Ceramic coating

[fubar569]

Have you tried products from Chemical Guys. As you can see, I have a satin black H/C and their products seem to work well. Florida water is one of the worst in the country. Why I take the car to NASCAR wash. Brushless and give it a good wipe down and spray when I get home. Seems to work well.

CG is my go-to for vehicle cleaning/detail but I have no brand loyalty as long as it works.

I've used the gloss workz, citrus wash, extreme wash & wax, maxi-suds and hydro suds all at different times for different applications. I've used sticky citrus wheel cleaner with some success but am trying diablo out of an iK foamer this time around. VRP is great on the trim and plastics and back to black spray if you're not into applying VRP with a foam pad.

Usually it's a couple passes with the foam cannon of either extreme, gloss workz or maxi-suds and a finish pass with hydro suds. Bug & tar on the stubborn stuff.

Guy. It will last for 5 years and cost $3K.

Me. Get the F out of here.

Guy. I forgot you have to "recharge" every 6 months for $500.

Me. Isn't that the same as reapplying?

Guy. Get the F out!!!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Although I laughed at this...using a good maintenance soap does help. Not even a full reapply or reboot...just something like hydro suds, Adam's graphene soap or similar and occasionally hit it with their compatible quick detailer.

The Jade installer included the first two "reboots" for free 2 months apart. Didn't look any better/different than using my SiO2 Infused stuff at the house.

We bought a program for a couple of our cars. It was about $300 included paint sealer, interior protection and a $50 detail every 3 months. First car was great but it got bad on the 2nd car. It was horrible. They put the sealer on over the dirt. No one at the dealer gave a shit.

Refuse to have the dealer touch ANY vehicle of.mine for any reason with regards to wash/wax/detail/protection. They make the eventual fix much harder than it has to be.

Sounds like the results I am seeing aren't surprising. When I bought the explorer they gave a 7 year warranty I guess I get a free detail every few months

Some of this stuff is BS no doubt. I've always had good luck with it though.

Seems like if you really want a good coating you gotta get away from the mainstream stuff...

...or just send your ride to glasslife. That is my intention with whatever my next fast car is. Load it on a trailer, drop it off in Atlanta for full PC, PPF and ceramic before I put a single mile on it.

 

[DavidKFla]

The cars were leased and used for business. 3 years and done. It was easy and they looked good, at least for the 3 years.

For our personal cars I have a difficult time allowing the dealership to even perform warranty work on them.

 

[Hickster]

My buddy Rico la sent his RE to Atlanta as soon as he got it. I am sure he will do the same with his Lambo in June.

 

[DavidKFla]

My buddy Rico la sent his RE to Atlanta as soon as he got it. I am sure he will do the same with his Lambo in June.

What's in Atlanta?

 

[fubar569]

What's in Atlanta?

Glasslife Atlanta - if it doesn't go here it goes to Esoteric outside of Columbus.

 

[DavidKFla]

Glasslife Atlanta - if it doesn't go here it goes to Esoteric outside of Columbus.

?
Mine stays in my garage. I have a detail guy these days that does a nice job. Plus, no ceramic. I have him use reload after each wash. Works great.

 

[Hickster]

Like I mentioned, I just have mine repainted and 3 coats of clear.

 

[jonx96]

Like I mentioned, I just have mine repainted and 3 coats of clear.

What made you want to do a repaint over a paint correction ?

 

[Hickster]

Actually the parts that needed corrections were sand blasted and repainted. Other areas just repainted. I maybe a hill billy but used to paint and shoot Emron and clear on choppers. Way back in Tenn.

 

[MikeD1]

The 2 black vehicles both needed to be rinsed with deionized water or something with 0 TDS. Most city/well sources are not even close.

"Spotless" rinse, blow dry & towel up the excess always worked for me.

I purchased p&s iron buster and brake buster for this year. Eager to try them out.

I would like an easy spray/wipe detailer that does NOT LEAVE STREAKS OR RESIDUE. I have not found one yet. Does beadmaker accomplish this?

I have well water here and have been using Spotless for 20 years, love it !! The waterspotting is from the rain drying on the car (it sits in the carport).

I have tried & rejected many quick detailer products because they do seem to leave a residue that builds up over time & gets sticky.
Beadmaker does not seem to do that. I don't really follow their directions, instead I dry the car, spray some on a MF towel to get it damp, then spritz a section of the car, wipe with the 'wet' towel then wipe off with a dry MF towel. Lasts for a few months & makes getting the FL bugs off easy. When I'm done I take the 'dry' towel (which is now dampish) and wipe the windows & mirrors - works great.

Guy. It will last for 5 years and cost $3K.

Me. Get the F out of here.

Guy. I forgot you have to "recharge" every 6 months for $500.

Me. Isn't that the same as reapplying?

Guy. Get the F out!!!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yeah, that always gave me a cramp when talking to these guys.
They go on & on about how hard it is, but wait you need to use their special soap and the 'recharge' + an annual 'maintenance inspection' for $500 to keep the warranty intact.

BS and snake oil IMO.

 

[Hickster]

If Mike D can formulize a process to beat this damn Fl water, well water the worse, iron, then he has found a smokin process. Thanks.

 

[parttimer]

Problem with us North Americans and winter is the salt/cinders they put down for winter. Coatings are considered porous which is why many people encounter these issues during winter months. Many have found following up with a wash with a chemical decon such as iron-x or other metal remover restores some of the beading that has been lost.
Graphene is being hailed as all great no water spot coatings, they are less susceptible to water spots but not impervious. I coat cars and send people on their way, never hear back except in a few years to do them again. I must be super fortunate to not have the water spot issues on customers cars.

 

[jonx96]

Problem with us North Americans and winter is the salt/cinders they put down for winter. Coatings are considered porous which is why many people encounter these issues during winter months. Many have found following up with a wash with a chemical decon such as iron-x or other metal remover restores some of the beading that has been lost.
Graphene is being hailed as all great no water spot coatings, they are less susceptible to water spots but not impervious. I coat cars and send people on their way, never hear back except in a few years to do them again. I must be super fortunate to not have the water spot issues on customers cars.

Any feedback on graphene vs ceramic? Do you use both?

 

[MikeD1]

If Mike D can formulize a process to beat this damn Fl water, well water the worse, iron, then he has found a smokin process. Thanks.

No magic really:

This DI system (shop around and you can get it for less): https://crspotless.com/product/dic-20/

They charge a fortune for their resin, but this is the same for 1/2 the price (enough to refresh both tubes 3x):
https://usa.windows101.com/products...esin-1-cubic-foot?_pos=7&_sid=6f3debc25&_ss=r

They also sell the tubes with resin already in them, but that's even more expensive. The tubes unscrew at the top & you just need to dump the spent resin into a HD trash bag (the stuff is wet & heavy) + the damn little beads are slippery as a mo-fo on a hard surface if you spill, rinse the tubes & pour in the new beads.

Life of the resin is hard to guess at & depends on how hard your water is & how often you wash the car(s). You DO NOT want to just use a hose or you will tear thru the resin. I use a cheapo electric power washer as you don't really need a lot of power, just a fine spray to minimize the amount of water used. DI unit has a electric meter that measures the TDS of the output to gauge when it's time to change resin. Go too long and it will start to spot and gets a weird sort of 'fishy' smell.

They say to wash the car & just use this to rinse which is probably OK if your water is not too bad, but mine totally sucks & I use the DI to both wash & rinse, a battery power leaf blower to dry (I hate it when water runs out of nooks & crannies post drying), MF for touch-ups, Beadmaker every 3 or 4 washes as needed.

 

[Hickster]

I live in Pinellas Co, Clearwater Fl. I had a chance to work on 3 different county water diagnostic centers. They are chemists that test the public water system. They are very bored at their jobs and really like having visitors. Having spoken to numerous chemists, I got the message of not even have your dog drink this water, much less wash your car.

 

[PaVaSteeler]

Those who say they wax every few months and claim there's no difference between ceramic and wax have the wrong wax and must be thinking a spray "ceramic" is the real deal.

On my first Challenger, Pitch Black, I spent hours keeping the paint free from swirls and mars. I sealed it once a year with two coats of Collinite #476, and topped that with Jescar's Paint refresh periodically when doing a full wash (as opposed to a quick detail spray cleaning). The coating beaded almost like new 11 months after application. No spray bottle product would come close.

For my current Challenger, I chose to go the ceramic route. Instead of believing the marketing hype of most of the products out there ("prevents swirls"), I researched real DIY products as opposed to the spray bottle gimmick. Settled on Gyeon MOHS ceramic, plus their Booster. I still utilize Jescar Paint Refresh to provide an extra layer of protection. Going on three years with little degradation of performance.

Must admit I miss the more frequent paint correction/sealing process (found it therapeutic) used on my former car, but do appreciate the extra time I have not needing to do paint protection on an annual basis.

 

[jonx96]

Those who say they wax every few months and claim there's no difference between ceramic and wax have the wrong wax and must be thinking a spray "ceramic" is the real deal.

On my first Challenger, Pitch Black, I spent hours keeping the paint free from swirls and mars. I sealed it once a year with two coats of Collinite #476, and topped that with Jescar's Paint refresh periodically when doing a full wash (as opposed to a quick detail spray cleaning). The coating beaded almost like new 11 months after application. No spray bottle product would come close.

For my current Challenger, I chose to go the ceramic route. Instead of believing the marketing hype of most of the products out there ("prevents swirls"), I researched real DIY products as opposed to the spray bottle gimmick. Settled on Gyeon MOHS ceramic, plus their Booster. I still utilize Jescar Paint Refresh to provide an extra layer of protection. Going on three years with little degradation of performance.

Must admit I miss the more frequent paint correction/sealing process (found it therapeutic) used on my former car, but do appreciate the extra time I have not needing to do paint protection on an annual basis.

I’m thinking it may be the salt. I will try an iron remover and see if the bead comes back. I only coated part of the challenger. So far the not coated part has collected more dust. We will see. I guess a booster isn’t the end of the world just a let down.
I also will miss waxing something all the time.

 

[vortecd]

I’m thinking it may be the salt. I will try an iron remover and see if the bead comes back. I only coated part of the challenger. So far the not coated part has collected more dust. We will see. I guess a booster isn’t the end of the world just a let down.
I also will miss waxing something all the time.

Could be the salt. The Daytona was driven the following winter after I did the ceramic. But it was showing what appeared to be water spots that wouldn't come off in the summer way before the salt

 

[parttimer]

Any feedback on graphene vs ceramic? Do you use both?

I do use both, I use IGL and Pearl Nano products, I used SPS as well a long time ago. Of the graphenes I have used, the longevity hasn't been as long as old school ceramics. I did a test a while back with a truck tailgate that is on a truck that delivers travel trailers. He ran about 100k miles in about 6 months all across North America and into Canada. Only one coating was still going strong during that time, it was not any of the graphene products.

 

[Speedy!]

Mine's been A MAZING. I had the Hellcat professionally done 5 years ago. I literally do not have to hand wash it now and haven't in a LONG time. I run it through a touchless car wash and pull in to the parking lot and blow it with a leaf blower. Paint looks brand new and beads water like mad. It is garaged and doesn't see salty roads though.

On my Camaro (sold) and Mrs. Speedy's car I did the GTechniq Crystal Serum DIY. That has worked probably 75% as good as the pro stuff on the Hellcat. We haven't washed her car by hand in 6-8 months, it gets the same touchless car wash treatment. On the Camaro I did a test where I didn't wash it for a year and then ran it through a touchless....came out almost spotless. I have a video on that.

I don't have time to be waxing cars anymore. I need to be driving. YMMV.