# Mega Coating Test - C1, CQuartz, Opti-Guard and other Japanese Coatings.



## fishbonezken (Apr 17, 2010)

Hello fellow DW-ers!

Some friends were over while I was applying these coatings and also helped me to polish the paint prior to coating application









Osren's senior technician testing his prototype compound.










The bonnet of the Mitsubishi Colt was polished and coated with GTechniq C1, mmmmmmm.



















Mr. AEDetailers in action.










Posed shot went wrong.










That's better.

Now may I present to you, King Henry the VII, God of Polishing.






*Hahaha*, pardon my over-dramatization, that soundtrack has been stuck in my head since the Porsche Cayman S detail.

So after the guys left, I proceeded with the coating application.

Paint was corrected with M105 Ultra-Cut Compound and GTechniq P1 Nanoscopic Polish.























































After polishing the roof, boot and bonnet, I washed the car with car shampoo and Osren multi-clean, to completely strip off any polishing oils that may remain. I also polished the glass while I was at it.





































Enter the contenders.










From left to right:
Rainaway Silcoat, Willson A+B, CarPro CQuartz, AR-1T, AR-NV, AR-1K, GTechniq C1, Optimum Opti-Guard.

Panels were split accordingly,













































































































One interesting observation was whether the cloth used to apply hardens (i.e. coating crystallizes), and whether it was clear, whitish or yellowish.


















































































The next day, the applicator cloths used that hardened was willson, Gtechniq, Opti-Guard, CQuartz, and AR-1K, the rest did not harden. Some coatings also showed some yellowish staining on the applicator, which was CQuartz and Opti-Guard, some did not show any colour, like Gtechniq C1 while some left some whitish residue, such as Hybrid Glass Sealant.










Here's a short video showing the water beading and sheeting.






All coatings does darken the paint and has the usual lensing(another layer of clearcoat) effect, but C-Quartz seemed to darkened the colour of this BMW's dark metallic blue/black even more than the rest. Application wise, C1 is probably the most difficult, followed by CQuartz/Opti-Guard/AR-1K. The rest buffed off pretty easily with no fuss.



























































































Almost all coatings repelled water very nicely except for AR-1T and Rainaway Silcoat, could be due to wrong method of application or could be the nature of the coating. I'll keep an eye on these both.

Links to the manufacturer's page of each product:

Rainaway Silcoat (unavailable)
Willson A+B Glass Guard
CarPro CQuartz
AR-1T (unavailable)
AR-NV (unavailable)
AR-1K (unavailable)
GTechniq C1
Hybrid Glass Sealant ONE
Optimum Opti-Guard (not avail on optimum's website, linked to autogeek)

That's the end of this post. I will update this thread after about 3-4 weeks since the test car is parked indoors and may take longer for the coatings to suffer any deterioration.

You could subscribe to this thread or subscribe to my blog via email so you won't miss out any updates.

Thanks for looking! Feel free to comment/critique.


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## evotuning (Oct 16, 2009)

Cool topic, are you going to test also scratch resistance ?


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## catalin1984 (Feb 24, 2009)

evotuning said:


> Cool topic, are you going to test also scratch resistance ?


+1, same q here


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## fishbonezken (Apr 17, 2010)

evotuning said:


> Cool topic, are you going to test also scratch resistance ?


Yup, which is why I corrected the paint as much as I could. So after a few weeks/months, when different panels have various degrees of swirling, then we should be able to tell which has better scratch resistance.


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## Racer (Oct 27, 2005)

Very nice and superb presented test :thumb:

Waiting for the feedback


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## amiller (Jan 1, 2009)

Love it-very thorough!

Intersting observations thus far. Look forward to hearing more.


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## nothelle (Apr 28, 2010)

Excellent review as always...


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

great thread look forward to the updates!!


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## Eurogloss (Jan 22, 2008)

Great review :thumb:


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## VZSS250 (Jan 8, 2008)

Really keen to see if these coating can retain their slickness and hydrophobic properties. Also, can they keep contaminants away to minimise the need for claying?

In the absence of these qualities, they don't serve much of a purpose.


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## Alex L (Oct 25, 2005)

Great test 

I'll be interested to see how the all stand up durability wise.


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## dschia (Sep 21, 2008)

Great test as usual mate.


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## GMToyota (Mar 14, 2010)

Interesting test! Thanks a lot. I'll keep an eye on this.


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

Nice job mate - very interesting :thumb:

I look forward to the durability and swirl test


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## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

:thumb:Awesome test! I will follow it, mate :thumb:


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## OrangePeel (Feb 19, 2007)

Thank you for taking the time and effort to conduct the test and also for sharing, like all have said before, I to am looking forward to your follow up...

Thanks again

OP


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## vx55 (Mar 30, 2008)

Great report!
Ah, too bad I can't be there. Timing is not right hahah!


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## k1+ (Oct 3, 2009)

So that's what you been busy with these days fish, great presentation and effort. :thumb:

If possible, try and get the bimmer to park outdoor. I would like to see the protection quality of these coatings against etch marks.


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## Sti_Brumby (Aug 19, 2010)

Great reviews, will subscribe and keep eye on results.


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## SevenW (Sep 19, 2008)

Subscribed! I'm toying with trying out nano coats as I find waxes just don't seem to last here in Hong Kong. Malaysia has the same summer conditions as HK, so it be good to see how these last.
Thanks for a great review.


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## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

Can you post the prices on the coatings as well?


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Great thread thank you for taking the time to set this up and look forward to the follow ups....:thumb:


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## catalin1984 (Feb 24, 2009)

Any news yet?


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## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

Any updates, mate?


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## fishbonezken (Apr 17, 2010)

Hey guys,

No pics yet but here is the update so far.

I made a mistake by not drying the surface during the application of the coatings on the front bonnet, there is zero water repellency across the whole bonnet. Application was made in the late evening and it is then that it normally starts to get humid. The paint probably had moisture in the pores when I applied the coating even after 24 hours of curing wasn't enough.

Although water repellency is zero, the darkening effects of the coatings are still there. CQuartz darkens the paint the most. Opti-Coat and GTechniq C1 has similar darkening effect. Also, there are more water spot etchings on the 3 coatings and less on the Collinite 476S side. This is a prevalent problem for coatings in Malaysia and it seems that hydrophobic coatings are more prone to water mark etchings.


The roof however did get dried off with a hairdryer before and after application of coatings and all of them are still beading very nicely. Slight waterspot etching across the whole roof as well.

Do you guys experience any watermark problems with coatings in the UK/Europe?


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## jamest (Apr 8, 2008)

fishbonezken said:


> Do you guys experience any watermark problems with coatings in the UK/Europe?


Yes, especially in summer when there is a lot of pollen about.


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## sm81 (May 14, 2011)

Any update of this coating test?


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## chillly (Jun 25, 2009)

Bumpy


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

chillly said:


> Bumpy


Cheers  missed this the first time.


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