First Wash - 303 Graphene UPDATED!!

[DonM]

It's been just over a week since I applied the 303 to the Camaro and in that time, I've driven close to 900 miles, and while the front end collected A LOT of bugs, the rest of the car didn't seem to have collected much dust/dirt at all. So I guess it's safe to say that the 303 isn't a dust magnet and the bugs that hit the windshield, 'skipped off' rather than leave a big splat mark (yes, I coated the windshield too).

Since there was almost no dust/dirt to rinse off, I'll speak more on the bugs. Using the pressure of a garden hose (I don't have a pressure washer), I'd say that at least 90% of the guts/remains rinsed right off, with only the largest and most stubborn entrails remaining and those wiped right off with the wash mitt. No scrubbing at all.

Water beading and sheeting (during the pre-rinse) were excellent, I dare say a tick better than the Turtle Wax Flex Wax. During the wash (Meg's Hyper-Wash) the 303 strongly fought off the soap. I would wash a panel, and by the time I was done with that panel, the soapy water was sheeting off impressively. The rinse was no surprise, with the rinse, the water beading and sheeting came back strong. I didn't 'flood' rinse the car as I was fighting time against an oncoming storm, I just dried it and put it back in the garage in the nick of time...it's raining pretty good now.

I did take some beading pics after a heavy rinse and I thought they were impressive. I will be putting the 2nd and 3rd coat of 303 on the car tomorrow and I will follow up in this thread (3 coats total, because in a round about way in their literature, 303 recommends 3 coats).

Stay tuned:

[DonM]

It's done. The Camaro now has 3 coats of 303 Graphene Nano Spray Coating on the finish.

For the 2nd coat, I tried it the way Mike did in his review on the orange beast - I applied it to the whole car (all glass included) and then buffed it off. Again application was stupid easy. One spray onto the microfiber applicator and you were good to cover an entire panel, or most of a large one. The hood, the largest single panel on the car took 3 sprays. and I was around the whole car in minutes...Here's the Con to using the 'apply to the whole car method,' If you LIKE the Old School Paste Wax fight to remove the haze, then this application method is for you. If however, you are like me and prefer the 'New Age' "Easy on, Easy off" of the modern sealants, apply to a panel (or 1/2 panel) at a time and buff it off BEFORE it fully hazes. It is MUCH easier and the sealant comes off MUCH 'cleaner,' meaning NO haze / smears / shadowing, just a perfect finish. THIS is how I applied coat #3.

As for the "feel" of this product, it might be a LITTLE slicker than the 1st coat, but if it is, it's not by much. BUT by the 3rd coat, the paint FELT SMOOTHER, like before and after a good compounding/polishing. Not slick, but smooooth, if you know what I mean.

Today is overcast, so no sun shots, BUT, it's on overcast days that I can really see how well a product removes-especially on my highly polished Camaro, which as I mentioned elsewhere, shows EVERY BIT of smearing, hazing and clouding. With the one panel at a time method, there is simply nothing but a clean, clear, perfect finish.

Another thing I noticed is that there is absolutely no cleaning ability with the 303, it is a pure sealant. What I mean is that on a freshly washed car, there is always water hiding somewhere waiting to drip out onto the paint and dry there leaving marks. Almost all cleaner waxes and many "sealants" (even a damp microfiber will remove these marks) will easily remove these 'fresh' water marks upon application. Not so the 303, when applied over one of these water marks, the mark TEMPORARILY disappears because the sealant is 'wet,' but as soon as you wipe off the residue, there the marks are, faint, but clear as day...even if you really rubbed the sealant in over those spots, like you would a cleaner wax, the 303 ain't taking them off.

That's all I can think of right now, here are the pics:

[DonM]

Driving home from work today, I hit a light rain going down the highway. On the glass, the 303 acted amazingly like Rain-X as far as water repellency, with even the smallest drops of water shooting up the glass as I travelled about 70 mph. On the paint, the water literally FLEW up the hood and across the vertical panels and once I got home, the car was practically dry, with only scattered droplets of water remaining on the surface + the car still looked remarkably clean. Granted this was a short-term, light rain shower, but it made me wish for a downpour so I could really see the behavior of a lot of water hitting the car while at speed.

As for the smearing/haze, I noticed it yesterday. There are random `splotches` where it looks like I didn`t buff off all the residue when removing the 303 after application (I did). I am thinking that by applying "so much" at once (two coats within an hour`s time), the carrier did not fully evaporate and has since `seeped` out to the surface. I have seen this phenomenon before (with Klasse Sealant Glaze) and all that was required was a good wash & dry to remove the splotches and the surface looked perfect again. I was going to give that a try, but seeing as how it`s supposed to rain for the next week, I might not be able to wash it for a while. You have to be close and at the right angle to see the splotching/smearing and a non-car person would never see it, and the car still looks great.

I did take clean mf cloth an gently wipe at one of the splotches and in removed most of it except for some LIGHT smearing which seems to confirm my opinion that it is the carrier liquid that didn't evaporate entirely coming to the surface.