Graffi-Coat 3 was invented by a Swedish college student in the early 1980s and since then has been used to protect statues in Stockholm, Rome’s Spanish Steps and parts of the London Underground. But so far only a handful of institutions are testing the product here. Experts in graffiti say the Swedes’ claims are awfully broad brushed. Several other graffiti wax coatings already in the U.S. market “basically do all the same things,” says Dale Schaumann of Los Angeles’s Textured Coatings of America. Graffi-Coat 3 also gives walls a slightly waxy texture, which can rub off on clothing. But the coating can claim at least one nice feature: it makes bird droppings easy to remove.
