EKennett

Hello all, I was give the opportunity to review HD Nitro Seal from the manufacturer and I agreed to write a review sharing my thoughts. Without further ado...

Test subject is a 2005 Acura TL in Abyss Blue Pearl. This car is daily driven and parked outside. I'm not sure if and/or how the owner washes this car, but I do know he is hard his cars. I gave the car a good wash in Chemical Guys Citrus Wash, follows by decontamination with a Speedy Prep towel and polish with Meguiars M205 on a LC 5.5” white flat pad with a Flex 3401 on speed 5. The car was then wiped down with 12% IPA to prep it for the Nitro Seal.

Here's a few before shots to give you an idea what we are working with:





Here's how Nitro Seal arrives to the user:



And the contents of this nice little package:



Even comes with a pair of gloves to protect your skin:



Here's what the manufacturer has to say about the product:

“HD® Nitro SealTM, a revolutionary two-part co-polymer synthetic paint sealant technology, is designed to offer the ultimate paint protection available while delivering a superior “Melted Glass” like effect to the paint. This patented system is the first of its kind. HD® Nitro SealTMdumoffers the best in paint protection in the industry. Its extreme water beading properties and polymeric shield will repel contaminants and keep vehicle clean for longer periods of time. Can be used on all exterior hard surfaces of automobiles including glass, metal, chrome, and wheels.
Each bottle is carefully topped with nitrogen gas for ultimate preservation of our leading edge technology. Part A provides excellent surface affinity anddumspread abilitydumthrough its incredible wetting feature, helps to anchor the product to the car paint. When Part B is applied over Part A, the two chemicals will react and cure to a superior hard protective coating.”

Basically, you spread part A onto the paint, then go back over it with part B. The kit is complete with applicators for each product, and the directions are pretty thorough. The only question I had was about how long to let part A sit on the paint before applying part B. I ended up putting part A on the entire car then going back for part B.

Some observations from application:

I don't like the bottle tops. I understand the bottles are purged of air with Nitrogen, but HD would make out lives a lot easier if they included flip caps to put on the bottles rather than having to try and keep from getting too much product on the applicator with the open bottle tops.
I also ended up spilling a bunch of part A on the ground when I leaned over too far and tipped the bottle. This would not have happened with a flip top.
I also lost control of an applicator and went to catch it with my other hand (the hand holding the bottle) and ended up spilling even more of the product. Partially my fault, but HD can do better with making the bottles more user friendly.

Here are some shots of Nitro Seal curing on the paint. Instructions say cure for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. I let it sit for about an hour while I did a basic clean up on the interior.





I also found the product difficult to apply. Part A spreads out incredibly thin. Just three “drops” on the applicator pad did the whole hood, one fender, and half the roof. When I went back over it with part B, I just couldn't tell how much I applied. I didn't know how much product to use for proper coverage so I probably used too much product. I found myself really hating this product as I put it on, and thinking I would probably just throw out the rest and not use it again.

However, my mind was changed very quickly once I wiped the product off. (I should also note the kit comes with a yellow MF towel which had a “Kirkland's best” tag on it. This seems cheap to me, I wish HD would have included a higher quality MF towel to be used on paint for LSP removal, but in the spirit of testing this product, I used this towel to wipe off the product) The product wiped off super easy and paint just looked fantastic. I ran out of sunlight so all of my afters are under artificial lights.

Right after wipe off:





I took the car to an empty parking lot and used street lights and a tripod for “beauty shots.” Some of these pictures have up to a 2 second exposure.

















Overall thoughts:

I've explained what I thought to be the product's shortcomings above. However, the look of the finished paint floored me. The “up to a year” protection advertised by the manufacturer will serve this client very well as I would not be surprised if this car has never been waxed since it left the dealership in 2005. Despite my mutterings of throwing the leftovers away while I was applying this stuff, I ended up washing the applicators and putting the leftover product in my wax fridge so I can use it again. I threw out the MF because I didn't know if the spent product would make it harmful to use on the paint. With a towel like this though, there is really no benefit to washing a re-using, just use a new towel if you use to Nitro Seal again.

As far as comparing it to other products, the only thing I have experience with is the DP Paint Coating. I would tend to gravitate towards that over the Nitro Seal as I found it easier to apply, being essentially a “spray, wipe and walk away” product which is supposed to have up to 2 years of protection when applied properly. It also made the paint look fantastic, I described it as looking like somebody had poured molten glass over the car and let it harden (I used this when I visited Autogeek's garage last month, and Nick showed me his car which had the coating applied a few days prior for testing).

I would recommend HD Nitro Seal to a more “nerdy” detailer who likes the idea of doing a chemistry experiment right on the hood of their car. For detailers who are making money trying maximaze time vs. profit, then one of the other coatings on the market is probably a better choice.

HD Nitro Seal can be purchased from Autopia Care Care
http://www.autopia-store.org/HD-Nitro-Seal.html