New Year's Bath

[vinny89gt]

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OCD overdrive.

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[MAGS1]

I'm curious about the coating for the wheels? I have only done wheel coating once and have stayed with CARPRO DLux so far. I like it, put on both wheels and all my plastic trim.. May try Gyeon Q2 Rim next time, something tells me they are the same stuff in a different bottle

I used Gtechniq C5 wheel armor this past spring/summer/fall. Worked well but on a daily driver is was on its last legs after ~7 months. Which I would expect on a daily driven vehicle. I bought Ethos Max ceramic coating for my FP Bullitt grille that I’ll be installing this spring and will have enough to coat my wheels with it as well (I hate wasting that stuff given the cost). We’ll see how long that one holds up on the wheels.

Apex Detail out of PA (Brian Spitler is the owner) has his own line of coatings and he just released a wheel coating that is made for track use, so it should be more durable than traditional wheel coatings. Not a terrible price from what I recall also, might be worth a try.

edit: here’s the link, Blue Collar 6 Wheel is the product https://apexsurfaceprotection.store/

 

[skinnyb]

I used Gtechniq C5 wheel armor this past spring/summer/fall. Worked well but on a daily driver is was on its last legs after ~7 months. Which I would expect on a daily driven vehicle. I bought Ethos Max ceramic coating for my FP Bullitt grille that I’ll be installing this spring and will have enough to coat my wheels with it as well (I hate wasting that stuff given the cost). We’ll see how long that one holds up on the wheels.

Apex Detail out of PA (Brian Spitler is the owner) has his own line of coatings and he just released a wheel coating that is made for track use, so it should be more durable than traditional wheel coatings. Not a terrible price from what I recall also, might be worth a try.

edit: here’s the link, Blue Collar 6 Wheel is the product https://apexsurfaceprotection.store/

Sounds interesting. I usually just clean really well and apply either Gyeon Wet Coat or CARPRO Hydro after every wash on my Mustang. Keeps them really slick. I agree for the daily driver. The DLUX has not held up well on the wheels at all. The plastic trim still looks fantastic though.

 

[MAGS1]

Sounds interesting. I usually just clean really well and apply either Gyeon Wet Coat or CARPRO Hydro after every wash on my Mustang. Keeps them really slick. I agree for the daily driver. The DLUX has not held up well on the wheels at all. The plastic trim still looks fantastic though.

My Ethos coating on the car itself has held up very well thus far. I use their Resist spray, which can be a standalone in addition to a topper, every 6 months to rejuvenate the slickness. Very happy with it so far, still beads and sheds water like it’s brand new.

 

[DFB5.0]

Yep, they've got that much going for them.



Based on what I've learned about your personality, and mine D, It was clearly time for new wheels.



I don't remember how slick DLUX was for me but it was a good while ago and, the only time I've used it since. Howevah, hearing you say how much slicker the Armour product is, I'm very interested.

I especially like hearing that the applicators get harder than most other ceramic coatings as that has to be a plus.

Just checked their site and it looks to me to be the same or nearly the same as their ceramic coating and, it sells for the same price, $80.

OK, I just found the main difference..the quartz has an SiO2 of 79% while the wheel coating is 66%. Now, thanks to you, Armour is going to be high on the list the next time I decide to polish and coat My Sarah. I have to set aside at least a week of long days taping and polishing because I'm getting too old but mostly because I, like you, have a serious case of OCD. :-)




OMG did I have a good laugh over that one, Alex! Funnier still is both my parents used to say that about me when I was a kid.

They even agreed to letting their cars sit out one winter while I had my car in one garage bay and the engine on the other. Their price for that was I had to clean the snow off of their cars every morning and warm them up. :-)

The car was the 'Cuda I think I have mentioned previously but I no longer trust my memory. <BIG grin> Here's the car that they said I would wash the paint off and after it and the vehicles that followed when I had to go away to college.

My apologies if I've posted any of these recently. Plus, I'm too lazy to check and since the traffic around here has been light, I figure almost any post with photos is welcome. <another grin>

First vehicle, a '61 Chevy Bel Air, 283/4 4-speed but it was a pig, really, although it was only $300.

Then in 1970, I stepped up to a repo'd '69 'Cuda 340 (for $2400)

Had to sell my beloved "Cuda after HS graduation and the next purchase was 1970 Triumph Bonnevile (650cc) If I recall correctly, it was $700.

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Sold the bike and picked up a 1964 (if memory serves,) Ford Econoline from a junk yard. Rebuilt the six-cylinder and did a lot of the body work while my friend, the auto painter, fine tuned my bondo work and then gave her a good prime followed by metal flake blue with three coats of clear. We wet-sanded and polished it (6-inch rotary wool pads!) and the last image is yours truly putting the old Turtle Wax (I think) Black (aka shoe polish) on the tires.

Transferred to another college junior year that was five hours away and the van wasn't gonna cut it. Got a loan from my uncle and bought my first new car, a 1973 Toyota Celica for $3300 I think.

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Lastly, before I left for Pensacola to attend Aviation Officer Candidate School, I ordered this car, a 1977 Datsun 280Z and the soon-to-be wife picked it up while I was still in Florida. I had her bring it back to the place where we had been staying and it had a nice garage so it did not get driven until I got commissioned on Friday and married on Sunday. Quite a weekend and after those three ball-busting months, I came home to this beauty.

My first experience with an ADM and Datsun had a GRAND on this that I had to pay if I wanted the car. (Demand for the car was way higher than supply.) Sticker was $7800, quite a markup, eh?

BTW, check out the mid '70's Mustang in the background. :-)

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Sorry for the monster post and hopefully, not too many were bored. <smile> Sure miss that 'Cuda though. Put a lot of time, money, and effort into that engine rebuild with the works for the time and I heard later that the guy who bought it, blew it up shortly after the purchase.

Firstly, do not apologize for the length of the post, it's wonderful to see!

Secondly, you have such great taste in cars. I had a friend in high school who's first car was a '73 Celica, and another who had a 280ZX, but they were well used by then.

And thirdly, how pretty cars were back then. I especially love the Econoline's front end for some strange reason.

 

[DFB5.0]

Just checked their site and it looks to me to be the same or nearly the same as their ceramic coating and, it sells for the same price, $80.

OK, I just found the main difference. The quartz has an SiO2 of 79% while the wheel coating is 66%. Now, thanks to you, Armour is going to be high on the list the next time I decide to polish and coat My Sarah. I have to set aside at least a week of long days taping and polishing because I'm getting too old but mostly because I, like you, have a serious case of OCD. :-)

Other way around, the wheel coating is 79% solids, the paint coating is 66%.

I used Gtechniq C5 wheel armor this past spring/summer/fall. Worked well but on a daily driver is was on its last legs after ~7 months. Which I would expect on a daily driven vehicle. I bought Ethos Max ceramic coating for my FP Bullitt grille that I’ll be installing this spring and will have enough to coat my wheels with it as well (I hate wasting that stuff given the cost). We’ll see how long that one holds up on the wheels.

Sounds interesting. I usually just clean really well and apply either Gyeon Wet Coat or CARPRO Hydro after every wash on my Mustang. Keeps them really slick. I agree for the daily driver. The DLUX has not held up well on the wheels at all. The plastic trim still looks fantastic though.

This is the problem with wheel coatings in general, they typically only quote only a single year of durability, the exception being Gtechniq C5 and NV Wheel, both listing 2 years durability.

When you consider the surface of the wheel is getting the harshest treatment on the whole car, the lack of longevity sort of makes sense. Then solution is to bump the solids up, but you lose the slickness and extreme water repellency.

This is what convinced me to take a punt on Armour Detail Supply -

"These coatings primary ingredients are Silica Dioxide(SiO2 or Quartz)/PolySiloxanes/PolySilazanes (as the protection), proprietary resins (as "attachment systems"), and carrier solvents (to provide an easy installation). Hence why we call our "ceramic" coatings, Quartz Coatings. We have done the lab testing of our Coatings, it suggests durability over twice what we are claiming and hardness levels we know are laughable. When entrusting the protection of your vehicle to Armour Quartz Coatings, you are experiencing only real world claims and durability."

So, while they label the product as a 1-year coating, the real-world testing suggests 2 years. Which then has me questioning the ability to achieve the 1-year claims set down by Carpro and Gyeon.

So, longevity, slickness and ease of application, that's why I chose it over the competition. That doesn't mean I wont use other coatings from other brands, but rather for wheels, I think this is the best of the bunch for a tough area of the car to conquer.

 

[kilobravo]

You just made my Thursday morning brighter with that sexy car and sexy gal. LOL Sponsored

Thanks for that, Martin, I really appreciate it.

Firstly, do not apologize for the length of the post, it's wonderful to see!

Roger that, D.. I was hoping to generate some activity and it seems it did. We need a lot more of that around here.

Other way around, the wheel coating is 79% solids, the paint coating is 66%.

It's just like me to get them mixed up, amigo. <chuckling> Copy all. That Armour statement is a bit wonky, I agree. Meanwhile, I'll be buying another bottle of DLUX.

 

[kilobravo]

OCD overdrive.

Sadly, that is very true, Vinny but it does make for clean vehicles. <grin> Loved the .GIF of whatshisname.

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