Not Impresed with Aquapel Application

[Xleon]

You know what they say about buying something from a man down the pub...


I followed the instructions closely - very clean window, not a warm day, air was not humid, applied in smallish sections at a time and buffed quickly off with paper towels. All as instructed on the official PDFs.

Now, it has hazed and smeared something cronic. Even 45 minutes buffing on the windscreen and it still doesn't look very good. I know many swear by it, but it's made my windscreen smeary which will take even more buffing (I had to stop as my arms ached!) to get back to it's crystal clear look.

Anyone else had the same experience or have a different method of application for decent results?

[cheezemonkhai]

Did you coat the whole screen and then buff the screen off?

I've never had it haze up but then again I've never applied it in really cold temps.

If you did it today and still have the applicator and it is still damp from the aquapel wipe it over the screen and then buff it all up again with kitchen roll.

If that doesn't work try really soaking the screen in water and then washing it with a plain car shampoo then rinsing it in plenty of water. Buff it up with an MF ccloth and hopefully things should be good.

[andy2407]

Never had any problems.

I tracked down and imported the first lot from the States and sold to a few people on here.

Then I got some of Jason's Group Buy when he did a similar thing.

And finally I bought some from Cheezemonkhai's GB which I have applied to my Octy and LittleKatie's Fabia.

I continue to be impressed by the results.

I've always done the full screen with mine before buffing - I'm guessing the instructions don't say this. What have others done?

[Wardy]

No problems here either, and I've used a fair few ampules of this stuff!

In my experience, preparation of the window is critical. Personally, I use a glass polish then a glass cleaner before application. So I'd stick my neck out and say your windows weren't really clean enough.

steve

[cheezemonkhai]

As per you, whole screen then buff, then done a side and buffed and the other side and buffed and then the rear on cars I have had enough to do this.

That's a lot of buff

[AlexMechanic]

Doing it in bits / sections where it might be going wrong - you might be doubling up on areas, or re-soaking areas already dried. You really need to do entire "panes" of glass at once, and not bits.

Never had any issues with using mine.

Edit: Jason again, I really should logout and back in again.

[Xleon]

I'm fairly confident I had the glass clean. The car had been washed first and I paid attention to the windows. Then, I got some glass cleaner and gave it a thorough clean.

The sides came up good - it's just the windscreen that came up hazy. I went over and re-wetted some areas with the applicator and tried but it didn't help much. Even water as you suggested didn't do much.

It was down to pure elbow grease in the end to get the window nice and clean again. I didn't think it was cold out when I applied it, no sun on the car and no wind, but it still dried exceptionally fast- is it supposed to dry that quick? I'd hardly coated 1/2 the windscreen before it was drying behind me (I did it in 2 halves) as it said it shouldn't air-dry so I thought I'd never get the entire screen done before it did.

I can still see a few spots which need another buff when I get chance, but it seems OK now.

[cheezemonkhai]

Originally Posted by Xleon

I'm fairly confident I had the glass clean. The car had been washed first and I paid attention to the windows. Then, I got some glass cleaner and gave it a thorough clean.

The sides came up good - it's just the windscreen that came up hazy. I went over and re-wetted some areas with the applicator and tried but it didn't help much. Even water as you suggested didn't do much.

It was down to pure elbow grease in the end to get the window nice and clean again. I didn't think it was cold out when I applied it, no sun on the car and no wind, but it still dried exceptionally fast- is it supposed to dry that quick? I'd hardly coated 1/2 the windscreen before it was drying behind me (I did it in 2 halves) as it said it shouldn't air-dry so I thought I'd never get the entire screen done before it did.

I can still see a few spots which need another buff when I get chance, but it seems OK now.

It does require a bit of elbow grease, but I've not seen a screen part dry before I've finished applying it myself.

[Fluffmeister]

I suspect the culprits may be cack wiper blades.

My Wifes Polo did this and she chuntered, so I wipped off the blades, cleaned them until they were devoid of black muck, washed the screen which was difficult with it being aquapelled LOL.

All was then PERFECT.

As part of my aquapel application, I always now clean not just the screen, but give the wiper blades a thorough cleaning to and never have the prob's your having matey.

EDIT

Re-read the original post so it's not the above that's the problem but please bear this post of mine in mind if you apply aquapel and get bad smearing the first time you use your wipers......

Sorry, I'm off to give myself a stiff moderating for muppetry

[Xleon]

I've not used the wipers yet since the application, but I'll definitely give them a clean before first use. Cheers.

[ScoobyChris]

The only bit of hazing I got when I applied mine was when I cracked the ampoule with the applicator resting on the screen (seems it dispenses a fair bit of Aquapel initially!). I didn't prepare the windows especially well and just used some Tesco Value glass cleaner and a terry cloth to clean them. Then went round with a fresh terry cloth to dry them and then cracked open the ampoule and coated all the windows. I did the windscreen in 2 halves, but all the other windows I just striped, making sure not to overlap them. By the time I'd done the last window, the first window had begun to haze so I just went round with another terry cloth and "buffed"/wiped over them.

Did 2 cars in about 20 minutes

I think the key is to keep the applicator moving fairly quickly when you apply to avoid too much getting on the glass and also to avoid overlapping stripes.

Chris

[AlexMechanic]

I did overlapping during the same application. I think the insturctions says to go up and down across the glass then left to right. Often I did this twice until I got a good fine dispersion of the liquid. Then it was a matter of buffing and allowing to dry.

[cheezemonkhai]

Never had a problem overlapping it as Jason says. The big issue is to not let it air dry

[skudmissile]

No problems with mine

i did however apply it to a brand new windscreen so i know ti was clean before application.

The aquapel is brillient stuff

[Wardy]

Originally Posted by skudmissile

No problems with mine

i did however apply it to a brand new windscreen so i know ti was clean before application.

The aquapel is brillient stuff

Bloody terrible, those growing stone chips!

Steve

[skudmissile]

Originally Posted by Wardy

Bloody terrible, those growing stone chips!

Steve

it was the change in temp.

Need your advice on something mate, will catch you on msn later?


cheers John

[dstev2000]

I put some more on my screen and front windows today.

Cleaned glass properly, applied in circular motion with decent amount of pressure and buffed off straight away with quite a lot of pressure using paper towel which I changed very frequently.

No smears or anything and it works well for about 3 months which equates to roughly 15,000 miles.

[ScoobyChris]

Originally Posted by cheezemonkhai

Never had a problem overlapping it as Jason says. The big issue is to not let it air dry

Hmmmm - mine air dried without problem

Chris

[Xleon]

Maybe there was a film of something on my windscreen (a previous treatment of something else?) which the glass cleaner didn't remove before I put mine on.

[Wardy]

Possibly. That's why I use a glass polish as well.

Steve