Ceramic coating?
Discussion
ordered a properly black car which will be delivered in December (polestar2 in 'space'), have actually bought this one so no lease or anything and want to keep it looking shiny.
Other issue is i am quite lazy so wouldn't wax it as often as needed to do it justice.
Ceramic coating seems to tick all my boxes but worried it might be snake oil or something. Has anyone else had this done? would you recommend it? roughly how much was it? and who did it ?
Thanks in advance
Other issue is i am quite lazy so wouldn't wax it as often as needed to do it justice.
Ceramic coating seems to tick all my boxes but worried it might be snake oil or something. Has anyone else had this done? would you recommend it? roughly how much was it? and who did it ?
Thanks in advance
I bought 20 lots of Autoglym Lifeshine on FaceBook Marketplace for £50 (with steps 1, 2 & 3 being carbon ceramic coating, glass and interior spray).
Despite all the warnings of doom, I applied it myself to my car(s). Apply to one panel at a time, then buff. That simple. I gave it a positive review in the Detailing/Car cleaning section of this site.
Despite all the warnings of doom, I applied it myself to my car(s). Apply to one panel at a time, then buff. That simple. I gave it a positive review in the Detailing/Car cleaning section of this site.
Pixelpeep 135 said:
ordered a properly black car which will be delivered in December (polestar2 in 'space'), have actually bought this one so no lease or anything and want to keep it looking shiny.
Other issue is i am quite lazy so wouldn't wax it as often as needed to do it justice.
Ceramic coating seems to tick all my boxes but worried it might be snake oil or something. Has anyone else had this done? would you recommend it? roughly how much was it? and who did it ?
Thanks in advance
A family member had one of his cars done ~1 year ago (but very few miles in the meantime) and seems to think that it makes a difference. Not a miracle cure but does make for less frequent and lower effort cleaning. No idea how much...Other issue is i am quite lazy so wouldn't wax it as often as needed to do it justice.
Ceramic coating seems to tick all my boxes but worried it might be snake oil or something. Has anyone else had this done? would you recommend it? roughly how much was it? and who did it ?
Thanks in advance
I was curious about the chemistry of these things - I think calling them "ceramic" is something of a marketing stretch, they are silicone-based polymer coatings. Interesting, all the same.
https://blog.iglcoatings.com/the-science-of-cerami...
https://blog.iglcoatings.com/the-science-of-cerami...
I had a new car done once for the same reasons to basically make cleaning it easier and quicker.
You could still notice water sheeting off up to about a year after it was done, providing the car was clean enough, otherwise dirt holds on to the water. And dirt does stick.
Mobile detailer did a full wash and machine polish then applied the stuff, including the glass. He was working on it for about 4 or 5 hours and cost about £300.
I'd probably get it done again to a new car if I could afford it, but I can't so whenever my new car turns up I'll probably just put some sort of wax on it and use some of that wash on wash off hydrophobic stuff.
You could still notice water sheeting off up to about a year after it was done, providing the car was clean enough, otherwise dirt holds on to the water. And dirt does stick.
Mobile detailer did a full wash and machine polish then applied the stuff, including the glass. He was working on it for about 4 or 5 hours and cost about £300.
I'd probably get it done again to a new car if I could afford it, but I can't so whenever my new car turns up I'll probably just put some sort of wax on it and use some of that wash on wash off hydrophobic stuff.
i can't find the link now to the company i saw, they were quoting around a grand but comes with a 4 year warranty where they'll come out and do any repairs / reapplications if required etc ?
wish i could remember more about the ad - they pick the car up on a trailer and return it to you, have it for around 2 weeks
wish i could remember more about the ad - they pick the car up on a trailer and return it to you, have it for around 2 weeks
Isn’t it about a grand to ceramic coat a new car? That’s an awful lot of money! What am I missing? You still get swirl marks and it still scratches.
I do my car every three months with Chemical Guys Jet Seal and I can’t see why you’d want much more. It remains slick to the touch and water beads perfectly for months. More importantly it cleans up nicely with just a pressure washer, snow foam and a rinse with filtered water and no contact required.
Perhaps I need to see a well prepared ceramic coated car but for the average enthusiast I’d have thought off-the-shelf sealants would be adequate as long as you stay on top of it. Happy to be proven wrong and shown the value of ceramic coating, though!
I do my car every three months with Chemical Guys Jet Seal and I can’t see why you’d want much more. It remains slick to the touch and water beads perfectly for months. More importantly it cleans up nicely with just a pressure washer, snow foam and a rinse with filtered water and no contact required.
Perhaps I need to see a well prepared ceramic coated car but for the average enthusiast I’d have thought off-the-shelf sealants would be adequate as long as you stay on top of it. Happy to be proven wrong and shown the value of ceramic coating, though!
We had it done on one of ours when new, about 4yrs ago. Went literally went from the dealership straight to detailer who had it a couple of days.
It seemed to make a difference for a while, but let's just say that after 12mo I decided it needed claying and waxing. I don't think it really prevented any build up of contaminants any better than a good wax - in our case I use an old tin of Collinite 915 which is fairly hard stuff but does a good job of keeping them looking good despite living in what appears to be a fairly dusty suburban area.
I'm not sure I'd bother again with a "ceramic" coating.
It seemed to make a difference for a while, but let's just say that after 12mo I decided it needed claying and waxing. I don't think it really prevented any build up of contaminants any better than a good wax - in our case I use an old tin of Collinite 915 which is fairly hard stuff but does a good job of keeping them looking good despite living in what appears to be a fairly dusty suburban area.
I'm not sure I'd bother again with a "ceramic" coating.
I ceramic coat my Cayman with Mother's cmx. It's brilliant stuff and you can stack it time after time 24hrs between coats. It's a Titanium dioxide coating (Ti02).The paintwork is like glass. Made in USA.
I'll only use Autoglym polish on my mk2 Cortina though as it still has its original cellulose paintwork. I'm not sure ceramic coating would be suitable on that..
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I'll only use Autoglym polish on my mk2 Cortina though as it still has its original cellulose paintwork. I'm not sure ceramic coating would be suitable on that..
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Can't comment on the professionally applied ceramic coatings as I can't justify the cost on a 12 year old car. Instead I used 303 Graphene nano coat and that seems to work ok. It's a simple wipe on and buff off, so very quick to apply. I applied it a year ago to paintwork, windows and wheels and it definitely made everything easier to clean. I reapplied 6 months later, although I'm not sure I needed to, and problably wont bother to apply again until next year.
I also have one of the Autoglym Lifeshine kits, so would be interested to know if anyone has any direct experience of how long it lasts, as I might be tempted to try it.
I also have one of the Autoglym Lifeshine kits, so would be interested to know if anyone has any direct experience of how long it lasts, as I might be tempted to try it.
A mate of mine is a professional detailer and I let him have my 911 to do a paint correction and ceramic coat. Took him a week but looked amazing! A year on the car needs very little cleaning and still has a high gloss finish. He uses "Wax is dead" products.
I did a little walk around after I got it back.
https://youtu.be/1QDqz0jPYHY
I did a little walk around after I got it back.
https://youtu.be/1QDqz0jPYHY
Swervin_Mervin said:
We had it done on one of ours when new, about 4yrs ago. Went literally went from the dealership straight to detailer who had it a couple of days.
It seemed to make a difference for a while, but let's just say that after 12mo I decided it needed claying and waxing. I don't think it really prevented any build up of contaminants any better than a good wax - in our case I use an old tin of Collinite 915 which is fairly hard stuff but does a good job of keeping them looking good despite living in what appears to be a fairly dusty suburban area.
I'm not sure I'd bother again with a "ceramic" coating.
There is a pretty easy way of chemically decontaminating a ceramic coating, this will revive it and you’ll be back to day 1 performance if it’s a good ceramic coating. The problem with ceramic coatings isn’t the product, it’s the misinformation and the lack of proper information about how to maintain them. It seemed to make a difference for a while, but let's just say that after 12mo I decided it needed claying and waxing. I don't think it really prevented any build up of contaminants any better than a good wax - in our case I use an old tin of Collinite 915 which is fairly hard stuff but does a good job of keeping them looking good despite living in what appears to be a fairly dusty suburban area.
I'm not sure I'd bother again with a "ceramic" coating.
The money you are paying is for the polishing and prep work mostly, this is what takes the time. The remainder is the warranty. The actual application of the coating is usually pretty easy.
They are not install and forget - last 3 years as per day 1. They need to be maintained. This essentially means being kept clean and decontaminated, with an acidic water spot removal shampoo wash every quarter or so. Putting waxes and things on it that don’t perform as well as the clean coating is a backwards step, so just keep the coating clean!
They are not scratch proof, and only offer a very tiny amount of scratch resistance, unless you get a healing coating like Feynlab’s - they scratch but they heal with heat.
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