Water-based Coatings

Key Things to Know

NarrowTrax is a water-based, temporary protective coating.
That gives you big benefits – safer to use, easier to remove, and kinder to you and your clear coat – but it also means there are a few behaviours to expect.

Benefits of water-based

  • Low odour, easy to work with at home or on the road.

  • Washes out and cleans up with water not solvents.

  • Peelable – designed to be temporary, not permanent.

  • Safer for modern clear coats when used as directed.

Behaviours of water-based coatings you MUST know:

  • It can look hazy/ milky when wet and returns to textured clear when dry.
    Rain or wash water can make the coating go cloudy/ milky.
    This is normal for water-based coatings.
    Once dry again it returns to clear.

  • If hazy/ milky but dry & hard to the touch, it is still protective!
    If the coating is wet/ soft/ slimy to the touch, you will need to wait for it to dry to have protective qualities.
    → Drive around the block or get the coating into direct sunshine. One clear again, it's Protection Ready.

  • Water inundation WILL degrade the coating.
    Standing water, commercial carwashes will degrade the coating.
    This starts as haziness, and prolonged exposure will cause coating to droop and eventually lift or slew off the paintwork.

  • Coating thickness matters.
    To work properly, the coating must be thick and even.
    Thin coats are affected by moisture much faster.
    Target: 2 x 125µm coats (250µm total or 4m2/1L) as directed.

  • Edge lifting after water exposure.
    Normal on "top edge" of high exposure panels after extended rain duration and redrying.

    Fix: Inspect when dry, → press down isolated lifted areas, → add a small touch up coat to these areas to reset them to the coating.

  • Blistering- what it means.

    Blisters = trapped moisture between coats under thin areas.
    May happen if: coating is way too thin (very common), edges aren’t thick enough, water sits on horizontal panels.

    Fix: Let dry → press/blot blisters to remove fluid → blisters should naturally reset into coating→ touch up the affected area if the blisters don't naturally reset.

    If widespread → peel off + reapply 2 coats at proper thickness.