I've been detailing my own (and my family's) cars for years and years and have never imagined that applying an effective last stage product would be so easy. I'm not into applying the new nano-coatings because I like applying and reapplying protection to the paint; I like polishing and generally maintaining the car, so I have no need for "permanent" solutions. So I prefer waxes and basic sealants like Collinite 845 IW, Sonax High Speed Wax, Sonax Nano Wax, and Menzerna Powerlock.
I first bought the Hydro Blue in the small spray bottle to give it a try based on the positive reviews and videos I've seen. I figured if a spray on/spray off product could offer even two months of coating-like protection and hydro-phobic properties, that's awesome. Plus the fact that I would be able to recharge it with each or every other wash is a bonus. Add to that the fact that you _are_ able (according to McKees) to put this product on top of a wax or a sealant, and to me it was versatile enough to purchase.
First application was on my girlfriend's civic which is NOT taken care of very well. I washed then used iron-x (no clay) and applied the Hydro Blue to the completely wax-less paint. It went from dull with no beading to shiny with intense beading/sheeting immediately. A few weeks later and it's still as good as the first day.
Second application was after a full correction on an E46 BMW. It will be the base protection for this car, and I'll either continue to recharge it with Hydro Blue or top it with one of my favorite waxes/sealants. The level of slickness is amazing, and the fact that it protects everything (windows, trim, wheels) is just great.
There were some black parts of the E46 that didn't come out perfect and will require me to degrease/clean and protect with other products. If you know E46s, then you know the black material around the side mirrors is a little difficult to work with at times.
I was sold and purchased this 128oz which came damaged and leaking in the packaging. Called the number provided after hours and was surprised to have Nick pick up. He's going to help with the damaged bottle. With McKees it seems you get small company customer service, which I appreciate.
Hydro Blue is my first McKees product in my garage of pretty much every product you could list. I'll definitely be purchasing more!
I have been a long time fan of Detailer's Pride / McKee's 37. After seeing few few videos online, I was really curious and anxious to try Hydro Blue. Using my wife's 2015 Toyota Corolla as a test vehicle, I first washed and clayed (clayed for the first time) the car. Please understand, the car is silver, which is so forgiving, I barely thought about detailing her car. She runs it through a car wash every now and then, and that's about it. Taking her sandpaper-like surface down to a smooth slippery shine via clay made a huge difference. The next step, hand washing using Mr. Pink. After tthe final rinse, it was time to give Hydro Blue a shot. Following the directions, I worked around the car, panel for panel, becoming more and more amazed by the results. After the application was finished, I took the nozzle off of the hose to flood the car with water in order to observe the sheeting effect. WOW! It was truly incredible! I ran inside to show my somewhat interested wife, and her jaw dropped as well! I was then able to dry the entire car with a single, 16X16 plush microfiber towel.
Incredible Product!
Either I went a little too heavy on the application, or I wish there was more in the bottle. I used a little over 1/2 a bottle for the car, which made it about and $8 sealant. Only time will tell how well it will hold up, but for now, I'm riding high on the results.
If I had to be critical of anything, it would be that, although I worked in the shade, with a temperature of about 80 degrees, there were a couple of very minor streaks caused by the product drying on the windshield where I obviously did not rinse it well enough. I quick wipe with my favorite glass cleaner solved the problem, but may have taken away the protection of Hydro Blue.
This particular product is extremely hydrophobic and does an excellent job of keeping the surface cleaner over time due to this. I have never used this type of sealant before but now I am hooked, especially on my daily driver.
Another thing I like is that you seal everything on the vehicle including the glass and also appears as though it last quite a while as well. I also think there may be a cure time because it appeared to get shinier over the next few days after applied.
Extremely easy to apply, spray about 4 – 5 sprays on a panel and hose off to apply. Rinse until you see it completely rinsed away, easy to see and apply.
The only negative I can think of is the price of the application. It's a keeper all right but I am going to see if I can get larger amounts at a lower price-point.
Excellent Product!
UPDATE: 5/11/2018
I am still hooked on Hydro Blue Sio2 - I used it all winter here in the NW region where all it does is mostly rain with occasional snow and ice, so we do get some chemicals on the road however nothing like the hard winters I endured back in the NE region United States.
I have found Hydro Blue does indeed have a long life after applied and experience beading and still existent after 2 - 3 months and longer after the simple application. And this includes washing the vehicle numerous times with Purple Power Boat and Car Wash to get off the paint contamination off the vehicle in those winter months. It does indeed hold up!
Another example of its longevity is on the windshield. I can run months with the wipers off above 40 mph and still hangs in there even when running the wipers at slower speeds, but yet still beads water without wipers above 40 or so forever it seems. Even Purple Power wash will not strip it!
I have seen numerous product feedback posts of guys over applying Hydro Blue and express some issues here. I have found you can apply as much as you want and the results are the same as long as you rinse it off really well... However you do not need to over apply Hydro Blue to get the same affect. Again I have found that 4 - 5 sprays per panel works just as well. In any case just make sure you rinse really well no matter the amount you apply and will not experience any negative even on a Black vehicle such as my show car.
Excellent product and is still one of my leading and most popular and favorite auto detailing tools to date.
Nothing could be easier to apply and give such results for so little effort. I personally now purchase the gallon size especially when it goes on sale. Love the stuff, for those unaware or haven't tried Hydro Blue Welcome to the Future!!
Hydro Blue Sio2 is a rare example when less really is more; use more and you will likely get worse result. Very easy to use, spray on and immediately wash off; it gave a black car a more luxurious wetter look.
Spray only 2 or 3 sprays per panel (a door is a panel, the hood is two panels.) as instructed by the Amazon's video for this product or the same video on YouTube (titled "Hydro Blue Application Guide by Nick @ McKee's 37"). Use more and I can start seeing oily film on my black car paint. It is easy to imagine someone spraying 6 or more sprays a panel and they will likely begin noticing oily streaks. I saw some YouTuber uses half a bottle on one car and was not surprised he had bad result with streaks.
Surprisingly, the bottle instructions does NOT include "2 or 3 sprays per panel" rather only "Working ONE panel at a time on a vehicle that was just washed and rinsed (but not dried!), spray Hydro Blue directly onto the panel and IMMEDIATELY rinse off using a strong jet of water." (McKee's upper case, not mine). McKee's should add the phrase "2 or 3 sprays per panel" or something similar to the instructions, otherwise the customers are more likely to get worse results with noticeable oily streaks.
Remember, "less is more" with this product.
I like driving and working on the mechanical components of my cars. But detailing and waxing automotive paint are literally my least favorite things to do. That's what attracted me to the McKee's 37 Hydro Blue spray in the first place, and after trying it on my daily driver and my race car, I'm glad I did. A bit of clay bar, a few sprays of Hydro Blue, and a quick rinse with the hose and the finish on the cars came out looking better than any polish and wax job I've ever done.
Weirdly, the key to a good looking finish seems to be to use LESS of the product rather than more of it. Even though the stuff isn't supposed to stick to itself, it does seem to leave a bit of residue if you use too much of it. Fewer sprays and lots of water are the ticket.
I also found that this coating does a good job of protecting the paint from tire rubber and brake dust, which is a nice feature for those of us who like to open their cars up on the track every once in a while.
Feature Product
- Spray & Rinse Nano Coating
- Creates High Gloss Finish
- Easy To Use
Description
What if we told you that coating your vehicle with protection that lasts 3 months or longer was as simple as spraying on and rinsing off with a hose? McKee's 37 Hydro Blue does exactly that. This highly-advanced Sio2 coating is applied exactly as described above; waxing your car has never been this easy. McKee's 37 Hydro Blue can be used as a stand-alone form of paint protection, or as a booster for your favorite paint, glass, or wheel coating. That's right: McKee's 37 Hydro Blue is 100% safe for ALL exterior surfaces.
I am new to nano style automotive protectants. I did not want to spend $500 for a professionally installed ceramic coating so I decided to give this product a try. I applied it to two vehicles a brand new sedan and a well used Outback. I first applied it to the sedan whose paint was fairly pristine. The instructions are sparse, spray on a wet car, immediately rinse off. You can see the product 'activate' when your rinse it. It is very easy to use, as I went along I discovered you do not need much to get coverage of the panel your working on. The new car looked great when it was done, but it was hard to tell the difference. Next up the older Outback, the car was detailed about 2 months ago but had already lost any wax that was applied. To do the job correctly I should have buffed and clay barred the car before applying Hydro Blue. I just washed the car and applied the product. The effects of the product were a lot more apparent from this test. The car's paint became hydrophobic and a nice shine was achieved. So far so good! I will update after a few months, in my mind the finish of this product must last for a least 2 months to be cost affective.
These new nano-coatings are all the rage in car detailing. Picking one to try was an obstacle. I trust McKee's 37 products as they're good enough for Wayne Carini, they're good enough for me. This Hyrdo Blue works as advertised. Wash the car, easy spray on while still wet, thoroughly rinse off and dry the car. Left my Genesis with a deep gloss shine and extremely smooth finish that just sheds water. Did my car last weekend and it's been moderately rainy all week, and my car is pretty much still clean since the rain water just sheds right off. Watch the video on their page for application advice. I did my car and my wife's car with the 1 bottle, and will report you definitely don't need to use as much as you think as they note in their video. I used about 2/3rds of the bottle on my car first, doing a light spritz over every part of my car (6-8 sprays per panel). Then when I moved on to my wife's car (Subaru Legacy) and only having 1/3 bottle left over, I had to be more judicious to get complete coverage. Well, the end results were identical, so lesson learned. My biggest question right now is how long will it last? Going to wait to buy more, but if it last even 2-3 months, it's still a miracle product for ease of application. If it does last, will likely buy the 1 gallon refill to save on per cost application.
Update: after a month, the coating is still holding up good and we've had a ton of rain here in the northeast. The finish isn't "slick" like when it was the first week, but both cars still shed water like being freshly waxed. Since it was warm for December, I did one more good wash and Hydro Blue application and hopefully that'll carry both cars through the winter till I can wash and apply more in the spring. I got the 1 gallon refill to be more economical and can say that you should be able to do 3 midsize sedans with the 1 16oz bottle. If you're using more than that, you're really just wasting the product as there's no real improvement to using more product.
At first I wasn't too sure on what to expect from this product. I spent 7 hours two Saturdays ago detailing the car for the first time. I rinsed, snow foamed, hand washed, metal decontamination (iron-x), clay bar, then polished using a Porter Cable DA, and Meguiars ultimate polish.
The car came out so smooth and glossy already! It was my first time detailing the car so I ended up forgetting to use an IPA (isopropyl alcohol) to remove the polishing oils and residue before I applied the Sio2 coating.
Other than that the car came out fantastic!! Incredibly smooth and slick, and high gloss especially on a white car.
I used this on my wife's cars as well and I still have enough left over.
I did use this on my wheels too and I can't tell you how much easier the cars are to clean now. I use McKee's 37 High Gloss Detail spray to touch up the shine, and will be using their Sio2 auto wash to recharge the coating.
The picture is my car after a weekend rain and highway driving. Incredible beading, and dirt and bugs just rinse right off!
Search facebook group "Automotive Detailing" if you have any questions!
I had this recommended to me by a friend. I was skeptical that a sprayon wet application would produce a shine or last very long. I though it would produce the quality and longevity of a car wash spray wax. I. Was. Wrong.
I washed my 2006 Land Cruiser at the car wash, then sprayed (about 1/3 of the bottle) on the vehicle. It was challenging to apply it evenly, but that didn’t seem to make a difference, as it appeared to even out when I rinsed with the spot-free rinse. It was quick and easy to apply. Immediately a deep shone developed and the water beaded up well.
The photos are over a month later. I park my car outside and it is under oak trees that spit sap regularly. Additionally, it rained for almost a week solid - so, car washed & this spray was applied, the following week was 6 days of rain, the next week was sap-ville so the shine faded as it was bunked up, then it rained hard again today. The shine immediately came back and the water immediately beaded up. All the sap just rinsed off in the rain! I was shocked! The water is so well repelled on the windows that I barely have to use the wipers when moving at any speed.
I highly recommend this product!
I must add my voice to the chorus of fans of this product. I believe the "Sio2" stands for Sodium Dioxide, since McKee's states there are "microscopic glass beads that electrostatically bond to the paint" in this formula. Whatever it is, this stuff works like magic!!
You wash your car (in my case, I had my 2014 Dodge Durango professionally detailed inside and out -- without paste wax). While it is still wet, you start spraying McKee's Hydro Blue on a panel at a time. Then wash it off IMMEDIATELY. I know that sounds crazy, but the product is activated by water.
There will be a tiny bit of sudsing action as you wash it off. One 16-oz bottle was just enough to treat my Durango, stem to stern, and covering all exterior surfaces -- wheels, chrome, grill, and windshield / windows, included. You then take a blow dryer (such as a driveway blower, in my case) to dry it. Microfiber cloths are also good but I chose to avoid swirls as much as possible.
I see no streaks, afterwards. The shine starts to happen on its own during that drying process. No need to buff. So -- yes -- crazy as it sounds -- it's a Spray On / Wash Off wax job! Since my car had been detailed, I took my garden hose and misted the surfaces before starting each section.
Days later, it's still going strong. The surface is very hydrophobic. Rain beads up everywhere, and rolls off as I drive on the highway. I have not had occasion to test the removal of bird droppings, yet (one of the reasons I was researching "ceramic"-type coatings -- they were all too expensive, to me, for a 5-year-old car).
Results? I went from thinking "Maybe it's time to sell this 2014." to thinking "Am I crazy? It's PAID FOR, and looks really beautiful, now!" So I'll be keeping it. Next, I gotta attack just a few areas of road rash with touch-up paint (nothing major).
Oh, that "without paste wax" remark -- McKee's Tech Support said "Yes, it can be applied over paste wax. But we do not advise it if you can avoid it. Reason? Paste Wax has a lot of oils within it. McKee's does not like an oily surface. If the Paste Wax was just applied, you need to wait several weeks to allow some of that oil to dissipate. Best case would be to have it clayed, then deoxidized." I'm too cheap for that, but I did have the engine cleaned (which has NOTHING to do with this review -- just sayin').
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