ceramic detail

shine

shine

Member
ok i need some opinions. i have far too many vehicles to keep up with. so against my better judgement i'm going to use one of the ceramic coatings on them. it would take me a week to clean and polish all 3 of them. i know the lions share are snake oils but there has to be one worth using. talked to a guy on a harley site that used one and even mixed up mud and poured it on it. swears it ran off like the videos . so who has some real time experience with one.
 
My Silverado was 20 years old last month, and lived its whole life in Michigan without any type of protection. It only gets washed in the winter, and lives outside. Ever since I retired 14 years ago, it doesn't get driven in the salt unless I have to, but there is no rust showing on the body, and when its clean, it shines almost as good as ever.
 
I believe he told me that you have to get certified to use it, but that was nothing more than sending in pictures of his work.
 
i have used a few of them. both real ceramic coatings and just the spray on si02 sealers. i have used geyon, gTechniqe, the cheap $9 bottle ebay stuff as well as the new 3d ceramic. i like them all and ill give my thoughts. 1st...ill never use wax again. 2nd you need to decide if you want a coating or the quick spray detailer stuff. both give the same hydrophobic qualities but one has the actual hard coating and one does not. while i like the coating type since it lasts longer, it is more time consuming to apply, basically the same as wax, maybe slightly longer. expect it to be a yearly process if you want to keep the hydrophobic and dirt repellant qualities. even the professional stuff is the same. they say 5 years but it really doesnt last that long. the coating may last but you lose the repellant qualities after about a year on a daily driver kept outside. i wash my truck and z06 maybe once a month so i use the spray type on those. i have found hydrosilex to last the longest @ about 3 mos on horizontal panels and 4-5 on vertical. 3d has one called bead it up. last about 1/2 as long but you can buy in in a gallon for maybe 35 bucks. the great thing about the stuff is that its ultra quick to apply. i did my whole truck a few days ago right after i washed it and it took me all of 5 minutes to do. its applied just like a spray detailer or windex. a couple sprays on each panel and wipe it around with a microfiber and its done. i usually do it every 1 or 2 times i wash. for how easy it is to do the spray, i just dont see the point in doing the coatings, plus your not putting a coating over your clearcoat. never been to keen on that. if your paint is dull or not what it should be then just like wax, you can expect it to renew to finish long term. polish, get the paint you want it to look, 710 the whole car and apply the coating. the spray stuff doesnt matter. wash and apply and your done.
 
The good stuff you need a “certification” for. There’s others on the market that are for the diyer it seems. A popular one that everyone advertises on YouTube is Avalon King. There are plenty others as well. I don’t believe they last as long though. But still a decent amount of time. I haven’t entirely jumped on the ceramic coating band wagon yet. I personally have great luck with a good sealant (jescar power lock plus, there are others as well) and you can layer a durable wax on top of that if you’d like such as Collinite 845, etc. This to me provides plenty of protection, esp with touch ups after washes with a spray and wipe like bead maker, ceramic or graphene spray, etc. There’s a lot of new technology out there these days. I do like the way some ceramic coatings bring back and protect plastic trim though.
 
Jim C said:
i have used a few of them. both real ceramic coatings and just the spray on si02 sealers. i have used geyon, gTechniqe, the cheap $9 bottle ebay stuff as well as the new 3d ceramic. i like them all and ill give my thoughts. 1st...ill never use wax again. 2nd you need to decide if you want a coating or the quick spray detailer stuff. both give the same hydrophobic qualities but one has the actual hard coating and one does not. while i like the coating type since it lasts longer, it is more time consuming to apply, basically the same as wax, maybe slightly longer. expect it to be a yearly process if you want to keep the hydrophobic and dirt repellant qualities. even the professional stuff is the same. they say 5 years but it really doesnt last that long. the coating may last but you lose the repellant qualities after about a year on a daily driver kept outside. i wash my truck and z06 maybe once a month so i use the spray type on those. i have found hydrosilex to last the longest @ about 3 mos on horizontal panels and 4-5 on vertical. 3d has one called bead it up. last about 1/2 as long but you can buy in in a gallon for maybe 35 bucks. the great thing about the stuff is that its ultra quick to apply. i did my whole truck a few days ago right after i washed it and it took me all of 5 minutes to do. its applied just like a spray detailer or windex. a couple sprays on each panel and wipe it around with a microfiber and its done. i usually do it every 1 or 2 times i wash. for how easy it is to do the spray, i just dont see the point in doing the coatings, plus your not putting a coating over your clearcoat. never been to keen on that. if your paint is dull or not what it should be then just like wax, you can expect it to renew to finish long term. polish, get the paint you want it to look, 710 the whole car and apply the coating. the spray stuff doesnt matter. wash and apply and your done.
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Seems me and Jim were typing at the same time. We hit on a few of the same subjects. Only thing I can’t say is I’ll never use wax again. Every once in a while, a certain car, maybe on the wknd and a cold brew I’ll throw on a coat of quality wax just for the hell of it. One that’s easy to work with of course. Sometimes I find it therapeutic. But like he said it’s not all they’re cracked up to be esp for the money some of them demand. You can get the same results much cheaper and easier. And I agree with Jim and as I stated in my post, I’m a big fan of 3d bead it up, p&s beadmaker, etc. Super cheap, quick, and easy. And your vehicle is always freshly protected. Btw, Jim I’m a big fan of 3D products, what did you think of their ceramic coating? A buddy of mine wanted me to do his car soon. I tried persuading him to go my route but he’s on the bandwagon. And like I said I do like the way certain ones work on black plastic trim.
 
i've got a couple of trucks and my brides chrysler 300 plus my bike. way too much waxing for me now days. i've been using a car wash here that has a decent spotless dry and wax just to keep them looking decent. was looking at nexgen ( facebook scam) but after looking at reviews it is junk.
just getting too long in the tooth to wax and detail all of them. i've always kept my stuff looking decent but getting to be too much work. as is block sanding on this 56. lot of real estate on it.
i'll look into the 3D stuff.
 
Whitesnake said:
Seems me and Jim were typing at the same time. We hit on a few of the same subjects. Only thing I can’t say is I’ll never use wax again. Every once in a while, a certain car, maybe on the wknd and a cold brew I’ll throw on a coat of quality wax just for the hell of it. One that’s easy to work with of course. Sometimes I find it therapeutic. But like he said it’s not all they’re cracked up to be esp for the money some of them demand. You can get the same results much cheaper and easier. And I agree with Jim and as I stated in my post, I’m a big fan of 3d bead it up, p&s beadmaker, etc. Super cheap, quick, and easy. And your vehicle is always freshly protected. Btw, Jim I’m a big fan of 3D products, what did you think of their ceramic coating? A buddy of mine wanted me to do his car soon. I tried persuading him to go my route but he’s on the bandwagon. And like I said I do like the way certain ones work on black plastic trim.
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not sure on the 3d ceramic yet. its brand new. i preordered it and it just got delivered a couple weeks ago. the real test for it will be my boat hull. i know how the good stuff works and lasts on it so ill get to compare this spring. the hull where water is washing against it, none of them last long. from the rubrail up and the inside though the geyon has worked great. going on the 3rd season. i dont really have to wash it. its mostly just a rinse.
 
ordered some 3d bead it up. we will see. has to be better than the car wash wax. i keep my stuff nice. my 2001 f250 looks like new inside and out. under the hood is as clean as new. i hate grease and grim. i have to work on them from time to time so i want them clean. my 2005 4x4 has 253k miles on it.
 

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I think youll like it. Doesnt last super long but it works, its quick and its easy. I would say make sure you dewax the truck before you use any of these. They will last longer if they dont go over something else.i wash then blow dry with a backpack blower then spray that stuff on and wipe it right off. Your truck will stay cleaner longer
 
I have a friend in California who owns a Detail Shop. He uses Owner's Pride Ceramic Coating and says it should be good for 3 years.
You have to be a certified installer to purchase and apply.

He put a coat on my Harley about a year ago and it still shines today. Dust just falls off and a wet cloth will take care of anything else.
 
Made by Avalonking- have been on 2 years - I did 2 coats - on my everyday driver(truck)- of course spent HOURS prepping the truck . Still beads up great - now I will say I don’t necessarily think it keeps it cleaner but it makes it much easier to clean if that makes sense . I also put it on my windshield - don’t have to use wipers in light rain . Also put it on my boat - easier to wipe down . Not trying to say it’s a must buy at all but I’m happy with it - by the way I live in Illinois so it’s going through it’s second winter now and seems to be holding up pretty good
 

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shine said:
ok i need some opinions. i have far too many vehicles to keep up with. so against my better judgement i'm going to use one of the ceramic coatings on them. it would take me a week to clean and polish all 3 of them. i know the lions share are snake oils but there has to be one worth using. talked to a guy on a harley site that used one and even mixed up mud and poured it on it. swears it ran off like the videos . so who has some real time experience with one.
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Shine, I used this Carpro CQuartz UK on my '37 about two years ago, I was pretty impressed. It's a lot of work to prep, including a good polish, then cleaning with alcohol, then two coats of ceramic in small sections, but bugs just wipe off with warm water in seconds and I detail it just using warm water. Here's a link to the product. https://www.autoobsessed.com/produc...ting-reload-50ml?_pos=10&_sid=9bdefc113&_ss=r Bill
shine said:
ok i need some opinions. i have far too many vehicles to keep up with. so against my better judgement i'm going to use one of the ceramic coatings on them. it would take me a week to clean and polish all 3 of them. i know the lions share are snake oils but there has to be one worth using. talked to a guy on a harley site that used one and even mixed up mud and poured it on it. swears it ran off like the videos . so who has some real time experience with one.
Click to expand...
 
A long time ago this crotchety old painter got me started on Chemical Guys and I’ve been using them ever since ;)

I detailed both of my vehicles with CG ceramic in Oct/Nov. It definitely shines them up. Longevity is hard to say as it’s only been a few months but water still beads up on them.
 
yeah i've been talking with CG . they have come a long way with their detailing stuff. going to put the bead it up on one of my trucks and CG on the other.
 
well the bead it up wont last like any of the real ceramic coatings. not sure what the cg stuff is. bead it up is basically a detail spray with the same si02 in it that they use in the ceramic coatings. only reason to use something like bead it up is for a quick easy apply that you can do once a month or whenever you wash.
 
Shine, I think you're the one that got me started with the Chemical Guys products. Have you ever tried Jet Seal?
 
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