Ceramic coating?

[Steve89]

I had mine professionally done. They first did a good clean/polish followed by gtechniq ultra ceramic coating for about $1000. Extremely pleased with performance at just short of a year. Supposed to be good for at least 5 years. Water beads up and rolls off amazingly well. I chose to have it done to give the truck some extra protection. For how expensive the truck was in the first place, the cost of this was minimal. I didn't have the time to do it myself or the time to wax it regularly if I didn't do ceramic. The whole process took them almost 2 days. Makes washing so easy. I run it through an automatic wash (touchless!!!!!) with blowers, drive 2 miles home and a quick hand dry of front bumper and tailgate. No water spots.

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[aaexpert]

I do ceramic installs and in a nutshell there are good/better/best ( 1, 3, 6 yr.) versions out there. On Youtube check out Chicago Auto Pros, Graphene coatings vs. Ceramic, they have some great info. to learn about types/brands. Ive tried multiple brands and for the best result, for a novice, I recommend using Gtechniq Lite. For about $100 it goes on easy and is simple enough to level/wipe after a minute. It takes time to full prep (wash, clay, iso-prep spray) but it gives 3-5yrs. of added protection/shine and worth 1 day of work. Obviously it'll take more time if you need to first buff/polish out any existing swirls or scuffs. Otherwise you can pay $1k+ for the 5-7yr. pro products.

 

[gb7FRz26]

Right after I got the truck I purchased a "Ten year Feynlabs ceramic coating" from a reputable place in DFW. This version is reapplied every year for nine years after the initial application. My goal was to have the paint looking as nice as it was from the beginning after ten years (I want to keep this truck 20 years and I'm already 7% there). The cost was $2500 and then an additional $400 when I got the A.R.E. shell. The owner was nice enough to apply a plastic clearbra film on the black B-pillar trims without charging me for it. I broke it down in my head that I was going to be paying for an expensive car wash and detail once a year for $280. I still feel I probably could have picked a better product for a lower price but time will tell. My truck spends it's entire life outside, so if I can give it some sun protection, that's what I want.
For care he told me to never take it through an automatic car wash, and to use Car Pros products, microfiber etc.
When I brought it in after the first year he complained about water spots. I said I live in a hard water zone, I brought it in not dirty like you asked (I had washed it the day before), and knowing you will always give it a good & proper wash before reapplying the ceramic, I didn't expect fresh water spots to be a problem (washing it was part of the original deal). Maybe he was in a bad mood that day but he wasn't pleased. He told me he stopped selling the 10 year product because people would always bring their cars in dirty.

 

[Eldon]

Great thread, I just bought a G9 and G8 Random Orbital Polisher from Griot's Garage, along with some of their ceramic products. I am really new at this detailing thing, I have used the G9 and some ceramic 3 in 1 on the hood of my 2011 Toyota Camry, The Camry is my everyday car, and it looks really old and faded. The hood came out looking pretty good, but I'm sure as time and practice go on, I'll be able to get some better results. I also have a new 2022 Camry and a 2023 F-150 on order, but won't dare take a chance on either of them until I know what the heck I'm doing. I'm retired, and bored, there for I needed something to do, hence, the Orbital Polishers. Anyhow, good luck, and if I figure all this out, I'll post some pictures.

 

[TRACKTOY]

HI
for me it's DIAMOND KOTE ceramick coating 10 years warranty direct from my dealer DALTON FORD COST ME 600.00$ CDN.
This the second truck they make for me very good job.

TRACKTOY

 

[PatchManager]

This YouTube channel, Scotty HD is from a guy who does testing on ceramic coatings, PPF, and other car related products. He does a great job.

I recently ceramic coated two of our vehicles and it generally went well. The process is time consuming including the preparation, but not much more than waxing if you are doing the clay bar and alcohol wipe anyway. It is critical to follow the instructions, and to not let the coating sit too long before leveling/wiping it off. If you let wax sit too long, wiping off is more difficult. Letting the ceramic coating sit too long makes it nearly impossible to wipe off without streaking.

As I mentioned, the preparation is time consuming, so I can understand the price many shops charge for ceramic coating.

 

[RcFlyer330]

Well finally after the ~2 week cure time I washed my truck. I did a two bucket wash, with a handheld foam sprayer, and a portable water deionizer to prevent any water spots. side story the first time I hand washed the truck I ended up at the touchless wash to remove the water spots that was left from hand washing without deionized water I wasn't going to have that happen again. It took me almost 2hrs just because its not an easy vehicle to wash. I am 6 foot tall and getting to the middle of the roof and middle of the windshield while standing on the running boards trying to not get my shirt and pants soaked with nothing to grab on to and what I can grab is covered in soap is not easy. Actually washing the truck with the dead dried bugs was great. super easy. I am really surprised that I didn't have to go back and rewash any spot to remove the remaining bug guts.

Now I still haven't driven the truck in the rain with the ceramic coating but that will eventually happen. It will probably rain tomorrow because you know nature just hates me having a clean vehicle for more than 24hrs. Anyway here is what I had done and the brand. I went with Ceramic Pro and picked the gold package it has a lifetime warranty and includes 4 hrs of paint correction. I opted to get all the glass coated and the interior coated addon packages also. Total price for all of this was a bit more than 2500. Just the exterior ceramic was $1999 the rest is addons. I also had an undercoating done at the same installer. If you find your local installer they should list the prices of the addons and ceramic if you want an exact price. my truck didn't need much paint correction , mainly just where the protective stickers from shipping were removed, but they did remove all the swirl marks on the black plastic door pillars.

The lifetime warranty and why I said to look at the fine print in my first post. ceramic pro's lifetime warranty is only lifetime if the coating is inspected every year within the 30 days before it was first applied or the warranty becomes a 5 year warranty. Having the ceramic checked every year could be a pain but the under coating also has a warranty and its recommended to be reapplied every 18 months (yay salty roads) so I will have that done at the same time.

My impressions so far are great for the ceramic pro product and my installer is awesome. It was expensive and hopefully its lasts and I don't need to find out what the warranty actually covers

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