Can I tell if I have a real ceramic coating on my car?

[fieryoOo]

Bought a new BMW 340i and had the dealership apply ceramic coating for $1300 with 7 years of exterior/interior warranty. Went back home and found that there is no mentioning of a ceramic coating in any of the documents. Instead there is only one that talks about the warranties. Called the dealer asking for either a refund or a proof that there is actual ceramic coating on the car and they won't provide either.

Am I screwed at this point? Is there any ways of confirming/disproving that I have an actual coating on there?

[Burrcold]

It's likely a spray on coating. Dealership ceramic add-ons are complete BS.

[David70]

What does the exterior/interior warranty cover?

My guess is that you won't be able to do anything about it. Many years ago I worked at a dealership & we used "paint sealant" on every car that came off the truck, it was a good quality tech wax, they paid me roughly 5% of what they charged the customer, everyone was charged, if the person wouldn't pay they removed the charge.

My guess is you got it but as to the quality of what you got, hard to tell.
Case in point - $17.99 and it's a ceramic coating. - Technically I think this meets the requirements of what you purchased.
Enjoy the new car and don't let it bother you too much. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XYPS3PS...344653e9d&th=1

[fieryoOo]

Originally Posted by David70

What does the exterior/interior warranty cover?

My guess is that you won't be able to do anything about it. Many years ago I worked at a dealership & we used "paint sealant" on every car that came off the truck, it was a good quality tech wax, they paid me roughly 5% of what they charged the customer, everyone was charged, if the person wouldn't pay they removed the charge.

My guess is you got it but as to the quality of what you got, hard to tell.
Case in point - $17.99 and it's a ceramic coating. - Technically I think this meets the requirements of what you purchased.
Enjoy the new car and don't let it bother you too much. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XYPS3PS...344653e9d&th=1

Attachment 3572395

Yeah it's probably a spray given that they're not willing to mention the actual product anywhere. Here is what the exterior warranty states:

Exterior Protection
* Environmental Paint Protection
** Warrantied protection of the treated exterior factory painted surfaces against: weather induced fading, weather induced chalking, weather induced loss of gloss, acid
rain, bird waste, tree sap, insect damage (including love bugs), sun’s UV damage, hard water spots, de-icing agents/road salt, ocean spray, brake dust, rail dust, paint
overspray, and fuel stains.
* Headlight Lens Protection
** Warrantied Protection against: the sun’s harmful UV rays causing dulling, yellowing, or fading of the headlight lens(es). Repair Only.
* Alloy Wheel Protection
** Warrantied Protection against: pitting or corrosion from road salt, ocean spray, weather-induced damage, and staining from brake dust that can not be easily removed.
* Black Trim/Molding Protection
** Warrantied Protection against: fading & discoloring of the exterior black trim/molding/cladding caused by the sun’s harmful UV rays. Repair Only

[fieryoOo]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

It's likely a spray on coating. Dealership ceramic add-ons are complete BS.

I'm considering dispute the credit card charge, but I also don't have any evidence that I didn't get the coating

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by fieryoOo

I'm considering dispute the credit card charge, but I also don't have any evidence that I didn't get the coating

Tell them that you are going to dispute the charge if they can't show you the process/product that they used. They can't just say, sorry it's invisible you will have to trust us.

On the other hand, you can view this as you paid $1300 for a warranty on your paint (although I would read the fine print very closely...I can't imagine that they will rectify any issue (rail dust as example) for the next 7 years). They will probably say oh you didn't come in annually to have it "recoated" or that you used a car wash lol.

[David70]

Originally Posted by fieryoOo

I'm considering dispute the credit card charge, but I also don't have any evidence that I didn't get the coating

All they have to do is walk into the detailing area, show you a bottle of the stuff and let the detailer explain how he does it, then you say what?

You tell the credit card company you can't tell if you got what you asked for or not? What's the dispute?

[fieryoOo]

Ah, they did actually send me this link: https://www.ecpinc.net/ and called it the 'Diamond Ceramic Protection'. So I'm guessing ECP 'Diamond Ceramic with Graphene' is the product. Not sure what this is. The website looks fishy...

[David70]

Originally Posted by fieryoOo

I'm considering dispute the credit card charge, but I also don't have any evidence that I didn't get the coating

All they have to do is walk into the detailing area, show you a bottle of the stuff and let the detailer explain how he does it, then you say what?

You tell the credit card company you can't tell if you got what you paid for or not? What's the dispute?

Based on the evidence I'm on the dealership's side on this one, you paid them to do a job, they said they did it, you aren't sure. Pretty late in the game to be researching the ceramic coating.

[fieryoOo]

Originally Posted by David70

All they have to do is walk into the detailing area, show you a bottle of the stuff and let the detailer explain how he does it, then you say what?

You tell the credit card company you can't tell if you got what you paid for or not? What's the dispute?

Based on the evidence I'm on the dealership's side on this one, you paid them to do a job, they said they did it, you aren't sure. Pretty late in the game to be researching the ceramic coating.

I hope you're right
I didn't plan to research it. Was at a local pro shop tinting the window and they were 'pretty confident' that it wasn't an actual coating, only a wax or spray.
Oh well...

[rmedina]

Well it's really not bad if your car is not going to be garage kept. You will have hard water, bird droppings, etc. It's just a matter of time. When it does happen the dealership will have a 3rd party go out and try and take care of it. If they are unable to remove any defects they will have no choice but to respray. When my wife purchased her first new car back in 04. She was sold a "sealant" type of deal. Before her warranty was set to expire we called in to have all the defects removed. I knew they were not going to be able to remove them. Wet sanding, polishing did nothing. End of the day we ended up have the car resprayed at shop of our choice.

If you really want to know if they applied any protection simply spray it down with some water. If it beads or sheets then you have some type of protection.

[MartinInKansas]

I’m sure they applied SOME TYPE of ceramic coating. The question is what quality, and how long will it really last.

The ceramic coating was most likely wiped on.

I also purchased a dealer-based protection package for outside and inside of my BMW.
If I was doing it again, I would have had ceramic coating applied by a auto tint/detailing shop.

In my case, I assume I could have had a better quality and less expensive job from a third party.

Definitely pour water over your front hood to see if the water rolls right off.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by fieryoOo

Bought a new BMW 340i and had the dealership apply ceramic coating for $1300 with 7 years of exterior/interior warranty. Went back home and found that there is no mentioning of a ceramic coating in any of the documents. Instead there is only one that talks about the warranties. Called the dealer asking for either a refund or a proof that there is actual ceramic coating on the car and they won't provide either.

Am I screwed at this point? Is there any ways of confirming/disproving that I have an actual coating on there?

Originally Posted by Burrcold

It's likely a spray on coating. Dealership ceramic add-ons are complete BS.

Frankly, you are screwed. As mentioned by Burrcold, the dealer probably used a cheap spray-on product that you could have applied yourself.

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by fieryoOo

Oh well...

I wouldn't stop there. Don't be on the offensive or anything but ask your contact at the dealer if you could learn some more about it. Tell them a story like you want to research how to take care of it and so you'd like to know what they applied. Fake a reason to stop in and while there ask to see what they do.

Or tell them a local shop suggested nothing was actually applied, and that you're pretty sure something was indeed applied... but you'd like to settle your doubts and have a look.

Be positive about it. Be professional. Maybe be ready to ask for a partial refund if it only takes them a half hour to do the work for that much money, but go in and ask. There's even a small chance you'll walk away impressed or something.

[Nettles]

No offense but it never crossed your mind to do check the world wide internet on this topic before dropping $1300? Kind of wild

[sean2648]

Own and run a successful detail/automotive protection/tint shop.

Unfortunately, dealership ceramic coatings are normally a quick spray-on sealant or wax that will last anywhere from 1 week to 3 months and they call it "ceramic coating." Then make some insane warranty claims but not actually warranty anything. It is usually applied while you're in the finance department signing your paperwork.

I can't tell you how much time we spend trying to educate our customers that it's crap. It sounds good because they drop the long lifespan, warranty, etc claims and you can just roll it into your loan or offer it to you when you're tired and just want to get out of the door.

If you take a bottle of water and pour it on a panel and it doesn't just roll right off, or use a spray bottle and spray a panel and it doesn't bead up, you don't have a coating.

Tell the dealership you plan to dispute the charge if they don't refund you or you'll be leaving them a poor review if they aren't playing ball. But, next time do a little research before buying some snake oil the stealership pitches you as an add-on.

[Yuille36]

Look at the luster in my cars paint, it has been paint corrected, ceramic coated and partial PPF. Any liquids will roll of the ceramic coatings, tree sap, bird poop will wash right off the paint, even dirt and mud will spray right off.

Ceramic coatings take time to apply and cure, not some simply spray on/wipe off spray wax with hydrophobic chemicals in it. And some coatings last 5-6 yrs, may require additional coatings to keep the hydrophobic properties in the paint fresh.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the car goes thru a wash and decontamination process along with a clay bar, then another wash and enhancement polish before ceramic coating is applied.

In my opinion, it is well worth the money I spent to have all this done.