Contaminants on Ceramic Coating

[EricG]

@PaVaSteeler I got facts for you Mine's 5 years old, has no swirls, gets run through a touchless car wash, still looks like new, and didn't cost thousands of dollars.

I think it's important to note that you would have gotten to this point where you feel like you need to do something to your car's finish in about one year or likely less if you drove your car almost every day and had it parked outside for a long periods of the day too...these coatings for garage-kept, hardly driven cars do last/hold up much longer and require less work to keep perfect. This is my 3rd Challenger and the first one I didn't ceramic coat because I daily-drive my car and just don't see the value vs reward for it.

 

[Speedy!]

My buddy just had his 2022 Durango ceramic coated after seeing how good mine looks and his Durango will be parked outside. He was told to expect a 4 year service life from the product so we'll see how that goes. I'm not sure which product was used, he couldn't remember but it was $950 to do the SUV including glass and wheels. He uses standard high end wax products on his Challenger twice a year and stated to me it was a night and day difference with the ceramic being much more slick, deep, and much higher shine characteristics.

My wife's car is on year 3 of the DIY ceramic and still looks amazing. It gets driven more than the Hellcat and in rain, etc.

Bottom line I'm in to facts not speculation and rumors. I asked a simple question and somehow this thread turned in to a debate on ceramic coatings which I'm not interested in having. They have worked wonderfully for me on every vehicle I've put it on for the past 5 years. I will certainly be using them again in the future.

 

[Speedy!]

Fixed it.

 

[MikeD1]

Fixed it.

Clay bar or some other product ?

 

[BULL]

Fixed it.

Vid?

 

[DavidKFla]

Vid?

Give it a week or so.

 

[Speedy!]

I went in stages which were all easy things to do but I always start with the least invasive and work my way up until a problem like this is fixed.

Oddly, I had a hard time finding any GOOD information on something like this. I figured it'd be all over car forums and articles, but if it is I never really saw it. Someone would ask a similar question and they'd get 10 recommendations for new products they weren't already using, conflicting advice, etc. Don't bother looking over on Autogeek

In the end it was GTechniq's customer service/operations manager who emailed me back the steps to take so kudos to them for providing good customer service.

I probably need to wash the car more often to prevent this from happening again. I was going 6-8 months sometimes between washes, but the car always "looked" pretty clean. I'd just knock off the bugs on the front and the tire dust on the back. Mrs. Speedy's car doesn't get washed very much either and her's doesn't have anything on it and it's been 3 years since we ceramic coated hers, so who knows. Maybe KY has a different kind of pollen than TN and I picked up something going up there to race.

Of course there'll be a video, that's how I make my living don't you know That's literally what folks at Chief Donut Maker thought.

 

[Stormtrooper1320]

wait......you guys don't use this method of vehicle cleaning???

 

[Stormtrooper1320]

or this one?? this one works really well for those hard to get places...

 

[Sam5828]

You guys know the car was professionally ceramic coated back in 2017 and the installer used Gtechniq Crystal Serum. It's SUPER slick, shiny, and practically nothing would stick to it. Dust would literally blow off as I drove down the road. It made the finish scratch resistant as well.

For the past 5 years I've mainly driven the car through a touchless car wash and blow it dry with a cordless blower. My goal is to avoid rubbing on the paint as much as possible. I probably use the touchless car was 3 or 4 times a year. In between I use Ech20 mixed 1:20 with water as a detail spray just to touch it up with a super soft micro fiber towel. The installer recommended this product as it would help preserve the ceramic coating. I might hand wash it 2 or 3 times a year using a foam cannon, two bucket wash method, and rinse with CR Spotless filtered water. This has all worked great.

After ChallengerFest I was giving GoManGo a good detail like I always do after the event getting it ready for summer cruises. Racing is over for me pretty much until fall, so this is one of the times I really clean it up good. I noticed as I was wiping off the few drips that remained after blowing it off that the microfiber towel wasn't gliding across the surfaced as smoothly as I was used to. I grabbed a plastic bag and did the "bag test" and DAMN the top of the car feels rough. Sides are still very slick, but all horizontal surfaces are rough.

I suspect pollen and other fallout has gotten on the ceramic to the point it's stuck on it somehow. I've been doing some reading and it doesn't sound like you're supposed to clay bar a ceramic finish. I did test a small spot by claying and sure enough, slick as glass afterward so that confirmed contaminants have gotten on the ceramic.

I've got an email off to Gtechniq to ask them how to solve it, but what are you guys doing with yours? To look at it you'd never know. It still looks super slick and shiny and water beads great, but it definitely needs something to bring that slick feel back. I'm wondering if I need to do a decontamination wash with some IronX fallout remover.

Easy peasy fix. Get some iron remover from here https://glassparency.com/collections/wash-prep/products/iron-remover use code forensic for 10% off. Just do a decon wash. Spray it on let it set maybe a min then wipe it all in let it set till it turns purple. Then wash the car as normal then use your topper.

 

[covidcommander]

Are you using a filter when you wash your car? That was key for me. I dont recall ceramic or anything else preventing water spots. Our water here is awful with lime and minerals.

What kind of filter are you using?

 

[Speedy!]

What kind of filter are you using?

It's glorious and works awesome. Love the foam gun too. https://amzn.to/3zwrGFe