Review: Meguiar's Paint Protect

[Loach]

Paint Protect - 365 Days Worth of Durability* 16 oz.

This will be my comprehensive review for this product, I've had some information about it scattered into a few threads, so it's time to put it all in one spot. I have three water repellency test videos: 1 day, 7 days, and 14 days after application.

On the bottle: "EASIER TO USE THAN WAX - BEADS WATER LIKE CRAZY"

Directions: Recommended for use on exterior paint, plastic, metal and chrome. Not recommended for use on glass/windows. Apply in the shade on a cool, dry surface, and let it set for 3-5 minutes, then remove. Does not dry to a haze. Fully cures after 24 hours.

Product Description and Application: The consistency of Paint Protect is like water. Feels oily/silky slick on the skin. Application is very easy. Spreads nicely, feels silky smooth when spreading, a little bit of product goes a long way. Goes on clear, shouldn't be difficult to tell where you've applied it if you're in the shade, as the silky smooth feeling where you've applied it lets you know exactly where it has been. Removal is also easy, doesn't feel grabby when doing so, however you may notice some very slight "smearing" after removal. I could notice it under a light source and as I went over the paint with a few clean microfibers, but the next day when pulling out into the sun I could not see any streaking or evidence of remaining smearing. The product certainly doesn't hurt the look of the car, and leaves a very smooth/slick surface on the paint.

Surface Prep: The car was washed, clayed, polished with M205 prior to application. In the first test video, I did not apply an IPA wipedown prior to application. My later tests with Paint Protect I have followed up M205 with IPA but could not see any noticeable difference in repellency characteristics.

Water Repellency: (Meguiar's Paint Protect - Day 1 Water Test Video: Paint Protect behaves more like a water sheeting product 24 hours after application on the paint. I would not classify it as a beading type of product as a result of putting many products through water testing. It has a lower surface tension, the beading is more oblong shaped, water will largely tend to run flat across the paint when the panel is flooded, great for sheeting and drying in the short term. As a result of this, I think this opens up the possibility for many consumers who are expecting this to be a tight beading product to be disappointed. I did apply the product to a small textured section of the trim, and it appeared to bead better on this surface compared to the paint. For water repellency comparison purposes, I have applied Turtle Wax ICE Liquid Wax to the other half of the hood which is one of the only products I have in my limited arsenal of supplies here in Florida that I would classify as a beading product. Here is a 50/50 shot of the beading when setting the nozzle to the mist setting:

Paint Protect/ICE Liquid Wax:



And the Paint Protect beading on the trim:



7 & 14 Day Durability Tests: (Meguiar's Paint Protect 7 Day Durability Test Video) / 14 Day Durability Test Video I once again prepped the surface with M205, an IPA wipedown was used and both the Paint Protect and ICE products were reapplied. The car was daily driven, we got rain at day 5 of the test. Temperature during the days were around high 50s to mid 70s. At day 7, after filming the initial rinse, I wash and rinsed the car consecutively a total of 30 times to see how the products would hold up to soap application. On the front bottle of Paint Protect, the asterisk after "Durability" designates that this claim is "Based on 52 consecutive hand washes using a pH balanced car shampoo." So for this wash and rinse test I used Meguiar's Deep Crystal soap and showed the results after wash and rinse 1, 10, and 30. With this test you can see Paint Protect develop a noticeably slower sheeting line compared to the repellency behavior in the first video after the 24 hour test.

On day 13, I washed the test sections and then removed ICE from the left side fender and reapplied Paint Protect. This time, I allowed Paint Protect to set for 1 hour before buffing off. At day 14, I filmed the reaction to the test sections still remaining for the durability test, as well as show how the new section behaves after an extended set/dry time. I wash and rinsed the car once more for a total of 32 wash and rinses for the durability test. I did not notice a difference in the repellency characteristics for the section with the extended 1 hour set period. As a result of the durability test, the marketing around the term "beading" doesn't seem to match very well with my results. There's evidence in the video that the product is still applied to the paint panel, but the surface tension has been diminished pretty definitively. I think many consumers after seeing this type of water behavior at day 14 would really question the overall effectiveness of the product.

Conclusions: Overall it seems like Meguiar's is marketing this product as the easier and faster to use product compared to the traditional wax, towards those people who want their car protected but generally don't want to spend much time getting that done. Maybe towards the less detailing savvy consumer. And that means bringing beading to the forefront...because we know that this is the buzzword the consumer thinks about when they hear the word "protection". The problem is you don't get a spectacular beading product out of Paint Protect. What you do get is a 16oz bottle of product that's going to take you forever to use up, that's easy to use, leaves a very slick feeling on the paint, that you don't have to worry about staining trim, for a very cheap price that hopefully has durable UV protection that heavily outpaces its surface tension durability.

Now, realize this is just my experience with this product. You may absolutely get different results and please let me know if you do. The results of my testing as I remove and reapply, they have been consistent for me, so I can only share with you my own experience.

[Angus]

Thanks for the very detailed review!

[Jaretr1]

Overall it seems like Meguiar's is marketing this product as the easier and faster to use product compared to the traditional wax, towards those people who want their car protected but generally don't want to spend much time getting that done. Maybe towards the less detailing savvy consumer..

I think you nailed that on the head, except not maybe to the less savvy consumer, totally to the less savvy consumer. Notice no where on the bottle does it say anything about great shine, which is something Meguiars has become synonymous with.

Anyone who is an enthusiast or a pro probably has no interest or need for this product in my opinion. However, someone who wants to protect their paint as easily as possible and not overly concerned with looks is what Paint Protect is aimed for.

For ease of use, and a great shine, I'll stick with Hydro2!

Great review though!

[Bunky]

Interesting comments. Thanks for the review!

[Marc08EX]

Thanks for the review and documentation. It's weird how the paint protect doesn't have any beading at all but their description says "beads water like crazy".

I'm really curious as to whether this product really has UV protection.

[The Guz]

Interesting. Michael Stoops recommended to not wash the car for 7 days after applying 365. I wonder if the rain within the 5 day mark factored in.

I found his post.

Welcome to MOL, Loach!!

We appreciate you taking the time to put that video together, but we want to point out a few things about the behavior of this product and how you might want to slightly alter your test, should you decide to do a follow up video.

First off, while a 24 hour cure time is indeed important, what is perhaps even more important is that the product be allowed to sit for a week or so, and then wash the car. Doing that will allow any of the "carrier ingredients" and oils from the product to dissipate and get washed away. That then allows the true nature of the product to show through. What we'd love to see is Paint Protect side by side with the same product you used in this video, then a week later wash the car (or just the hood, for demo purposes, if you wish), and compare the results. Then wash it again. And again. Let's then see what's left of this and the other product.

Remember, we aren't saying that this product will have the tightest beads in the world, just that the beading will extremely long lasting. One is maybe a very short lived "ooh and aah" trick, the other is actually a very desirable feature of the product.

[Loach]

Interesting. Michael Stoops recommended to not wash the car for 7 days after applying 365. I wonder if the rain within the 5 day mark factored in.

I found his post.

In my experience, it does not take long for the products that I've tested to show their full repellency characteristics. The carrier ingredients is a great point Mike makes, and if I rinse down ICE Liquid Wax immediately after buffing it off, you'll actually see the water sheet flatter on the panel for a short time. As I continue to rinse I can see it tighten up to a higher level of repellency. So that's basically the water rinsing down those oils and carrier ingredients. It's definitely something that I want to take a closer look at and test and play around with.

I would assume that it shouldn't take longer than the 24 hour recommended cure time in order to see Paint Protect repelling water at its maximum. That being said, Paint Protect certainly leaves a "film" that is difficult to wipe perfectly clean after I immediately buff it off (could certainly be a result of applying too much). Using a light source I can see this, but this light film seems to work itself out, I check after pulling the car into the sun the next day and I cannot notice evidence of it remaining on the paint. So I would assume that those carrier ingredients have something to do with the film that most likely evaporate off the paint on its own.

If it behaves anything like ICE, a short rinse should actually help in the process of removing those carrier ingredients. I came out during the rain on day 5 to check the beading out and it didn't appear to be behaving differently than prior testing. I would say the biggest potential flaw of my test is having the car sit outside during that first night. The temperature will dip down overnight anywhere from the low 40s to low 60s at this time of year. That could possibly have an effect on the curing of Paint Protect.