Quik Review - Sonax Spray + Seal

[Mike Phillips]

Here's something I wrote about what's in the air over your car over 13 years ago.

The pictures, (which have not disappeared over 13 years now), really tell the story.

From Aug 2nd, 2005, 03:25 PM


How often do I need to clay my car's finish?

[SWETM]

That's insane to get that level of contaminants.

Wondering if you would get a cleaner paint with a bucket wash and a stronger car soap like Carpro Reset?
You often do a little more aggitations with a wash mitt I think. I don't know the cleaning ability from a waterless wash or rinseless wash. But have seen LSP to be revived with reset a lot of times. And with the amount of air borned contaminants you seem to have. I would be testing the cleaning ability from the wash solutions I used. Cause the LSP whatever it is you have on the car would not be any longevity from.

That sounds crazy Mike! 3 hours and get that dirty just from sitting outside.

Is it from the amount of vehicals driven in LA/California the air gets so contaminted? Or is it much of industries in the area too?

/Tony

[Eldorado2k]

Wow!

What's in the air where you live?

Well I do live less than a mile away from the port of Los Angeles, and also about the same distance from several refineries that are all located down here...







But the main culprit is where I park my car everyday... And what a coincidence, that painter situation that you posted in your old thread happens to be going on this exact moment here next to my car. [no overspray that I’ve noticed]



But here’s where the daily barrage of contaminants try to make their way onto my paint... There’s probably hundreds of semi trucks that drive right next to my car everyday. That’s why any lsp I use needs to be extremely capable when it comes to protection or it won’t stand a chance.

That's insane to get that level of contaminants.

Wondering if you would get a cleaner paint with a bucket wash and a stronger car soap like Carpro Reset?
You often do a little more aggitations with a wash mitt I think.

I just did a full bucket wash this past Saturday [2 days ago] my car wasn’t even really dirty since then... But I did go over it twice with the waterless wash prior to claying because I thought about the same thing you did.

[JustJesus]

Wow!

What's in the air where you live?

I was thinking the same thing!!!! And I live in California, not far from Eldo. Well, 10 miles or less I'd say.

But here’s where the daily barrage of contaminants try to make their way onto my paint... There’s probably hundreds of semi trucks that drive right next to my car everyday. That’s why any lsp I use needs to be extremely capable when it comes to protection or it won’t stand a chance.

Being in the South Gate area, I drive on the 710 everyday, so I drive next to them all the time.

I'm guessing there is something going on over by my wife's job, in ELA somewhere, as she always seems to have some film on her glass. Drives me nuts.

So what LSP do you prefer on your cars, to be extremely capable?

[Eldorado2k]

So what LSP do you prefer on your cars, to be extremely capable?

It’s a liquid sealant that’s been discontinued for a couple of years now. It’s not something that was ever sold on the AG store, so I prefer to not call it by name. But it’s the only thing that’s ever been able to protect my paint against bonded contaminants.

[JustJesus]

Right on. And understood

[RippyD]

I tried Spray + Seal at the same time as Hydro Blue and Hydro2. I got ~4 weeks of water sheeting from all of them. That may be a little generous and I should probably test them again. But... holy crap those things are easy to use. I used a pressure washer, which is probably not necessary. Spray on while your car is wet and hose off. Done.

If it really is 4 weeks of sheeting these products are great for summer. Less ideal in the winter when it's freezing out.

[AllenK]

I think these Spray and Seal type products would be great for someone like my Dad who is getting up in years. They seem really easy to use,and relatively idiot proof.

[Eldorado2k]

7 day update: A few things I feel I should mention.

-This update is just 7 days after applying the Sonax onto perfectly smooth paint. The 1st update was after 11 days...

-My car spent most the 3 day weekend parked in my driveway, in other words it hasn’t been driven much in the past 7 days.

-Due to Labor Day, it’s been very slow this past week and the number of semi trucks that normally drive by my car on a daily basis was about half of what it usually is.


I intended to hold of for at least another couple of days before providing this update, but I couldn’t help myself and I was curious about the results so I did a waterless wash w/Megs D114 on this spot, then I did a baggie test...



It failed. I tested a small section on my hood and it also failed... So from there I decided to go ahead and give my car a full bucket wash.

For anyone who’s wondering, yes the paint was beading strong at this point.



After the wash & rinse I fully dried the car using a Cobra Guzzler. I did another baggie test and it felt slightly less bumpy, but not enough to change the results. So onto the claybar.



Trunklid.



Keep in mind this is after just 7 days...





And this is the claybar on the hood.





I just read the description for Sonax Spray & Seal and counted the number of times they mentioned words like “contaminants” “protection” “road grime” etc... I counted 25 times. So you’d figure the protection from contaminants would be quite strong after reading that description right? Unfortunately I just don’t see it coming anywhere those expectations.

This proves an important point: Just because it’s beading, doesn’t exactly mean it’s protecting. Thanks for reading.

[RippyD]

Great review and update! I haven't found anything that really helps with road grime accumulation. I think the stuff flying though the air doesn't care what's on your car. At 35-80 MPH it's going to get embedded. (And if you think about a car coming toward you, the relative wind speed could be 2x those numbers.)