tokenbrit

Eventually, as promised, a review of my Crystal Guard...

After a couple of months of owning the Crystal Guard kit, I finally got around to applying it the other day. The trouble is, I felt I needed a full day to do it right.

Anyway, after giving my car a good clean, it was time to apply the Crystal Guard.

1st the Primer was applied. Apparently this stuff prepares your paint to accept the glass polymer compound. The instructions say to use about half of the quantity supplied (which is not a lot). Anyway, I did this, and applied it using the recommended micro-fibre cloth (supplied). Excess was then removed before proceeding to the Base Coat stage.

Now the Base Coat was applied. This was applied in the same way as the Primer, but then left to dry (or set) for about 2-3 hrs.

Now the Top Coat was applied. This was applied in the same way as the Base Coat, but then left to dry (or set) for about 2-3 hrs.

And finally, I gently wiped the car down with some hot water, and the micro-fibre cloth to even the application.

The results are quite impressive. And that's before this product has properly cured (3-5 days). Water just runs off the surface, and if you drive a wet car, by the journeys end, the water has been thrown off the car because the surface is so smooth. There is virtually no water marks on the car, and it has remained clean since the application (quite a feat when drivin around in constantly damp conditions).

Overall, I am quite impressed, and satisfied. I am still going round the car after every rain shower, and removing little runs of this compound (because it obviously hasn't dried properly yet), and I intend to apply a coat of Crystal Guard Quick to the car in about a week to cover any area's that I might of missed (or not covered as well as the others).

I'll keep you all updated as I learn more...

diamond jim

Sounds like you did the applicaton correctly. keep us posted. I'm gald your car turned out nice....what color is the car?

jginiso

how long did it take for each step including time to dry etc?

tokenbrit

Good. I'm happy with the results so far. It almost seems to be getting better on a daily basis. As I'm in the U.K., it's now well into Autumn (fall :p ) here, and a dew is forming overnight. This dew forms a nice pattern of bubbles on the car, and looks really neat (I will take pics. if I remember ). All the other cars on my street just look wet . Dirt isn't sticking to my car like it used to either. It's weird really, but before, I used to have a lot of trouble with water marks from washing/rain etc... Although I haven't washed the car yet (your supposed to leave it at-least a week before your 1st washing), I am having no water mark problems with rain. And believe me, it rains over here a lot!!
What I intend to do now (over the next couple of days) is wash the car, and apply some CrystalGuard wash, and CrystalGuard Quick (both included in the kit) to finally seal my car (although I'm sure you don't have to do that), and even out any areas that I haven't covered as well.
Then I'll take some pics, and post them...

BTW my car colour is "Winning Blue".

tokenbrit

Realistically, it took me a good 8 hours, but most of that was waiting time.

To clean well ~ 2hrs
Applying Primer ~ 10mins
Waiting ~ 10 mins
Applying Base Coat ~ 10mins
Drying/Setting time ~ 3hrs
Applying Top Coat ~ 10mins
Drying/Setting time ~ 2hrs
Final wipe down with hot water (to even the application coat) ~ 10mins

= ~7 1/2hrs

But it's worth it. I think :p .

tokenbrit

Anyway, I've now cleaned the car. And given it a coat of CrystalGuard Quick for added protection.

If for nothing else, the application of this stuff is worth it for the time you save cleaning. It only took a fraction of the time it used to take. Then you leather your car down and it's done. Easy.

Anyway, I've included some pics. as promised.

1. - The way dew settles on the car in the morning.
2. - The day after washing (whole car).
3. - After applying my un-necessary coat of CrystalGuard Quick (It would have looked like this if I hadn't tho., I'm sure).

diamond jim

looks really nice. As I was reading your procedure, you did things correctly. Others should take note. You can wait just 1 hr between coat insted of 2-3 hrs. The process is not difficult, just waiting time between coats.

It's strange how much better the car looks several weeks after the intitial application. The chemicals really settle in nicely onto the car...

tokenbrit

I can hardly beleive it. My car is still clean! And I haven't washed it since my last post. Dirt just doesn't stick!!...
You've got to go a long way to beat that... :D

RXE16T

I guess all the time spent was well worth it.
Looks good mate!

BTW, I just had to commend you on your fine choice of colour.

tokenbrit

Cheers mate. I'm happy with it. It's my toy.... :D