Where do you take your car to get washed?

You're not supposed to apply the film over any ceramic nano coating, for two reasons, the adhesion can eventually be compromised, and companies like Xpel will not support their warranty if it is know that coating was applied to paint first.

You can however, apply CQFinest to the film after install, yes. I perform it on most of my PPF installs and it wont affect the film warranty. Gives it a slicker deeper look as well, it is recommend to only apply CQFinest and not the other CQ products as it is formulated differently. UK can cause a hazing effect on PPF.

 

Correct.

 

I think a lot of snake-oil hype and mistruths and half-truths. Which I wouldn't say on a sponsor originated thread, but I don't believe this is one.

There is always a flavor of the month for these magic paint potions. Used to be certain Zaino prod.s, then Opti coat, Gtechnique, next week something else. Go to Pebble or Amelia etc. and inquire what topcoatings are on the real show cars and I can pretty much guarantee you none of them will be any of these things.

I understand these super ceramic opti nano space mega awesome coatings are really supposed to be for longevity sake, not outright appearance (ironically) but spraying RainX on top of your paint will do virtually the same thing for some duration of time and yes i have experimented with almost all of them.

But this talk of this will do this to your paint protection film / ppf warranty if you put it here but not if you put it hear is all hogwash. And I don't care if its Xpel or 3M or Commonwealth Laminating or whoever. I know the main staff players at all those co.s (or respective division in 3M's case). I know the fine print on the warranties and its just simply not true, "oh if they send a chemist out and he draws a sample off your clearcoat and he finds forensic traces of cquartz coating they'll void your warranty" paaalease. If they want to void your warranty they can and will for pretty much whatever reason, esp. faulty installation. Truth really is the number of warranty claims they ever get is infinitesimally small. All this hype paints ppf in a bad light and they are a class of very proven products that have performed like nothing else for over a decade and continue to get better and better over time. Keep the snake oil out of the ppf and the ppf out of the snake oil. It isn't like peanut butter and chocolate. They don't go better together. But while on the topic, you can't tell me that some super coating that is really meant and specifically chemically formulated for paint clearcoat (acrylic, solvent based, water based whatever the case may be) will work just as excellently on a urethane core-layer paint protection film, or molded plastic or rubber trim or whatever as some of these hyper coatings claim to do. Just can't be the case. Again, try RainX, pretty much same result.

I think a better question is put one of these super snake oils on your new Ferrari PPG paint and have it cause a bad reaction for one reason or another.... old product, bad batch, reaction with some other product or cleaner, whatever the case may be just for hypothetical's sake (a lot of these products do claim to be "PERMANENT COATINGS") and then call Maranello and tell them about it and see what they have to say about your warranty.

And yes if you take a swirled up dark colored car and put a piece of demarcation tape on a panel and polish one half with a quality and proper compound and pad and the other not and take a picture, well yeah you will look like a magician. That said I think there is always a need and a place for real quality "detailers" (forget how misused & bastardized that term may be), I know many of them, but overnight ppf experts not so much.

Hint - most of the best "detailers" I know of work under the same roof where they expertly spray paint, sometimes being the very same person who does both.

 

For the record, I did not and have never made the claim that any nano coating is superior or even comparable to clear film. I only stated, being an authorized installer for both CQFinest and Xpel Film, that the reps at Xpel made that exact statement. You're right, they can void the warranty for any which reason, however if you have the nano coats on the paint and film on top they will do so immediately.

You and I are in agreement that no current applicable product is superior to adding plastic protection. For those who are not interested in plastic or only cover a portion of their vehicle in plastic, it is the next best option for protection. I was a huge critic of the products when they were first released. I trialed them and put them through the ropes for over a year to see how they held up to their claims. Some failed almost immediately, others like CQuartz Finest foot the bill. Is it the ultimate protection and going to prevent anything from happening? No. Anyone that claims that has a false understanding of the product. I will say though, it will out perform any wax or sealant you apply and for many many times longer than either of the former will last. It is though, still a sacrificial barrier. None of the coatings are permanent, but they make your life (maintenance wise) significantly easier and will protect much more than any of the conventional products will.

Many of my clients who have received the coatings, quite a few on this forum, can vouch for its performance. However, I've never put it on a car and said "forget about it" it still needs to be maintained, you still need to take care of the vehicle properly.

 

I used Steve (AutoDentz) when he was in Bethesda, but when I call the number now it says his voice mailbox is full and he didn't return my text; are we sure he is still in business?

 

steve thomas - 301.802.9514 - I spoke with him two weeks ago

 

Thanks. I heard back today.

 

When I spoke with Steve he told me his super expertise and claim to fame was/is Paintless dent removal (PDR) and small body repair. Anyone ever used him for PDR, how's his work?

 

yes I'm 58 and takes very little time to wash the car Detailing another story. My main problem is cleaning the underneath. Being in Maryland, the weather is not so good ( vs Southern Cal). Anyone has ideas of just cleaning the underside? I don't trust the "brushless". I had a friend who got his tires cut on the inside walls ( 2 of them). Just not worth the risk...

 

^^^ Take it to a car wash with an undercarriage spray. There are no rails to cut tires on. There is an Exxon over off Gorman Road in Columbia that has one such machine.

 

I use Nathan from Ace Detail. He takes his time and does an awesome job. I have him do a complete detail once a year, and then maintain it. I also keep both the 328 and Torino in the garage under car covers when not driving them. All I have to do is dust term off and they're ready to go.

 

Wanted to bump this since a lot of the car washed above are no longer around.
In 2021, what are the best options?

 

I've used Mike at https://extreme-details.com/ and Josh at JMC exotic 703 595 9348 for years, both come to me which makes it easy when I need multiple done.

 

https://gwdmv.com/wash-membership/

 

For the right price, I might be tempted to wash a few!