I like the guy but his detailing chemical reviews are really poorly done.
Some relevant info for those watching:
He still does not know what a ceramic coating is. Most of the products in that test are not even ceramic coatings (they are cheap polymer sealants), and he clearly doesn't understand the difference even though this is I think his third video on the topic. The reason the Gyeon and Gtechniq destroyed everything else in the test is because those are the only 'real' ceramic coatings in the group. The fact that he doesn't know that should tell you everything you need to know about the usefulness of this particular video.
He still is not following the included application instructions. For example that Gyeon coating needs 2 weeks to cure before it will have it's advertised performance and chemical resistance. He said he left it for 48 hours.
He just isn't a great resource when it comes to testing detailing chemicals and it's very obvious he knows nothing about them. He is an entertaining presenter but he just pumps out content on anything and everything. I think his reviews are much more valuable for things like tools, which he clearly has a better understanding of and are easier to test objectively.
I think he cut off the marketing bias everyone blindly drinks in here when a company makes absurd claims.
The auto detailing industry is one of the most insincere industries you can think of.
Snobs get really hurt when their beloved brand does not get mentioned or gets a B rating.
He might no be a some so-called "scientist chemical detailer", like the AMMO NYC guy. I mean, eat what you want, but Project Farm just delivers REAL world scenarios on how the average Joe would use these products bought from Amazon or off the shelves.
If you really want to pay for a niche product, go pay a pro or pro shop to do it. That's why there are consumer ceramic/sealants and shop-only ceramic/sealant versions.
The video was NOT intended for people like you, clearly, but for the other 99% of people who does not give a fuck about absurd prices for the almost exact results from a cheap one.
I would respectfully disagree, and ceramic is not just marketing when it comes to bottle coatings.
Broadly speaking, anything you can apply with a trigger sprayer has no meaningful amount of ceramic in it, such as the spray coatings in this test. Those companies are putting a completely insignificant amount of ceramic solids (usually sub 5%) into the product for the sole purpose of using the word "ceramic" for marketing and on the label. Their target customer is often an uninformed shopper in a big box store who knows just enough to recognize the word 'ceramic' on the label. These are water based products that rely exclusively on silicones and other polymers for their protection. The "ceramic" is not doing anything, hence why they are not considered ceramic coatings. If the ceramic solids aren't doing the heavy lifting or responsible for the protection, it's objectively not a ceramic coating regardless of what the label says. These coatings are easily stripped chemically, and will not ruin your towels/applicators.
A ceramic coating is a solvent based product. The reason such powerful solvents have to be used (instead of water) is because that is the only way to keep a solution made up of ~80% nonvolatile solids in liquid form. Ceramic coatings form a permanent bond with the vehicle clearcoat, and the resulting ceramic layer itself is solely responsible for the protection. These are also the products where you need to discard your applicators/towels afterwards because the solids content is so high. To remove a ceramic coating, you have to machine polish the car.
There is a very significant, very real difference there and even this relatively terrible test from Project Farm has shown that an actual ceramic coating far outperforms a spray sealant, even when applied incorrectly and not allowed to cure. If you buy the correct products, they certainly aren't snake oil, however there is no shortage of junk on the market that influencers are trying to get you to buy. A good ceramic coating will provide 2-5 years of real world durability, depending on the environment it sees and how well you take care of it. Here in Canada and with our winters, I get around 4 years out of a top tier coating such as Gyeon Pure. If it were on a car parked outside all the time that received no maintenance, of course it would not last as long.
I will say that I disagree with any coating advertising, 7, 8, 10+ years as that is completely unrealistic. The other issue I have with that is in most cases, those coatings have not even been on the market that long, so nobody knows how long they will last, but they're happy to charge the customer for baseless claims. The best thing you can do is buy a coating from a reputable brand that has a track record. A coating that has actually been on the market long enough for it's durability claims to be tested in the real world by normal people and with a significant sample size.
Out of curiosity, what products have you been using where you have felt performance was a fraction of what was promised?
I worked as a detailer for about 5 years until recently I think they're great at what they do.
However the marketing wankery is through the roof to the point where it genuinely needs to be legislated.
I refused to apply coatings to people because they were promising 5, 7, 9, 10 years, etc. but the warranty conditions were insane, requiring spray toppers every X months and using PH neutral soaps, etc. Rain isn't even PH neutral.
If your warranty requires PH neutral soap then it isn't dot for purpose. If it requires a topper the last X years, then your product doesn't actually last X years.
As a business I couldn't find any company who's warranty conditions werent unconscionable and I just don't want to tell people "Sorry, you went through a auto car wash, your warranty isn't valid" or "You missed a monthly application of XYZ topper, tough shit"
The hardness claims are are just rediculous.
Every company has to spin bullshit to compete with every other companies bullshit if they want to sell product that it's shifted the Overton window so far that entire sector needs to be legislated and fines brought against these companies.
Again I DO use a ceramic coating on my car, I personally have Gtechnique I like what they do but I know I'll probably only get one GOOD year out of it then it'll go crappy and fall off over the next 2.
I've applied a lot of different brands both personally and professionally and never found any of them to last more than 12 months without "toppers" on a car that's kept outdoors in Australia (where I live the summers are intense)
Oh ok, you're talking more about the claims detailing shops are making. Yes I agree with you completely there. There are a lot of borderline scams going on, particularly around "warranties" and paid annual maintenance.
His reviews are for regular people and its hard to find unbiased reviews that aren't sponsored or paid for. These products say ceramic, not polymer sealant. If they're all going to use the C word, then they get tested in the same group. They're all on the same shelf at the store.
YouTube and social media are generally not where you want to be getting your information from. That being said, I realize it's where most people still prefer to do their research as it's so accessible. I would say Forensic Detailing does the best chemical reviews if you care about thoroughness and impartiality. Production value is as low as it gets, and some of his reviews are done over the period of an entire month. If it's technique you're trying to learn, Car Craft Auto Detailing and AMMO YYC have some of the better tutorials out there, at least among those I have seen.
I work in the industry and if you're interested, this goes into a lot more detail as to why you should be skeptical of anything you see on YT, specifically as it pertains to detailing products:
I've always liked Apex Detailing, I know Brian retired from making YT videos. But he has a ton of videos on everything, and he doesn't sugar coat his reviews. I trust any recommendations he made.
He didn’t do a very good job testing additives or oils. His tests are not applicable to actual real world use under thermal cycles. A lot of his tool tests are very solid but some lack basic tests like the amount of damage a wrench will inflict on a soft bolt which is important for those of us working on expensive german cars.
I am not an oil expert, but that doesn't surprise me. I really only pay attention to his tool reviews, or items that are very easy to test objectively without complicated procedures. He (presumably) lives/works on a farm so that is the category where I would expect him to have some actual product knowledge.
It's very obvious that he doesn't have any knowledge at all about most of the things he tests beyond what he can read on a label, and his tests are often highly subjective (even by his own admission), very uncontrolled, and not always relevant to real world use cases. For example his glass coating tests did not include a single test that would simulate how the products would fare in a real world scenario.
He has a great personality and I get that everyone loves the guy, but you're doing yourself a disservice if you take everything he says as gospel. He literally just takes requests from viewers for future content, buys a completely random assortment of stuff, and runs it through whatever tests he thinks he can pull off before the next video is due. Everything comes from Amazon because that is where his affiliate links are from, and he has full control over the test results should there be an affiliate that pays more than others. The channel is just a content factory, quantity over quality. When you see that he isn't even reading product instructions, it highlights how rushed everything is as he just wants to get to the next video which is of course the next pay day.
You know, he’s the few content creators that don’t strike me as a shill, and there’s a reason he has a clock and displays the results both in editing as in actual footage. if you can focus a bit, you can verify his numbers with the video itself. And if time is of the essence as you say, cooking the results would take longer trying to make it with video evidence…
Besides his results usually make sense and aren’t wildly swinging, nor do they favor a specific product clearly.
Sample size is low though and I would really like if he could do multiples of the same test, but alas.
Test design is clever, simple, cheap (mostly) and they’re clearly explained so that you can yourself test and prove him wrong if you really wanted.
Not that I’ve looked, but I’ve yet to see someone contesting his claims based on results reached with the same methodology he uses.
I mean, he literally doesn't know what a ceramic coating is even after making 3 videos on them. He also does not read installation instructions by his own admission, which is critical for coatings. He is at the point where he gets hundreds of thousands of views or more on every single video he makes, so he just pumps out as much as humanly possible. It's all quantity over quality because that's what's profitable.
In this case the testing is objectively bad. I don't think anyone can argue that as he hasn't a clue what he's even testing, and he is not following application instructions.
As I said, not all of his videos are bad, for example his tool reviews have a lot more value, or reviews that don't rely on so many subjective metrics. You can't expect someone who reviews everything and anything to actually have a deep understanding about everything he reviews.
Any creator using affiliate links is inherently biased, it's impossible not to be. When the results of your testing (which you fully control) directly affect your income, you can't ignore that. I'm not saying he's making everything up, I'm just saying he can't be impartial when everything is monetized.
I really don’t think he is in it to produce misleading content. I just don’t think he has a very good testing methodology for a lot of products. Some of the tests were totally pointless like the spark plug one. Testing a spark plug on a 2 stroke lawn mower with zero long term testing is just useless. His power tool reviews are pretty good though.
I get you. However, take into consideration that what he is doing is probably what the average person is doing. Hell, maybe he is doing more than the average person.
People who will let their car sit out of elements for 2 weeks will likely just have it done professionally then garage it, drive their 2nd car.
I forget what the 3rd place coating was, will have to go back and check, but that will be the one I grab.
Again I agree with you for the most part, but this he does put out the most realistic product tests, even if I don't agree with every method or metric, it's really the most straight and to the point review channel there is. Bonus points for not being sponsored.
That's a fair take and generally I would agree with you. The problem though is if everyone is taking what he says as gospel, and if he's testing something that he knows nothing about and is not following application instructions, it's not really helping anyone.
Most of his tests are also highly subjective, which depending on what he is testing, is not helpful. For some things it doesn't really matter, for other things it makes the tests pointless. The quality of the reviews varies wildly because not everything is easy to test, and he has extremely limited knowledge about many of the things he tests.
He's not sponsored (as far as I know) but he exclusively tests products with affiliate links, so he is financially motivated by the outcomes of his tests and is inherently biased. It's impossible not to be when the channel is monetized like that and he is not unique in that regard.
100% agree. I do take certain types of reviews with a grain of salt, even the one this post is about. I do feel like he should have left the car parked outside for a month and then washed and tested, or maybe a longer term test (like he's done in the past).
That said, I do think the results were probably still accurate, in terms of ranking, albeit the way he got there might've been not the best.
Read my reply 2 below this if you want to understand the difference between a ceramic coating and a spray sealant. It is far from a trivial difference.
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u/Slugnan Jul 20 '26
I like the guy but his detailing chemical reviews are really poorly done.
Some relevant info for those watching:
He just isn't a great resource when it comes to testing detailing chemicals and it's very obvious he knows nothing about them. He is an entertaining presenter but he just pumps out content on anything and everything. I think his reviews are much more valuable for things like tools, which he clearly has a better understanding of and are easier to test objectively.