User 41924

After quite some time looking at and trying to lean about different coatings, and a lot of help and advice from zmcgovern, I put a coat of CSL on my car a week ago. It was an extra step in my normal detai process, but it came out really nice. It took me longer than normal to polish the car because I wanted to make sure there were no hidden blemishes in the paint. The actual application of the CSL was easier than I expected. Not only does it look terrific, but I'd swear it doesn't show dirt as much. It's also easier to wash. I don't think I could be any more pleased with the result. It has a nice wet look, it's very smooth, and really slick. I want to see how water beads, but not bad enough to get it wet (I've been using ONR to wash it). After all the work and effort, someone blessed me with a surface scratch on the hood while at work during the week. Zach says to just polish it out, and reapply the coating. Guess what I'm doing tonight.

In addition to recommending CSL, I wanted to acknowledge Zach's help through the process. It's really nice to have a resource available that is interested in helping people learn how to do this kind of stuff. He's clearly passionate about car care which leads him to learn about products and technique. As a result, he's extremely knowledgeable and more that willing to share his experience. What really impressed me was that he seemed to have a pretty decent handle on what I (as a novice/hobbiest) could handle without killing my car, and gave me the confidence to try something completely new. I'm glad I did.

Thanks, Zach!

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

Happy to help!

Post some pics of that clean ride

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Great choice! I have the Serum Lite and Exo combo on my daily driver for almost a year now. I wash my car twice a week with rinseless wash and it's still holding up fine. The beading performance is 85-90% of initial application so I'm happy about that. Mind you, the car sits outside everyday and is subjected to heavy amount of UV.

Did you apply the coating to the RX or NX?

User 41924

The NX. It sits in the garage most of the time, and its dark when I go to work. The only daylight it sees 80% of the time is the 20 minute trip home from work, so I'm hoping for it to last a long time. I must admit, it looks awesome in the sun, so I'll be driving it more on weekends

k20trick

iTrader: (3)

Great to know, I am anxious to try out this gtechniq csl. After trying cquartz and gloss coat quartz was lacking the slick feel of a traditional sealant wax, but I kind of liked the tacky feel of the quartz. I heard gtechniq is slick to the touch? 5 years of protection is a pretty strong statement.

And for daily, using super strong sealants periodically the car gets dirty faster with a coating the dirt or contaminents don't bond easily and when its time for cleanup, it becomes a breeze. Plus the hydrophobic properties and added scratch resistance is helpful even if it's minor. Lastly, the glass like shine, something you won't get with a sealant or wax.

I agree Zach is extremely knowledgeable, his articles are very detailed and I admit I read through his articles prior to application and it was exactly that. Gives you good information to what your getting into. Thank you Zach, don't sell your isf!

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

Where are the pictures?

I have the same combo as Henry (CSL + EXO), and its incredibly slick when the paint is prepped correctly.

k20trick

iTrader: (3)

Nice, how do you like that combo?

I usually like keeping it simple so will probably try out csl (only) at first then maintain with their flagship liquid crystal ordered from DetailedImage.

UK flashed pretty quickly in socal heat and needed to be wiped immediately otherwise it would cause too much resistance when buffing off hopefully the csl will be a lot smoother.

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

I like it a lot. I washed my car earlier today and it is still the same as when it was first applied it 8 months ago. I can blow dry the car and use a small Griots PFM towel to wipe off all the excess water fairly quickly. I spend more time cleaning my wheels than it takes to wash and dry the body of the car.

So far, I haven't seen any need to use a product like liquid crystal on top of the coating. I did notice that the type of car soap would change how the water beads. I was using gyeon bathe+ the first 6 or 7 months, and switched to Carpro reset to maintain the coating. I think the carpro soap is slicker and does a better job of making the water bead like it is new. Reset is cheaper than Bathe+, so it is now my go to car soap.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Supposedly it's not recommended to use liquid crystal over EXO so you're not missing out. I almost ordered a bottle last night until I realize it's not necessary. Then again, neither is the EXO v3 that's coming..

k20trick

iTrader: (3)

Just imho I feel like adding a reload or liquid crystal as a booster would hopefully help prolong the life of the coating. Just my .02 cents though..

It would be cool if we could do a SoCal Detail meet one of these days

Blkexcoupe

iTrader: (8)

Nothing we do is ever necessary

I get what you're trying to do. You want to use liquid crystal to enhance the CSL, but in my case I already used the EXO to enhance CSL. I can't imagine a product like liquid crystal making the EXO any better. I've never tried CSL on its own, so it could benefit from using liquid crystal similar to how Gyeon Mohs benefits from applying Gyeon cure on top.

Where are you located in so cal? There used to be a larger community of socal members that were into car care on here.