essence plus first use and brief review

512detail

New member
finally used essence plus today

figured I would add a quick review considering there is not much on this site about this product

car was coated almost exactly a uear ago with csl by yours truly

owner lives in South Carolina and was back in town this summer for the same car show in Dallas (We Are Mopar2)


im not gonna sugar coat it, this coating looked well worn. water spots, marring, scratches

i don`t know what i was really expecting to see, but it looked like a car that needed a solid 1 step in other words, bit yet looked much better than any other car I have seen prior to polishing it and then coating

a moment of silence please

...ok

this was not the ideal prep so don`t take this review as anything other than my babbling about first use experience within my specific context of use

(time permitting I would have done another iron wash and water spot removal step prior to another wash-but i got to the car at 4pm and we were done at 7)

owner used pb iron remover about 2 months ago and gyeon cure to revive the coatings beading

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he sent me that pic. (the top is beading shot from right after the coating and bottom is after his decon/booster step ablut 2 months ago)

he washed it prior to coming over and RW it with n914 in my garage to touch it up before I got off work early and then we clayed it and then gave two helpings of OPT paint prep (because I need to use it all before I can justify replacing it)

just this alone made a HUGE difference in surface slickness, clarity and gloss but it made the water spots show up easier

I then took Essence+ and white rupes pads on my duetto and worked it in with (hovering) no pressure slow passes on spd 1 like it was a liquid wax

hand application on bumpers and misc areas with red wax pad

i could not photograph the difference but here`s my thoughs on it...

filling? minimal but noticeable on this car with your eyes before and after, even to the owners (`untrained`) eyes

it did, however, erase some strange marks and smudges that I noticed in various areas of the car and it seemed either remove or cover up some of the water spots but not all...but they were harder to see now

side note: i applied twice on the roof and to my eyes it filled furhter, so in theory I think this can be layered..I will investigate this further on my car eventually

gloss? YES, please...very noticeable

slickness? oh yeah, very noticeable difference as well

easy application
simple removal

no streaks, thanks Carpro ;)

seems like a solid product to me
and I held out an entire hour and a half (maybe) until I topped it

a few pics...before aforementioned topping-more on that in the full reveal thread..coming soon

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Brandt, no get and day. Vehicle looks great and yes there`s just a little gloss....lol. Nice review and thanks for sharing sir.


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Nicely done! My only concern is how does effect the hydrophobics of the underlying coating?

I`m not sure. most of my friends with coatings I applied are using gyeon cure or ech20 mixed with or without cure so I`m imagining that`s not much of a concern.

I`d imagine it improved it pretty well considering the surface slickness was noticeably increased.

From my own testing I found out the csl starts to lay flat on top of essence at around 8 months and then needs the decon wash.

If there was a coating that needed essence plus, it was this one...and I have a few other clients who I think could use this as well.

You could still see some of the swirls in the direct sun but it was a considerable improvement and almost like applying nattys black to the coating as far as the filling ability...not like black hole filling but still some filling.

I`m more of a fan of coatings as a sacrificial layer, not the end all be all and nothing else on top. But then again I`m a waxwaster.
 
good to see your review on this, I just picked some up during the last sale to have on hand but haven`t tried it yet. Thanks for taking time for the review
 
Nice review. Essence+ works pretty well for minor stuff.

Nicely done! My only concern is how does effect the hydrophobics of the underlying coating?

From personally using essence+, the hydrophobic properties of it will now be seen as it is sitting on top of the coating. Over time, in my case around the 3-4 month time frame, the water started laying flatter until eventually it was gone and the coating properties returned. What I noticed is that the fillers stuck around longer than the actual protection left behind by essence+.

I posted this over on the carpro forum and Corey asked how long I left essence+ on the panel. To me he sort of hinted that I should have let it sit longer instead of treating it like a polish and more like a wax/sealant. I will be doing this later today on my uncles vette that has gloss coat on it that needs some slight repair to cover some light swirling.
 
Nice review. Essence+ works pretty well for minor stuff.



From personally using essence+, the hydrophobic properties of it will now be seen as it is sitting on top of the coating. Over time, in my case around the 3-4 month time frame, the water started laying flatter until eventually it was gone and the coating properties returned. What I noticed is that the fillers stuck around longer than the actual protection left behind by essence+.

I posted this over on the carpro forum and Corey asked how long I left essence+ on the panel. To me he sort of hinted that I should have let it sit longer instead of treating it like a polish and more like a wax/sealant. I will be doing this later today on my uncles vette that has gloss coat on it that needs some slight repair to cover some light swirling.
thanks for the info
i removed it immediately on the drivers side but it ended up sitting ablut 10-15 mins on the drivers side

i didn`t notice any difference but if it needs to be left longer i will do that next time..seemed to haze almost immediately for me
 
Good to know to leave it sit longer. I haven`t used mine yet but have a few cars that may need it in the near future


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Essence+ has been one of the best products for me in a while. I`ve had a few clients with UK or UK-Classic combo on them, and a couple years later now there is some light scratching. Essence+ seems to remove a LARGE amount of the damage, really made the paint pop and the hydrophobic properties are great. As noted above, they do diminish in a few months (4-5 in my experience)

Personally, I apply with a CarPro Gloss pad, speed 2-3 (I know, supposed to go slower) with medium arm speed, doing a larger-than-normal (2x2) section at once. Removal is easy.

Another tip -it works UNREAL on softer paint as a final polish/LSP. If you`ve already finished the paint down to where you`re happy, this will dramatically increase gloss and paint depth and add protection super fast. The Lexus IS-F I used it on had trashed paint, and even after the light correction I did, Essence+ made a massive difference.


 
After reading 512detail`s thread discussion about Essence Primer, I`m a little concerned about Essence Plus, even though these are two "different" car-care product applications.
Please see: https://www.autopia.org/forums/detailing-product-reviews/188613-holy-sheet-hood-test-rip.html
CarPro never advised it (to my knowledge, correct me if I am wrong) that it will work with any coating out there - only specifically theirs. I`ve used it with CQuartz with great success, actually, but also leave it overnight to cure prior to the coating application - or IPA after polishing with it.

As a base layer, if its not worked very slowly and carefully, it won`t bond properly. It can be a tricky product on some finishes, but overall it`s actually become one of my personal Go-to`s for really amping up gloss and removing marring. So really I don`t often use it as a base layer, just as a kick a** final polish.

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