# WOWO Crystal Sealant Review



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Greetings Everyone!

I know I just got this stuff today, but I couldn't help myself and applied a fresh layer(s) to the hood of my Prius Prime tonight with the hopes of getting some water behavior video footage tomorrow morning (curing overnight in the garage). I have some glamour shots for now at least.

If you didn't already know, spray sealants - especially ones containing some form of SiO2 - are all the rage right now. You know it's serious when even main stream brands are getting behind the movement and releasing products for the very layman in the detailing/car care landscape. This sounds like a pretty good situation for a consumer, and overall it is, but the market is becoming so saturated that it's hard to tell which product is worth your money, and what characteristics most customers are looking for. There is a few stand out products in various price brackets, but it seems every customer is interested in the spray on wipe/rinse off market as it saves time and effort, while still producing good to even incredible results.

In the past I had a look at some of the offerings from the mainstream brands, and overall they did a very good job at the task at hand IE: protect the paint, and respect the clock. Today, I'll be looking at a slightly less known brand, one that just entered my country looking for a piece of that lucrative youtube celebrity ratings boost and piece of the ever growing spray sealant pie. Introducing, WOWO Crystal Sealant.

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

On the face of it, it's a spray bottle measuring 500mls, and costing $26.00 Canadian (About 1 dollar US, and $0.75 Pounds/Euros). It comes with the bottle sealed with foil and capped, with the trigger separate. This is a nice touch and something that is fairly standard with more premium/niche products, as they're mostly sold online and shipped (broken triggers, empty bottles). The liquid inside is a milky white colour, and has a strong vinegar smell. It doesn't smell anything like the other products in this category that I've used so far, and overall it could use some improvement. The trigger that was shipped with the bottle has an interesting switch - one that only spins 90 degrees - you can't turn it past 1 on or off setting like other triggers. Does this mean it's more durable or better? No idea, it was just interesting. As for the spray pattern, it was very fine and well concentrated in the middle, meaning the spray and wipe application that is one of the 2 ways to apply it won't have you chasing random dots of product 2 feet away from where you wanted to buff. The bottle is a slimmer design with a rounded top, and was no issue to hold. Some of the bigger manufactures have nicer, more molded shapes to their bottles, but this wasn't difficult to use so I'm not going to fault it for that.

Below is the text on the front, as well as the application instructions. Note the funny "Still full", "Half full, not half empty", and missing just out of view, "buy more". I thought that was a nice touch.

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Moving on to actually using the product instead of looking at it, here is the candidate that will be receiving the spit shine. Please forgive the image quality, this was shot with my iPhone without much care or attention.

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

The paint was polished with Meguiars M110 on a Blue Lake Country SDO pad to remove the previous coatings (C5 and Diamond Kote). There is a line of C5 where the tape lifted during application that didn't fully remove (this is a 1 year old high spot, so it'll take some doing to remove), but otherwise the hood was bare. After polishing it was stripped back with an aerosol version of IPA, and wiped down ready for WOWO CS.

Now the bottle states that there is 2 application methods they approve, one being spray and wipe, the other spray into an applicator, spread, and buff. For the sake of science I tried both, first covering one side of the hood using the applicator method, and then the spray and wipe. Overall, I would rate them fairly similar in effort, but I will say now that you should have spare "dry" buffing cloths to follow up after the initial buff. Even with the applicator I was chasing a couple hazy sections, so having a spare fresh MF for that last 1% will be very helpful. I did do a second application right after, and it was more of the same, but with more haze remaining. Obviously WOWO CS benefits from a moment to breath, and I would probably give it at least an hour to cure before adding a second layer. Please note my garage is on the warm side, If you're working in colder temperatures your application experience might vary.

Below are the after photos.
Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Overall slickness and gloss were high, although I feel the slickness will improve after some more time curing and fully drying out (I only checked right after application). I can't speak for water behavior at this moment as it's still curing in the garage, but tomorrow morning I will hit it with some moisture and see how the beading and sheeting look. I will have photos as well as video that will also contain the application footage, which I should note is the second coat, so the haze and buffing you see is more related to the lack of curing.

*EDIT*

Now that the car has cured overnight, I have some photos of the water beading, as well as the application and beading footage ready to go. Below is the water beads after being sprayed with a mist setting on a water nozzle. Basically, this is as good as the beading will get. I put my finger in there for reference, as I didn't have a banana handy.

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Moving on, here is the application footage followed be the water beading and sheeting. Please note, I applied 2 coats back to back due to filming requirements. Some products specifically say not to apply right away as the initial layer needs to cure. What bearing this has on the performance of the product is yet to be seen, but going forward I will only apply 1 layer per day.






Below is a Pro/Con list representing my thoughts on the product.

Pros

- Good bottle, nice Trigger.
- Not the worst smell.
- Easy to spread.
- Good gloss and slickness.
- Good beading and sheeting performance.
- Potential Durability (yet to be tested).
- Decent removal and buff feel.
- Good label and instructions, with some humour thrown in.

Cons

- Not the easiest to remove (can haze if over applied).
- Beading and sheeting are not top of the class.
- Smell is not great, could irritate some.
- Not the slickest in its class.
- Price is higher than competitors with larger sizes.
- Bottle isn't as ergonomic as some competitors.
- More information for advanced users is always welcome.

Ok, that should wrap it up. Overall a nice product to use and should last a good while with careful application. Further testing and experience is needed before I can give an all out verdict, but so far it was a well used $26 canadian loonies.

Thanks for looking!


----------



## Lexus-is250 (Feb 4, 2017)

The V2 version is absolutely superb stuff so I'm expecting great things from this. 

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk


----------



## BarryAllen (Feb 3, 2017)

Face it off with TW Ceramic and the Hydrophobic Wax. 

Let's have a proper smack down torture test between Retail and Enthusiast products...and give the Big Green Shell the respect it deserves once and for all.

Throw the lot at them...Saline solution..APC /Degreaser....Iron Fall Out remover...tyre cleaner... And wheel cleaner.


----------



## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Thanks for the detailed review


----------



## nicks16v (Jan 7, 2009)

Great review, reviews like this make me spend too much money. Would be interesting to see how this compares to the others.


----------



## Alan W (May 11, 2006)

Wow, that was a quick - I guess you couldn’t wait to have some fun! :lol:

Thanks for the detailed review and great photos. :thumb: 

I can see an upsurge in this product’s popularity (and the brand) this year and look forward to your ‘scorecard’, further photos, video and future updates with interest. 

Alan W


----------



## Dave50 (Mar 14, 2013)

Thanks for the review, I just got a text saying mine is being delivered tomorrow, but will not be until next week before I get it on the car.

Dave


----------



## Smartin (Dec 31, 2018)

Look forward to the scorecard and video, later


----------



## stonejedi (Feb 2, 2008)

Thanks for the review very informative:thumb:.SJ.


----------



## Bristle Hound (May 31, 2009)

Great review buddy :thumb:
Thanks for taking the time


----------



## GSVHammer (Feb 7, 2009)

Great review and photos.
Is there a set cure time for this sealant or is it buff off and walk away?


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

GSVHammer said:


> Great review and photos.
> Is there a set cure time for this sealant or is it buff off and walk away?


It doesn't say on the bottle, so I treated it like other SiO2 products and gave it overnight to cure. I did however apply 2 coats back to back, as I didn't film the first one as I wanted to concentrate and observe it better so I could form a better opinion of application. Whether or not this affects the water behavior or durability is yet to be seen. Video is uploading to Youtube right now so I'll have that posted shortly.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Photos and video footage added to original post.


----------



## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

Looks brilliant mate. I'm a big fan of the product due to it's durability. Never tried it on paintwork but it will do 6-8 months on alloys easily doing 1200 miles per month 

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk


----------



## Derek Mc (Jun 27, 2006)

BarryAllen said:


> Face it off with TW Ceramic and the Hydrophobic Wax.
> 
> Let's have a proper smack down torture test between Retail and Enthusiast products...and give the Big Green Shell the respect it deserves once and for all.
> 
> Throw the lot at them...Saline solution..APC /Degreaser....Iron Fall Out remover...tyre cleaner... And wheel cleaner.


I did a trial on the hardest part of a car of all,, the alloys the the Wowo's V2 and TW. The Turtle Wax gave up and lasted six weeks the V2 Crystal Sealant lasts over three months on a single application.

I just applied it again (V2 Wowo's) last weekend so lets see what the worst of the winter can do :lol:


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Derek Mc said:


> I did a trial on the hardest part of a car of all,, the alloys the the Wowo's V2 and TW. The Turtle Wax gave up and lasted six weeks the V2 Crystal Sealant lasts over three months on a single application.
> 
> I just applied it again (V2 Wowo's) last weekend so lets see what the worst of the winter can do :lol:


Honestly I find the lowers on cars far harder on LSPs than wheels, especially through winter when all the chemicals are getting flung up on the car.


----------



## Derek Mc (Jun 27, 2006)

Sheep said:


> Honestly I find the lowers on cars far harder on LSPs than wheels, especially through winter when all the chemicals are getting flung up on the car.


I have a BMW with the stupid gutter design and the worlds filthiest pads, the sides of the car just don't seem to get dirty at all, in my usage which suits me in winter all the better LOL.

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk


----------

