Serious question - why the obssesion about water beading, when...

[Vanish]

... it seems that water sheeting is better?

I am new in this whole detailing thing, and I can see how people are happy about water drops on their cars. You can even see threads just about drops. Yeah it looks cool, but I really like to know what I am doing and see the whole picture. For me, I did not understand why this is a functionally a good thing, when drops seems to stay longer on the surface and they should do more water spots. This was certainly proven, after the first rain after I Reloaded my black pearl car for the first time. I have never had so much water spots!


So I dig into the Internet and found that that so called "gurus" on major forums all saying that sheeting is preferable and drops are because of "uninformed public" like the people want to see that they put something on their car... Strange.

So I wanted to ask you, pros here and people just from the core of the manufacturing process who have a better understanding of the whole thing, is this correct thinking, especially when talking about coatings (most people just talk about waxes, if it makes any difference).

Or to put this in a different question - is this ultra-water-beading that CQ/Reload does simply an adverse effect of other good things it does? Or is it intentional and good from a functionally point of view? Perhaps advantage on vertical panels and disadvantage on horizontal panels? Just thinking...

Thank you and hope you don't mind I am asking.

[Ebg18t]

Beading or sheeting aside the best part of CQ, CQUK & CQF is dirt just doesn't stick to it. Makes rinsless washes so easy.

[Corey]

^ that's it. We could have a hydrophilic coating already which stops all beading... Only a couple problems.

#1 that generally means it doesn't shed dirt well either.

#2 the market says "how do I know it's on my paint!?"

People love to speak about sheeting but sheeting vs beading on a protected car is more a matter of how the water hits the surface. You can make any hydrophobic product bead or sheet with your hose.

How long did you let reload cure?

Did you leave in sprinklers or not dry hose water off?

When you say water spots do you mean spots that don't wash off?

If you mean spots of dirt that will wash off that sounds like the effect of having a dirty car and having the reload repel the rain but not being able to completely repel allowing the spots of dirt to dry as it evaporates. If you wash once a week reload should handle the rest and stay very clean.

Reset wash

If you have water spots (spots that don't wash off with reset) the spotless easy wipe off solution.

[Vanish]

Thanks guys. I spent the whole night on this and it seems it is really not black & white problem and something to be concerned much when you have some knowledge. I was just confused by the obsession, because for a newbie it seems like beading is everything :)

When I wash the car by Reset, it is clean. So these spots are easily removable.

[Corey]

Thanks guys. I spent the whole night on this and it seems it is really not black & white problem and something to be concerned much when you have some knowledge. I was just confused by the obsession, because for a newbie it seems like beading is everything :)

When I wash the car by Reset, it is clean. So these spots are easily removable.

Great topic! Sounds good

[Loach]

Water beading and sheeting go hand in hand for the most part. The more hydrophobic a surface is, the tighter the beading will be and the faster the water will "sheet" off of the surface. These sheeting products are only less hydrophobic compared to others. It takes a lower volume of water for that full sheet of water to form across the entire paint, and it will sheet the water more slowly off of the paint. The beading won't be as tight or uniform as products with higher hydrophobic levels. But you will still see significant beading if not enough volume of water is applied to the surface. In my tests, I've applied products that produce lower hydrophobic levels and even the heaviest rains here in Florida did not produce enough volume of water to form a complete sheet of water across the paint, so I was left with significant beading. I also checked the extent of spotting when allowing the hard water from my sprinklers to dry across the paint using very hydrophobic products compared to less hydrophobic ones, and saw significant spotting regardless of the hydrophobic levels.

When a car is fully clean, decontaminated, and polished, the paint is not completely hydrophilic. Only when the car is really dirty and contaminated do you see the surface produce those hydrophilic levels, or if you've applied something that will leave behind a residue on the surface to produce that water behavior (some degreasers and soap detergents for example). It takes the least volume of water on a hydrophilic surface to produce a full sheet across the paint, and the water will just stick to the paint until it's evaporated. You won't see spotting, but if it's hard water that's left to dry then it will still leave behind those mineral deposits across the entire paint. So I like hydrophobic products because it's the furthest visual representation away from having nothing applied to the paint. I have that visual clue to determine that my wax/sealant/coating has survived. Less hydrophobic products will more quickly fade into that water behavior that is similar to clean and unprotected paint. Leaving you to basically guess if anything has survived.

Your best bet is to try and avoid hard water sources. Sprinklers, hose water, etc. I haven't seen significant spotting levels from the rain water here in Florida, and we usually have quick rainstorms mid day and see intense sun afterwards to dry the spots up. If you have heavier acid rain levels then you'll see more damage occur to the paint, but regular rain should not give you troubling spots. I'd like to see some testing done from the sheeting side of the argument to show a significant advantage against the more hydrophobic products, but so far in my tests I'm not seeing enough evidence that altering hydrophobic behavior has any significant impact in reducing spotting levels in real world situations, unless you're pushing for a completely hydrophilic surface which doesn't escape part of the problem of mineral deposits being left behind. That's my take.