now using E0 gas to see if that helps and will run it at least every 2-3 months for 15-20 mins.)

Rover status (video):

• Bead-It (passenger side rear door, front 1/2): 1 second to clear
• Bead Max (passenger side rear door, rear 1/2): 1 second to clear
• 303 Graphene (driver side rear door, front 1/2): 2 seconds
• Bead-It (driver side rear door, back 1/2): 4 seconds to clear
• Spray+Seal (passenger side rear panel): 3 seconds
• Bead-It (passenger side front door, rear): 1 second
• Power Lock+ (passenger side front door, front): 2 second
• Meg's #20 (driver side front door, front): 3 seconds
• McKee's High Def Sealant (driver side front door, mid): 1 second
• McKee's Jewlelng Wax (driver side front door, rear): 2 seconds
• Carpro Reload (driver side rear panel): TBD

Megs #20, McKee's Jeweling wax, Power Lock+ have slowed just a little. Everything is doing about the same as last time.

[RippyD]

Have washed and tested these products a few times. Everything is still holding up. Bead-It, Bead Max, and 303 Graphene have been on for 5 months and are still performing well. Spray+Seal and Power Lock+ are at 3 months. McKee's Jewling Wax, McKee's High Def Sealant, Megs #20, and Reload have been on for less than 2 months.

Bead-it, Bead Max, and 303 Graphene are all impressive. I have not done an application test to check cost vs. performance yet. I don't recall that any of them are very expensive, and based on results so far they all seem to be a good choice for an affordable, long lasting sealant.

Rover status (Sept 26th, Sept 9th, Aug 29th):

• Bead-It (passenger side rear door, front 1/2): 2 seconds to clear
• Bead Max (passenger side rear door, rear 1/2): 1 seconds to clear
• 303 Graphene (driver side rear door, front 1/2): 2 seconds
• Bead-It (driver side rear door, back 1/2): 3 seconds to clear
• Spray+Seal (passenger side rear panel): 3 seconds
• Bead-It (passenger side front door, rear): 1 second
• Power Lock+ (passenger side front door, front): 2 seconds
• Meg's #20 (driver side front door, front): 4 seconds
• McKee's High Def Sealant (driver side front door, mid): 2 seconds
• McKee's Jewlelng Wax (driver side front door, rear): 2 seconds
• Carpro Reload (driver side rear panel): 2 seconds

[RippyD]

Hard to believe it's been a month. Crappy weather and being gone 2 of the last 3 weekends have kept me from testing. It's been wet here and I've driven at least 500 miles in the rain, which is hard on sealants. Not surprisingly they've all slowed down. Plus it's been another extra month. Nice weather expected next week so I'll try to get another test in and get some products applied before winter hits. I washed the car with CarPro Reset using a Big Red Sponge.

Megs #20, McKee's High Def Sealant, McKee's Jewling Wax are all done. These all lasted about 2 months during the summer. I may reapply one of them to see how they hold up in the Winter. Note that McKee's High Def and Jewling Wax are both clearing in ~5 seconds at the top of the door. They are slower at the bottom half where road grime gets slung and accumulates. So on the upper areas of a car they would not doubt still be working.

Spray+Seal seems close to done. It's been on almost 4 months.

Rover status (video- background noise is my generator):

• Bead-It (passenger side rear door, front 1/2): 4 seconds to clear
• Bead Max (passenger side rear door, rear 1/2): 3 seconds to clear
• 303 Graphene (driver side rear door, front 1/2): 8 seconds
• Bead-It (driver side rear door, back 1/2): 10 seconds to clear
• Spray+Seal (passenger side rear panel): 13 seconds to clear (close to done)
• Bead-It (passenger side front door, rear): 7 seconds
• Power Lock+ (passenger side front door, front): 8 seconds
• Meg's #20 (driver side front door, front): 17 seconds - calling it done
• McKee's High Def Sealant (driver side front door, mid): 17 seconds - calling it done
• McKee's Jewlelng Wax (driver side front door, rear): 17 seconds - calling it done
• Carpro Reload (driver side rear panel): 6 seconds

[RippyD]

FYI, I fixed a couple of minor issues with the spreadsheet charts. Some items without cost data were showing and the lowest cost per use, because their cost was $0. Fixed that.

Two things I need to add to make it more useful:

- Usage data for all the products I've tested. I've done enough that I could probably estimate the ones I haven't measured yet. This would show the true cost per year for each product I've tested.
- Another chart showing cost per year without labor costs. Some amateurs probably don't care how much time it takes. More longevity or lower cost per product may be more important. I'll get this added as well.

I'll try to get these done in the next few days.

Here's a summary based on longevity:

36 to 49 weeks:

DG 104, Collinite 845, Collinite 915, FK1000P.
Note that these all take more effort to apply

20 to 28 weeks:

Sonax PNS, DG 111, Track Claw, 303 Graphine (still going), Glass Molecule, Bead-It (still going), Sonus SF-X, Bead Max (still going).

Of these, Bead-it, Bead Max, and 303 Graphine are the easiest to apply. Sonax PNS is almost as fast - it has to be applied with a sponge rather than sprayed on. You can finish a medium sized vehicle with any of these in 10-15 minutes if you're continually moving.

15 to 19 weeks:

4 Star Spray Wax, BF Carnuba, Megs Ceramic, Power Lock+, Dodo Red Mist, Griots Finishing, and Scholls Barracuda, and Spray+Seal.

For these I would stick with the spray on and wipe off vs. wax on wax off products. Why take the time to apply, let cure, and remove when there are spray products that do just as well? Spray+Seal didn't last this long with one application, but I'll assume user error on that one. It's also easy to apply. These are all good products.

10 to 14 weeks:

Polish Angel Cosmic, Ultima Waterless, Dodo Acrylic Spritz, CarPro, RejeX, OptiSeal, IGL Premier, Polish Angel Viking, 303 Spray Wax, Dodo Future Armour, 10 Minute Sealant, Hydro Seal, and Reload.

Several of these had one application that didn't last as long so the average duration is lower. Many of these did last more than 14 weeks with one application, so the could in next group above.

For these I would also go with the easiest to apply, which is probably OptiSeal (wipe on, walk away) or any of the spray sealants. Ultima Waterless is a waterless wash that protects like sealant. The Polish Angel products are outrageously expensive relative to the others. Some people think they look better.

All the others are under 10 weeks. Of that long list, the ones I like and would use are DG Aquawax (cheap and an excellent drying aid, sheets water for ~8 weeks), Ech2o+Reload as a QD (sheets water for ~8 weeks), DG 931 as a QD (sheets water for ~9 weeks).

[dgage]

@RippyD - did you mean Duragloss 104 (paste wax) or 105? Thanks for doing that and sharing.

[RippyD]

@RippyD - did you mean Duragloss 104 (paste wax) or 105? Thanks for doing that and sharing.

104 paste sealant. 105 doesn't last nearly that long. 104 will hang with other good paste waxes/sealants.

[RippyD]

Tested today. Washed with CarPro Reset. A few more items are done this week, and the others are slowing down. Bead Max is still hanging on and clearing on 3 seconds.

303 Graphene, Bead-It (one of 3), Spray+Seal, and Power Lock+ are done.

Bead-it (2/3) , Bead Max, and Reload are still going.

Megs #20, McKee's High Def Sealant, McKee's Jewling Wax are all done. These all lasted about 2 months during the summer. I may reapply one of them to see how they hold up in the Winter. Note that McKee's High Def and Jewling Wax are both clearing in ~5 seconds at the top of the door. They are slower at the bottom half where road grime gets slung and accumulates. So on the upper areas of a car they would not doubt still be working.

Rover status (video- turn down your volume, background noise is my generator, and it's loud):

• Bead-It (passenger side rear door, front 1/2): 11 seconds to clear
• Bead Max (passenger side rear door, rear 1/2): 3 seconds to clear
• 303 Graphene (driver side rear door, front 1/2): 20 seconds - done
• Bead-It (driver side rear door, back 1/2): 20 seconds to clear - done
• Spray+Seal (passenger side rear panel): 17 seconds to clear - done
• Bead-It (passenger side front door, rear): 8 seconds
• Power Lock+ (passenger side front door, front): 20 seconds - done
• Carpro Reload (driver side rear panel): 10 seconds