Z-Tech: Clear coat protectant review

Z-Tech: Clear coat protectant review.

By: J. Peter Marozsan, TechnicalHelp4U.com

Summary: Compare standard, untreated painted panels with panels treated with Z-tech clear coat protectant vs. panels treated with Mother’s Carnauba wax. Based upon these results it is apparent that the ‘Clear coat protectant’ type treatment is the best option for protection against environmental contaminants. Both products produced significant gloss improvement, with the protectant beating the wax by a few points. Neither product yielded better UV protection results, though the Mother’s carnauba wax had significantly better color retention properties than the clear coat protectant treatment.

There is no question that use of a wax or protectant is better than not using one. The deciding factors of using a quality wax vs. a protectant depends on how often you are willing to treat your car (more often with a wax), if you are concerned about long term color protection (Mother’s wax was much better), or if you are most concerned about environmental contaminants (chemicals, bird droppings, acid rain, in which case the protectant is best).

Initial 60°Gloss:

Standard Panels:

Black	81.7
Black ‘waxed’	90.5
Black ‘Z-tech’	93

Red	76.7
Red ‘waxed’	84.1
Red ‘Z-tech’	85.7

Z-tech treated panels increased gloss more than Mothers, though both did a great job bringing up the gloss. The Z-tech treatment also increased the D.O.I vs. both the std and Mother’s panels by about 10 points. D.O.I is Distinctness of Image, how clearly you can see reflections. Remember, these are freshly painted, never exposed to the environment panels, so your results should be even more drastic.

Chemical Resistance:

The above panels were each exposed to the following chemicals in a ‘watch glass’ drop test. A 1” diameter drop of Brake fluid and ATF fluid was placed on the panels and covered by a watch glass. Neither of the coatings were affected after 48 hours exposure.

An MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) solvent rub test at 100% was performed on the above panels. The waxed panels showed an improvement on solvent rub resistance over the standard panel. The Z-tech panels showed a significant improvment, virtually double the MEK rubs, over the standard and waxed panels.

This would translate to significantly better resistance for vehicles treated with Z-Tech to contaminants such as bird droppings – especially if not removed immediately – vs. using a Caranuba wax.

QUV Resistance:

QUV testing takes place in an accelerated weathering chamber, designed to create a highly flexible mix of UV light, temperature and moisture conditions. The tests are intended to reproduce the damage caused by sunlight, rain and condensed surface moisture or dew. The chamber subjects the test materials to alternating cycles of light and moisture at controlled elevated temperatures.

500HR QUV USING "UVA 340" BULBS
PRODUCT	INITIAL GLOSS	100HR GLOSS	200HR GLOSS	350HR GLOSS	400HR GLOSS	524HR GLOSS
BLACK	88.1	89.1	88	87	85.9	88
Z-Tech	87.5	86.2	83.7	85.6	84.7	85.7
Mothers	89	90.1	89.9	89.7	88.7	89.9


PRODUCT	INITIAL GLOSS	100HR GLOSS	200HR GLOSS	350HR GLOSS	400HR GLOSS	524HR GLOSS
RED	79.4	80.3	78.1	77.4	79.5	81.7
Z-Tech	86.3	89.3	87.7	87.6	89.5	91.6
Mothers	85	87.1	84.4	84.1	85.5	87.3

What does this mean long-term?

Black: No long-term gloss improvement from either the Z-tech or Mothers treatment.

Red: Slight improvement from the z-tech over long term.

Additionally, these tests were performed using SuperDurable exterior resins which provide a 10 year service life. Over inexpensive paint the results may be different. Of course, the vehicle can always be retreated in both cases.

Color Retention:

	D65/10 DL	D65/10 Da	D65/10 Db	D65/10 DE	D65/10 DE
Black	0.96	1.24	1.01	1.27	1.14
Z-Tech	1.7	1.79	1.87	1.85	1.89
Mothers	0.39	0.73	0.64	0.81	0.68

	D65/10 DL	D65/10 Da	D65/10 Db	D65/10 DE	D65/10 DE
Red	0.67	0.8	1.09	1.22	1.1
Z-Tech	2.73	2.83	3.06	3.57	3.37
Mothers	0.2	0.4	0.7	0.84	0.83

What these numbers tell us is that the color shift is significantly less with the Mother’s Carnauba wax than with any of the other products.

A color shift of more than 1 DE is generally visible to the naked – trained – eye. Most people will notice the color shift when it is over 1.5 DE.

The Z-tech material seems to shift quite a bit to the yellow side. Most likely this is due to the lack of optical brighteners/anti-oxidants in the product. Use of these would probably increase cost by about 10%, however would lead to even better color retention numbers than experienced with the wax alone.

Salt Spray (Corrosion Testing):

Review at 500 hours showed no reportable differences in blister formation and creepage from scribe among the treatments. Test is continuing for 1000 hours, however based on experience no differences are expected.

Redistribution in whole or in part is prohibited without written authorization of the author.