Effect of Humidity on Ceramic/Graphene Coatings

[Epilogts]

Speedo,

I too am in CO and have coated many cars here.

Having never coated a car in high humidity I have no experience, but putting on a coating in CO has never been an issue for me. Ceramic coatings are very nice as long as you prep well beforehand(clean and polish) as a coating will not hide anything.

Coatings can be a little finicky but if you’re capable, give it a go the CO humidity (lack of) shouldn’t keep you from getting it done.

[SpeedoTT]

Speedo,

I too am in CO and have coated many cars

Epilogts
thank you Sir. May I ask what products have you use and like best

[rangerbay]

You have a Lexus with softish clear, and a vw with hardish clear. Both are polish critical and pad critical. Choose wisely. I just used 3d ceramic coating, and really liked it. It does flash quickly, which I like.

You might try Sonax nano for the Lexus (test spot first) and the Sonax cutmax or cutmax plus on the vw. Medium pads to test spot, then power up if needed. The Tiguan, if heavy swirled, may need wool and rotary, or short throw orbital. Lexus probably rupes yellow foam.
use a couple clean ups with an IPA solution until it squeaks. I like Eraser, and have recently been using 3d wipe. All good. To me, diluted alcohol on the Lexus may mar it some.

[Desertnate]

Flash slower

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

It will probably flash much faster in the dryer conditions as the carrier solvents will evaporate faster. I've applied CQuartz UK and TiO2 in some really humid conditions with pouring rain outside my garage and the flash time was double...if not longer. Add cool conditions to the humidity and you can be waiting a REALLY long time for a flash on a product like UK.

With CQuartz UK 3.0's long flash time, it might be the ideal solution for a dry humid climate.

I grew up in the Denver area and really miss it. I'm pretty sick of our 70% humidity and have fond memories of a 25% humidity on a summer day.

[noorth]

It will probably flash much faster in the dryer conditions as the carrier solvents will evaporate faster. I've applied CQuartz UK and TiO2 in some really humid conditions with pouring rain outside my garage and the flash time was double...if not longer. Add cool conditions to the humidity and you can be waiting a REALLY long time for a flash on a product like UK.

With CQuartz UK 3.0's long flash time, it might be the ideal solution for a dry humid climate.

I grew up in the Denver area and really miss it. I'm pretty sick of our 70% humidity and have fond memories of a 25% humidity on a summer day.

I applied CQUK outside about 2 mths ago in 5-10 degree Celsius and over 50% humidity. I waited about 5-7 mins. It flashed and was very tacky to remove.

My previous application in similar conditions i waited about 3 min. Much easier wipe off and it looks just has good has the other panel.

If i would of waited over 10min i would of had a lot of issues.

Caveat: I applied the coating very thin. I found you really don't need very much.

[Desertnate]

I'll do very thin applications too Typically a full size sedan like a charger or a BMW 3-series sedan or small-ish SUV can be completed with half a 30ml bottle; maybe a bit less. 50% humidity would be a dry day where I live.

Two years ago I helped a friend apply an application in temperatures which were around 60~65F in my garage and humidity around 90% due to rain/mist/fog. Flash times were around 20 minutes, maybe longer. Three weeks ago I coated my son-in-law's car. Temps were around 70~75F in his garage and humidity was 70%~80% and I could easily go 7~10 minutes waiting for it to fully flash. Buff out could go longer (I found a small high spot an hour later that buffed out easily). Depending on where I was on the car, I found myself sitting around waiting for areas to flash so I could start buffing it out.

I think it's interesting to see how much different the products behave with variations in humidity and temp. There have been several times when I've been working on a car in my garage and really found a groove with the product and timing. All of a sudden one of my kids or my wife will open the garage door and EVERYTHING changes almost in an instant.

[SpeedoTT]

You have a Lexus with softish clear, and a vw with hardish clear. Both are polish critical and pad critical. Choose wisely. I just used 3d ceramic coating, and really liked it. It does flash quickly, which I like.

You might try Sonax nano for the Lexus (test spot first) and the Sonax cutmax or cutmax plus on the vw. Medium pads to test spot, then power up if needed. The Tiguan, if heavy swirled, may need wool and rotary, or short throw orbital. Lexus probably rupes yellow foam.
use a couple clean ups with an IPA solution until it squeaks. I like Eraser, and have recently been using 3d wipe. All good. To me, diluted alcohol on the Lexus may mar it some.

Thank you. Having a base from where to start testing for each car is very helpful. I bought the flex "beast" a couple of years back, and LC Hybrid pads (i.e. orange, white, black, and red) to detail a friend's 1963 MGB, and light correction on the Lexus. I'll check the products you recommended.

[SpeedoTT]

I applied CQUK outside about 2 mths ago in 5-10 degree Celsius and over 50% humidity. I waited about 5-7 mins. It flashed and was very tacky to remove.

Thank you Noorth. This is a good reference of what to expect.

[SpeedoTT]

I grew up in the Denver area and really miss it. I'm pretty sick of our 70% humidity and have fond memories of a 25% humidity on a summer day.

Hi Desertnate,
It's hard to beat Denver's weather. Once, I turned down the opportunity to move to KC for work and chose to travel every week instead.

Thank you for sharing your experience with CQUK. Much appreciated.

BTW... red your blog; love how the Porsche Cayenne turned out.

[noorth]

I'll do very thin applications too Typically a full size sedan like a charger or a BMW 3-series sedan or small-ish SUV can be completed with half a 30ml bottle; maybe a bit less. 50% humidity would be a dry day where I live.

Two years ago I helped a friend apply an application in temperatures which were around 60~65F in my garage and humidity around 90% due to rain/mist/fog. Flash times were around 20 minutes, maybe longer. Three weeks ago I coated my son-in-law's car. Temps were around 70~75F in his garage and humidity was 70%~80% and I could easily go 7~10 minutes waiting for it to fully flash. Buff out could go longer (I found a small high spot an hour later that buffed out easily). Depending on where I was on the car, I found myself sitting around waiting for areas to flash so I could start buffing it out.

I think it's interesting to see how much different the products behave with variations in humidity and temp. There have been several times when I've been working on a car in my garage and really found a groove with the product and timing. All of a sudden one of my kids or my wife will open the garage door and EVERYTHING changes almost in an instant.

Just noticed this Desertnate. Must of been burning the midnight oil recently and hit dislike by mistake. Can't seem to reverse it.