Nikwax waterproofing products, RATING ?

[tvrjohn]

Hi
Daily biker and my gear seems to be letting the water in more regular

Looking for suitable waterproofer
Do these products work ?

Any comments ?
Cheers

[black-k1]

If you are looking at making leather items waterproof then my experience is that it can’t be done! Products like Nikwax slow down the water ingress, but the never seem to manage to stop it.

[dern]

If you're looking at the spray on or wash in stuff for textile gear then yes they do work but they're a really expensive way of doing it. A much better way to do it it to get a big tin (5l) of tent proofer like fabsil and paint it on. It'll work very well and be much much more cost effective.

I have heard that you can use brick water proofer too which is even cheaper. I understand that the B&Q even says you can use it on tents which would address the only reservation I have with brick proofer in that it may not be flexible enough. Haven't tried it yet though but will when my current tin of fabsil runs out (lasted a few years so far).

I've used the nikwax wax on boots and trousers and like k1 says it helps but doesn't solve the problem if your stuff wasn't designed to be waterproof in the first place.

Regards,

Mark

[johnnystorm]

First step is to make sure that the clothing is clean first, dirty waterproofs will let in water. If they still leak then the cleaner the better for the proofers to work if you use them. I think that it's simple enough to waterproof most materials but keeping water out of the seams is the problem.

[sjtscott]

tvrjohn said:

Hi
Daily biker and my gear seems to be letting the water in more regular

Looking for suitable waterproofer
Do these products work ?

Any comments ?
Cheers

What type of gear and how much use has it had?

I use goretex gear round town and have never ever had a problem at all, its used year round and I've never washed any of it (other than rain of course ). After a while everything fails and starts to let in water but with daily commuting I can expect that. In almost 7 years of commuting I'm on my third pair of boots (these really do get a mullering with daily use) using top notch (£200) daytona goretex ones I can get over 2 years out of a pair before they are totalled and let in water. Now on second gericke jacket and quite suprisingly original gerick trousers still. I personally don't keep count of gloves but I've got a goretex winter pair from good old frank thomas that are a few years old that certainly do the job. I use vented leather based ones in the summer and really don't mind them not being waterproof in the warmer weather.