Ceramic Coating

Chizz · Aug 6, 2019

Rule12b said: ↑

Wow, this thread went wild. . .Without question, the paint prep and correction is critical. A ceramic coating is exactly that, a coating. If you coat ****, it will still look like ****. Having said that, I had cars previously coated that were poorly prepped and I hated the results. I've personally tried more polishes and waxes than I care to admit over the years, from synthetics like Klasse, to Meguires, to Adams, and so on. Organic waxes do oxidize, fact, so you have to account for the fact that they can require more upkeep than synthetics. Having said all that, the prep and Feynlab on both our R8 and Cali T were so incredibly night and day, I'm sold on two things.

First, our correction guy is an f-ing witch doctor shaman to manage to get the paint as flawless as he did in both cases. Second, the hydrophobic quality with the coating is vastly superior to everything I tried on the Cali prior to getting the coating done. When washing the R8 (coated) and the Cali together, it was night and day.

After over a year and 10k miles, the R8 looks every bit as good as it did day one with the coating, water still blows off, the shine is epic, and all I've done is "boost" the coating twice which took about 10 minutes. The Cali? same thing but we only got id done a few months ago.

Some things to remember. . .Any way you go, keep your dedication in mind. I wash both our cars, and I use a detergent recommended by the coating MFR. It dilutes at less than an oz per gallon so it's not any more costly than Dawn (which you should NEVER use in any event as it strips juuuust about everything off paint). I barely touch the cars with a towel and if I do, it's high quality microfiber I only use on the cars. SO, knowing I'm OCD, I took the coating route because I could be picky about it.

If I was going to let my local car wash hand wash my car weekly like my F-350, I probably wouldn't do it because at least if they f- it up (which they do from time to time) there are traditional approaches that don't cost $$$ that can get it to 8 or 9/10's. But, cared for, the ceramics, if prepped properly, so far are by far the best results and best durability I've seen in 30 years of obsessing about my cars.

And both the R8 and Cali were utterly swirled and scratched to hell. I thought they'd need to be repainted. (I bought them both used with the perfectionist in me thinking eventually I'd have to do it but couldn't pass up the deals).

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Nicely written and your cars are SMOKIN’ beautiful

Rule12b · Aug 6, 2019

Thanks Chizz! The pic of the Cali doesn't do it justice. And the difference washing before and after, man, whole other galaxy. I just wish I'd taken some close up "before" pics. That paint was a mess.

Solid State · Aug 12, 2019

Fireman1291 said: ↑

Why are you removing the PPF? Is it the 3M crap?
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Its been on for 6+ years and I don't know what brand it is. The PPF is likely off by now and I will have the FChat recommended shop do the best correction possible and apply Suntek with ceramic on the full front. The rest will be carnauba. Figure a wash 2-3x/year and annual re-wax by the detailer since I physically can't do it anymore. The ceramics look really great but maybe too mirror-like and a bit too controversial at this point. I don't want PPF on the rest of the car except under sills and at fender wells because of the aesthetics imparted to the 3-layer paint.

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