Exterior Paint protection

[Randy Johnson]

Interested in ceramic coating but checked the prices and it is way too expensive to be done at a shop. Wondering how hard it would be to do at home and what the process is? Obviously I need to wash the car. What about clay barring and waxing? Is this required?

[TboneS54]

It's very cheap and easy now.

$60 bottle of gyeon mohs/pure 30ml for 1 car lasts 2-3 years. Very forgiving installation time.

Yes clay the car, but it really should be polished as well. At least a light final polish. Clean the paint with a proper panel prep spray before coating.

[John in VA]

Most of the cost of having a shop do ceramic coating is getting the paint surface as good as possible for the coating.
Adam's has a DIY coating kit.

[Propulsion]

Can anyone share their experiences with Ceramic Coating? Trying to decide if it’s right for me

[John in VA]

Originally Posted by Propulsion

Can anyone share their experiences with Ceramic Coating? Trying to decide if it’s right for me

It's a long-lasting coating that adds shine, makes water bead up & prevents dirt from sticking, making the car easier to keep clean.

[Randy Johnson]

Thanks. I’ll check out Adam’s.

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by Randy Johnson

What about clay barring and waxing? Is this required?

Think of the coating as sealing in whatever finish you have now. If your paint looks great, you don't need to do much. If it looks terrible then, yeah, it'll stay terrible looking even coated. You have to decide how good you want the paint to look before you coat it.

Originally Posted by Randy Johnson

Wondering how hard it would be to do at home and what the process is?

I'd suggest a spray coating. Spray it at the applicator, put it on a small section of the car, wipe it off, and then repeat until the car is covered. Be sure it's totally dry first, be sure the wind doesn't carry the overspray onto the car, and do it in weather that lets you examine every section before you move on.

There are TONS of good videos about it, go start watching them.

[p0p]

I have AvalonKing IX on for over 2years
Hood, roof and trunk still beads up nicely; the sides are showing i need to reapply

When i applied it; paint had little to no marks and still dose.

When i get around to it ill prob. try their MAX
Washing the car most of the time i just rinse, foam, rinse and towel dry

[cooolone2]

If you take care of your paint, you don't need a coating. I feel the coating makes owners lazy, and there's issues too with ceramic coatings if you don't recharge them too. It's not a fix all for taking care of your paint! A detailing, prep, polish, sealant and A1 quality waxing will provide the same protection! Biggest issue with ceramics is if you ever have the need to repair, the coating must be taken off with an abrasive prior to the panel being fixed! With regular coatings this is by far 10x easier! Lol

Anyways...

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by cooolone2

If you take care of your paint, you don't need a coating. I feel the coating makes owners lazy, and there's issues too with ceramic coatings if you don't recharge them too. It's not a fix all for taking care of your paint! A detailing, prep, polish, sealant and A1 quality waxing will provide the same protection! Biggest issue with ceramics is if you ever have the need to repair, the coating must be taken off with an abrasive prior to the panel being fixed! With regular coatings this is by far 10x easier! Lol

Anyways...

I follow, but disagree as well. I've found that with ceramic, the actual cleaning process is far easier. Bugs for example come off the front just spraying with my garden hose, where I used to have to at least use a sponge and maybe some bug remover as well.

For repair, you do have to polish off the ceramic, but - if you're repairing something that requires it to come off, you're probably already doing that anyhow. Any damage or scratch removal already has polishing involved so I don't really see the difference.

I'd suggest an in-between which is to DIY a spray coating. Something claimed to last 2 years is likely good for at least one. So you can DIY it once a year.

I don't hate wax, I still use Zaino on my wife's car. But once it runs out she'll get a spray ceramic. Now that I've had some experience applying it and cleaning it, I do think it is indeed better. Maybe not worth all of the hype it gets, but it is better.

[FrankMstein]

For testing products: https://www.youtube.com/@ScottHD/videos
Not much in auto parts stores work for long. Detailing shops will carry Gtechnic C2V3 topper which "*CAN* be used w/o a base coat.

You WILL need to wash, clay, wash, and alcohol wipe beforehand or it won't work well. Some of the new clay towel(s)/mits are very effective and fast. Otherwise...half ass it and squirt and wipe.

[TheMocc]

Originally Posted by FrankMstein

For testing products: https://www.youtube.com/@ScottHD/videos
Not much in auto parts stores work for long. Detailing shops will carry Gtechnic C2V3 topper which "*CAN* be used w/o a base coat.

You WILL need to wash, clay, wash, and alcohol wipe beforehand or it won't work well. Some of the new clay towel(s)/mits are very effective and fast. Otherwise...half ass it and squirt and wipe.

Originally Posted by Propulsion

Can anyone share their experiences with Ceramic Coating? Trying to decide if it’s right for me

You can check out my thread in this forum on Gyeon One ceramic coating (DIY)
If you are comfortable with car detailing you should be fine with these products and depending on your level of paint correction needed - should be relatively fun and easy process.

Good luck

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by cooolone2

If you take care of your paint, you don't need a coating. I feel the coating makes owners lazy, and there's issues too with ceramic coatings if you don't recharge them too. It's not a fix all for taking care of your paint! A detailing, prep, polish, sealant and A1 quality waxing will provide the same protection! Biggest issue with ceramics is if you ever have the need to repair, the coating must be taken off with an abrasive prior to the panel being fixed! With regular coatings this is by far 10x easier! Lol

Anyways...

Coating makes my washes easier. If you take care of your paint, that should be the reason to get a coating. It makes cleaning easier so someone who takes their car to the car wash sees way less benefit.

A light polish takes off most coatings.. You're acting like metal armor is being welded onto the panels.

[reallymarkedup]

Originally Posted by cooolone2

If you take care of your paint, you don't need a coating.

I've never understood how people arrive at this logic. Getting it ceramic coated IS taking care of your paint. It's literally why you do it.