Awesome, these have got to be some of my favourite tires, I think they are better then Larsens. They roll fast and have got pretty good side knobs. They're quite light as well being around the 570g area (folding bead, 2.1").
Just lots of thin coats, and lightly wet sand it between coats with 1200 grit sandpaper, and keep doing that until you build it up and you'll get a durable finish.
Amazingly well; now I've never ridden an XC full sus bike but I imagine it feels like that, as it's very firm to pedal. It gets a small amount of pedal bob, but it never feels like a hindrance, nor does it feel like your losing energy.