Firebird Nation banner

Liquitech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0 Car Polish Study

21K views 33 replies 9 participants last post by  Warrior627 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Liquid Bottle Automotive tire Fluid Drink


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
 

Attachments

See less See more
1 1
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Spray Tests:
Immediately After Application of Products:
Soaked Hood Test:



Light Spray Test:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRQddxU8MoE[/media]

Week 1 of LiquiTech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0


Soaked Hood Test:


[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1G_gfbZ_w0[/media]

Light Spray Test:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m8UQ0-FZ7k[/media]


Week 2 of LiquiTech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0


Soaked Hood Test:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5FQSUk5heo[/media]

Light Spray Test:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMuOfDCJcXo[/media]

Week 3 of LiquiTech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0

Soaked hood Test

Prior to wash:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws0RFvqCBBU[/media]

After Wash:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNLVBJGOtjA[/media]

Light Spray Test:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2yKy7QPdF8[/media]

Week 3 of LiquiTech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0

Soaked Hood Test:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTaUMoLQ6eM[/media]

Light Spray Test:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_UZK_FeyCg
Spray Bottle Bead Tests:

Immediately After Application of Products
Left to Right: Zone 1 and Zone 2

Water Liquid Atmosphere Blue Fluid
Water Liquid Water resources Atmosphere Blue


Week 1 of LiquiTech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0

Water Liquid Fluid Moisture Atmospheric phenomenon
Water Liquid Atmosphere Azure Fluid


Week 2 of LiquiTech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0

Water Water resources Liquid Azure Natural environment
Water Water resources Liquid Nature Azure


Week 3 of LiquiTech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0

Water Water resources Liquid Azure Fluid
Water Water resources Liquid Blue Fluid


Week 3 of LiquiTech Finish First vs Meguiars NXT 2.0

Water Water resources Liquid Azure Fluid
Water Water resources Liquid Atmosphere Nature

General Appearance Photos

Right After Application Of Products:

Note: Unfortunately my camera sucks and is an old simple point and shoot camera.

Car Motor vehicle Vehicle Automotive lighting Hood


 

Attachments

#4 ·
Okay, the first week of LiquiTech vs Meguiars NXT 2.0 has been completed. If anyone has been following along, they will immediately know which product is on which zone. It has become very predictable, which means we are doing a good job because it's now been repeated 4 times with the same result. The drag tests show that Zone one is quickly falling behind Zone two in terms of a slippery surface, but Zone one is doing a far better job at beading the water (if you feel water beading is important). Any thoughts?
 
#5 ·
Alright, I finished up this week, but I am not sure how many more weeks we should continue due to the lack of interest, I might wind these tests down after this test is finished. Some very interesting things this week. Zone 1 has actually become slicker this week. This could be due to the weather or perhaps it's due to the polish curing even more over the last week. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens next week. The water action on Zone 1 seems to look a lot like the water action we seen with Zaino. Since the participation in this study is so low, I see no reason to keep the zones secret as we are getting no feedback from members regarding the zones, so I have to say that LiquiTech seems to be very similar in terms of water action as Zaino, but it seems to provides a longer lasting product in terms of slickness (if the slickness holds up next week). There is more, but I think I will leave it at that.
 
#6 ·
Wow, this is a very interesting test. I think it's pretty neat how zone 1 was losing slickness but has now gained it back. I know with Liquitech, the longer it can cure the better it does. Of course i've been a fan of Meguiar's products for awhile too. For me I like a poilsh that lets me polish the whole entire car at once instead of having to do it in sections, and both of these products lets you do that
Thanks for doing this Bob
 
#7 ·
Thanks Alicia, so far the LiquiTech reminds me of Zaino in terms of water repulsion, but it's far easier to apply and remove and doesn't require as many coats. I find these tests to be very informative and I like doing the work and seeing the results. Hopefully we can find a way to get some renewed interest so that we can continue to test other products on the market. I know once I stop and lose the routine, it will be a PITA to get started again, just like lifting weights.
 
#13 ·
 
#14 ·
LOL you know what I'm talking about with the weather huh Kevin my FBN brother from another northeast state...Buffalo to boot, you probably still have snow banks lol. Last summer we got like three weeks of sunshine all summer ( 3rd,4th weeks in July and first week in August). I always laugh when I think of that old tv ad for visiting Florida.... a tiny tiny cloud goes over the sunny beach for like 20 seconds and everyone oooooo's and arrrrrr's and then someone says " tomorrow will be better" , I have to laugh when I think of that. This summer has been great so far:crossfingers22: And Bob has made it easy for us to follow along with his cool wax\polish testing !
 
#15 ·
The topic has over 225 views, so I'd say people are interested. But like Jon said, you kind of say it all with the videos and drag test results. I look at it every week as soon as you post the results, but don't always comment. As always, thanks for all your hard work.

One thought for a truely long term test would be to get a flat peice of painted metal. Section it off and apply 3 or 4 coats of each product and leave it sitting in the sun/wind/snow etc. Do all the tests once a month. This would give you a long term durability test along with your heads up hood compitition.
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
Today we had an unexpected guest in our study, tree sap. I believe it was tree sap and we had a few very small drops on each panel. The good thing was, they were not in our drag zone. I was very surprised to see how easily the sap was removed from the hood. Both products performed exceptionally well and the sap was washed off both zones with the first rinse, believe it or not. Another interesting thing is that Zone 1 seems to be getting rid of the water faster than Zone 2, and Zone 1 is providing a slicker surface than Zone 2, so it seems the LiquiTech Finish First is holding up very good in the slick test department.

This is not entirely related, but during the week I found a website which referenced our studies in a topic promoting FUKKEN wax, and one guy tried to suggest that dragging a ten pound weight across the hood would be removing the products from the hood. They were promoting FUKKEN wax and mentioned the fact that in one of our studies, I dragged the 10lb weight across the drag zone of one product 30 times. That was the Zaino zone BTW. He postulated that since I did that, it would have removed a lot of the the product, but in reality, in that study, the Zaino still out performed the Chemical Guys and FUKKEN wax in our test. If his theory were correct, the Zaino zone would have performed the worst, which it didn't. Another point which should be mentioned is that FUKKEN was our site advertiser at the start of those tests, and if we wanted to skew the results, it would have been in my best interested to skew the results in favor of the FUKKEN wax and to show them as finishing first, which clearly didn't happen. And finally, we reproduced those same results 3 times.

In addition, 10 lbs is a very light weight. I can tell you that most people put far more weight on their car when buffing it out. I invited them all over to here to our forum to give us some ideas on how to improve the tests, but so far none of them have shown up. I would love to hear feedback on how people think we can improve these tests since our only goal is to find the best wax / polish for our vehicles. I am not a brand loyalist and I understand that companies are only out to make an extra buck and don't really give a damn about consumers.

I wanted to post this here in case anyone else reads the thread on the other forum, and would like to read the rebuttal. They can feel free to join and post right here in this thread.


Both photos are of before the was, there was no sign of the stuff after the wax.
 

Attachments

#31 ·
This is not entirely related, but during the week I found a website which referenced our studies in a topic promoting FUKKEN wax, and one guy tried to suggest that dragging a ten pound weight across the hood would be removing the products from the hood. They were promoting FUKKEN wax and mentioned the fact that in one of our studies, I dragged the 10lb weight across the drag zone of one product 30 times. That was the Zaino zone BTW. He postulated that since I did that, it would have removed a lot of the the product, but in reality, in that study, the Zaino still out performed the Chemical Guys and FUKKEN wax in our test. If his theory were correct, the Zaino zone would have performed the worst, which it didn't. Another point which should be mentioned is that FUKKEN was our site advertiser at the start of those tests, and if we wanted to skew the results, it would have been in my best interested to skew the results in favor of the FUKKEN wax and to show them as finishing first, which clearly didn't happen. And finally, we reproduced those same results 3 times.
I just want to chime in here and say that while I did ask you about the dragging bit in PM and was more than satisfied about the answer and the entire test/results/etc, I was not the one that posted this up and I'd like it if you could toss me the URL to the thread via PM so I can put that to rest wherever it may be. I'm not one to post up negative stuff as you can see with the posts made regarding the results to that testing you did before, so this is something I'd just like to clear up so people don't think that there was any bad feelings or such about how the testing went and how the results came out.
 
#19 ·
Yeah, I agree. i don't think there is any issue with dragging the weight across the hood. Even if it does take some off, it is a necessary component of the testing.
 
#21 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thanks bro, this time I did something a little different and applied some rubbing compound on the hood before starting this test and I am not really sure how it's going affect the test, but it's been an interesting test to perform. The rubbing compound really seemed to remove everything and made the hood surface extremely sticky and the pull numbers were very high. I wonder if I am even going to be able to hit those numbers no matter how many weeks pass.
Your welcome Bob, but you truely deserve all the thanks and as Layna said over 225 views(365 now) people are here!!

In my opinion depending on the courseness or number ( ex. 9 or 27 ) of rubbing compound your using is only second in abrasiveness to wet sanding and both will leave you with a smooth surface that is not slippery. Your testing Bob has always been spot on starting with a fresh\clean slate (clay bar) so I couldnt see where there would be any contaminants on your paint so the rubbing compound would only enhance the cleaning process ( before claying) and may be the reason we saw the higher pull numbers this time. Paint or clear coat on its own is smooth but not slippery much like windshield glass, in the old days I would wax my windshield to make it slippery and repel rain but now we all use RainX. I would like to strongly state I do not believe this has skewed your testing as I believe both sides where compounded so we are still comparing apples to apples. I encourage feedback and others opinions. This info was taken from Auto Detailing Secrets......
  • Polish
  • Cleaner
  • Rubbing compound
Each of these work by removing unwanted paint, in very small amounts, from the surface of the paint. They vary in their "aggressiveness". Rubbing compound removes the most amount of paint for a given application while polishes remove the least, with cleaners somewhere in between. Obviously, removing paint should be taken seriously. The trick is to use a product with the right amount of aggressiveness. For this reason, we recommend starting with an application of polish. If the polish does not seem to have enough of an effect, try an application of cleaner. Using an orbital buffer will make the job go much faster. However, the polish or cleaner should be designed for machine use. If a cleaner or polish application doesn't get the job done, rubbing compound may be the solution. Rubbing compound is a strong abrasive however, and should be taken seriously. For that reason, we recommend that you turn the task over to a professional.

Polishes serve to remove contaminants on the paint surface. This can include airborne pollutants, tree sap, bird droppings and so on. For many detailers, this function can best be accomplished by claying.
 
#22 ·
Thanks Jon,

I used the Meguiars Clear Coat Safe Rubbing Compound (cleaner & scratch remover). There are no numbers on the container, but I can take a photo of it if need be. I agree 100%, we are still comparing apples to apples, and I went back and looked at the drag test results from the other tests and they are all very close at three weeks.
 
#23 ·
No need Bob. I was trying to do the same thing with the tests at three weeks but couldnt seem to find all three. Over tired I guess...midnight here. I've got some rubbing compound out in the garage with numbers on the bottles (cant remember the brand name, but thinking 3M) tomorrow I need to check the brand and to see if they say clearcoat safe...should have just bought the Meguiars I guess
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
Alright, week four is finished and I am going to say that I think both of these products are also finished. If you look at the water action on each zone, I would say there is very, very little water action and the water is almost just sitting on the surface of the hood in one big puddle. Zone 1 shows a little better water action than zone 2, but it's barely noticeable. One thing that is noticeable is the fact that zone 1 is still by far more slick than zone 2.

One thing to notice is the low pull numbers, and I am going to attribute those low pull numbers to the fact that I used the rubbing compound/cleaner prior to applying the wax / polish. If we look back at all the other tests we have conducted thus far, their pull numbers are a lot higher after two weeks, including the Meguiars. This may support the idea of using a rubbing compound / cleaner before applying wax or polish to your paints surface.

I will continue to preform this test each week until both zones are nearly equal when it comes to the slick test. Right now Zone 1 is still slicker than zone 2. Of course we will need to repeat this test a second time to see if we have solid numbers.

I have another idea that I would like to introduce into these tests. I need to find a product that will mimic tree sap or some other contaminant that will get on the paint and see how well each zone is able to protect the surface from letting the product stick to the paint. Of course I need something that will not damage the paint, so if you have any ideas, please let me know. I am thinking of using pure syrup (not the sugar crap, but the good stuff since it's made from sap). Any thoughts on this?

As it stands, I would have to say that LiquiTech is the top dog, but until we retest and maybe even test it against Zaino, I will hold off on making such a claim.
 
#26 ·
That pure syrup idea seems like a good plan to me, also something else to test against is leaves. I know that's a problam I have where I live. I have lots of trees around my house, nad sometimes when i've left my car uncovered for a day, I get home and have to remove leaves. Sometimes they leave a residue, it's even worse if it decided to come a rain shower then all of a sudden the sun pops out and the leaves gets dried to the car. It usually don't take long to clean the residue up, but i've always wondered if there's an unseen mess.
 
#27 · (Edited by Moderator)
Good idea Alicia, I am going to start a new phase of testing with the products we already tested. I am going to wax / polish the vertical sides of the vehicle. This week I started to drive on a LOT of dusty roads, and right now the entire Durango is covered in dust, but the center of the hood is fairly dustless (thanks Liquitech and Meguiars). I want to test 4 products, Zaino, Meguiars, LiquiTech, and Chemical Guys (the caranuba wax). I think caranuba wax may actually cause dust and grime to stick to it, but that is just a guess based on the past drag results. So what I am going to do is treat half of each door with a wax / polish and leave the other half as a control. This way we can see the controls right next to the treated surfaces. I have some nice white patches that we can use to take samples from each location to compare, and I will also take a bunch of photos in the same lighting as I am out exploring the deserts of NV. I am probably getting a little obsessive about it all, but I find it all very interesting and each new test seems to give use new information to ponder.

On the hood I am going to compare Meguiars to LiquiTech again to see what the results look like and to make sure our current results are repeatable. I am going to use rubbing compound, clay bar, etc again to remove any possible residue since we aren't testing imprinting, but we can do that next if we want too.

Unfortunately I don't have any other products to test at this time, and am low on funds, but after we complete the next round of tests, I will be able to purchase other polishes to test.
 
#34 ·
 
#33 ·


The way Ben has conducted himself makes me want to buy FUKKEN. First class IMO.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top