Automotive

Adam's Graphene Ceramic Coating After 1 week

in

I recently coated all the paint protection film on the Supra with Adam’s Graphene Ceramic Coating. It’s been a week, the coating has had the opportunity to fully cure so I wanted to give you an update and see how things are looking.

Here we are. Adam’s customer service told me that full cure time is about a week so I wanted to wait that long before washing the car. It’s a bit difficult to see it but there is a light coat of dust on the surface. I wanted to first look at the coating’s self-cleaning properties. This looks at the coating’s ability to remove light contaminants with just water pressure. It’s a bit difficult to see this in action on camera, but watch as the water hits the surface. Watch the leading edge of the water. That's where you’ll be able to see the action. If you didn’t catch it, the coating didn’t a very good job at preventing the dust from actually attaching to the paint and moved it right off with the water.

At this point, I’m going to wash the car so we can see what the coating can do without interference from the debris.

Let’s start with the hood. As you can see, the surface is extremely hydrophobic and water is rushing off at all the slightly angled sections. In places where water is left behind, it beads very tightly.

Moving on to the headlights and front bumper where there’s more of an angle to the panels. Again, water just runs right off the surfaces.

For me, the most impressive part is the front lip. Even though there’s only a slight curve to it, that’s all that’s needed for the water to pick up speed and just roll right off. It should be noted that the lip is wrapped with XPEL Ultimate Plus Stealth whereas everything else was wrapped with regular XPEL Ultimate Plus. Maybe Graphene Ceramic Coating works better with Stealth. Who knows?

Finally, let’s move on to the vertical side panels. On the left, the rocker panel and hood have been coated and on the right, the door has been stripped in preparation for more PPF so there’s no coating there. Let’s see what the difference is between a coated surface and bare paint. As you can see, there is a night and day difference. On the right where there’s no coating, water clings together and sheets much more slowly. On the left where I’ve applied Adam’s Graphene Ceramic Coating, the water doesn’t even want to be on the surface.

One more thing. If you’ve been keeping up with this channel, you know that I’ve been testing a few different car blow dryers. This was because I was using a blow dryer that’s kind of underpower and it struggled to blow dry a car. Well, how does the same leaf blower fair now with Graphene Ceramic Coating? To be honest, this test really surprised me. Graphene Ceramic Coating has allowed the weak leaf blower to blow water clear across the hood, from one side to the other. I was not able to do this with any of the dedicated car dryers that I’ve tried. This tells me that one, with this coating you may not need to blow money on a dedicated car blow dryer and just use a leaf blower if you have one. Two, if you have a nice car blow dryer, water is going to blast off like crazy. Again, I find this impressive.

So that’s Adam’s Graphene Ceramic Coating after one week. I can confidently say this is the most hydrophobic coating that I’ve ever applied. It’s great in that regard but hopefully, the other selling points of this coating also hold true, particularly that it will give 7+ years of protection. Only time will tell.

I’ll be making periodic updates so make sure to subscribe for that. If you’ve enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up and share it around. Comment down below with any thoughts or questions. If you’d like to support my work, check out my Patreon or the other ways of contributing down in the description blow. Thanks a lot.

If you're considering buying any of the products mentioned, please support my work by using the links below.


Adam's Graphene Ceramic Coating https://amzn.to/32wHzux

Adam's Car Shampoo https://amzn.to/2RkyoGW

All the Auto Detailing Equipment I Use: https://www.amazon.com/ideas/amzn1.account.AF43XRPGVOUH2E5CJXQY4FIOGVAQ/3AI3XVAQEMORX?type=explore&ref=idea_cp_vl_ov_d

Want to support my work?

Consider visiting the shop and buying "Absolutely Nothing" https://www.HaiHoangTran.com/shop/absolutely-nothing

or

Become a Patron!
https://www.patreon.com/HaiHoangTran

or

PayPal
https://www.PayPal.me/HaiHoangTran

or

Just shop on Amazon via this link!
https://amzn.to/2FgsDnG

Griot's Fine Glass Polish & Glass Polishing Pads

in

As you can see, my Supra has a good amount of water spots on the various glass surfaces. Now that the side windows and rear windshield are tinted, the water spots just stick out and are super noticeable. I have to do something about it and have decided to approach this problem by polishing the glass.

Normally, this can just be done with regular compound but while prepping for the project, I discovered that Griot’s Garage developed a glass specific polishing products. So, I picked up the Fine Glass Polish and Glass Polishing Pads and I’m going to share with you my experiences with these products.

If you’re interested in any products used, there will be links to everything below.

To start off, I would suggest taping up the edges of the windows. I attempted to do this but the tape just would not stick to my window trim so I gave up on the idea. I would suggest to do this from the start because it’ll save you on clean up time. I went back and got things figured out later but again, it's better to tape up the edges from the start.

Prior to polishing, it’s important to do the necessary cleaning prep because if not, we may pick up contaminants while polishing, smear it around and cause even more damage.

Let’s first clean the glass to get rid of any obvious dirt and debris. To do this, I’m using Meguiar’s Perfect Clarity Glass Cleaner. Instead of spraying directly on the glass, I like to spray into a microfiber towel and then spread the glass cleaner on. This helps to prevent overspray on other surfaces. I’m just going to wipe on, then flip the towel to a dry section and wipe off any excess.

Next, we’re going to work to remove the contaminants that we can’t necessarily see by claying the glass. I’ll be using Meguiar’s Mild Professional Detailing Clay and Last Touch Spray Detailer as a lubricant. I’m going to first spray the glass down with the spray detailer. We want enough lubricant for the clay to move but still offer some tactile feel. If you put too much lubricant down, the clay will just glide over everything and won’t be too effective at picking up contaminants. When claying, only light pressure is needed. Move it back and forth, making sure to cover all surfaces. If your windows are heavily contaminated, you’ll be able to hear and feel the substance, even under the clay. Normally, once the surface is clean it’ll be smooth to the touch but water spots themselves can provide a feedback that claying won’t remove.

Now, we are ready to polish the glass. Because Griot’s advertises that their glass polishing products as being good for both hand and machine polishing, I decided to first give hand polishing a try. Griot’s manufactures the glass polishing pad in a 3 and 6-inch size. I personally picked up the 6” because it was cheaper and the all-around better deal. The 3” will likely fit in the hand more comfortably for hand polishing and will more easily fit in smaller sections of glass but I can realistically trim the 6” pad down and get more bang for the buck. These pads are intended to be used with a machine polisher but Griot’s also recommends them for hand polishing glass so we’ll see how they do. To start off, I’m just going to put a few pea-sized dots of Fine Glass Polish on the pad to test the combo out and see what it can do. If you’re trying this out for yourself, know that every case is going to be different. My water spots are not going to be the same as yours so you’ll have to do your own testing. For a project like this, hand polishing is usually going to take a lot more time and effort than using a polisher. You’re likely going to have to do a lot of scrubbing and likely over multiple attempts. When it comes to actually polishing, I’m just going at it. Up and down, side to side, circles, whatever. I’m just trying to hit everything. Luckily, glass has a very hard surface so it’s pretty difficult to mess this up. Polishing paint is different so don’t take what you’re seeing here and transfer it to paint. One advantage of hand polishing is the ability to go right up to the edge. Even if I were to use a polisher, it’s very likely that I would have to still go back and hand polish the sections that the machine can’t get. Once the polish is expended, it’ll become more transparent and at this point, we can wipe it off and check the work.

For me, there was still a good amount of water spots around the edges but once we move towards the middle, where most of the scrubbing was done, the glass looks clear and spot-free, at least on camera. In-person, the glass still has some very minor lines from the edges of the water spots.

After a few passes, I would say that the water spots are greatly reduced but I wasn’t able to get rid of everything. I could’ve but at this point, I just decided that it would take too long to remove all my water spots by hand. I’ve been at it for about half an hour and I’m not even done with one window so you can only imagine how long it would take to do all the glass surfaces by hand.

At this point, it’s time to pull out the polisher. If there’s one thing that hand polishing has shown, it’s that the water spots can definitely be removed. If hand polishing can do it, the machine should clear things up in no time.

Flat out, the polisher is going to take care of the water spots. There was never really a doubt in my mind about that. It’s a great and fast way to approach water spots but there are two negatives in my mind. First, is of course the cost. If you don’t have a polisher then you’ll have to buy one or get one somehow. Second, the polisher is most helpful when you’re able to use multiple sized pads. For this project, I only used a 6” pad on a dual action polisher. This worked well on the rear windshield where there was a lot of space to cover, but I struggled on the side windows. For these smaller sections, a 3” pad would’ve been nice. I would’ve been able to get closer to the edges and get a lot more done with the polisher. Because I didn’t have the smaller pads, I ended up having to go back and hand polish the edges and small corners.

So, what do I think about Griot’s Fine Glass Polish and Glass Polishing Pads? At the end of the day, I was able to significantly reduce my water spot problem. I got rid of them in the main center sections of the glass and just have to go back and hand polish out some edges. Do these products work? Yes, but I don’t think they are the most efficient. When Griot’s advertises the polish as fine, they really mean it. It just doesn’t have a lot of cutting power and I feel the same about the glass polishing pads. It just doesn’t cut very well. The label of the polish says “removes mild water marks” but what does that mean? I would guess that it’s only for water spots that are fairly new. Those that have been sitting just long enough that all the chemical water spots removers can’t remove. For the average person, I would assume that this type of water spot is going to be uncommon. People who have water spots are likely those who didn’t care before and are going to have spots that have been baked on for months or years. The Supra shown in this video was only 4 months old at the time and I would say that the glass polish and pads struggled a bit. Both can be more aggressive. When it comes to the Glass Polishing Pads, I realized that it didn’t provide enough cut when I went back and hand polished the corners. I switched it up and used a felt applicator pad that I had lying around. This thing cuts the water spots so much faster than the glass polishing pads. This tells me that with a proper pad, the glass polish will be even more effective with a polisher.

To summarize, the Griot’s glass polishing products are more so intended for light water spots. They can remove heavily baked-on water spots but it’s going to take more effort and more attempts. If you’re willing to put in the work then I can definitely recommend these products.

If you're considering buying any of the products mentioned, please support my work by using the links below.


Griot's Fine Glass Polish https://amzn.to/3iCYrFf

Griot's Glass Polishing Pads 6" https://amzn.to/3mqQy8h

Griot's Glass Polishing Pads 3" https://amzn.to/35Gjxiw

Meguiar's Perfect Clarity Glass Cleaner https://amzn.to/2RvfMnK

Meguiar’s C2000 Mirror Glaze Professional Detailing Clay https://amzn.to/3isPa2p

Meguiar’s Last Touch Spray Detailer https://amzn.to/2E1g7vo

All the Auto Detailing Equipment I Use: https://www.amazon.com/ideas/amzn1.account.AF43XRPGVOUH2E5CJXQY4FIOGVAQ/3AI3XVAQEMORX?type=explore&ref=idea_cp_vl_ov_d

Want to support my work?

Consider visiting the shop and buying "Absolutely Nothing" https://www.HaiHoangTran.com/shop/absolutely-nothing

or

Become a Patron!
https://www.patreon.com/HaiHoangTran

or

PayPal
https://www.PayPal.me/HaiHoangTran

or

Just shop on Amazon via this link!
https://amzn.to/2FgsDnG

Adam's Graphene Ceramic Coating on Paint Protection Film

in

I recently got the Supra wrapped in XPEL Ultimate Plus paint protection film and in preparation for this, the car had to be completely stripped of any previous coatings. The paint has to be bear in order for the film to properly adhere to the paint. This is before PPF application, after application and although XPEL advertises that you’ll get 10 years of life out of the film, you’d really want to coat the film to get anywhere near that longevity. Coating the film is relatively simple as you pretty much just do whatever you do with the paint, whether it is waxing, using a sealant, or some other coating. I figured since I’m hoping to keep this film on for a long time, I might as well go for an extremely durable coating. After some research, I’ve decided on Adam’s Graphene Ceramic Coating. With other types of coatings, we get weeks with waxes, months with sealants, then years with ceramics. 1-2 years is pretty standard now with ceramic type coatings and 3+ years is pretty good. With Graphene Ceramic Coating, Adam’s is claiming 7+ years of protection. Of course, all these durability ratings are based on lab tests and when a car is actually driven and faces the elements, a lot of things can go wrong for a coating and durability can take a huge hit. I know this but I’m still going to be optimistic and go with what I’ve seen advertised as essentially the longest lasting coating.

This video is by no means a how-to video or an in-depth breakdown of Adam’s Graphene Ceramic Coating. It’s just going to be me attempting to apply this product to my PPF and provide you with some information that I’ve come across that may be helpful for anyone else who’s interested in this product. If you’d like to learn more about application or the product, I’d suggest watching the video that Adam’s made on their YouTube channel. It’s pretty detailed and where I got a lot of my information. With that being said, let’s get into it.

Like any other paint protection coating, to get the best performance, we have to spend some time prepping the surface prior to application. This means that we should, in order, wash the car, chemically decontaminate, mechanically decontaminate, then paint correct and polish if necessary. This particular application is weird. The PPF throws a big wrench into the process so it’s going to be very different than what most people are going to deal with.

To start, I’m going to wash the car. This gets rid of any obvious dirt and debris. Things that we don’t want on the surface in general and definitely not under any coatings. On this occasion, I used Adam’s Car Shampoo.

Next, I’ll be moving on to decontaminating the surface. I usually start this with chemical decontamination but with the PPF, I was advised not to use any harsh chemicals. That covers quite a large spectrum. I wasn’t given specifics but I’m going to play it safe and skip the chemical decontamination stage because that requires the use of an iron remover which is kind of harsh. It also helps that this car hasn’t been driven since the PPF was installed so there shouldn’t be a crazy amount of fallout on the surface. So, I just move straight to mechanical decontamination. According to the official XPEL website, their PPF can be clay barred so that’s great. For this step, I’m using Meguiar’s Mild Professional Detailing Clay and Meguiar’s Last Touch Spray Detailer as a lube.

Now that the surface has been decontaminated, the next typical step is to take care of any necessary paint correction. I couldn’t find any specifics on the XPEL website but I’m personally not going to polish the film. Because the PPF is a softer plastic, it can pick up scratches and when you paint correct, you are essentially abrading away the scratches, leaving smaller scratches. Doing this on the film can be extremely touchy, it’s not a situation that I’m comfortable with so I’m going to avoid it.

By skipping the chemical decontamination stage and paint correction, it likely means that I’ve reduced the coating’s chance at an optimal bond with the film, but that’s a trade-off that I’m willing to take. The risks of doing these stages are unknown to me and can be extremely detrimental. I’d rather have to reapply the coating than reapply the film.

At this point, let’s take a look at the product. I bought the complete kit with UV light and this comes with everything that’s needed for the application itself. An important inclusion is the Surface Prep spray. This is an isopropyl alcohol mix and is designed to strip the surface of any remaining waxes and residues. It should be noted that 99% isopropyl alcohol can be used to clean the XPEL film so this mixture should be safe.

Now that I’ve stripped the surface to the best of my abilities, I’m ready to apply Adam’s Graphene Ceramic Coating. Applying this product is similar to many other highly concentrated ceramic coatings. You apply the coating on with the provided applicator, wait for it to rainbow and flash, then level the coating. It’s a relatively straightforward and easy process but if you’ve never done this before, I’d highly suggest watching the application video that’s on the official Adam’s YouTube page.

This kit comes with some suede applicators and towels and that seems to be the preferred way to apply this coating and to level it off. The suede keeps the coating from fully saturating the applicator and you’re able to spread it around more easily. Then when it comes time to buff and level, the suede towel is a bit tougher and stiffer so it cuts through the flashed coating and takes it off a bit easier than a standard microfiber towel.

When you apply this coating, it will begin to rainbow shortly after it hits the surface. This is very dependent on atmospheric conditions and flash times can vary. When the rainbow disappears, it’s time to buff and level the coating. The rainbow can be difficult to see on lighter color cars so you can double-check by touching the surface. The coating will become tackier and less shiny when it’s time to wipe. It is recommended that you level the coating as soon as possible but you do have some wiggle room. Things should be fine if you get to it within a few minutes. It really depends on conditions but Adam’s customer service told me that you have up to a few hours but again, there’s a lot of variables that come into play. Just watch it and get it off when it’s ready. The longer you leave the coating on, the harder it is to level as it hardens.

Now, something to note is that this product has what Adam’s calls UV Tracer Technology. This basically means that the coating will glow when exposed to a certain spectrum of UV light. So, if you hit it with an appropriate UV light like the one Adam’s sells, you can see where you’ve applied the coating. To be honest, this didn’t work very well for me and I find it largely gimmicky. If you use the UV light with any decent amount of light, it is basically too weak and makes it difficult to decipher between what’s coated and what’s not. Everything just looks purple. The UV light works a lot better at night or when it’s dark. This would only be helpful for those who have an indoor space where you can shut off the lights, check your work, turn the lights back on, and fix any necessary mistakes. If you’re working outside, the only time when the light is really useful is at night but then it’s too dark to actually work.

And that’s about it. Overall, the process went without a hitch. I found the coating itself to be easy to apply. If you’ve done any other ceramic coating, it’s about the same difficulty. I’m looking forward to seeing how the coating holds up but only time will tell. I’ll periodically make update videos to show you guys how the coating’s doing so make sure to subscribe to my YouTube for that.

If you're considering buying any of the products mentioned, please support my work by using the links below.

Adam's Graphene Ceramic Coating https://amzn.to/32wHzux

Adam's Car Shampoo https://amzn.to/2RkyoGW

Meguiar’s C2000 Mirror Glaze Professional Detailing Clay https://amzn.to/3isPa2p

Meguiar’s Last Touch Spray Detailer https://amzn.to/2E1g7vo

Adam's Surface Prep https://amzn.to/2Rqf6zU

All the Auto Detailing Equipment I Use: https://www.amazon.com/ideas/amzn1.account.AF43XRPGVOUH2E5CJXQY4FIOGVAQ/3AI3XVAQEMORX?type=explore&ref=idea_cp_vl_ov_d

Want to support my work?

Consider visiting the shop and buying "Absolutely Nothing" https://www.HaiHoangTran.com/shop/absolutely-nothing

or

Become a Patron!
https://www.patreon.com/HaiHoangTran

or

PayPal
https://www.PayPal.me/HaiHoangTran

or

Just shop on Amazon via this link!
https://amzn.to/2FgsDnG

Toyota Supra INJEN Evolution 2300 Intake

in

For this install, we’re going to first focus on removing the stock intake. Begin by removing the temperature sensor. This is done by pulling the grey tab up, pressing it in, and then pulling up on the temp sensor wire harness. Next, loosen up the 6mm nut that’s holding the intake tube clamp in place. At this point, we can remove the airbox from the engine bay. You can tear the box down further but I like to remove the entire thing in one piece. The airbox is held in place by 3 rubber grommets and they like to come out with the box. If this happens, remove the grommets from the bottom of the airbox and place them back in the engine bay.

Next, we have to remove the intake tube. This is held in place at 3 points. At the bottom of the intake tube, you’ll need to remove a retaining clip. The easiest way that I’ve found to do this is to slip a small flathead screwdriver into one of the exposed ridges and then pull the entire thing out. Save this clip as we’ll be needing it later on. The intake tube will also be attached to the crankcase hose. This needs to be squeezed at the knurling then pulled out. Lastly, the is an electrical wire that is attached to the other side of the intake tube. To get this wire out, you have to pull the two front tabs down and push the top back. After disconnecting these 3 things, the intake tube is now free and can be removed.

Next, locate the turbo adapter and 3.5” hump hose from the Injen kit. Attach the two parts together with the provided clamps. Only tighten the clamp on the turbo adapter side for now. At this point, we have to remove the o-ring that’s inside of the stock intake tube and place it in the groove of the turbo adapter. Be careful with the o-ring. If it’s cracked, torn, or worn out, you’ll need to replace it. Now, take the retaining clip that we removed earlier from the bottom of the stock intake tube and re-install it into the Injen turbo adapter. Make sure that the OEM o-ring and retaining clip are seated correctly. If that is so, we can move forward with installing the turbo adapter assembly into the vehicle. With this, you just have to push it into place. The retaining clip will expand and slip back into place by itself. Double-check that the assembly is seated properly and not going anywhere by giving it a little pull.

Next, we’re going to remove the temp sensor from the OEM airbox. This is held in place by two T25 torx screws. Re-install the temp sensor into the Injen intake tube. Make sure to use the provided Injen M4 button head screws and do not reuse the OEM screws in the Injen intake. Now, we can take the intake tube and attach it to the turbo adapter assembly. Once it’s in place, you can tighten the clamp. At this point, you can also attach the crankcase hose into the Injen intake tube.

Moving to the Injen airbox, we’re going to install the heatshield to the bottom of the airbox with the provided M6 screws. Next, take the filter and install it into the airbox. Once it’s seated, give the filter a 1/4” turn in either direction to lock it in place. We can now take the airbox assembly and place it in the engine bay, using the stock rubber grommets. Once it’s in place, attach the intake tube to the airbox assembly and hold the two together by tightening the clamp.

Lastly, re-connect the temperature sensor harness and we are done.

And there you have it. The Injen EVO2300 intake installed on the A90 Supra. With something like this, I typically provide some sound clips but this Supra is still in the break-in period and I don’t want to rev it like crazy so you’ll just have to subscribe to my YouTube channel for that when I release it. As far as the install, it was pretty straightforward. I didn’t personally run into any problems but if you do and need some help, drop a comment and I’ll do my best to help you out. If you want to support my work, I do have a Patreon and a variety of other outlets linked below.

Want to support my work?

Consider visiting the shop and buying "Absolutely Nothing" https://www.HaiHoangTran.com/shop/absolutely-nothing

or

Become a Patron!
https://www.patreon.com/HaiHoangTran

or

PayPal
https://www.PayPal.me/HaiHoangTran

or

Just shop on Amazon via this link!
https://amzn.to/2FgsDnG