Sonax Polymer Netshield

How often are you washing your car, and with what soap?

 

I've noticed this too. We've been getting attacked with pollen the past few weeks and yesterday it rained for the first time in a while (during the day at least). I noticed that my car wasn't beading that well at all — almost as if PNS was completely stripped. I've been washing the car with ONR every Sunday since applying PNS. Considering throwing on a coat of Pinnacle Signature Series II on it until the pollen calms down.

 

Weekly or bi-weekly with Optimum Car Soap or ONR washes. I maintain 3 family cars with PNS and/or BSD and noticed no ill effects from either all the way back since August or so of last year, beading has been great up until the pollen started early this month. I've since read pollen is "acidic", whether that's true or not I'm not sure but there was also a post on the AG forums about a guy putting Colinite 845 on and a week later the beading had fallen off due to the pollen.

I mean its really bad this year, I was on the golf course yesterday and the whole course is tree lined and it often times looked smokey from all the pollen in the air, if a gust of wind hits one of the pine trees its just a massive cloud of yellow dust, it's nuts!

 

I don't think it's been this bad for a while. Every morning I walk outside and the car is covered in pollen. It's calmed down the past week though.

 

Looks like I may be needing a new spring time LSP. It's odd that pollen of all things would kill it so quickly we are just starting to get warm enough to start getting it here probably a few more weeks.

 

I don't think beading is the be all end all of whether an LSP is still present on paint. If your car is very dirty and it rains it won't bead or sheet that well either. I have seen this with my own cars too (various lsps), if I let them go a few weeks without a wash and then it rains. Dirt/Pollen will eefect the beading properties of any LSP. How is the sheeting when you wash it? Is the pollen sticking to the paint or coming right off? Does the car bead after you wash it and then give it a rinse?

 

Sheeting is just as effected. After a wash when I go to flood the car to dry it, the pools of water just leave behind small traces of water like it would if it was dirty, doens't have that amazing hydrophobic quality PNS is known for.

My best guess is this: Pollen itself probably isnt the culprit, it's when pollen lands on a car that's been in the sun all day and the panel is extremely hot, it just bakes into the sealant degrading it. Since the pollen gets on the car the second you dry it, it's going to be sitting there for a full week baking into the sealant/paint before it's washed the next weekend.

Who knows though, that's just my wild guess.

 

Call or email Sonax and see what they say. I would love to hear their thoughts on this.

 

What we should be asking now is what did you do to prepare the surfaces before applying Sonax Perfect Finish the last time?

Did you really correct and clean the paint, use a good oils and filler remover, and then immediately apply the product ?

if not, well then of course, the durability will not be as good.

Good luck with this -
Dan F

 

Did a pass with NanoSkin AutoScrub Wash Mitt followed by Auto Finesse Iron Out.

 

Yes of course I did, repolished out the hood and trunk on my dads 2003 M5 in Jet Black with HD adapt. Repolished the panel with DP Paint Coating Prep Polish, finally wiped down with an IPA mixture. Applied Sonax PNS exactly as phil used to with the red hex applicator. Buffed off. The very next weekend the beading had already degraded significantly from where it normally is. I used this stuff all last fall and it was excellent. My dad does not park under trees at work, car is garaged at night. It was in 1 rain storm last week.

Here's the email I just got from Sonax USA. I also asked them about coatings as well.

 

Maybe it's the ONR? I've read it doesn't play well with Collinite 845.

 

Can we verify if it's ONR?

 

It's not ONR, I've washed my own car plenty of times with ONR and the beading is still fantastic after normal washes.

 

Guess it's the Pollen. Washed my car yesterday and the beading/sheeting was completely gone on the hood, trunk and side panels. Looking forward to moving...2 car garage here we come.

 

Does PNS perform well on plastic panels? I have a 2014 Taurus SHO that I'm planning to do a new car prep and finish off with PNS. The Taurus has some gray plastic around the bottom skirt of the car - wondering if i can apply PNS to this area as well...

Thanks in advance!

 

Know its impossible to prove, but I dont think the Sonax PNS stuck to the finish for some reason...

I have seen my test car Jet Black '2000, BMW 528 that sits outside 24/7 all year and get loaded with pollen on top of everything else, still wash off and bead like crazy..
Paint was severely damaged and had never been Detailed or corrected since new..

I used a Rotary, Lake Country Hydro-Shred Cyan and Tangerine pads, SonaxPerfect Finish, with Car Pro Eraser wipedowns, and applied Sonax PNS inside the shop, let it sit overnight and out it went, early last year...

Good luck with this..
DanF

 

I let the car sit overnight however I applied it by hand with the hex foam applicator. Can't see why it wouldn't have stuck to the finish. The car was attacked by pollen for multiple days — I'm going to chalk it up to that and give the PNS another shot. If it wears off quickly again, I'll simply switch to something else.

 

I'm meticulous about prep and application of the PNS. Polished out the hood and trunk to perfection with HD Adapt (clayed the car the previous week with ONR+Speedy Prep Sponge). Followed that with DP Coating Prep Polish, THEN followed that with IPA. I even let the IPA wipedown dry out for about 10 minutes after watching Renny Doyle's presentation on AG about how he does that also to make SURE theres no alcohol left on the surface. Applied liberally to a crimson hex applicator, also put a spritz or two on the panel i'm working on, work it into the paint. Next I also have a dedicated "wet" microfiber, which is essentially a dry MF that I also spray PNS on so I can run that onto the surface to further get coverage all over the area then I wait about 30secs-1minute and buff off the residue. This has worked on my own car fine but for some reason my dad's car was not beading anything close to what I should have seen from PNS the following week.

Look I'm not saying definitively it's the pollen, that's just my guess, my dad may have parked somewhere under something that caused the sealant to degrade so quickly but he doesn't recall doing that at all. He's also the kind of person that is meticulous about keeping the car clean and just "away" from everything harmful including other cars, parking the car aways off from everything. We're car guys.

 

Washed the car sunday and saw that the beading is COMPLETELY gone now. It's as if the car was washed with Dawn dish soap. (I know we should never do that). Frustrating since I really don't have the time to apply it again right now.

Considering folks stated that PNS lasted months, I'm disappointed in the product.