Best beading product?

[hernandez.art13]

Hey Guys...
From where I'm sitting, I can overhear you!

Bob

[KillaCam]

Hey Guys...

From where I'm sitting, I can overhear you!



Bob

Your posts just go over my head sometimes. I don't know if you're insulting me or not.

[PiPUK]

He's trying to say that sheeting really means water sticking to the paint in big sheets, thus making it hydrophillic. However, in terms of detailing we use sheeting in terms of water falling off of the paint in big sheets.

Quite. The detailing crowd have really got the terminology confused - beading meaning hydrophobic and sheeting meaning... errrrr... hydrophobic. The worst of it is that many think that the 'sheeting' they are describing is hydrophillic. The problem comes in the 'sheet' definition. A drop of water on a hydrophobic surface forms a 'bead' - all good there. The same droplet on a hydrophilic surface forms a flat sheet (it spreads out flat) - but this isn't what detailers mean by a sheet. In detailing, a sheet is simply a collection of water droplets on a hydrophobic surface but a surface which is not hydrophobic enough to break that sheet up into droplets. In detailing, a bead and a sheet are manifestations of exactly the same surface chemistry.

It has got to the point that some now use the technical, hydrophilic, term to describe the detailers sheet - which is quite the opposite of fact. Worst of all, some of the brands, in a wonderful demonstration of their utter lack of technical expertise, are guilty of this!

[KillaCam]

Quite. The detailing crowd have really got the terminology confused - beading meaning hydrophobic and sheeting meaning... errrrr... hydrophobic. The worst of it is that many think that the 'sheeting' they are describing is hydrophillic. The problem comes in the 'sheet' definition. A drop of water on a hydrophobic surface forms a 'bead' - all good there. The same droplet on a hydrophilic surface forms a flat sheet (it spreads out flat) - but this isn't what detailers mean by a sheet. In detailing, a sheet is simply a collection of water droplets on a hydrophobic surface but a surface which is not hydrophobic enough to break that sheet up into droplets. In detailing, a bead and a sheet are manifestations of exactly the same surface chemistry.



It has got to the point that some now use the technical, hydrophilic, term to describe the detailers sheet - which is quite the opposite of fact. Worst of all, some of the brands, in a wonderful demonstration of their utter lack of technical expertise, are guilty of this!

In my previous post I was trying to simply state that a very hydrophobic surface is more important because it's going to bead up nice and tall and water will runoff very easily. Hence my comparison.

[PiPUK]

In my previous post I was trying to simply state that a very hydrophobic surface is more important because it's going to bead up nice and tall and water will runoff very easily. Hence my comparison.

Believe it or not, contact angle (what makes beads look impressive) and sliding angle (what makes them run off) are quite distinct and not necessarily linked. In fact, many high contact angle surfaces require quite high sliding angles to clear them. In automotive, contact angle is for show, sliding angle is what is actually best.

[PRicci09]

EXOv2, Sonax PNS and BSD, Soft99 Fusso Coat

[KillaCam]

Believe it or not, contact angle (what makes beads look impressive) and sliding angle (what makes them run off) are quite distinct and not necessarily linked. In fact, many high contact angle surfaces require quite high sliding angles to clear them. In automotive, contact angle is for show, sliding angle is what is actually best.

So is contact angle what makes the beads tall and round, while sliding angle is how easily the water rolls off the surface?
Totally taking a guess here.

[PiPUK]

So is contact angle what makes the beads tall and round, while sliding angle is how easily the water rolls off the surface?
Totally taking a guess here.

Yes. As above, it is often the case that a surface with the highest contact angle won't have the lowest sliding angle. So you can have fantastic beads but they won't clear off the surface as readily as with some less spectacular beading finishes.

[Gokite]

I read some research that beading is bad for your car. The theory is that the water bead has particulates floating inside. When the water beads start drying, the particulates are drawn into the finish, promoting pitting...

If the water can sheet off the car, the water takes the particulates with it and the finish is better preserved.

So while beading looks nice, I think I would prefer to have a sheeting product instead.

Now, I don't remember the source and it was many years ago but it made sense.

[Wes Bremec]

Beading might look "cool", but sheeting is a more important characteristic.