Does the Diamond Paint Coating V2 have a hardness rating?

[Phaze Automotive]

I'm in Hong Kong where all the rage is coatings. In order to be competitive, I've reached out to AGO's supply of coatings choosing the PBl brand as my favorite. However I get alot of customers who like to tell me that so and so shop is offering 9H coating for what it costs me just to detail their car. Does this coating have a hardness level or was it never tested for that? I'd just like to know where on the hardness spectrum this coating would be.

[FinishingTouchA]

My personal opinion: The hardness rating of coatings is just for marketing purposes. No coating is 9H on the Mohs scale. It's on the graphite hardness scale. The scratch/swirl resistance is misleading. They don't scratch as easily because the dirt comes off with less aggressive scrubbing, not because the coatings is too hard to scratch.

[Audios S6]

My personal opinion: The hardness rating of coatings is just for marketing purposes. No coating is 9H on the Mohs scale. It's on the graphite hardness scale. The scratch/swirl resistance is misleading. They don't scratch as easily because the dirt comes off with less aggressive scrubbing, not because the coatings is too hard to scratch.

This. In my personal testing, I've found that the hardness is greatly overplayed. I've found that the anti-fouling properties contribute to not dragging soiling across the paint and a foreign body has a tendency to glide over rather than drag (causing a scratch) on a very slick surface. I've been slowly working on an evaluation with a variety of coatings, but I can provide a photo of my test panel this evening. PBL out performed most other products including a pro offering in the non-scientific scratch testing I did, and I believe this is directly related to the slickness.

FWIW, a 9H pencil test is a combination of graphite and clay. I'm much more concerned with sand, salt and real world contaminantes, many of which are harder than a 9H pencil.

[FUNX650]

@OP:
Hope you do find the answer to
your thread-starter's question.


However, IMO:
"9H" should be included as another representative
of some of the greatest marketing gimmicks in the
history of car-care products.

Accordingly:
•When I'm shopping for a good paint "protector"...
it's hardly a measurement I take seriously.

To take it a step further:
•Since there are many materials, including 'coatings',
that are not scratched by a "9H-pencil"...
-I would expect many "Glass (Quartz/Silica) Coatings"
to also pass the 9H test, and be graded as such.


Out of curiosity...
•Has anyone else ever ran across this information:
-9H pencil hardness is equivalent to
~5 on the Mohs hardness scale?

(And...Yes: I have no hard data to support
the veracity of the above Pencil:Mohs claim.)


Bob

[Phaze Automotive]

Thanks for all the responses, I'm sure it's mainly a marketing gimmick but I still lose alot of customer to so called 9h coatings over say the PBL that I recommend. In that sense I would like to have some sort of hardness level to counter. Aside from Ceramic Pro, there is another coating I've been shown by some customers supposedly having 9h hardness and they also include similar lighter "tests".

[RaskyR1]

Thanks for all the responses, I'm sure it's mainly a marketing gimmick but I still lose alot of customer to so called 9h coatings over say the PBL that I recommend. In that sense I would like to have some sort of hardness level to counter. Aside from Ceramic Pro, there is another coating I've been shown by some customers supposedly having 9h hardness and they also include similar lighter "tests".

Then you should properly educate them.

The lighter test is a joke and you can get the same result by spraying a quick wax/detail spray on the panel and performing the same lighter test.

[DaveT435]

Polish Angel Cosmic on Autopia has the 9H rating. Not that it means anything...but it does have it.

[Valky]

Give me your E-mail and I can send you pictures of a car with a famous Kubebond 9H coating age only one month with only one improper wash and swirl got all over the car. You can use it to showing to your customer. Hardness Rating is pure gimmick, if they want to Be satisfy about the hardness you can tell them that PBL is also 9H as it also ceramic coating, and ceramic is a ceramic, it hardness should be the same for whatever the brand is.

[Phaze Automotive]

Thanks all, whatever the truth is, people will believe in marketing gimmicks. Though I try to educate, they think they're getting a deal when in reality even if the coating was 9H, most of the shops aren't correcting the paint before application so all the defects are just trapped under.

Valky, Can you please send the pics to PhazeAutomotive@GMail.com Thank you