Looking after darker paint and ceramic coating

[joropug]

I’ve had , deliberately, light colour cars for ages which have been super easy to look after.

From two white cars a few months ago I now have a Deep Navarra Blue S5 Sportback and my wife has a metallic Black Mercedes A-Class.

Both are in nice condition - I always hand wash them myself but both have swirls that need correcting and I’d like to make it a little easier to wash.

For instance I cleaned my S5 yesterday, drove for 3 hours today and it’s hanging - everything sticks to it and the tyres seem to flick up a lot of dirt onto the bodywork.

Firstly I’d like to get the paintwork corrected and I’m thinking about shelling out for a ceramic coat on the S5 - is this worth it or a bit snake oily ?

Any tips for day to day wash products that I should be using ? Haven’t had the car long so haven’t done any polishing or waxing yet , weather has been crap.

I have some autoglym products, snow foam, wash mits, microfibres etc

[somouk]

I would probably start by giving it a good decontamination and then apply some glaze designed for dark cars.

Top that with a decent sealant or wax and see how you think it looks. The glaze will usually fill all the swirls and you could do that by hand to avoid the cost of a full detail.

The key to making the car easier to clean and keeping it clean is good prep before applying a decent final stage coating.

Ceramic is very good as a final stage coating but if you reguarly wash your car and don't mind topping it up then there are cheaper options that are as good.

[Theoldfm]

What brands of glaze etc would you recommend?

[ashleyman]

Ceramic coating is great so long as you get the right products applied. Some of it is a waste of money but I’ve had 5 cars since 2016 and every single one has been done with Gyeon products either by myself or with a detailer.

Great products. Maintenance products are great and reasonably priced also. I find I don’t get much stuck to the car and it stays cleaner for longer. The ceramic windscreen coating also helps with rain and visibility.

I personally use the following

Gyeon Snowfoam
Gyeon Bathe
One clean I use Gyeon Wetcoat which gives it some extra protection and it’s hydrophobic

You can get something like CanCoat which is a DIY coating you can apply yourself. Or you can get professional level products which a detailer can apply for you that will last longer.

I’ve used a lot of products and at least with Gyeon it actually does what it’s supposed to do.

Edited by ashleyman on Tuesday 17th January 23:12

[Belle427]

Depends how much time you want to spend on doing it yourself.
Autoglym products are ok and do a decent enough job, two fairly good ones are super resin polish and their uhd wax.
Ideal for someone who is not obsessive about it.
The right ceramic can be great but does need to be cared for as well with regular washing etc with the right product.
I'd be more inclined to try out a quick spray sealant once a month and see how it goes.
I've just ordered turtle wax seal and shine to test out as it seems to have very good reviews online for longevity and is cheap as chips.

[somouk]

I use almost all Infinity Wax products these days as price for performance is exceptional.

They do a dark glaze that sees some great results or they do a product called Turbo 6 which is similar to Autoglymn SRP but easier to work with and better at filling.