Lava Grey - Jeffs Acrylic Finish experience

[Covenant]

Ok, so I went up to Clark and Rich at Polished Bliss for a protection detail last Wednesday (satisfied my lust for wasting Shell V-Power by leaving at 5.30am and taking the Glenshee road on the way up ).
Following on from the sticky thread at the top of the forum, I thought I'd give my experiences with the Jeffs Acrylic finish, and update the thread over time so people can get a good idea of how it performs in the long run.

Week 1:
I'd definitely recommend the Acrylic for dark pearlescent finishes. On a dull day the car has a deep, wet look with good reflectivity. When the sun comes out the pearlescent finish shimmers with the flake clearly visible. Beading (water repellence) is acceptable, though admittedly a good wax would aid water runoff a lot better. I gave the vehicle a quick blast-off with the local Sainsbury jetwash (water only), 2-bucket hand shampoo with Swissvax neutral PH shampoo (lots of evil looks from the waiting queue at the Jetwash ), then dry off and another coat of Acrylic Jett Trigger (even more nasty looks from the queue).
The shine is noticeable deeper after just another coat. I'm looking forward to see how it develops over the coming weeks - I'll be washing the car and adding another coat of Jett every weekend.


Next time I visit PB I think I might see how a coat of good wax over the Acrylic would work to improve the beading, or maybe Menzerna instead? Wax would necessarily make maintenance a little more tricky as you can't use Jett from then on. Maybe PB can recommend a top-up product to use in its place?


I'll edit this post with photos later. I think Clark took a photo of the car after the detail, so if he has them handy it would be nice to see how the car looked directly after the detail.

 

[JGrant1285]

I got the Jeffs Werkstatt kit last week, only used the PRIME on my windows up to now, not used any on my paint. I might get round to using it this weekend at some point, not sure yet, interested on how my Silver A4 will come up with it though!!

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

 

[WX51TXR]

We have pictures! But we've been too busy to get anything much posted for the last week or so - bear with us, a raft of write up's is to come, but we're working all weekend, so might be mid next week before we manage it. With regard to the beading, let the finish develop; after multiple coats of Acrylic Jett Trigger the beading will tighten and sheeting will become awesome. I had well over 10 coats on bu the end of last summer, and water struggled to sit on the car, with nice tall beads - see picture below. A wax would kill the effect the Jeffs has on the flake, which would be a shame, as in my opinion you don't need any more wetness (which is what the wax would do well), just more layers (which won't take long to build up given your stated plan).

 

[Covenant]

Pics as promised, after 2 weeks, washed and reapply a coat of Jett:

 

[JGrant1285]

Check this thread, i used the Werkstatt kit on mine on sat.

See what you think

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=37778

 

[Covenant]

Interesting. On reflection I'll stick with Jeffs until my next visit to PB. I found some pics of it waxed and I think I prefer the gloss/wet look of the wax overall. Here's some pics of when it was Swissvax'd - about 2 weeks from new:

Also, it rained today and beading/runoff is definitely not in the league of a wax finish. Like I said, for ease of maintenance Jeffs is a great product though.

 

[JGrant1285]

In regards to the beading from using the JETT...obviously once washed/dried etc..and a coat of JETT is put on & buffed off...is it ok at that point to add yet another coat or 2 of JETT to 'beef-up' the beading?

Or would this be best done after every wash?

I think i'm going to give it another wash 1 night this week and give it another coat - although i did mine on sat, and i have noticed that the dirty doesnt seem to be attracted to my car as much as it did do before the werkstatt kit??

 

[Covenant]

I think its fine to keep adding coats to be honest I don't know what the full cure time is though. I just dont rub too hard when applying it and avoid direct sunlight.

I'm going to wash and apply another coat every week for the first 4 weeks. After that I'll probably lapse into my usual lazy routine of once a month.

 

[WX51TXR]

Interesting. On reflection I'll stick with Jeffs until my next visit to PB. I found some pics of it waxed and I think I prefer the gloss/wet look of the wax overall. Here's some pics of when it was Swissvax'd - about 2 weeks from new:

Also, it rained today and beading/runoff is definitely not in the league of a wax finish. Like I said, for ease of maintenance Jeffs is a great product though.

Definitely looks darker and wetter, if you prefer this look then either Carbon or Vintage would be worth swapping to in future, although the flake may not stand out as much.

 

[WX51TXR]

In regards to the beading from using the JETT...obviously once washed/dried etc..and a coat of JETT is put on & buffed off...is it ok at that point to add yet another coat or 2 of JETT to 'beef-up' the beading?

Or would this be best done after every wash?

I think i'm going to give it another wash 1 night this week and give it another coat - although i did mine on sat, and i have noticed that the dirty doesnt seem to be attracted to my car as much as it did do before the werkstatt kit??

Aye, there's no solvent carrier in Jett, so you can layer it immediately (unlike most last step products). I find once you get to 4-5 coats the beading gets a lot stronger, and in general the car stays cleaner looking for longer.

 

[JGrant1285]

Aye, there's no solvent carrier in Jett, so you can layer it immediately (unlike most last step products). I find once you get to 4-5 coats the beading gets a lot stronger, and in general the car stays cleaner looking for longer.

And you aint wrong either!!!

I added another 2 coats of JETT on sat, so thats 3 coats in total, and i must say the results are ALOT better & the beading is awesome!!

Rich how many coats would you recommend?

Cheers

 

[Clark@Polishedbliss]

And you aint wrong either!!!

I added another 2 coats of JETT on sat, so thats 3 coats in total, and i must say the results are ALOT better & the beading is awesome!!

Rich how many coats would you recommend?

Cheers

As many as you can get!

5 or 6 coats and water will sheet off the paint like crazy :icon_thumright:

 

[JGrant1285]

As many as you can get!

5 or 6 coats and water will sheet off the paint like crazy :icon_thumright:

Great stuff....

Guess what my plans for the weekend are lol.

Cheers Clark..

P.S. What are the main differences between the Werkstatt Acrylic & the Werkstatt Carnuba?

Cheers

 

[WX51TXR]

The base chemistry is the same, but the carnauba in the carnauba range gives a warmer, richer look that suits solid, bold colours. However, the wax content does mute flake effects, so is best avoided on metallics and pearls. Durability is similar between the two systems.

 

[Covenant]

Washed/Jett'ed mine again this weekend - it rained almost as soon as I finished so I will do it again next weekend and post some pics.

This makes it 4 coats now. I'd say that beading is very good, but sheeting not as good as a wax. The beads don't run off the car unless you get up some real speed or get really enthusiastic with cornering, whereas with my previous wax finish once you start moving the beads run off the car easily. Seems a bit odd to me, but I assume it's down to the type of repellence that acrylic gives as opposed to wax.

It's still looking good though

 

[Covenant]

Ok, the real test. I ran the car down to Devon last week to visit the folks. Sunshine and showers all the way there and back - the sort of weather that really punishes the front of the car and the lower panels.

I took a trip up to the local Jetwash to blast off the grime with water, then used Swissvax shampoo to clean off the car. As suspected, beading was now non-existent on the lower panels/wheels but the rest of the car held up very well.

I broke out the Acrylic Jett and set to work:

Still looking good, but man I hate the way UK weather strips protection off - not looking forward to all that salt on the roads this winter.

I'm nearly out of Jett now, probably enough for one/two more coats on the whole car - will be ordering more soon.