• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

Cladding Protectant Product Test w/pics

ygmn

This is a Custom Title
Staff Member
Administrator
Moderator
Charter Member
PM 2024
PM 2023
PM 2022
PM 2021
PM 2020
PM 2019
PM 2018
PM 2017
PM 2016
PM 2015
PM 2014
PM 2013
PM 2012
SM 2011
SM 2010
SM 2009
SM 2008
SM 2007
SM 2006
SM 2005
SM 2004
SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
36,204
Location
Bourbon St. Balcony
I am doing a simple test of products for cladding....Cause I was bored today and it is gonna rain tonight...

Pics are in my album linked below...
http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/coppermine/index.php?cat=10014

Some Sample pics from album
normal_MVC-917F.JPG

and
normal_MVC-882F.JPG

 
Beautiful.

Looks like it's diseased ;)
 
here is what I did...

Products used in Alphabetical order:
1? 303 Aerospace Protectant
2? Klasse Sealant Glaze
3? Pennzoil All-in-One
4? NXT Wax not used on panel #3
5? NXT Rubber/Vinyl/Plastic Protectant
6? Stoner's Trim Shine
7? Turtle Wax Tire Shine

Preperations:
CLEANING:
Sprayed Meguiars all purpose cleaner mixed with water at 8:1 ratio and
Scrubbed with stiff brush and let dwell for 2 mins keeping wet with mist of water from spray bottle as required.
Rinsed with running water.
Dried with clean cotton towel.
Sprayed rubbing alcohol and let dwell for 2 mins.
Wiped with clean towel.
Let remaining alcohol evaporate.
Rinsed with running water.
Wiped with clean towel.
Let air dry.

APPLICATION:
I applied products in random areas by applying to clean cloths for each.

For product #1 I applied and then let sit for 10 mins then applied second coat and then let sit for 15 mins and then buffed with clean towel.

For product # I applied and then let sit for 15 mins and then buffed with clean towel.

For product #3 I applied and then let sit for 2 mins and then buffed with clean towel.

For product #4 I applied to cladding and let sit for 15 mins and then buffed with clean towel for.? NOTE: This one stunk right away; as I could not see a difference so I did not test on bed panel

For products #5, 6 & 7 I applied and then let sit for 10 mins and then buffed with clean towel for each.

NOTES:
On bed panel I taped off areas so as not to cross contaminate too much.? Also you can see better what untreated looks like where the tape was.  One side has no product and is easy to spot.

They were pretty much all the same for application to me.
Supposed to rain tonight so I should be able to tell which ones run onto paint.
Warm here 65-80F so this should help accerate any evaporationof product.

Will update albums with pics.
Will update this thread when I add pics to album and when I see anything interesting .

PEACE!
 
ygmn said:
I am doing a simple test of products for cladding....Cause I was bored today and it is gonna rain tonight...

Pics are in my album linked below...
http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/coppermine/index.php?cat=10014

Some Sample pics from album
normal_MVC-917F.JPG

and
normal_MVC-882F.JPG
That cladding would be real popular in Africa  ;D (Zebra)
 
Nice arctic camo job!  ygmn this ROCKS!  ROCKS!  Can't wait to see the results!
 
Added pics showing what they look like after rain while still wet.

Samples:

MVC-002F.JPG

MVC-007F.JPG
 
See if you can guess which is which....

I tell yall when done....
 
OviedoAV said:
Dude...your cladding looked like shiate...how could you keep it like that ??? :eek:

Has not been detailed in months..

And all I do is put some protectant on it and it looks good again...

Plus the truck is a tool...not a a piece of artwork to me....now I do keep it up....and stuff....but it does not have to be perfect everyday .....
 
  nice test.  i would like to see pics of products that may have ran after getting wet in the rain.  if there were any.
 
Well the sun us out....and everything is almost dry....

I watched as water beads were blown off some of the areas....very cool....

Under the sail panel area on the paint...I see no drip marks or runs....but kinda early to tell right now...but looks good....

I can tell a difference already....will take pics again later today....very interesting to say the least....
 
So far, I am not impressed with (from left to right) # 1. Not dark enough,a didn't bead. # 3 looks good though, and beads nice...hmmmm, which one is the Cladback? ;) :p
 
OviedoAV said:
So far, I am not impressed with (from left to right) # 1. Not dark enough,a didn't bead. # 3 looks good though, and beads nice

The dark ones are as dark as were original based  on comparing to underside which is as new...

Remember 2002....If ya want it darker then paint it
 
Dried out and new pics up..

Sample:

normal_MVC-015F.JPG
 
I don't want it darker, I just want it the original '02. That is what I meant, a few of them look that way.

Why aren't the smilies working. Nobody can tell if I am being my usuall smart a$$ self, or a jerk
 
The middle one does match very well to the original color...

To see difference have to remove panel and then remove # 2 ..and flip # 2 and then lay #3 outside up on top and look real close...

Most of the difference is from my abuse with scratches and stuff...

 
I has an idea and went with it...

I used a white vinyl drafting eraser and scrubbed a few small spots on some areas of truck cladding...guess what...looks pretty good...not great....but the white fade is pretty much gone....I even did a small spot in the untreated test area...and there is an improvement.

I tried some chemicals to see if I could clean some off...mineral spirits, laquer thinner & 3m Bug & Tar remover... they did not do as well as cleaning with meguairs all purpose cleaner...

So it seems to me...that if the GM came up with a chemical that removes this white RELEASE agents....the cladding would not look so bad...hmmmm...thing is this checmical would have to be safe for humans and the paint....

I can get it off with elbow grease and my white eraser...but it would take a lot of erasers to do the whole truck and probably have a dump truck load of eraser shavings to? dispose of...

any ways...

What is needed is firat a product to remove the white release agent leaching to material surface and then I pretty sure you could then use whichever protectant you like to make it have the clean detailed look...

but I would have concerns of more of this release agents leaching back out again when the cladding gets warm again.....

My Testing is not complete and will continue to post pics and personal observations and will post pics of the eraser experiment
 
Pics of eraser areas are up

normal_MVC-020F.JPG


more in album
 
Just in case others don't realize the order of products is reversed from the photo of the lid off the truck and the photo on the truck after the rain.

Damn I'm anal!

By the way Ygmn that tiger stripe is the worst I've seen even here in Florida. Please don't take offense! Was it always that bad or has it just gotten progressively worse?

Take care all! :)
 
BigBlue80 said:
Just in case others don't realize the order of products is reversed from the photo of the lid off the truck and the photo on the truck after the rain.

Damn I'm anal!

By the way Ygmn that tiger stripe is the worst I've seen even here in Florida. Please don't take offense! Was it always that bad or has it just gotten progressively worse?

Take care all! :)

Bought Brand NEw Sept 2001....Never heard of this release agent leaching AKA fade then...

After first year I noticed.....
Second year was worst....
Has not really gotten any worse on the sail areas or bed covers...but the lower side body pieces might be getting a tad worse....

So I do think there is a point where it stops leaching....and then I will get out my eraser...(trying to think of a way to use a power tool here...hehehe) and remove all the white....and then be done with it...

any product you apply just kinda hides it...because the liquid gives it the wet appearance and the gray color comes through better when looking at it...and the white spots are hidden....this is what all products currently mentioned on this web site do....HIDE IT..

Be it 303, tire shine products, baby oil, clad back, back to black, food grade silicone, NXT protectant, Trim Shine, Suntan Lotion, Armo Dillo....

Since the cladding is not porous....products are not SOAKED in...they just sit on it and dry and then have to have some sort of mechanical bond (think STICKY tape like) to stay on the cladding....There is no way to get any other type of bond...

Like paint Cladding does not absorb anything...products must stick to surface to survive....

from the above products..the water based ones do not last long because they evaporate quicker and washing and rains dilute them and so they do not last...

The Petroleum based products last longer then the water based since they are not water soluble and the rains have less effect on the....but with some of these the flash points might be low enough where some last shorter then others....but in the end...the oils are washed away and evaporate...leaving normal cladding....

My guess is armo dillo uses something like what is in MOP & GLO which is an thick acrylic polymer that dries to a hard shell....so this stuff will not evaporate very easily nor will rain water effect it as fast.....

For my next test I am off to the store for MOP & GLO....you know the stuff you mom used on here Kitchen linoleum floors to make them shine....you could not walk on them until they were dry...other wise your feet would stick....

MOP & GLO is cheap...and controlling it during application should not be too hard...you just do not want it to get wet until it dries or it will be blotchy...or drip on paint...etc etc...

Stay Tuned for more...

PS It rained BIG TIME last night...but I did not even look at the truck....I replaced all the brake pads and one caliper on the GF blazer....that was fun...argggggg
 
  good point on the Armor-Dillo.  i use it.  i like how it works.  i would like it to Mop & Glo as well.  however, i am not sure if the Mop & Glo would harm paint if it were to come in contact with it.  i know from experience that the Armor-Dillo is okay.  i would suspect they would not have provided it for our use if it were not.
 
I noticed you used Klasse SG as one of your test subjects.  It might be worth experimenting with AIO first, then a coat of SG.  There's a good chance AIO has more binding agents than SG because SG is designed to put on top of AIO.  Both use water based acrylics just like Mop-and-Glow, but I would expect AIO to bind better plus it contains UV protectants which I would not expect Mop-and-Glow to have.

One thing about water based dressings.  As you probably know, the guys who did Gurureports found water based dressings like 303 and Armor All Original actually lasted longer than oil based dressings.  However they did their testing on tires, which are porous so I don't know how this would apply to non-porous plastics.  One thing I do know is that proper cleaning is a must if you want a protectant to last longer.  I can clean my tires with A2Z, then apply a dressing and it will last for weeks.  If I don't do a thorough cleaning, I can only expect a dressing to last a few days at best.  My experience with cladding has been the same.  I have a large soft-bristled brush that I clean my plastic with when I wash my truck.  When I get after them and clean them really well, the dressings I use look better much longer.

I'm also not sure that the best solution isn't to use a good protectant that has to be reapplied on a monthly basis.  Regardless of the cladding leaching issue, plastic still deteriorates under UV.  Reapplication of protectants insures renewed UV protection.
 
I think I might chime in w/ some recommendations regarding the Mop & Glo. I sell floorcoverings for a living (I just knew that might come in handy one day) and from experiance, Mop & Glo tends to yellow and get kinda sticky after a few applications. As far as it harming paint, it shouldn't. ( I said shouldn't, not won't.... remember that  ;) ) as the vinyl flooring it is typically applied to is relativly delicate compared to automotive paint.
  You might want to try Future brand floor polish instead. It stays clear and doesn't get sticky. It's not as easy to find as the Mop & Glo, but most major supermarkets carry it. It is in a clear bottle.

Jamie
 
Back
Top