comments:
u/My-kids-dad Here's the chemistry story of these products versus the marketing story: The thing with coatings is, eventually they'll ALL wear off The reason water-based coatings wear off faster is because, generally, the resin which does all the protecting is a silicone-based polymer, usually polydimethylsiloxane (i.e., PDMS) which is great at protection but not great bonding ... and water-based adhesion additives don't work as well as solvent-based, ie little glass jar products. E.G., You can just go buy the protect part, PDMS, on Amazon for $14 and use it directly ... but, while cheap & easy to apply, not uncoincidentally like water-based spray protectants, it's not gonna bond very well even with great prep. This is why the little glass bottle coatings, ie resin-based, add a bonding additive like silane, and that's what makes it last longer ... but also much more expensive and harder to apply. So with coatings your choices are cheap & easy to apply but not long lasting and expensive & hard to apply but long lasting EVEN THOUGH THE PROTECTION IS THE SAME! CHEMISTRY TLDR Little glass jar coatings: Use high levels of PDMS / polysiloxane resins in solvent, giving a thick, very durable chemical basis to attach & hold Water‑based coatings: usually use PDMS / siloxane chemistry in water‑compatible form to get beading, chemical resistance, UV protection, etc, but there are fewer bonding points and a weaker "matrix" PRACTICAL TLDR If you're unwilling to apply a water-based coating quarterly, or have it done, then resin-based might be a good idea If you're willing to apply a water-based coating quarterly, then FUNCTIONALLY, there's no difference between the products BE WARNED The marketing-fu on ceramic coatings is STRONG and many people make their living off of it Don't expect people whose paychecks depend on installing & selling coatings to tell you this