Cladding

[VX KAT]

Yeah, it may be true the darker colors got lighter cladding.....but I prefer darker cladding...........



.......and that cladding is way lighter than mine....so now I feel better....a little...

[RamAirZ]

I honestly think it's a mind-trick. The darker color of the vehicle makes the cladding look much lighter than say a white VX with the same color faded cladding, but in comparison to white, it still looks somewhat dark. I highly doubt Isuzu offered different cladding colors.

[VX KAT]

Noticed this '99 Astral seems to have exact same color cladding as mine, even in the shade. I realize pics can vary.
http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/ctd/2112510435.html








And area above fake cladding screw doesn't appear to have dramatic difference like mine....

[Grif]

I honestly think it's a mind-trick. The darker color of the vehicle makes the cladding look much lighter than say a white VX with the same color faded cladding, but in comparison to white, it still looks somewhat dark. I highly doubt Isuzu offered different cladding colors.

This graphic may illustrate a point:



The gray areas are actually all the same color, its in the context of their surroundings that determine perceived differences.

The website I stole this from explains it thus:

"Note, that although the gray rectangles are all of equal luminance, the ones seen in the context with the dark stripes appear brighter than the ones seen in the context with the bright stripes. Note that this effect is opposite to what would be expected from a simple physiological explanation on the basis of simultaneous contrast (in that case the rectangles sharing the long borders with the dark stripes should appear brighter)."

http://www.news-world.us/pics/2009/0...cal-illusions/

[RamAirZ]

interesting. But I still stand by my idea that it's in our heads (whether it has anything to do with the color of the truck or not) and isuzu didn't have different colors.

[tom4bren]

I'm not sure but I think that's what he's saying too.

What I need someone to explain to me though is: why does the grey on black bars 3 & 4 look darker than the ones on 1, 2 & 5???

[vt_maverick]

It's an optical illusion Tom. Copy/paste his pic into PowerPoint or Paint, trim all the black and white sections out, and it becomes clear that they're the same shade/darkness. Pretty weird.

[tom4bren]

Sir, you take me seriously entirely too much.

Maybe my sense of humor is like the grey bars ... just an optical illusion.


BTW, you didn't really edit the photo to make sure the bars were really the same shade did you?

[VX KAT]

Those color bars are just insane! How crazy our brains are!....OK, I guess I should only speak for myself....

[VX KAT]

~I couldn't find any GatorBack at any of the Phoenix dealerships I called, but now after reading so many accounts of it peeling and scratching off, I don't think testing is really necessary now.

Forgot to mention...at least 3 of the Chevy dealers I contacted looking for GB, mentioned they carried TS-1 but had had a few customers complain the wipes had dried out in the package. So one d/c'd carrying the TS-1, the others kept very few in stock. So don't buy a large quantity.

[don moore]

so..is it black or dark grey???????? hmmmmm

[vt_maverick]

(11/23/2010) - Also applied a second coat of TS-1 the weekend before. I used only one pad the first go-round (about 5 weeks ago) and it started sprinkling as I was just starting the rear fenders and back door. I got B2B-style streaking about a week later, so I decided to give the cladding a good scrub and then use a second pad, this time working from the back to the front. All the panels look great now, and this stuff is much more impervious to dust and rain as B2B or that Meguiar's crap I tried a few months ago.

I think I can reasonably say that if you're not doing Gatorback, TS-1 is definitely what you need to be using. You're just throwing your money away by buying B2B.

(12/13/2010) - It's definitely a topical treatment, no matter what the packaging says, and I didn't do any surface prep other than a simple wash with a plastic-netted sponge. I did have streaking after my first application, but that's because it started sprinkling before I could finish. A good wash and second coat later and it looks great. (Btw, the TS-1 packaging doesn't mention any such elaborate surface prep process.)

A note on price: one of the guys in the AV forum quotes a price of something like $21/towel, but that's not accurate (at least as I understand what he means by "towel"). A box of 6 pads was $40 shipped, and it takes 2 to do all of our cladding in a nice thick coat. That's not exactly cheap, but if it lasts 2-3 months as advertised I figure you get nice looking cladding with minimal maintenance for about $50 a year.

Well it's been 4 months since I put on my first coat of TS-1, and 3 months since I followed up that first one pad application with a second one pad application (wasn't thick enough the first time around to resist streaking). Below are before and after pics from this weekend, the first two are before reapplying TS-1, the last three are after. You can see that there is some fading and slight streaking in the before pictures, but a ridiculously small amount for 3-4 months. Basically looks like the two week point after your last Back to Black treatment.

(Sorry for the low quality pics, my camera phone was having focus issues.)

Cladding 3 months after last TS-1 treatment:




Cladding after most recent TS-1 treatment this weekend:






Where to Buy:
http://shop.armordillots1.com/

[circmand]

that cladding looks awesome after the most recent application. If that doesnt fade out to quick I'm a beleiver

[vt_maverick]

Hopefully not, you have to take into consideration that the snow/ice/salt we had back in January accelerated the fading process quite a bit. I'm interested to see how it lasts as the weather warms up and more rain settles in. But for you in AZ I have to think it would last a good while (assuming sun won't fade it, we'll have to wait until summer to judge that).

One more thing, my VX is my daily driver so it's outside at least 5 days a week.

[vt_maverick]

Btw, this stuff isn't exactly cheap (one pad is the same price as a bottle of Back to Black, about $6), but IMHO it's cheap enough to seriously consider putting it on as frequently as once a month during the summer to keep it nice and dark. Figure $40 including shipping for a 6 pad supply, 2 pads per application, maybe a total of 6 applications per year = $80 a year for amazing looking cladding. If you stick with the every 3 months model you're at about $53 per year.

There's something to be said for the fact that after awhile you could have just bought GatorBack for the same price. But this is certainly something to consider if you're wary of permanent treatments.