SToronto

I am curious to try it. The silica based stuff is toxic if inhaled. Wonder what bead maker is made from.

VVG

Reflectivity is slightly less over the PPF, but still quite good. No difference in hydrophobic properties on either surface.

VVG

Reflectivity is slightly less over the PPF, but still quite good. No difference in hydrophobic properties on either surface. But honestly, if you are going to do this stuff, spend the money to get the best products, otherwise you will be wasting your money.

Archimedes

Well I looovvve the smell of bead maker, so it must be bad for us. 😉

wcw67

Greatly depends on which company's patterns as well as your PPF installers alignment (skill, experience). Should never have to cut on the car....

MEM82

Great thread! Will be doing full xpel ultimate and xpel fusion ceramic.

SToronto

That's true! It's the alcohols and benzyl benzoate in there, need to cover it up.

BudgetPlan1

While I have no scientific analysis, only me 2 eyeballs, one of the reasons I started looking into ceramics was due to the manner in which our cars are used, including the 'hobby' cars.

It kinda all stems from my time using sealants prior to 2015-2016 when the coating obsession began. Our main toy back then was a black 2004 Corvette that was primarily my wife's daily driver from May thru October, a car she drove nearly every day regardless of weather. Over the course of time, it ended up with etched waterspots, things that ate thru the sealant with ease and ended up leaving etchings in the clear coat itself. The car often got rained on in the morning then sat out in the hot summer sun for a few hours after that, enabling the beads to apparently act as little magnifying glasses and leave permanent marks in the clearcoat. Additionally, bird droppings would leave permanent marks as well if not dealt with in a timely manner. So it began as a matter of protection and morphed into some of the other benefits of coatings as I became more familiar with them.

However, the elimination of scratches and marring is NOT one of the benefits of a coating. Despite claims of "Diamond Infused 10h hardness" a coating is really softer than your fingernail and is easily marred with even the most plush cotton bath towel if used to dry a black car (a white car as well, you just won't notice them as much). I have a coating on 2 of my cars that has some 'limited self healing' characteristics and even this is limited to some light micro-marring that may occur from time to time. Coatings have a lot of benefits for me but protection from scratching, marring and rock chips ain't one of 'em.

The main benefit for me is the lessened need to worry so much about permanent damage due to weather, nature or maintenance neglect. With 4 cars and a 2 car garage, at least 2 of our cars sit outside all the time and we live on a heavily wooded lot so there's always something coming down from the heavens and landing on the outside cars and since moving to coatings, I have yet to experience and serious effects from them sitting outside for extended periods of time.


Bingo. This is especially troublesome with many coatings and their outlandish claims of performance.

This, at the end of the day, is all that matters. Be you a fan of the somewhat "reviled in the detailing community" TopCoat F11 or the Lemon Pledge the old-timers like to put on their paint, if you're happy with what you use/do, that's all that really matters.

It is my understanding that Beadmaker is a light-duty polymer sealant. I gave it a go on top of a few coatings and in some cases it had no effect on the hydrophobic characteristics and on other coatings, those with highly hydrophobic characteristics, it diminished the performance of the coating. It sure is fun to use and smells delicious, leaves one slick surface but just doesn't fit my particular needs; no harm, no foul.

MoeMistry

A little late to the party, but great choice on the ppf/cermaic combo.

As for what film, it honestly comes down to the installer and his/her business as that's what you're truly buying into.

Archimedes

It definitely makes the water bead more. Has a bigger net effect on the wife's uncoated Subie, but still showed a difference on my coated M5. Says that it is highly hydrophobic, but who knows. Gives the car a very nice shine and makes water bead more and roll off easier, whatever that's worth. Probably doesn't matter much on a coated car, but my detailer, who's been working on high end cars here in the Bay Area and Monterey for over 25 years, swears by it and recommended it to extend the life of the ceramic coating. Takes less than five minutes to do the whole car and looks great when done.

Larry Cable

better than "blue" marker pens?

BudgetPlan1

Better than mimeograph tests from, uh, way back when?

Larry Cable

Oh WOW! ... *that* good!

Archimedes

Yes, it has this wonderful sweet fragrance to it, not the harsh chemically smell a lot of these products have.

SToronto

Did the coating performance return upon stopping use of Beadmaker?

I think if you're using a sealant with every wash or so, you should use one that is the same composition as a coating. I think most if not all coatings are silica based. That's why I use CarPro Reload.