Subscribed! Reminds me of this old commercial for Nu Vinyl! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbF2Qw8xMU Look forward to seeing the outcome. T
The ceramic coating companies do make treatments for the clear films. Im not sure they are the exact same ceramic coating as adheres to the clear coat of the car- to be, uh, clear (lol), the ceramic coatings adhere to the clear coat and not to the paint. I'm not so sure its a sealant either. I'm not sure exactly what they use for the films. I can tell you that you can wax the film - BUT- be careful as its easier to scratch than the clear coat. I have this treatment on several cars that are wrapped and the water should roll right off. However if you gently rub your finger over a small section, it will still feel like film and not like a nicely waxed car which feels so smooth and lovely. #firstworldproblems !
Starting to sound like I should have skipped the bra and just went with the very best coating with many layers. Or kicked it old school and just had a really good wax put on. First Ferrari so being extra careful. Like the first child.
nah if you plan on driving it then film is the right way to go - my opinion on the film is what spend a ton of money taking care of it when you cant just take it off and replace. for a garage queen id say detail and polish as little as possible and screw the film too.
I've applied ceramic to all my cars with film. It seems to be absorbed by the film, I have less pitting in my film for sure from rocks and bugs wipe right off.
The problem is the clear coat on these cars is prone to small rock chips. And our cars are relatively low. If its a garage queen, then you could literally take it on the one wrong time and you get a rock chip. So film is a good idea. And if you use one of these specialized air driers having the crystal or other coating on the film really helps a lot. If its a daily driver its actually compounded because the film will hold so much more dirt and grime than the clear coat. So its harder to keep clean. The coating can help there too, but I have found these coatings don't hold up to harsh weather very well. The solution could be to have it applied as needed- it might be 2x a year if you are driving in an area with road salt. Or maybe skip it all together and just accept the fact that your car will get stone chips or just accept the film will look like garbage after about 2 years. I tried living with film on my daily car several years ago and it just looked awful after 18 months. I really think theres no perfect way to go, its just a matter of managing the things that matter most to you.
ok so I had my RR detailed. half in ceramic and half in my preferred cocktail of zymol clay, hd clense, 3m imperial hand glaze, and then zymol titanium. As of right now you can not tell which the ceramic side is and which side has the zymol. I asked them not to tell me so I actually don't know myself. The car is a dd so it will go through car washes and hand washes depending on where the days take me. every 90 days we are going to have maintenance detailing done with the respective products and we will see how the car looks at 1, 2, and 3 yrs. As of right now, not obvious reason to go ceramic.
I think it's best to just do regular details at cheaper prices more often then any crazy products/expensive treatments. No matter what you put on a car, it's going to probably get beat up by the weather and just general usage. If you spend $2500 on some sort of coating, that same amount could probably get you solid detailing jobs twice a year, for 3 years. Your car on average will look better just getting it detailed more often.
after having modesta on my FF and escalde for a year I've reached the same conclusion. thought it wld be fun/interesting to do the side by side so we will see!
Yup, and hell, if it's on an exotic that only gets a few thousand miles for years, that money will probably mean the car is detailed for a long as you have it. $2500 in detailing work goes a long way on low mileage, nice weather cars.
yeh although for the garage queens I really think the best thing to do is nothing. Cars are way over detailed in my opinion. For a car that doesn't see the elements and spends 99% of its time in temp and humidity controlled environment I try to detail and put as little chemicals on them as possible. if the ceramic was 800 bucks and actually lasted for 5 years I think id be more serious about it for a daily driver. but like you said find a good detailer and go once or twice a year.
For a garage queen, it really just depends on the color. For black, swirls and crap show up pretty easily and will just depend how anal you are about it. On bright or light colors, the need is much less. On a white car, you possibly never need anything other than water hah. I have a grey 12C that was detailed really well just once. After 4K miles and 3 years, it looks flawless and feels as smooth as ever. I've never been around much to drive it, more of just a car to have when I'm in town, but it's definitely not a garage queen. Not climate controlled garage, no problem leaving it parked outside for days and days, sun or thunderstorm (so long as no chance of hail), see gravel roads, dust, dirt, whatever. Only put 4K miles on it, but they are a very "daily driver" 4K miles. It's still looks perfect today.
I used to use ceramic and spent (wasted) a fortune having all my cars done until I came across Topaz Detailing where my F12 is currently sitting and where I've had my (wife's) 2016 G500 and 2015 FF both done with Paint Protection Film and I can assure you there is no comparison whatsoever....except the price of course but who cares if you can afford an F-car, you can afford to PPF it.....
so to clarify, you are saying you reached the following conclusion: forget about the ceramics. Instead just put film over the entire car. I'm in your camp. Then the question becomes how do you detail the film? I assume you are against putting ceramic on the film (as am I). So going forward do you have your detailer use carnuba over the film?
Both xpel and suntech films have a layer of clear coat over the polyurethane and you simply wash it and then apply something like meguiars last touch which alao has some wax in it and is remarkable. My current FF is a solid black which is usually a complete nightmare to maintain.....but with the setup I have its simply remarkable and literally looks brand new every single time you wash it
PPF saves me huge on my GTC4L!!!! Came to a stop on top of a pass but there was so much ice I slid backwards for 200M++ and put her hip into a guard rail...had I not had PPF I would have had to buy and repaint the rear bumper (plastic) completely. View attachment 2612448 View attachment 2612449 View attachment 2612450 View attachment 2612451 The green circle is the only bit that had paint damage - 1.5mm of damage
The experience of sliding backwards on ice with your GTC4 like if the car was on skis I'm sure must have raised considerably your level of adrenalin. The PPF in this case saved you an expensive paint work and the same happened to my F12 last August. Coming out of the garage with a SUV I bumped hard with it's rear the front left headlight and bumper section of the F12. When I saw the damage I was in shock and I wondered how that could have happened after having done that maneuver hundreds of times. I ripped the F12 cover and because the PPF was severely teared with the marks of the SUV rear bumper all over the place I feared the worst. Took the car to the detailer and they removed the front bumper and left headlight PPF and to my total surprise the paint and the headlight glass where untouched. The PPF avoided the need to replace the headlight glass and to do an expensive paint job. PS- tried to open the pictures you posted but couldn't.
wow what a terrible experience!! did you have snow tires on? glad to hear the ppf worked!! do you know what the shop you are using puts on top of the ppf? is it a sealant or a cermaic? (pics dont work for me either)
Im having a crazy urge to wrap my ff in a gunmetal grey type color! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Below are the pictures you posted and that were locked. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
