Despite many years of owning a variety of nice cars, I still have a bit of a mental block when it comes to cleaning them. I do of course love to see them clean, but if it involves me dipping my paws in soapy water then I can usually find something more pressing to do – like tidying my sock drawer...
I’ve had cars washed, polished and waxed before. Our Cerbera was treated to a ‘Miracle Detail’, which transformed it from a scratched specimen into a fine shiny beast - for a few months.
Short of getting the experts around again for another day long session, keeping the cars clean for more than a few months still presents me with a challenge I’m not willing to face up to.
The latest company to claim they can assist is G|Techniq. Founded by Drew Gill, the story goes that he too got fed up with conventional creams, waxes and lotions. Living in the Far East, he also found that the permanent transparent films and treatments used to prevent stone chips would discolour or degrade in the vicious sunlight.
So Drew went to talk to some chemist types to see if he could develop a cross between a wax and a transparent film. Together with Bayer and BASF they devised a new coating that could be applied to paintwork. They claim it uses “nano-technology” to bond with the paintwork forming a tough, transparent protective coating over the body of a car (or boat or jumbo jet). Applied too thickly it actually crystallises into a very hard rough crust – a useful demonstration of the nature of the product.
I was obviously a bit nervous of having a ‘new’ treatment applied to my pride and joy so I grilled G|Techiq’s man in the UK, Rob Earle before I let them loose on it. He showed me some of the vehicles they’ve applied it to (all manner of exotica) and went through some of the commercial contracts they’re working on (car manufacturers, airlines, etc).
Reassured that my car wasn’t going to turn green shortly after, I took a drive over to Rob’s facility in Hertfordshire and delivered one cleanish 911 ready to be treated. The paintwork was in pretty good shape when I bought the car albeit with plenty of swirl marks visible upon close inspection. Fortunately white hides these unless you look close up.
Eight hours later I returned to find a gleaming 911 sitting under the fluorescent lights in their workshop. The car had been cleaned and a very fine layer of paint buffed off to remove or smooth off any scratches. Subsequent to that, Rob and his technician applied a very thin layer of G|Techniq magic goo to protect the surface. This hardens and bonds with the paintwork leaving a very smooth surface with protective qualities claimed to be 40% better than wax.
Since having it treated I’ve done one track day and about 1500 miles around Spain in searing heat. After the track day the car was still clean – with just a few melted bits of rubber on the bodywork. They seemed as stubborn as usual to remove so no noticeable difference there. Where it did show benefit was with the grime and road kill obtained in Spain. The front of the car was peppered with dead flies and a damp cloth was all that was required to shift them. I don’t seem to have suffered any significant stone chipping to the front either – that could be lack of stones or hopefully the G|Techniq coating doing its job.
I haven’t got around to washing the car yet (when do I ever?), but a quick dab at one section with a damp cloth has shown the panels behaving as if they’ve been treated to a good traditional wax. The real difference will hopefully be in the longevity of the coating. Although the company don’t claim it will last forever I’m hoping it will give a significant improvement over the equivalent application of wax and some of the protection of a plastic film.
I’ll report back in a few months time…