Cost:  £17

Date of Review:  26th January 2019 overcast, cool with sunny spells.

The Sales Pitch from Auto Finesse:

“Change the way you wash your car with Aqua Coat, the quick and easy way to apply long lasting protection, with enhanced water beading to all exterior surfaces. Aqua Coat adds a protective layer of Si02 coating to all exterior surfaces right at the wash stage. Simply wash your vehicle as normal, rinse then apply a fine mist of Aqua coat to the vehicle whilst wet, rinse once again. You will see before your very eyes the instant effects of Aqua Coats hydrophobic characteristics, that last wash after wash for up to 3 months. Dry your vehicle as normal and your done, it really is that simple to apply it’s initial coat, as it is subsequent top up coats.”

Source:  https://shop.autofinesse.co.uk/wash/aqua-coat-1litre

What You Get:

A big clear bottle with a proper sized full trigger.

Product Description:

A product that has smells quite pleasant and has the consistency of water. Spray on your car after washing it, even if it’s just a bubble bath. Spray on while the car is still wet. A no contact product.

Instructions:

Auto Finesse wording:

Aqua Coat should only be applied to a wet vehicle after washing.

Before you start:
Ensure the vehicle is not in direct sun light and in ambient temperatures – do not attempt to apply Aqua Coat in hot weather, in direct sun or to a warm vehicle.

1: Ensure all traces of shampoo have been thoroughly rinsed.
2: Apply a light mist of Aqua Coat over a wet vehicle – be quick aqua coat will cover most surfaces whilst being rinsed from the car, usually a light mist across the majority of the vehicle will equate to the entire vehicle being coated when the solution is rinsed from the vehicle.
3: Rinse thoroughly from top down ensuring all trances of Aqua Coat have been rinsed away.
4: Dry with a microfibre towel straight away.

DO NOT:
Allow Aqua Coat to dry on the vehicle (Aqua Coat does not require curing time)
Apply to a hot car or in direct sunlight
Over apply (less is more)

SHOULD SPOTTING OR STREAKING OCCOUR
Immediate response is the best course of action.

In the first instance: Simply spray Aqua Coat on to a microfibre towel and buff (using in a similar fashion to quick detailers)

If spotting is noticed later: A polish such as our Tripple all in one will be adequate to resolving the issue.

Application:

Slightly confused here; the bottle says “apply a liberal, even coating of Aqua Coat to a wet vehicle”. But the instructions from Auto Finesse says: “Apply a light mist of Aqua Coat over a wet vehicle” and “Do Not – Over apply (less is more).  A contradiction of words here, However I have gone liberal with it and also minimal, I still get the same results.

I washed the car and the paint is in good condition with the top quality shampoo and had left a nice lustre to the paint. Hold the bottle a proper distance away from the car to create a fine mist onto the panels. You can see from the picture here that the water was just laying on the front hood.

On my first panel (the door) I held the bottle a bit too close and the product can be seen running with the very slight milky colour once mixed with water.

The water just disperses when this product gets anywhere near it.

Removing:

Once the car had been misted with the product you just have to rinse it off. The jet wash was now set on minimum, basically a garden hose flow just to rinse the product off. Start at the top and wash it all down the car until the product is completely rinsed off. This is the same hood a few seconds later where the water wouldn’t bead of the paint.

I dried the car and the shine was still there and the beading had been amazing. Just like it had been waxed. I didn’t notice any water spots or streaks after use.

I also washed my Toyota and applied the Aqua Coat to show the end beading results on a different colour car, pics here of the roof and hood. These were taken as the light was fading a bit, but you can clearly see the awesome bead.

Results:

Faultless results on both cars. The water beaded straight away and the feel was smooth on the paint. A couple of weeks later and rain still beads off the car nicely. Pictures below taken on 4/2/2019.

I have used just under half a bottle for three car applications now. First time of use I wasn’t exactly sparing and used the ‘liberal’ application method, so that used a fair bit more than I have done on subsequent applications.

Rating:  8 – 10  Updated 19th April 2019

I tried hard to think of a reason not to give full marks. As I write this review I still can’t think of any in fact. The huge upside is:  No Contact in order to apply it and it works.

The cost is a little pricey at full price of £17 per litre, but if you can get this cheaper, then it really makes this a fantastic product. A little really does go a long way. I am not sure about the endurance of the product at the moment, but after a couple of weeks I am still impressed. So if it lasts “wash after wash for up to 3 months” I will leave the top mark alone. But, if it only lasts a month or so then I will amend my rating accordingly.

There is the contradiction of application, “liberal” v “light mist”. I found a full cover of a light misting is the happy medium and will also save on using the product up when you don’t need too.

Ease of use – So simple, spray on, rinse off and dry. No effort needed what so ever.

Finish – Top quality.

Conclusion:

What a fantastic little product which gives the beading effect of a full wax. However, I am still in the mind-set that a full proper wax is the way to go, but adding this after a quick wash before going out will top up that wax and provide top beading with no time spent achieving that goal.

What can be simpler with no effort required? The bonus is that it has a proper trigger on this product as well.

The down side is that it can only be applied to a wet car, but if you are washing or snow foam routine and washing, then this is the product. No contact beading that normally only comes with a wax application.

I will use this to top up waxes over the winter months. It’s quick, no time to apply and it works. I can’t see why you couldn’t apply this in the rain.

Would I recommend it? Oh Yes, without a doubt.

Would I buy it again? Oh yes, even at full cost if I had to.

Update: 19th April 2019

I have not used the car much on the road in fact probably only around five hundred miles or so. The car has parked out in all weathers without any cleaning just to see how long this product lasts.

The roof coating is all but gone.

The hood/bonnet is holding up better, you can see that it’s starting to weather off.

The trunk/boot is starting to weather, but on a par with the bonnet.

The sides are holding up that bit better as the water doesn’t tend to sit on vertical surfaces.

I would say that three months, (which is longer than I thought it would last to be fair), is on the very limit of it’s life span on the car. I was only expecting a couple of months if that before it weathered off. In fact it has lasted as long as some of the cheaper waxes I have used in the past. Amended the rating down to 8 out of 10 from the previous 10.

This is one of Auto Finesse’s better products and quite impressive at that. 👍