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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.
 
Discussion starter · #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.
 
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.
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
 
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.
I also agree with Kevin and you Bob. I dont think using a lighter weight then 10 pounds would change the end results, in my opinion it would only prolong the testing. On another note....the rubbing compound I have is 3M (clear coat safe) but I will have to pick up some Meguiar's Clear Coat Safe Rubbing Compound and give it a try next time I do a full detail on my DD. I also have Meguiar's Professional Show Car Glaze # 7 which is a polish and Professional Hi-Tech Yellow #26 wax, these must have been the numbered stuff I was thinking about the other night, I dont use these very often since Meguiar's came out with the NXT 2.0
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 


The way Ben has conducted himself makes me want to buy FUKKEN. First class IMO.
 
Hey Ben, nothing for you to worry about at all, I have been very impressed with your integrity through the whole process.
 
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