{"id":22996,"date":"2018-02-16T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T13:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/?p=22996"},"modified":"2018-02-09T14:03:20","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T19:03:20","slug":"product-review-carpro-essence-plus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/product-review-carpro-essence-plus\/","title":{"rendered":"Product Review: CarPro Essence Plus"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of years ago, I wrote a product review on CarPro Essence<\/a> which was a big hit at SEMA in 2015. \u00a0Essence is an outstanding finishing polish from CarPro that is meant to be used as a primer for silica based nano coatings. \u00a0Essence Plus<\/a> was released a year later at SEMA in 2016, and based on the name you might assume it is an improvement to the original CarPro Essence… this is not the case. \u00a0Essence Plus is an entirely different product all together.<\/p>\n

Note<\/strong>: \u00a0Please do not<\/strong> use CarPro Essence Plus<\/em> as a primer\/prep for a nano coating. \u00a0That is not its intended use and may have adverse effects on the performance and durability of the nano coating. \u00a0 Use\u00a0CarPro Essence<\/a>\u00a0for coating prep.<\/p>\n

\"Essence<\/p>\n

The CarPro Essence Plus is a non-abrasive solution that will help you repair fine swirls in a damaged ceramic coating, while simultaneously increasing gloss, hydrophobic properties, and cleansing the surface beneath! \u00a0In the past, if you had swirls, scratches, water marks, or simply did not take care of your coating, your only option was to remove it and re-coat the car to get it back to looking it’s best. With Essence Plus, you can now repair and restore the coating without having to remove whatever coating may be left on the surface. The unique formula is the key and it is packed with SiO2, ceramic coat repair agents, high gloss quartz resins, and hydrophobic nano particles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There was a lot of information in that paragraph, so let’s dissect that product description a bit and talk about what Essence Plus was made to do.<\/p>\n

Filling Defects<\/h2>\n

As stated above, Essence Plus<\/a> is a non-abrasive product that is designed to help “repair fine swirls”. \u00a0If you can read between the lines, you may have been able to interpret that “repair” means this product is made to temporarily fill in, hide, or mask minor imperfections rather than truly remove them as we would with an abrasive polish. \u00a0I like to think of it as a modern version of a glaze.<\/p>\n

Now you might be thinking… “Wait a second, did he just say it hides the defects rather than actually corrects them?… Doesn’t this go against everything we believe in?”<\/p>\n

Not at all. \u00a0Products with fillers do have a place in the detailing world. \u00a0In this instance, Essence Plus was made to be used on top of a vehicle that has previously been protected with a nano coating (it can also be used on non-coated cars as well). \u00a0As you may know, paint coatings are exceptionally thin, so if any sort of abrasive polish is used on a coated surface there is a risk that the coating layer will be compromised, and a new layer will then need to be applied. \u00a0It is certainly true that every coated vehicle will need to be polished and re-coated eventually, but if you are not ready to tackle that project yet, a glaze-like product, such as Essence Plus, may be a suitable solution.<\/p>\n

I decided to put Essence Plus to work on a car I had just purchased. \u00a0The vehicle that is certainly in need of a proper paint correction, but I wanted to do an extreme test of the filling abilities of Essence Plus before I got around to any correction work. \u00a0This amount of damage is certainly beyond the scope of “repairing fine swirls”, but as you can see, Essence Plus did successfully cover up some of the damage.<\/p>\n

\"ATD<\/p>\n

For this test, I used a Rupes LHR15, but Essence Plus can also be applied by hand.\u00a0 Instructions for both application methods are listed below.<\/p>\n

Preparation:<\/strong><\/p>\n