Paint Protection Dissipation - Photo Documentation

[Caffeine Fiend]

After re-applying my Prima Paint Protection back in June last year, I've known for a few weeks now that it is starting to completely dissipate.

Before going through the process of re-applying it, I thought I'd take the opportunity to do some photo documentation on its dissipation, and the paintwork itself.

As this is a sealant-based paint protection, it is expected that this dissipation will start happening as the paint protection sacrifices itself over a period of several months in order to protect the paintwork underneath. This is why I use the term "dissipate" as opposed to "fail". The paint protection has, as you'll see in the following photos, actually done the job admirably well of protecting the paintwork up until now.

The first group of photos were taken during washing. Here I could tell that the roof paint protection is pretty much entirely gone (and has been for about three weeks now)

As you can see, the water on the roof is hardly beading, indicating that the surface is significantly less hydrophobic that it was (generally speaking, the more hydrophobic the surface is, the easier it is to clean, and the less likely you are going to have issues with water spotting etc)




Notice that the 'beads' are large and uneven, and there are large sections of standing puddles, indicating that the paint protection is pretty much gone.





Next, here's the bonnet. Here you can see that there is still a small amount of tight beading, indicating there is still a little paint protection remaining (though this is probably only three or four weeks off completely dissipating also)











Down the side of the car, you can still see some quite tight beading occurring, which indicated the paint protection is still doing its job here






So why the uneven results? Why are some areas still protected, and other areas the paint protection has severely worn, or dissipated entirely? It stands to reason that the first areas to dissipate will be the large horizontal surfaces, as they are the areas that see the most action in terms of rain, bird droppings, tree sap, UV, etc etc. and therefore will be the hardest hit and the first areas to dissipate. Which is why we're seeing the roofline start to go first, followed closely by the bonnet, yet the sides of the car still seem to be reasonably well protected.


So with that in mind, after washing, I dried the car and pulled it into the garage to take some photos under the lights


As you can see on the roofline, with the paint protection pretty much completely dissipated, I'm starting to get water etching on the paint surface. These photos were taken after spraying with Prima Hydro Quick Detailer.... just to prove that these are water etchings, not just light marks in the paint surface that are easily removed. They are in fact there to stay and will need light machining to remove.

See the areas of the roof near where the light is shining to see the blemishes of water etching:









Bear in mind that while the paint protection has been on the car, I have never had to deal with water etching. When it's been washed and dried, the paintwork clarity has always been excellent.

Now see the bonnet, where there is still some paint protection on the surface.






No water etching at all.

The bonnet has been treated in exactly the same way as the roof, and in exactly the same way as the rest of the car. They've all been washed at the same time, been exposed to the same elements etc etc. The only difference right at this very second, is, due to normal uneven wear explained above, there is still paint protection on the bonnet but not on the roof.

What I would expect to happen from now if left unchecked, is the paint protection will completely dissipate on the bonnet within 3-4 weeks. The rest of the car withing the next month and a half.

From there, with no protection on the car, water etching will cover the entire surface of the car. After that we will start to see swirls appearing from washing, I'd say easily within a few weeks of the paint protection dissipating entirely.

Needless to say I will be re-applying the paint protection well before this starts to happen

Dan

[LittleredMPS]

Good information Dan.

Paint protection is something that should never be marginalised, just because it costs a bit to do.

[Caffeine Fiend]

Good information Dan.

Paint protection is something that should never be marginalised, just because it costs a bit to do.

It also relies on it being applied correctly. If that's done, then it works just fine and is well worth the effort IMO

[slixx]

Well Dan applied mine in November and still beads wonderfully. It takes next to no time to wash my vehicle and I still have little or no blemishes on the surface

Dan would you say a yearly paint correction and really protection is suitable or would I have to come back earlier?


Peter "SLIXX"

[Caffeine Fiend]

Cheers Pete.

I'd keep an eye on it. It is hard to know with this sort of thing as it depends on so many variables (eg I'm convinced having my car parked under a tree every second weekend, while I'm using the garage to detail someone else's car, getting sap, bird droppings etc on it fairly consistently has lessened the life of the paint protection by a reasonable amount)

The dissipation seems to be gradual though, as opposed to one minute it's there, the next it isn't, so provided you're fairly observant while washing the car, it should be a fairly easy thing to spot (as mentioned, I spotted the roof starting to go weeks ago. I just left it as I wanted to document it)




Sent from my iPhone using TapaTalk

[luke 3mps]

The cure is a Dan once over every year to keep her smile shiney

[DisturbedDave]

Great writeup Dan. Excellent for detailing 'newbies' like myself.

[Caffeine Fiend]

Cheers Dave. The Ceramic Polymer (OptiCoat/OptiGuard) on your car operates quite differently to this style of paint protection. Provided it's looked after, you should see a good couple of years + before any sort of dissipation. It's extremely durable. The trade-off is that it's not as 'slick' as sealant-based protection

[DisturbedDave]

Which is why I got it

I'm having a hard time trying to juggle work on the car, and work on the house, and well, work for money.... The downside to this is sometimes the car can go unwashed for up to 3 weeks, so the chances of regularily topping up paint protection may be minimal.... This way, at least the paint is protected. And yes, seeing you every 3 months did come to mind, but figured i'd go for the 'easier', coat and forget for a couple years option.

[kevstewart]

Nice write up