Tonight I decided to get started with the Liquitech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0. I prepped the hood by first using the clay bar with Dawn Liquid soap and washing the hood with Dawn Liquid soap. After drying the hood, I decided to use some clearcoat safe rubbing compound and scratch remover to remove anything left behind and it certainly did the trick. I zoned the hood off just like I did in the following thread: This thread. I will reveal which product is on which zone at the end of the testing.
This time I am going to change eliminate a few of the testing protocols that I didn't think offered much information. This time I will use:
1. The soaked hood side by side video.
2. The light spray side by side video.
3. Spray bottle bead test.
4. Drag test.
In this study we are testing:
1. Meguiars NXT 2.0
2. LiquiTech Finish First Polish
Cost:
Meguiars: $18.00 plus tax
LiquiTech: 19.95 + shipping (about $5.00). Be careful, if you buy it from Canada like I did, you will pay over $35.00 plus another $20 shipping. I should have looked around more before buying because you can buy from a dealer in the US and save a lot of money.
Application:
Meguiars:
1st Coat: I applied the Meguiars and waited 20 minutes to dry and then wiped it off the hood.
2nd Coat: After wiping the polish off the hood, I let it sit overnight before applying the second coat. I figured I would use the same curing period as I did for the LiquiTech.
LiquiTech:
1st Coat: I applied the LiquiTech and let it sit overnight, about 8 hours. * You don't have to allow it to sit this long, but I decided to just to see if it makes a difference and to see how easy it will come off. It says you only have to wait at least 15 minutes or until it dries. It says to wait at least 90 minutes between coats so it can cure.
2nd Coat: about 8 hours later I wiped off the first coat and applied the second coat. * Even after sitting over night, the wax wiped right off without any trouble at all. I removed the 2nd coat about 20 minutes later. Once again it came off with very little effort.
* Note: This round I am going to allow the wax to cure overnight on the vehicle, but if I test these two again, I will only allow it to set for 20 to 30 minutes to see if it makes much of a difference. The LiquiTech website says you can let it sit over night and I wanted to see how easily it would come off if you did.
Drag Test Results:
Drag Test Prior To Application Of LiquiTech Finish First Polish and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
This time I used rubbing compound to get the surface literally squeaky clean. As you can tell by the drag tests below, it really made a difference.
Zone 1: 1.25
Zone 2. 1.25
Drag test After Application of Liquitech Finish First Polish and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: 0
Zone 2: 0
Drag test After 1 Week of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: 0
Zone 2: 0
Although both were at zero, there is a clear difference as you can see below:
(My 2 year old daughter was having a hard time being quit during when I was recording the test, sorry)
Drag test After 2 Weeks of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Some interesting results here, both Zones are still registering 0, but Zone 1 has actually become slicker this week as if the polish continued to cure and produce and even slicker surface. We will have to see if this holds true or not next week.
Zone 1: 0
Zone 2: 0
Here is a video:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW5tJE0hN_Q
Drag test After 3 Weeks of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: .11
Zone 2: .30
Drag test After 4 Weeks of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: .19
Zone 2: .33
Drag test After 5 Weeks of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: .55
Zone 2: .57
This time I used rubbing compound to get the surface literally squeaky clean. As you can tell by the drag tests below, it really made a difference.
Zone 1: 1.25
Zone 2. 1.25
Drag test After Application of Liquitech Finish First Polish and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: 0
Zone 2: 0
Drag test After 1 Week of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: 0
Zone 2: 0
Although both were at zero, there is a clear difference as you can see below:
(My 2 year old daughter was having a hard time being quit during when I was recording the test, sorry)
Drag test After 2 Weeks of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Some interesting results here, both Zones are still registering 0, but Zone 1 has actually become slicker this week as if the polish continued to cure and produce and even slicker surface. We will have to see if this holds true or not next week.
Zone 1: 0
Zone 2: 0
Here is a video:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW5tJE0hN_Q
Drag test After 3 Weeks of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: .11
Zone 2: .30
Drag test After 4 Weeks of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: .19
Zone 2: .33
Drag test After 5 Weeks of Liquitech Finish First and Meguiars NXT 2.0:
Zone 1: .55
Zone 2: .57