Carpro essence
 

A thread for reviews and discussion of carpro essence!

I've been able to work with this product on a few cars now, enough to give a mini review.

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The short of it is, I like this product. Functions as a all in one polish but also serves as a primer for adding protection on-top like carpro reload or Cquartz UK.
It has a very forgiving working time, I purposely overworked a section and you'd need to be really overworking the compound to end up with dusting.

With a heavier cut pad like carpros flash pad I was able to polish out hazing, swirls and oxidation pretty easily while finishing out without the need to use a softer pad.
Going after deeper scratches isn't really it's intended purpose all though I've been told it can cut further with a microfiber cutting pad.

My first test application was my father BMW which overall was in good shape. The decklid was a good test of its correcting potential.

I used carpros 5" flash pad on a DA polisher. Working time of around 60 seconds per section.
Decklid before/after
https://i.imgur.com/T9gXrmU.jpeg

All finished, topped with carpro reload(silica sealant)
https://i.imgur.com/nsqj1f7.jpeg

Looking good. Essence is a good product.

Don't forget however, although it is described as a primer for a sealant or coating you still need to follow up each panel with an IPA wipe prior to installing any sealants or coatings.

When I first started detailing I was obsessed with CarPro. If you have the opportunity, I'd highly recommend you giving Optimum HyperPolish & OptiCoat Hyperseal a try.

Hyperseal is based off of their 3 Year Coating called GlossCoat. If Installed correctly, Hyperseal last 1 year and is very similar in pricing to Reload.

On soft paint like our cars have, I really like Optimum Hyperpolish too. I've also found Griots BOSS Perfecting Cream works great too.

I've been tempted to use a primer/polish like Essence, but since you still need a panel wipe before applying the coating, I struggle to use it in the place of a more traditional polish I already have on hand.

All that aside, I've heard nothing but good things about Essence and the results here look great.

I've used essence a couple times since. About a month ago I stripped off the old optimum gloss coat from my car, and applied two layers of Cquartz UK and one layer SIC. SIC is slicker and is advertised as having better water spot resistance. Something I had issues with using gloss coat. It's also a standalone but I've seen a few people use this combo and my car was the perfect candidate to test it out.

Polished off old coating with scholl S20 black paired with a neo spider pad.(will use S30 next time). I had used optimum hyper seal as a dry aid every wash, and wanted to make sure everything was gone before using essence.
Then followed up with essence and a gloss pad. Results as seen are great. Essence finished nicely, it even cleaned up the tired PPF on my bumper which I was planning to replace next season.

Passenger door after using essence https://i.imgur.com/eO4spLn.jpeg

First bit of sunlight after curing for 24 hours in the garage.
https://i.imgur.com/abfcPAS.jpeg

How it the coating reacts with light rain
https://i.imgur.com/LCebKtQ.jpg


Few more photos from polishing
https://imgur.com/a/OilkUfA


Finished shots
https://imgur.com/a/UsuXcAo

I haven't tried hyper polish but it's been on the list of things to buy. I have local access to get some along with other opti-coat branded stuff like MDR and ferrex.

Hyper seal is great, I have some of the old formula left that I used with gloss coat on my car. Gloss coat didn't last particularly long on lower panels with our winters, but using hyper seal as a dry aid every wash really kept the paint mostly contamination free the three years before I applied another coating.

I can see how essence has its use case. Going forward I will probably only use it when I apply Cquartz coatings as a finishing polish to get the last bit of gloss. Or as a one step when the car can sit for an hour or two before letting it go and applying the sealant towards the end.

I understand with essence leaving it on the paint for one hour minimum before using a paint prep/IPA wipe is recommended. I've read some suggest up to 10 hours gave better results but I don't find that practical.

For sure! Ferrex is amazing, especially because you can use it as a clay lubricant for a clay towel and knock out two birds with one stone.

Glosscoat has been my favorite coating to install and a staple for all of my clients for my detailing business. The thing however I've found is that you can't follow the install instructions. 8 to 10 droplets per panel is not enough and that's what they tell you to do on the bottle.

I do about 30-40 drops to "prime" my applicator pad and then about 15-25 per panel depending on the size and let it dwell for a good bit and self level prior to wiping. The golden ticket has been waiting about an hour and a half after install and then going back and layering Hyperseal instead of OptiSeal to really lock it in.

TLDR version; I still love working with Carpro essence. Seems to amp gloss that little bit extra.


Revisiting this thread with the same car almost a year later for another round of polish. Old man ended up with a couple nasty door dings he wanted cleaned up.. ended up combining his father's day and birthday gift into a coating package. Pretty much gave him the works minus headlight restoration as I ran out of time.

Was technically a two step polish as I used essence as the primer and coated with Cquartz UK+SIC combo. Did a light pass on the entire car with optimum intensive polish and fixed the dings as best I could.

https://i.imgur.com/vhiCUuj.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/sNZfXxU.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/BUWYtgG.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/KVgyTxz.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/DCJyNNz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dT2FPK8.jpg

Those wheels don't look fun to clean, at all. But it looks like you did a great job on them (and the car), congrats!

Also nice job on getting the majority of those scratches out! Good stuff, and I'm sure your dad was thrilled.

Thanks!
The first thing I told him was I hate your wheels :lol:
Did about as much as I'm comfortable doing on the scratches. Cars a daily and need to save clear for more future touch ups if needed.
Cars getting delivered back to him today I am sure he'll be over the moon happy.

Great work! My first thought was "those headlights need a restoration.." and then I more carefully read your post lol

Probably takes more time to clean those wheels than the rest of the car.

What did you use on the exhaust tips?

Wheels and tips took longer than decontaminating the rest of the paint lol..
For the tips I used APC and steel wool to get the badly baked in carbon off then followed up with metal polish and mothers powerball.
Right tip had a little etching damage from carbon eating the metal. Got the okay to clean that carbon off which required small steel brush on a drill at low speed.
https://i.imgur.com/y8y9tQs.jpg

Once the coating cures I'll have the headlights done. Going to try the griots kit out based on positive feedback.
Eventual plan is to have a kit with UV lamp to restore headlights with OEM type coating, but haven't got there yet.

Very nice.

I also use a mothers powerball. The shine looks great, and it makes quick work of the polishing. So far I've been able to avoid carbon build up by cleaning the tips regularly... but good to know for future. Thanks!

Did a follow up wash on the old man's car. Combo performing excellent as I expected.
https://i.imgur.com/l7zOZGv.jpeg

Also gave the cerakote headlight kit a go. It does not include enough sandpaper but otherwise the chemical to attack oxidization and the clear/cermaic top coat works nicely.
https://i.imgur.com/h2KrSF9.jpeg

Did a red GR86 with same Essence/UK3.0/SIC. Paint almost looks orange after we finished with it.

https://i.imgur.com/t5ydmQb.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/FyTXpbB.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/xS9QREp.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DgfCCOD.jpeg