DIY ceramic coat worth it and how?

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rocket

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the paint correction is starting off wtih clay bar then using a correcting compound to get as many of the imperfections out of the paint.....scratches, swirl marks etc. Next step is a less aggressive cleaning polish followed by a round of polish. the decontamination is just a spray to get all left over polish, oils, etc. off the paint so its clean for the ceramic to bond(It's basically spray on wipe off)
forgive me if I'm wrong , but are we not actually cleaning (polishing) the clear coat and not the paint?
 

Kinetic

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forgive me if I'm wrong , but are we not actually cleaning (polishing) the clear coat and not the paint?

Correct. If you're touching the base color you'll have the color transfer to your pad and towel, that's not a good sign. All polishing is done to the clear coat (unless it's a single stage paint).
 

Lights_out

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I've been detailing cars on the side off and on for years. Finally about to do my first ceramic coat on my new Ram. It's black so there are some minor swirls right off the lot. Plan is to claybar of course, then hit it with Meguiars Ultimate Compound, it should take care of the swirls. Then spray 15% IPA as a prep for the coating. As for the ceramic, I have Optimum Gloss Coat on the way. It's priced reasonably and gets some good rewiews so I went with it. There are tons upon tons of options out there, it's hard to choose one. I had it down to McKees and Optimum and chose Optimum. McKees gets good reviews but for some reason I'm just not sold on how you spray it on like that.
 

Kinetic

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Good plan. Have some ultimate polish on hand in case the compounds leaves some haze behind.
 

AdamsPolishes

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It's just not that hard to do & our coatings is one of the easier ones to apply.
Check out the video!


 

Kinetic

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It's just not that hard to do & our coatings is one of the easier ones to apply.
Check out the video!



What is the claimed longevity of your coating? At twice the price of Cquartz it should offer something substantial over that of it's rival coatings.
 

cuminslvr

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I found a detailing shop that will do the ceramic pro 5yr for 1500 bucks + 250 for correction. The lifetime application which includes the wheels is 1995 + the 250. Any feed back on either of these. which is more cost effective if i'm gonna keep the truck for 7-8 years?
 

Kinetic

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I found a detailing shop that will do the ceramic pro 5yr for 1500 bucks + 250 for correction. The lifetime application which includes the wheels is 1995 + the 250. Any feed back on either of these. which is more cost effective if i'm gonna keep the truck for 7-8 years?

It depends on specifically what the "warranty" covers. Do you really think you'll go more than 2 years without needing to polish your truck and apply a new coating? Going more than 1 year is even a stretch and that's with pinpoint maintenance, even which that cannot completely keep the coating swirl free.

Warranty's are just marketing strategy to the majority of the detailing community, not to mention Ceramic Pro isn't exactly regarded as top tier stuff especially since they have to apply like 5 or 6 coats of it on top of each other.
 

Lights_out

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Updating, I ceramic coated the Ram last Saturday. Washed, clayed, first tried Meguiars Ultimate Compound for the swirls but it didn't do the job. Hit it with the Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover and it took them right out. Then 15% IPA solution wipe down then the Optimum Gloss-Coat. Truck turned out great, I even did the wheels too. So far I'm impressed with the ceramic coating. I've been driving it for 5 days now and it still looks great, barely any dust build up. The ceramic is still curing too, it was tacky feeling for a day or two but has began to cure now and seems to be getting glossier. I also love the effect it had on the matte black wheels too, it's hard to explain. They seem to look just a little....cleaner, like a deeper black than before.

I liked it so much, i turned right around and did my wife's Camaro SS too. Not bad for a 6 year old daily driver with 139k on it...

truck 1.jpg

truck 2.jpg

camaro.jpg
 

Pull Ya

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They both looks great!!!! Well worth the time and effort
Jay
 
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So my wife is driving my Charger now, she washed it today and said that it looks like she didn't even wash it. Ran it through the no touch car wash at the gas station. Said the paint is dull, etc.

So, plan on trying this out.

Plan is wash, clay bar, Meguiar's Ultimate compound, Meguiar's Polish Compound, then Cquartz. Good?

Or should I use M105, 205 in place of the compound and polish?
 

6.4LMegaMan

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FWIW I had mine done at Ziebart. Had the full rust proof under coating done along with their ceramic Z coat for around $1800. Took them 3 days to complete. I was happy for a few months but now almost 1 year later I am not impressed. It's like nothing was ever done. Complete waste of $800 as far as I'm concerned. I'm going back soon for the annual under coat inspection and will bring up my discontent with the ceramic coating and see what their response is. I used them because a friend had his new Denali done there and he recommended it. In hindsight I wish I would have gone elsewhere for the ceramic coating. Under coat is satisfactory I suppose. We'll see at my annual inspection.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
 

quietpeen

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So my wife is driving my Charger now, she washed it today and said that it looks like she didn't even wash it. Ran it through the no touch car wash at the gas station. Said the paint is dull, etc.

So, plan on trying this out.

Plan is wash, clay bar, Meguiar's Ultimate compound, Meguiar's Polish Compound, then Cquartz. Good?

Or should I use M105, 205 in place of the compound and polish?
I don't know much about Meguiar's products to say if they are good or if you should use M105, 205. However your plan looks good. I washed, clayed, 3 step paint corrected with Adams, and then used adams ceramic which was basically another 3 step process(prep spray to decontaminate the surface, ceramic coating, then after 24 hours ceramic boost).
 

Kinetic

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So my wife is driving my Charger now, she washed it today and said that it looks like she didn't even wash it. Ran it through the no touch car wash at the gas station. Said the paint is dull, etc.

So, plan on trying this out.

Plan is wash, clay bar, Meguiar's Ultimate compound, Meguiar's Polish Compound, then Cquartz. Good?

Or should I use M105, 205 in place of the compound and polish?

The first thing I would do is to clay the truck if it feels at all like sandpaper and not smooth.

I wouldn't use M105 unless you have no other options and everything else isn't getting the swirls out. M205 is an excellent polish and with the right pad can act like a compound while finishing down like a fine polish. Use the M205 first and see what the results are. If you aren't getting the results you need then use the M105 but one drop of it and one drop of M205 together for each pass. This, of course, also depends on which pads you're going to use and which polisher you have.

Anytime you want to apply a coating, you need to remove polishing oils from the paint first, so you'll want to use a product like Gyeon prep or Carpro Eraser to clean the paint before the coating is applied.

After applying Cquartz let it cure for 24 to 48 hours before getting wet, and don't wash for one week. If you think during the first few days you'll get some rain, apply Carpro Reload to it for protection against water spots during the curing time.
 
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