Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Paint Coating V2

[Jaretr1]

Hello all,

I was one of the lucky people to have been chosen by Nick to try and review some products, and I have finally gotten around to trying this one. I think this review will be unique in the sense I will welcome and appreciate feedback on my use of the product. Additionally, I am also relatively unique in the respect this is my first time ever using a coating product. I think many other reviewers had experience with different coatings, I did not. Lastly, I had nearly the perfect car to apply this coating to.

First off the car. It is a 2015 Honda Accord belonging to my father. He has had the car for about 10 months. When he got the car, I waxed it with Collinite 845, treated the interior with UIGP, and called it a day. Ive personally hand washed the car a couple times for him. Otherwise, he routinely takes it to a full service automated car wash.

The color of the car is Modern Steel Metallic. For people who own a Honda in this color, you might realize that this might be the single best color for hiding defects. When I was inspecting the car, I was amazed that I could hardly find any defects. The car wash he goes to much be very soft touch. Even more amazing since Honda's have notoriously soft paint.

I started off washing the car and decontaminating with IronX. Not much reaction as the paint had little iron deposits. After that, I "clayed" the car using my fine grade Opti Eraser.

Seeing as the car seemed mostly defect free, I chose to just use a polish and not a compound (save the clear!). I used Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish with a Tangerine Hyrdotech polishing pad.

I followed that with the required paint cleansing process using the Black Label Surface Cleansing Polish. Let me say a few words on this product. It comes in a relatively small container with a pump style dispenser. It is water based and relatively thin in consistency compared to a conventional polish. It also has a very pleasant fragrance. I actually really liked the pump dispenser. Made putting product on the pad very easy. This also is a product where a little goes a long way. This is one of those products though that one cant really see working, just have to trust its doing what it says its supposed to by removing any dirt, wax, oils etc from the surface of the paint.

Now on to the coating. I have read countless reviews from people all over the world on different coatings. This was my first time playing with one. Here is what I learned and feel free to chime in on this part.

I used the Lake Country applicator to apply the coating. I primed the applicator by misting it. According to the instructions, a few sprays is all it should take per panel. I felt like a few sprays I wasnt getting full coverage. I used maybe four sprays for a door for instance. About 75% of the product flashed and dissapeared right away. The rest stayed behind in what we refer to as high spots. After some trial and error, I found that a panel needed to be immediately buffed after spreading the coating. So this is the method I continued with. I applied the product over teh entire car, buffed and buffed and then pulled it out into the sun, only to realize I had tons of streaks or "high spots" on the sides. Between this magic color that hides everything and my poor garage lighting, I had obviously not buffed well. I pulled the car back into the garage and reapplied product to the sides and then buffed, and that seemed to correct my mistake.

I then pulled the car back into the sun and started examining my work. I still had a few high spots here and there. What I found is this product is extremely forgiving. Even after sitting on the car for 30 minutes or so, I was still able to buff off whatever high spots I had left. Perhaps this is a characteristic of this newer version, and part of the product formulation to make it very user friendly. I have read posts of people having to polish out mistakes in coating applications, not the case here.

I would also like to add that after application, the surface of the paint was very smooth and slick. The same type of feeling after applying a nice wax. I know from reading not all coatings leave the paint feeling like that.

Now to the pictures:

Oh the wheels first:
Before Hydro2:

After Hydro2:


No before shots as before really didnt show anything. Here are the afters:






That is one coat of Pinnacle Black Onyx Tire Gel on the tires.

In summation, I appreciate any feedback on others experience with use of the coating. While I found there was a little bit of a learning curve, and I hope I learned the curve, it was overall a forgiving product to use. Time will tell how long it lasts. My dads car will be a great test bed as it will get lots of automated car washes before I touch it again and sits outside in the South Florida Sun!

Here are the products used:
Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish
Pinnacle Black Onyx Tire Gel dresses your tires in a dark, satin finish that protects the rubber for weeks! This tire dressing and protectant enhances
Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Paint Coating
Pinnacle Black Label Surface Cleansing Polish
Lake Country Coating Applicator
Lake Country Hydro-Tech 5 1/2 x 7/8 Inch Foam Pads , hydrotech foam pads for water-based polishes, lake country foam pads, buffing pads
CarPro Hydro2 Touchless Silica Sealant
CarPro Iron X Lemon Scent, auto iron remover
Optimum Opti-Eraser, synthetic clay bar
DP Universal Clay Lubricant protects the paint while detailing clay removes embedded contaminants.

and of course:
Rupes LHR 21ES Big Foot Random Orbital Polisher, rupes car polisher

[ronkh57]

Cool review. Thanks.

Just got a bottle of v2, so timing is perfect.

[Justin at Final Inspection]

I have had great results with PBL V2. For future use, its best to do a small section at a time. And work around the car using that method.

[Nick McKees37]

Outstanding review Jaret!

[rlmccarty2000]

I just received my bottle of the v2 version. I have used the old version and thought it worked quite well. Is there anything that I need to know before using v2 from others that have used both versions? Thanks

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Very nice review Jaret. The Honda looks great!

[StangFan25]

I have had great results with PBL V2. For future use, its best to do a small section at a time. And work around the car using that method.

I agree with this. And I'll add, perhaps the high spots and streaking were due to too much product. I haven't experienced those issues with V2.