Gloss Meter?

[MAGS1]

For my undestanding, high gloss numbers are a consequence of good preparation and products.

You are correct, preparation is the key. Sealants and coatings enhance what’s underneath them, a well polished surface along with a top shelf sealant or coating will give really high gloss readings as evidenced by Les’s cars above. Gloss readings over 100 are phenomenal

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[20ducks]

Over 100?? Awesome.

 

[Les]

You are correct, preparation is the key. Sealants and coatings enhance what’s underneath them, a well polished surface along with a top shelf sealant or coating will give really high gloss readings as evidenced by Les’s cars above. Gloss readings over 100 are phenomenal

One more thing the Gloss Meter shows is that layering multiple products on top of each other does not make it glossier! Consistently the best gloss numbers are from stripping the finish of all waxes/sealants and applying a new product. Any given product is shinier on a freshly cleaned surface. My friends son works at a auto body shop and he got me a black damaged Jeep hood. Out of pure boredom during the winter I tried every combination of products on this hood. Layering products over and over doesn’t increase gloss. The gloss numbers actually go down. Two coats of a product increase gloss SOMETIMES (depending on product), three coats doesn’t help at all from my testing. Just my opinion or my $0.02 worth!

 

[kilobravo]

More excellent info, Les...many thanks and two questions:

1) If you had to buy a meter today, what would you get, the same one you have or something different/newer, if I may ask, of course?

2) If you mentioned a favorite stripping product, I missed it. I currently use CarPro Eraser (thanks to @DFB5.0,) and which seems to do the job quite well ;-)

 

[Les]

1) If you had to buy a meter today, what would you get, the same one you have or something different/newer, if I may ask, of course?

Yes, I would buy the same meter. For the price it works well enough for me. I don’t measure every car I detail. I used it when I comparing new products against old products for a comparison. The Rhopoint is far superior, measures much more the gloss but is waaay out of price range.

2) If you mentioned a favorite stripping product

I’m using Gyeon paint prep and I think it works great.

 

[kilobravo]

Thanks Les.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Layering products over and over doesn’t increase gloss. The gloss numbers actually go down.

That makes sense. I suspect surface of good products will be smoother than the bare paint. Adding more products won't make the outer surface smoother than whichever single product does the best job. But it will increase the thickness of products the light that reaches the paint has to go thru on the way in and back out. There has to be some minimal absorption/refraction from that extra thickness.

 

[20ducks]

If one adds a layer or two, what would the thickness of those layers be? Would adding them reduce shine? By how much and would they add any amount of protection to the clear coat?

 

[Les]

If one adds a layer or two, what would the thickness of those layers be? Would adding them reduce shine? By how much and would they add any amount of protection to the clear coat?

Long story short! My goal when detailing my cars is maximum shine, minimum effort. Don’t care how thick the wax is! Wait a Minute! Am I being punked!

 

[Les]

We’re having a rainy weather pattern over and over. Good time time to detail things I don’t clean every time I do my cars. A few months ago a spent multiple hours cleaning the engine compartments. It paid off, refreshing them was easy.

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