How important is durability to you?

[DUBL0WS6]

Based on reading others posts over the years, I'm assuming my hard water at my house will create water spots on my car if it was protected with a coating, like it does with waxes or sealants. like I mentioned above, I'd join the club if I knew a coating would keep hard water from spotting on my paint.

Hard water can be tough on waxes and sealants. In the sun it can bake on and be difficult to remove. I have hard water spotting on some glass surfaces that I can't remove.

[SteveRedGTI]

In the North country, it's very important. Many of today's more expensive ceramic coatings need TLC to come anywhere near their stated years of service. For decades, I've commuted through snow/ice and the salt and nasty grime that comes with it. Since Santa never once delivered a garage to me, I either went to the handheld wash or let them rust out. Spring/summer/some of Fall is when you're going to see what's happened to the surface. Believe it or not, not too much has ever hurt any of my car's surfaces. Paint swirls will happen, regardless of what you use. Nobody's going to go out and try to gently dry the car off when it's constantly below freezing, and the vehicle will be out all night anyway. So my natural instinct was to look for products that sheet water, not bead it. Still looking.

[CleanIT]

Climate is a significant factor. FK1000p may be a good product for you.

[The Guz]

I may be one of the few but I didn’t like FK1000. Didn’t think it was anything special.

[Azure]

Then stop listening to your friends or others lol. You won't know until you choose one and experience the journey of a coating. Or at least apply it to one area and see how it holds up over say a year.



Too many factors on how they got these water spots. Did they wash in direct sun? Did they miss a spot? Do they leave their cars too dirty where rain is going to cause a problem when the sun comes out? And the list goes on.



The potential is always there. Does not mean it will happen every time.



No product is going to stop water spotting from a sprinkler.

Are you washing with a pressure washer or a garden hose? By the way water spots come off during the wash process with a drying aid. This is not speaking for water spots that have already been on the paint. I am referring to the ones that may happen during the wash and drying process.

Yvan made this video on water spots which is interesting.

I use a pressure washer with a portable water deionizer (from Griots Garage) since I generally have to wash my cars in the direct sunlight. I agree, nice video on water spots. I remember him discussing water spots briefly on one of OG's videos a few years back. My "garage queen" has some permanent etching from either water or a chemical (maybe trapped in rain water spots) from the previous owner. What I'm guessing is that he put the car cover on when the car was wet and it set in hibernation like this. Back when I first bought this car is when I came here on the forum and read some of Mike's posts about water spots and etching, etc. I also buy some DI water from a local water company (Aqua Systems) in 6 gallon drinking water type jugs. I'll use this DI water with a Hydroshot as a final rinse when my DI media is failing. My experience, very rarely do the water spots from my local water department come off with a drying aid. that's why I ended up buying the DI setup I have and purchase DI water as a backup.

I did purchase FK 1000P Friday lol I had not heard of it and wanted to give it a try. As far as recent products, I have Turtle Wax Seal & Shine on my garage queen and Optimum Spray Wax on my wife's Rav4. I have 303 Nano Graphene spray coating that I haven't tried yet. Not sure which product I'll put on what car yet, but I've bought these to try for durability reasons.

[Paul A.]

For me i like durability because of the implication of a strong, robust LSP. I may have a 2 year coating on my DD but it never goes full term cus I replace it once a year.

As a business detailer I don't want to mess with my own car often. Nor do I have time to.

[The Guz]

I use a pressure washer with a portable water deionizer (from Griots Garage) since I generally have to wash my cars in the direct sunlight. I agree, nice video on water spots. I remember him discussing water spots briefly on one of OG's videos a few years back. My "garage queen" has some permanent etching from either water or a chemical (maybe trapped in rain water spots) from the previous owner. What I'm guessing is that he put the car cover on when the car was wet and it set in hibernation like this. Back when I first bought this car is when I came here on the forum and read some of Mike's posts about water spots and etching, etc. I also buy some DI water from a local water company (Aqua Systems) in 6 gallon drinking water type jugs. I'll use this DI water with a Hydroshot as a final rinse when my DI media is failing. My experience, very rarely do the water spots from my local water department come off with a drying aid. that's why I ended up buying the DI setup I have and purchase DI water as a backup.

I did purchase FK 1000P Friday lol I had not heard of it and wanted to give it a try. As far as recent products, I have Turtle Wax Seal & Shine on my garage queen and Optimum Spray Wax on my wife's Rav4. I have 303 Nano Graphene spray coating that I haven't tried yet. Not sure which product I'll put on what car yet, but I've bought these to try for durability reasons.

Yeah I see. A pressure washer leaves a lot of water on the surface which is why I don't use one. Sheet rinsing leaves me with the paint 90% dry where water spotting is a non-issue even if washed with some sun out. As long as your DI system is working properly you should not have any issues.

Enjoy those products. Perhaps try all on various surfaces to see which ends up as your go to.

[2black1s]

For me personally, durability is at the bottom of my list of priorities when choosing a LSP. I'm only referring to waxes and sealants as coatings are not even a part of my vocabulary. One exception - I did recently try 303 Graphene Nano Spray Coating on one of my bikes. I get it that the 303 may not be considered a true coating but I'm just throwing that out there.

Here's my reasoning... (in no particular order)

- I take any "period of protection" claims from manufacturers with a healthy dose of skepticism, although they may be useful for comparison purposes when selecting a product.

- I like that "just waxed" look/feel and I have never seen ANY product retain that look/feel for anything beyond a few washes. Actually, that look and feel start to diminish from the very first wash.

- The most important protective feature to me, living in Southern California, is UV protection. How in the world do you measure/assess that?

- Water behavior, which seems to be the standard for determining protection, is nearly meaningless to me. As long as I can easily dry the car without steaking, that is good enough for me.

- Another point on water behavior and UV protection - How does water behavior relate to UV protection? Like I said previously, UV protection is my number one priority. With water behavior being the primary tool to assess protection, how do the two relate?

In summary, if I want that just waxed look and feel, I will wax and/or seal as often as desired. Therefore durability is of little concern. I'll be waxing and/or sealing well before any stated "durability" claims.

With all of that said, does anyone have any suggestions to determine UV protection levels? I have no clue.

[noorth]

With my work schedule my car can go weeks without being washed so i'm trying full blown coatings this year to see if i can get 12-18mths before my yearly paint enhancement. Using a medium polish like 3D one and rupes yellow foam.

I have 1 coat of CQUK topped with reload on the back bumper, truck lid and rear quarter panels and Nv Nova EVO topped with reload on the rest of the car. I coated outside so i used reload 1 hour after application. So far so good! EVO is easier to work with IME and it has edge on water performance too in my eyes.

[Desertnate]

No product is going to stop water spotting from a sprinkler.

So true. I applied 845 to a friends car when we volunteered to care for it while he went home to Hawaii for a couple months. Two weeks later I turned on my sprinklers and forgot to move his car. Needless to say I ended up polishing water spots off several panels.

Bits of my coated cars will get sprayed by the sprinklers if the wind is blowing. Most of the time a little QD or APC on a soft rag will remove what little water spotting doesn't come off with a wash.

I'm sure there are places with water harder than mine, but our water isn't soft either by a long shot.