Ceramic Pro coating | Page 4 | FerrariChat

Ceramic Pro coating

Discussion in 'Detailing & Showroom' started by Renman57, May 29, 2016.

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  1. JoeTSI

    JoeTSI Formula 3
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    Dec 16, 2015
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    Joe K.
    I think you don't understand that a ceramic coating isn't impervious to imperfections caused by faulty washing techniques. There isn't a paint coating out there that will fend off swirls from contaminants in the wash mitt if a two bucket method isn't utilized. The car is still protected and shows well.

    OP: I am envious of you 10k mile journey and the experience of it in a 12C!!!!
     
  2. JoeTSI

    JoeTSI Formula 3
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    Wait about 6 months, without applying any further treatments, and then take a pic. Both will repel water but the coating will hold up better.
     
  3. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    Aug 22, 2002
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    outside of aesthetics the reason for detailing is for protection. swirls after 2 months even being left outside doesn't make sense to me with ceramic coating

    maybe it's just me - maybe a pro detailer can comment
     
  4. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    Aug 22, 2002
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    so enlighten me - what's the point of the coating then?
     
  5. JoeTSI

    JoeTSI Formula 3
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    The coating provides long term protection, as well as enhanced protection, and will last 18-24 months. A typical wax, whether it be carnuba or synthetic, will provide up to 6 months of protection but degrades quickly in harsher climates. Also coating makes washing of bugs, debris, tar, etc much easier compared to traditional waxes. No matter what you put on a vehicle, you must use proper wash techniques to avoid swirls whether it be a coating, wax, or even a PPF.
     
  6. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    Aug 22, 2002
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    the only way to get of swirls is to polish. if ur saying paying 2500 for a coating and getting swirls under any set of circumstances after 2 months is acceptable then this confirms my conclusion that ceramics are just another way to get people to pay 2500 for nothing. there is absolutely no point to pay 2500 if you are going to have to polish after a few weeks
     
  7. WJS

    WJS Rookie

    Jan 4, 2016
    18
    I got my car back today. I am very pleased. Obviously cannot vouch for longevity, etc. Will post occasionally as time passes. But it really looks great.
     
  8. WJS

    WJS Rookie

    Jan 4, 2016
    18
    Some pics:

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    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  9. SizzleChest

    SizzleChest Formula Junior

    Dec 15, 2014
    255
    Naples, FL
    Full Name:
    Scott
    ^^^^Very nice! Looks great!
     
  10. 12.3:1

    12.3:1 Rookie

    Dec 6, 2005
    48
    SNJ
    none of the stuff you listed re: driving conditions will affect most if not all of the pro coatings on the market today, especially if installed correctly. you are correct in that it's washing and drying technique.

    use OPT No Rinse or Meguiar's Rinse Free rinseless for washes when on the road....and Opti-Clean waterless for your instant detailing. i add a little bit of their instant detailer concentrate for slickness. technique is 100% a MUST but if you get it down, you'll induce no additional marring or damage. lots of towels like eagle edgeless or similar, a really nice drying towel like the Dry Me Crazy to blot and you're square. i do this ALL the time and vouch for it 100%. it takes a few minutes, especially if you are just doing a basic maintenance wash or touch up.

    the best part is this sort of "kit" is easy to use ANYWHERE. you can keep all the stuff in your boot for road trips...even the water, really - if you want to keep a couple gallons containers of water handy.

    i'll throw it out there since a lot of people here are interested in this stuff - i recently tried Gyeon Wet Coat which is a simply spray and rinse product and it's really neat if you are into beading. similar to CarPro Hydro2 but seems a little more forgiving of technique. it has no protection, per se, but it's still a neat product while we are on the subject of high tech car care stuff.
     
  11. Mastabenzo

    Mastabenzo Karting

    Jul 10, 2015
    86
    CA
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    Benny
    #86 Mastabenzo, Sep 28, 2016
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2016
    It was a tough choice between which detailer to use and what options I should do.
    1. Xpel whole car no ceramic pro
    2. Ceramic pro whole car no xpel
    3. Xpel front end of car and ceramic pro the rest of the car.
    4. Xpel whole car then ceramic pro over all the xpel on the entire car.

    After talking to a bunch of people and doing a lot of research online I decided to go with option 3 with Daniel over at dynamic detailing. Daniel advise that option 3 would be the best of both worlds in terms of protection and money. But option 4 would make him very happy lol. With option 3 I would have full protection from rock chips on the front end where most of the chips would occur. And ceramic pro 9h on everything else that doesn't have high impact like the front end. Also they would ceramic pro over the xpel on the front end of the car to further protect the xpel too. Secondly I liked the idea of ceramic pro on the wheels, clippers, and all the carbon fiber exterior and interior pieces that was a plus for me haha.

    They are also going to do a full paint correction and cleaplex on the windshield. I'll update everyone here on my thoughts when complete.

    Drop off
    [​IMG]

    Work has begun
    [​IMG][​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  12. WJS

    WJS Rookie

    Jan 4, 2016
    18
    I think you made a good choice. Mine has nano fusion protective film whole front, side mirrors and A pillars, with 12 layers 9H and 3 light the whole car, including over the nano film. I am very happy with the result.
     
  13. MobileJay

    MobileJay Formula 3
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    Sep 9, 2006
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    People are paying for the ease of maintenance, the shine certain coatings provide, depth of paint, gloss etc. I have had people come in and think I am selling snake oil but they trust me and when they come back to pick up their car they are blown away at how the coating looks. I use Cquartz Finest only as my top of the line coating. I will interview every client that wants to have this coating put on the paint. If they will not be hand washing themselves or bringing to us we won't put the coating on the car but will offer a lower tier coating such as Cquartz Pro. This is a cheaper option that does not come with a warranty and last a min of one year. No coating is going to prevent swirl marks yet. Now I had a XJ220 fully corrected and coated. He had the car transported and the company put scratches and swirls all over the car, I don't know how but it happened. He brought the car back and because the car was coated, the swirls were in the coating and not the paint. A very light polish removed everything they put in the paint and the car was back to 100%. Previously it took a lot of compounding and refining since the clear coat was so hard to get through. This time the coating showed how well it protected the paint. Once the paint was re polished I re coated and he was on his way. No matter what you have on your paint you have to wash correctly. To some they won't be able to justify the cost if it is not going to protect from the apocalypse but for the people that understand these coatings and what it means to have a car look better than it ever did, we offer this service.
     
  14. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    Aug 22, 2002
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    i did a side by side as i said and there was zero difference between the ceramic and the carnuba. i also have modesta on an FF and escalade and one year in i can only say its a huge gimmick in my opinion. to each their own.
     
  15. WJS

    WJS Rookie

    Jan 4, 2016
    18
    I personally like the fact that the ceramic allows for easier day-to-day cleaning and care as opposed to wax treatment. I also do not have the inclination to go on a massive one year research exercise between ceramic and cornuba to expose a "gimmick". Far more fun things to do with my time. I'd happily drop $2,000 for the look and less maintenance ceramic affords.

    To each their own.
     
  16. Mastabenzo

    Mastabenzo Karting

    Jul 10, 2015
    86
    CA
    Full Name:
    Benny
    Some Finished ceramic pro shoots. Front end is done with xpel and ceramic pro 9h is applied on whole car. Which includes the front end over the xpel, HRE wheels, brake calipers plus all the interior and exterior carbon fiber pieces. Just regular iPhone photos so not too great. But the paint is smooth as butter, with no swirls marks visible. Let see how good ceramic pro is now that we have it on and can test it.

    [​IMG]

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  17. KM1959

    KM1959 Formula Junior

    Nov 12, 2014
    984
    Full Name:
    Kevin
    I'll offer an alternative. I spent about 5 hours on my black F430 Spider and it looks phenomenal.

    1. I started with Meguiar's detail spray and microfiber wipe-down followed by a clay bar paint clean.

    2. Using my Porter Cable orbital polisher, 7-in orange pad and Meguiar's Ultimate compound I started with the deeper scratches and made them nearly invisible - under fluorescent lighting. Followed this with a microfiber cloth to remove any residue. Don't be afraid of this buffer I have yet to buff thru the paint on the nearly 20 cars that I've repeatedly used it on in the last 8 years.

    3. Repeated step 2 except on the entire car.

    4. Applied Opti-Seal that I purchased from Amazon for about $45 and again removed the residue and again followed this with a microfiber cloth to remove any residue. This took maybe 15 minutes.

    5. Repeated Step 4 because I thought "What's another 15 minutes to eliminated any spots I might have missed?". Except now it only took about 10 minutes as the surface was so slick. Bonus is that I could see that I barely used any of the Opti-Seal.

    6. The result? My black paint was high gloss and swirl free and received many compliments at Monterey's Concorso Italiano. Anybody who as ever shown a black car at a car show knows that it isn't for the faint of heart. The bugs that joined my on my 300 mile ride up the coast were quickly cleaned off - much quicker than with carnauba which I find to nearly evaporate in California sun.

    Total investment? About $250 including the Porter Cable buffer.

    I have since performed the same to my other cars including a black GMC Yukon that never sees the inside of a garage. The shine and protection have appeared to hold up as it has been in the sun for three straight months without any noticeable finish degradation - it really has never been shinier.
     
  18. Caeruleus11

    Caeruleus11 F1 World Champ
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    Jun 11, 2013
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    Agreed. My experience is carnauba is great for a car show but it doesn't really last. I'm not talking about against weather, Im talking about just driving around in nice weather. To me the ceramic coatings = ease of maintenance on a car you keep clean and generally out of foul weather. The minute you drive in tough weather, all this stuff goes away. I've had the best success with Klasse AIO for my daily car- it really holds up and looks good- great... To each their own! :)
     
  19. MobileJay

    MobileJay Formula 3
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    Everyone has different experiences and uses different coatings but this has not been my experience with Cquartz Finest. I have this on my daily driver and my wife's, after 2 years on mine and 1 on hers the coating is still going very strong. My car sits outside 24/7 as well. If they are washed correctly and regularly the coating will hold up as it should.
     
  20. LightGuy

    LightGuy Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 4, 2004
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    David
    Thanks for the info.
    We just bought a black Range Rover.
    Going to coat it before the paint gets screwed up.
     
  21. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    Aug 22, 2002
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    update from late august - the rover still looks like it did after the detail. both sides bead the same when it rains and when clean you cant tell 2 different methods were used.
     
  22. Solid State

    Solid State F1 Veteran
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    Feb 4, 2014
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    Maximus Decimus Meridius
    I have used zymol treatment very close to your concoction. I think I use the carbon version. Its blue and smells great. It will bead to the point that the water just sits on top like a bearing! Unfortunately, I found it hard to apply and would degrade quickly and did not get 6 months out of it but then again I did wash it weekly. This was some time ago on a black BMW and was the best you could do. Unfortunately, too old and no shoulders left to do it now.

    I don't understand the 12x or more coats of ceramic. Why not 20 or 30? Seems like diminishing returns after one or two coats but then again I've never used ceramics. I do know that Meguires products used to contain petroleum distillates and would definitely turn dark paint white-ish. This was on a black Supra in the '70's-80's.
     
  23. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    #98 ttforcefed, Dec 24, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  24. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
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    I had zymol used on the rover to go even further to prove my conclusion. on a real daily driver I wldnt use zymol, I'd use a gliptone or meguires carnuba. the zymol is what I use on my garage queens. The FF has ceramic on it and absolutely no difference a couple years later. as far as I'm concerned the ceramic stuff is a marketing ploy with unknown future consequences.
     
  25. SVCalifornia

    SVCalifornia Formula 3
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    Mar 28, 2011
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    Keith
    Beading performance is one metric but what about swirl protection after 1 year? No difference in side to side comparison for swirls or other wear/pitting? No clarity differences?

    SV
     

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