Blackfire SiO2 vs TAC Quartzmax vs PA High Gloss

rlmccarty2000

rlmccarty2000

Active member
Due to the generosity of forum member glfnaz who sent me a large sample of the new Blackfire SiO2 product, I decided to do a side by side comparison between one of my favorite maintenance sprays (Quartzmax) and the new contender. I was going to throw CarPro Reload into the mix, but I couldn’t find my sample anywhere, so I decided to use PA High Gloss instead.

After giving the hood a rinseless wash, claying, and washing again.
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I applied left to right, Blackfire, TAC, and PA
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I gave them 24 hours and they still looked the same so I decided to check the hydrophobic tendencies of the products.
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My conclusions from the test are that all three products make the paint shine (surprise!). The PA HG had more amazing hydrophobic properties than either BF or TAC. All three went on very easily and left no streaks, they all buffed off with equal ease. My main takeaway from this test was that all three products looked exactly the same after 24 hours of cure time. Based on the hydrophobic results I would expect the PA HG to last longer, but for the price difference stick to BF or TAC.

I apologize in advance for my lousy photographic abilities.




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I really wish I could see the contrast in the photos better. If you still have the high res pics, if you email them to me I might be able to alter the clarity / hue / luminance / cotrast a bit. Up to you.

BradGreer77Trash@gmail.com ---- remember to take out the Trash.
 
The pics are the best quality I can upload to Tapatalk. They look good on my iPad. It’s just hard to photograph silver. My other choice was white, but I hoped the silver would show up better. The hood looks really good. The real surprise is that all three look the same. I expected there to be some difference, but there was zero. I thought the PA High Gloss would look best, but even after curing they all looked the same. Kind of disappointing.
 
Nice work!

Yeah it`s hard to see the difference on silver paints. When I did a little testing on my own with PA High Gloss and Sonax BSD. That was applyied on a blue metallic VW Passat hood. I noticed that PA HG has a little darkening effect. And the BSD had a sharper tone. Two different results looks wise. But not a big difference just noticeble. The metallic flakes popped a little more on the PA HG too. This was only to see if there was a difference between them. The prep work where badly done so not a longevity test.

The Quartz Max has been interesting to get. Was a test from one here in Sweden with different maintance and topper and spray wax products. IIRC the Tac System Quartz Max came out as overall winner. Think it was translated to english. Will see if I can dig it up and share it. Maybe not all products can be gotten in the US. Could be interesting to read maybe though.
 
glfnaz said:
Do you like Chinese for lunch? LOL
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I did that day!

Hey, you coming out this year? And, tell me more about K OC V2!
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Might try the Florida Keys this winter. Barrett-Jackson was interesting but unless ya get a VIP ticket, they really marginalize ya as far as the actual auction tent goes.

As for OC V2...promising so far but only time will tell.

This thread does have me intrigued though. TAC Systems products still interest me.

The fact that PA High Gloss doesn`t immediately stand out is interesting.

So very hard to measure appearance...
 
After today’s rain...

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Looks like BF SIO2 is not holding up well as the two others based on beading (BF is on the left)


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rlmccarty2000 said:
After today’s rain...

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Looks like BF SIO2 is not holding up well as the two others based on beading (BF is on the left)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Maybe the BF is just sheeting more? I’d be surprised if it was already degraded, assuming you started this test recently and it went onto a clean or coated surface.
 
Thats weird RIM. When I do a waterless wash on my car, I get tiny micro beads. I have BF SIO2 on one side of the car and Kamikaze Overcoat on the other. Both on top of a coating. I swear I can`t tell the difference between the BF and the K OC beads. I am glad you are doing this. I really like getting 2nd opinions.
 
acuRAS82 said:
Maybe the BF is just sheeting more? I’d be surprised if it was already degraded, assuming you started this test recently and it went onto a clean or coated surface.
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I did a rinseless wash with McKees 914, then clayed, and then rewashed with McKees 914. There was nothing (no wax or coating) under the sprays to influence the test. I sprayed the same amount of each product onto a clean microfiber and then wiped off with a separate clean microfiber. I too was very surprised to see the BF product looking so degraded after 2 days. There was no time for anything to contaminate the panel. In this case it is what it is. The BF is very watery, the TAC is thicker, and the PA is very thick. I don’t know if thickness has anything to do with longetivity, but in this case there is some correlation. For the folks that have not tried TAC Systems Quartzmax, it looks like CarPro Reload, minus the streaking.
 
The Guz said:
Based on beading alone TAC and BF don`t look that great. PA looks ok.
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I’ve never considered any of these type of products more than just shine enhancers. I’ve heard people call them sealants, but there just isn’t enough SIO2 in anything I have tried to even consider it for more than a weeks protection. Just something to spruce up a coating when it gets dull. I was dismayed with the BF’s beading but for something that needs a quick shine it would be fine. For the price you pay for PA HG I would expect more shine, but the protection looked excellent. I’ve never looked at these “toppers” side by side so this was an interesting experience.

Has anyone tried the other PA toppers side by side to see any differences? I think I have Cosmic and Viking and of course HG, maybe I’ll compare the three if it ever stops raining.
 
I`ve done a side-by-side with BF, reload, and mckees 10 min paint sealant. I saw a really no difference in beading after a month or so, and the durability looks virtually identical. The only thing that I found, which clinches it for me, is I really like the way the BFSIO2 applies, with a silky lubrication across the surface , never any steaking, and a slightly slower flash off, so I can see where to buff for high spots and uniformity. I`ll still use bf SIO2 as my goto product.
 
Thats well said Glen e, and that`s where I sit too. I get great micro beading for at least 3 weeks. (I am washing and applying more after 2-3 weeks). That said, I find RIM`s results interesting. TAC vs BF SIO2 is a perfect head to head. I would expect the PA product to be the best performer based on price per oz. So when I read what RIM gets, I scratch my head and want to know why. It`s fun really.


glen e said:
I`ve done a side-by-side with BF, reload, and mckees 10 min paint sealant. I saw a really no difference in beading after a month or so, and the durability looks virtually identical. The only thing that I found, which clinches it for me, is I really like the way the BFSIO2 applies, with a silky lubrication across the surface , never any steaking, and a slightly slower flash off, so I can see where to buff for high spots and uniformity. I`ll still use bf SIO2 as my goto product.
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The results surprise me too, in multiple ways. High Gloss made my Acura look like it never has before. The Acura has also had SiO2 on it, only a month before the HG. It looked great and I agree it applies the easiest, but HG left me looking in amazement where nothing else has on that paint.

i haven’t done any side-by-sides, but perhaps something to look forward to.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
I’ve never considered any of these type of products more than just shine enhancers. I’ve heard people call them sealants, but there just isn’t enough SIO2 in anything I have tried to even consider it for more than a weeks protection. Just something to spruce up a coating when it gets dull. I was dismayed with the BF’s beading but for something that needs a quick shine it would be fine. For the price you pay for PA HG I would expect more shine, but the protection looked excellent. I’ve never looked at these “toppers” side by side so this was an interesting experience.

Has anyone tried the other PA toppers side by side to see any differences? I think I have Cosmic and Viking and of course HG, maybe I’ll compare the three if it ever stops raining.
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Yes but does it really need Si02 to give protection? We`ve had "normal" WOWA sealants for a decade and always assumed they were protecting. I`m personally not sold on the Si02 everything. That being said I like the application and shine of BFSi02 (thanks to glfnaz too!) but I haven`t put the durability through its paces.
 
DetailZeus said:
Yes but does it really need Si02 to give protection? We`ve had "normal" WOWA sealants for a decade and always assumed they were protecting. I`m personally not sold on the Si02 everything. That being said I like the application and shine of BFSi02 (thanks to glfnaz too!) but I haven`t put the durability through its paces.
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You really don’t need SIO2 to give protection, you could use wax or an acrylic sealant, but when using on top of a coating the SIO2 should bond better. Supposedly. These SIO2 were created as toppers for coatings even though some man say they can be used as stand alone products. I wouldn’t use them that way, they just don’t provide enough protection for me.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
You really don’t need SIO2 to give protection, you could use wax or an acrylic sealant, but when using on top of a coating the SIO2 should bond better. Supposedly. These SIO2 were created as toppers for coatings even though some man say they can be used as stand alone products. I wouldn’t use them that way, they just don’t provide enough protection for me.
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Agree with this. I don’t mind also using SiO2 sprays on top of sealants if I want to change the look to a bit more glassy and improve the cleaning abilities for a temporary timeframe... either way, they really are best used as toppers from everything I can gather so far... even if it’s a topper for a Primer (i.e. Reload over Essence; BF SiO2 over BF Pro Primer Polish).
 
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