For as long as coatings have been around there have been specialized products meant to work with them. Everything from coating maintenance shampoos, clay bars, glazes, and of course toppers. Toppers are used to add protection on top of the coating layer to help maintain hydrophobic properties and enhance gloss. Most of these products also work quite well on uncoated vehicles as a stand alone layer of protection as well. 22ple already has VS1 Final Coat which is a spray sealant, but they have recently added 22ple Finitura to their product line as another option for paint protection.
Finitura is a unique top coating that can also be used as a stand-alone protection product. As a stand-alone product, Finitura will provide a deep, wet, glossy, sleek finish, that repels moisture with ease. If you already protected your car with a coating Finitura can be applied directly on top of it and it really enhances that protection. You will not only see the same increased gloss, hydrophobic and protective properties but according to 22ple, Finitura will improve scratch resistance on glass coatings by over 500%. If you keep getting watermarks this is an absolute must have product as it will repel them incredibly well! The application is super easy so you get great results in very little time. With an economical and easy to use formula, we can not think of a reason not to give Finitura a try!
Before applying Finitura, it is very important to make sure you have a very clean surface. If applying as a stand-alone protection on an uncoated vehicle, it is best to first polish or perform any necessary paint correction work if desired. Next, wipe with a prep solvent such as isopropyl alcohol to remove any polishing oils or use a primer polish and then apply Finitura without using a prep solvent. 22ple recommends using their 22ple Activate primer polish as a great base layer for one of their glass coatings or for Finitura.
If you are applying Finitura over a paint coating it may be applied to a brand new coating or to a previously applied coating. For new coatings, allow 6-8 hours for the coating to cure before applying Finitura.
For my testing, I first polished the panel and then wiped thoroughly with Gyeon Prep to ensure I had a perfectly clean panel. I applied a small amount of Finitura to the 22ple applicator block and began to spread the product onto the panel using an up-and-down motion. Finitura has a water-like consistency which made it difficult to pour only a small amount out of the dispenser bottle. I feel like perhaps a spray bottle would be easier to work with and allow for more accurate dispensing of the product.
I continued applying the product onto the paint using overlapping passes to ensure even coverage.
The small amount of product spread for quite a while and allowed me to cover approximately one half of a door before I needed to add some more product.
The product was easily visible immediately after application. The detailed image product page recommends to apply Finitura nice and thin, and although I attempted to really spread this product out I was afraid I had applied it too heavily at this point as it appeared quite wet.
The manufacturer claims that wipe off time is very flexible and can range from as little as 1 minute to as much as 20 minutes. Given that I was working on a very humid day (it was actually storming outside as I was working), I first attempted to wipe off after about 3 minutes, and on a subsequent panel even tried to wipe off immediately after application (~1 minute). At this time the product was already very difficult to wipe away for me and felt like some old school wax residue that had been left for too long and required some “elbow grease” to remove.
After working to remove the majority of the residue, an LED inspection light revealed a lot of thin oily residue still remaining on the surface. A damp microfiber towel helped to remove the remaining residue. The treated surface felt slick and was noticeably darker than the untreated areas around it.
Since my first test spot require far more work than I had anticipated with regards to the residue removal, I decided to wait until the next morning and then try another application method.
I’ve never been the biggest fan of the 22ple Applicator Block, so I decided to try a microfiber applicator instead. I applied a small amount of Finitura to the face of the pad and then began to spread the product onto the panel in the same fashion I had done before. This time the product seemed to melt right into the paint after a short time, leaving very little wet spots on the panel. This was already a very different experience from the night before.
With lower humidity and far less residue on the surface I felt more comfortable leaving the product alone for longer before wiping it away. I left it to sit for approximately 10 minutes and then easily wiped away the residual product. Upon inspecting with an LED light only very faint residue remained, which I’ve noticed is quite common for many coating toppers.
On this second test panel I again noted a darker, slick feeling finish. It was raining the day after application, so I was eager to observe the hydrophobic properties as I have always been pleased with the water behavior of 22ple coatings and with VS1 in the past. Unfortunately Finitura left a lot to be desired here. I had been expecting uniform, tall, round beads, however they were irregular and rather flat.
It is claimed that Finitura can produce a 500% more scratch resistant surface, though I had no way of testing this claim. 22ple also mentions that Finitura offers great resistance to water spotting, a common complaint with glass coatings, so I will be monitoring the treated panels over time to observe if spots are formed. There has been no mention of durability in the product information that I have seen.
22ple Finitura was not particularly remarkable to me. With many other great coating toppers out there to compare with, Finitura required considerably more effort without producing favorable results. At $85 per bottle ($12.57 per ounce) this is by far the most expensive coating topper out there as well. The product needed to really wow me to justify the price point, but it has not so far. In an attempt to try to maximize my results with this product, I have asked for more clarification on use instructions to see if my experiences may have somehow been a result of user error. I have not received any feedback at this time. I will be sure to update everyone in the comments below if further instruction and testing change my opinions shared in this article .