In this video we talk about the benefits and application instructions of Gtechniq C2V3 Liquid Crystal. This silica-based sealant offers enhanced gloss while leaving behind a durable self-cleaning effect.

What is Gtechniq C2V3 all about?

C2V3 is a high gloss spray-on sealant that will blanket your vehicle in a highly reflective, glass-like finish. This sealant is built around the same monomolecular (SI14) technology as the popular C1 Crystal Lacquer, so you know you are receiving great protection with this product!

More information click here.

Video Transcription

(00:00):
Hey guys, James here with Detailed Image. Today I want to go over Gtechniq C2V3. Gtechniq C2V3 A paint sealant I’ve loved for many, many years something I keep going back to you know, I’m always trying new stuff and it’s like, Oh, you know, the latest and greatest sealants. But then I just keep going back to C2V3. And, and I think the reason that is, is it’s ease of use it’s it’s compatibility with a ton of different surfaces, you know, and I think that’s the nice part is, you know, when you’re at the final step, right, you’ve done your corrective work. You’ve, you’ve detailed the car. Sometimes the last thing you want to do is then take six different protective products. And then your, you know, your, one for the wheels, one for the glass, one for the paint. It’s nice to pick one product up, seal everything in like 10 minutes.

(00:52):
C2V3 Compatible with plastic, with wheels, with paint, with exhaust tips with the glass with wood trim inside the car, it’s just, it’s super compatible with everything. And when you can nail down the application of it because it’s, it’s a little bit different, it looks, you know, it, you know, at first glance it’s like, okay, it kind of looks like it would be a spray wax or a quickie detailer. And it’s very, very different, right? It’s definitely, you know, Gtechniq has durability at like four to six months or four to eight months, I should say. So it’s, it is a durable product and in the application is different than a quick detailer. It’s not something you just want to spray all over the paint and wipe and quickly, it’s something you want to just be a little bit more methodical with your application, a little bit more tight and you’re really going to maximize the performance of it.

(01:42):
So I want to go over a little bit about application and kind of go from there. So what we want to do first, and, and granted, this is before any protective product is like this, you know, we want to use something like Gtechniq panel wipe degrees here in oil remover. You could also use isopropyl alcohol and what this is going to do is remove any sort of oils, any sort of polishing residue, any sort of anything that is, that is on the paint that could potentially hurt the durability of C2V3, you know, the biggest, biggest, biggest thing with, with sealants, with coatings, with, with any sort of protective product is preparation, preparation, preparation, preparation, and that’s how you basically get the performance of what in this example Gtechniq has, has tried to, to make. And over the years, I, you know, I, I know I’ve been guilty of it, you know, sometimes I’ll, I’ll use a product really quick and, and I’ll write it off and be like, Oh, I didn’t, you know, I didn’t love that their durability.

(02:39):
Wasn’t great, but you know, maybe I rushed preparation, you know, and that, that’s what I’ve learned over the years is if the more time you put into prepping the surface perfectly, I think the greater your user experience is going to be ultimately and in durability, in, in the use of it in all of those things. So if I could, if there’s one word preparation, that’s a big one. So how, how do we start with that? Right. So we take something like Gtechniq’s Panel Wipe, which is a great degreaser oil remover spray it directly into a microfiber towel. I like to do that just to minimize overspray all over the place. And I and I wipe into the the surface, right. And the biggest thing, you know, with, with these types of wipe downs is I typically like to do two.

(03:26):
So I’ll start with panel a, go around the car, come back and do it one more time. And I just, I take my time with it. I’m just super methodical with how I do that, just to, just to ensure there’s just nothing left. There’s no more wax residues. If you had applied a wax previously, it’s just naked, clean paint, ready for the ready for that paint sealant. So hugely important step after that we go into C2V3, and by no means, is this a difficult application application? There’s a little, there’s a couple different nuances about this product that, that we have to nail down. But other than that, it’s very, very, very simple. What I’d like to do, I like to grab a short nap microfiber towel, I feel with short nap. I get a little bit more control in application I can feel the paint.

(04:11):
So if there is something like, say I missed a piece of tar as I’m doing this, I’m really gonna notice it. I just, I just find, I personally like short nap for application but use what you like. What I do with C2V3 is I’ll shake it up a little bit, just like any product, and I’ll do a couple of sprays directly into the microfiber towel. The reason I do that is I don’t want over-spray on adjacent panels. I mean, I remember when I first used this, I would be spraying kind of like a spray wax. I’d have a little bit of like say droplets of the product on it on an adjacent panel. And I would’ve gone. I would’ve gone around the carpet at the time I came back, they were a little bit difficult to remove. Remember C2V3 based off of it’s, it’s kind of like Gtechniq’s original C1 Crystal Lacquer, which was like a full fledged coating.

(04:59):
So this is kind of like a diluted form of it. Those little spots, those little droplets of old product can be removed with isopropyl alcohol. But if you just let them sit there, they’re going to be a little bit more difficult to remove. So we want to minimize that we don’t want to have to chase product all around the car. We want it contained. So how I approach applying it on the car is I do a border of a panel. So what I do is I do the outline of the whole panel, right? And then fill it in, fill the fill in the rest of the of the paint work. And the reason I’ve gotten the habit of doing that, is it just, it forces me to get full coverage, right? So I, again do the border. I do the outline of the panel and then fill it in.

(05:46):
And it just, it kind of tricks me in order to not miss a spot, because what you get from C2V3 is great water beading, but you get a ton of slickness on the paint, and you’ll really know definitively. If you grab a new towel and you start wiping and you get to a point where you may have missed that, that paint is going to be a little grabby, right. You’re really going to notice it. So you’re going to want to make sure that you just get full coverage. Another another tip is I always go panel by panel, right? So I do, I do this panel. I go to the next one, you know, I’m not spraying and leaving very, very contained. No, take your time with it. And like I said, it can go on everything. So if you’re over here and you want to apply it to the wheels, I would use obviously a different towel, but you can do the wheels.

(06:30):
You can do the glass, you can do everything, which is fantastic. You can do the door jams, go nuts. There’s no kind of limit on what you can apply it to, which is great. Another thing that I’d like to do is, so after I do that first application to the paint, I have my secondary towel and that secondary towel is kind of the final buffing towel. And I usually pair that with, you know, with a, with an led light. And the reason I do that is just to check for high spots, check for streaking, make sure you know, it is a very concentrated product. And we just want to ensure the last thing you want is to pull it outside in the sun, just spent hours, you know, detailing it. And you’re like, Oh, shoot, streaks, streaks, streaks. That’s what you don’t want.

(07:11):
And if you do this application, right, you’re not going to have streaks. And another little, little trick I do is, and I learned this from my good, my good friend my detailing buddy, Kevin is what he does is he’ll do C2V3 about it and distilled water 50 50. And what that’s gonna do is what he does is he’ll do his C2V3 application, full strength on the whole body of the car. When he comes back to panel a where he started, he’ll do a 50 50 diluted C2V3 with water. And he’ll do a second layer. And what that’s going to do is again, add more protection, which is great, but at the same time, it’s going to ensure that if there was any little bits of over-spray, if there was any little bits of, of residue that we didn’t buff off with our first towel or second towel, this third application with diluted product is going to make sure that there’s just, there’s nothing left behind the panel’s going to be crystal clear, no streaks going to be perfect.

(08:10):
So that’s, I think that’s a big one to keep in mind, you can also use the 50, 50 diluted C2V3 as a drying aid which is a nice little thing to, to kind of have in your arsenal as well. So you don’t have to grab a new detailing product and you can use the same sealant, but you can change it up a little bit and use it as a drying aid. Another thing I love about C2V3 is, you know, he does have a lot of different application methods, right? You can use it like we are right now as a paint sealant, right. As kind of that four to eight month paint sealant that you continually use on a kind of a regimental basis, but you could also use it as a coating topper. So you already have a coating on the car, but you enjoy adding and topping up protection.

(08:55):
You could use C2V3 on top of a coating, right. You would obviously want to make sure that coding is cured properly first before applying it. But you know, C2V3 works great with you know, as a, as a top coat to their, you know, Gtechniq’s Crystal Serum Light to their C1. So it’s, it’s definitely you know, very versatile in that respect great water beading effect, which, which I really like just as a very durable product that, that doesn’t like to fight you. That’s just been, been around for a while and has some tried and true results, which is really why I think I keep going back to it. I’m going to show you guys the, the water behavior in, in a bit. But if you guys have any questions at all about application if you’re stuck and, you know, in a, in a, in a, in a, as you’re applying it to the car, please reach out to us.

(09:46):
Whether it be, you know, a comment or, or, or an email we’d love to hear from you guys and S and see how you’re enjoying it. But if you’re looking for a paint sealant, it’s definitely something that I would I would recommend considering. But let’s let’s show the water beading. So it’s got very similar water behavior to a ceramic coating. So it’s really tight, nice beading something I really, really like. So if you like if you like nice tight water beading and something that’s going to make the finish easier to clean C2V3 might be the product for you. Thanks. Thank you guys so much for watching. Talk to you soon.