Weird Things Happen... and Finding Stuff in One's Garage

During my trip on April 5th to Chiba Prefecture to visit Worx Auto Alarm with my friend Dino,  a slight sprinkling of rain hit the car on the way over.  While I was pleased to see how well the Echelon 1043 Nano-Fil paint protection I had gotten applied during its full detail at Rapt was holding up, by the time I got home, I was too busy and tired to properly wash the salt spray (from the ocean) and dirt (in general) off the car.

So last weekend, I spent about an hour washing the car. Compared to previous car wash sessions where I would have to carve out a few hours time to ensure I would have time to give the car a quick once over after the wash to apply some Zaino using my Porter Cable orbital buffer, this time the wash was a strictly water and car wash (Zaino Z7) solution, because the Echelon coating is supposed to last a few years (and I don't want to scratch unnecessarily, right?)

Unfortunately, right as I began washing, I spotted this:

WTF? When did that happen?

So yes was not happy. I thought about if there had been any vandalism to the car, but since this was really the first time I had driven a long distance since getting the car professionally detailed, I was confused as to how this could have happened.  Luckily, it's only a sticker, and so I will have it replaced with a new one soon.

Meanwhile, once I calmed down I continued to finish cleaning the car. After I dried it, I found this in my garage:

So this water repellant (i.e. Rain-X copy) product, called Clean View Glass Coat X2 Strong, made by Ichinen Chemicals, claims to last twice as long, and become effective at 38kph. It also claims to have 2 ingredients, fluoride as well as silicon. I almost don't think it's worth it, because one of Dino's questions when he drove my car was, "what did Kabe-san at Rapt put on the windshield?" pointing to how the rain rolled off the windshield.  At the same time, I noticed for some reason that the rain did not fly off the rear window thus suggesting that other than a quick polish of the glass surface, nothing special was applied (there is an Echelon product for glass that is supposedly amazing but I don't recall paying for that...)

In any case, I figured I had nothing to lose, especially if I applied this to the rear glass.  Application is simple, just like Rain-X. The liquid seeps though the large circular sponge attached to the end, and then you apply, let dry, and buff off. Presto!

close-up as it dries.

Now I'm not recommending this product, it was something I just found in my garage and further, because I rarely take the car out in the rain, I doubt I will be able to experience it in action. Until, at least, I next wash the car and then I will report...although based on the mediocre feedback on the Minkara Japanese language car blog, I'm not that optimistic.

In the meantime, I have a few real mods and some restore work coming to my car very soon. Stay tuned!