Ceramic Coating -- Pros/Cons? Worth the investment?

[Indy443]

Ceramic Coating? Pros/Cons? Worth the investment? I plan on keeping the truck ('23 XLT PB) for well over 100K. Live in a fairly rugged climate with 4 distinct seasons, a lot of road grime and dirt. I have a good shop near me and they are willing to use any brand of coating. What's the best out there, what should I stay away from? Does it really hold up for years in a harsh climate?

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[Bullett]

I had my truck coated a year and a half ago with a 5 year product made by Undrdog. The paint correction alone made what I paid worth it. The coating has made washing my truck a breeze and after it's washed it looks like a fresh coat of wax was just put on. They also coated my windshield and windows and the water beads right off the glass surface when it rains.
I was so impressed that I had my car done two weeks after. Well worth it IMO

 

[Fordphanatic]

I had my truck and wife's Bronco Sport ceramic coated when new. Expensive but well worth it. Your paying for the paint correction labor. Also a GOOD ceramic coating is not cheap.

 

[Bo22F150]

I do my own ceramic coating. Wash, iron removal, clay bar then ceramic coating for a new car. If it is a used one then you have paint correction to take out any swirls/scratches. It is very time consuming but the results are fantastic. I use Autokcan which I like the results for the money (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QD58TR...olid=1MW6WUUVCQY8E&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it). It use to be $60+ on amazon but is really a good buy right now. Here is my old ranger that was done after I bought it.

 

[King Luis]

so why would you want ceramic coating vs ppf? ideally both but is one better than the other for 4 season daily driven?

 

[Bo22F150]

So I don't do this professionally and have not dabbled in PPF yet. I just enjoy cleaning my truck so I watched some videos on youtube and just did it. I can speak to the ceramic coating that I use and it lasting vs a typical liquid/paste wax. I was waxing twice a year (wash, claybar, wax) vs the ceramic coating lasting longer than that. So for me it was worth it to me.

so why would you want ceramic coating vs ppf? ideally both but is one better than the other for 4 season daily driven?

 

[Dunthupl]

TLDR: the water spotting I've experienced with ceramic coatings is the biggest downfall IMO. Water beading looks cool. I think it holds up better than waxes/sealants and certainly easier to clean. Similar to waxes/sealants, leaving bird shit or bugs sit/bake in the sun is going to hurt... Coatings will scratch and mar with typical use just like everything else. IMO, I feel like you're signing up for a commitment by coating the truck...but I don't think I'd suggest an alternative.

I wouldn't fall prey to statements like '5 year coating' or '9H hardness'...its all marketing. At the end of the day, ceramic coatings aren't some set it and forget it miracle solution.

I consider myself an enthusiast. I corrected and coated my own truck some 5 years ago and since invested thousand(s) of dollars on polishers, products, and microfibers. I mention this because its a heavy investment to do it yourself or to pay someone. You can get by maintaining your already coated truck with a handful of items - there is a maintenance schedule you should follow to protect your large investment. Locally, it was around $2500-3000 to correct/coat my wife's BMW X3 though it was not a consumer available coating.

The product itself is cheap, all the money is in labor. With large scale blending companies opening their doors, now even a drywall company can slap a label on a 50ml bottle and sell it as the next best coating. CarPro would be my top choice coating, but I'd make sure the shop has used it/familiar with it. I've tried other manufacture's products, but continually go back to CarPro almost exclusively (minus window and wheel cleaner). If I could suggest other top tier manufactures: Gyeon, maybe Adams, and GTechniq seems to have found its way into a lot of shops.

All my Black Friday purchases have arrived and I'm slated to coat my own truck with CarPro UK3.0 soon. Happy to give you more info on products and practices that have worked for me, just shoot me a PM. It's a deep pit, but welcome.

 

[Yves]

so why would you want ceramic coating vs ppf? ideally both but is one better than the other for 4 season daily driven?

PPF will protect or should protect against chipping i.e little stone chipping on the hood, bumper etc...

 

[Monochrome150]

As someone who washes their truck every time it’s driven (due too Minnesota salt)and only drives it a few times a month. Ceramic coating is 100% worth it even in those circumstances. To clean it you simply rinse it off with deionized water and dry off with a leaf blower and a drying aid/microfiber towel. Best investment for a new vehicle

 

[Graygoose2021]

Yes bought wife a new black on black on black Highlander.































































First mod. She drove a week in the rain, still looked good. Was easy to wash and reclean

















 

[Stevenbm99]

Did ppf on the whole front and then ethos graphene coating. Very time consuming to do the whole truck but the dirt just wipes right off. Definately worth it and can do it yourself. Just follow the instructions carefully.

 

[hussar1683]

Not worth the price to me. I just sold a car we owned for almost 15 years / 215k miles and the paint still looked great on it. For the past few years, I almost exclusively hand washed it with wash&wax from Costco. There was nothing on it that a ceramic coating would’ve prevented from happening.

I also use this stuff on my wife’s 5 year old white car since we bought it new and the thing looks like it was just waxed. Even a week or two after washing, it still has an appearance of a nice glossy coat and beads water off.
I honestly don’t see any difference between my wife’s car and freshly ceramic coated brother’s white Yukon.

At the end of the day it still needs to be washed whether it’s coated or not. Ceramic also wears off with time.

PPF also comes with its own set of cons like cracking or yellowing. I figured, that if I keep my truck for 5 years or 60k miles, I can live with a couple of small paint chips on the front bumper. If I keep it for 15 years, that PPF will look like crap anyway.

No way I am making my truck 4 grand more expensive by having it covered with plastic and glorified wax.
To me It’s a daily driver, not a showpiece.

 

[tbinmd]

I did ceramic coating on mine, did DIY with CQuartz UK 3.0 on the paint. For the plastic I used Quartz DLux Plastic and wheel coating. For the plastic coating you just wipe it on, no need to wipe it off. For a test I did one half of the bed trim with the product and left the other half uncovered. After the summer there was a big difference. The side I did beads the water and looked black. The untreated side was getting washed out. Also used it on the trim at the base of the door windows, it lessened the black streaming from the rubber/plastic.

Truck is also so much easier to clean with the coating on it.

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

Did ppf on the whole front and then ethos graphene coating. Very time consuming to do the whole truck but the dirt just wipes right off. Definately worth it and can do it yourself. Just follow the instructions carefully.

Did you install ppf yourself? I’ve looked at doing that but I bet it’s harder than it looks!

 

[Stevenbm99]

No. I paid someone to do that. I agree it seems like it would be difficult to make look good.

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