Is it just me?

[Burla]

how much does it cost to get ceramic coating?

as cheap as 7 bucks and as much as 100, all different levels of ceramic. I like griots, it is middle of road in cost like 23 bucks, but also has nuba. You can find simonize for 7 bucks and cheaper and is just ceramic detailing spray, it will put up a good bead as well, no joke. I'm not sure the extra expensive ones will do something better then what the cheaper ones do.

 

[Tray Burge]

I have a 2018 Big Horn Ram 1500 QC 5.7 in PXR, which is the color code for black granite metallic I believe. It amazes me how easily it is to scratch this paint. I wash with two buckets, use my back pack blower to dry it, and am very careful overall. I finally got fed up and spent a whole Saturday with my machine and corrective waxes and got it perfect. No swirls, no scratches. Literally within days I could see little scratches again. Was it the wind that scratched it, did I stare at it too long and the force of my stare scratch it? Anyone else having this sort of trouble with this paint code or others? Is it something I’m doing or not doing? I know I’m a little OCD, but it’s getting ridiculous.

What's the saying with black vehicles?
Once you go black, you never go black again.

 

[JNelson]

I have always been OCD about clean vehicles. I watch Miranda’s Detailing on You-Tube. He has great procedures and uses lots of different products to see what works best. There is an art to it and it is pain staking.

 

[sirdumpsalot]

Depends where you live, the place doing it, and how long they 'claim' it will last.
In my area, company that normally does it for 'high end' cars. They do great work.
Charge about $900(Canadian) for 2 years for my Truck. And prices goes up for longer term.

gotcha, thanks for the info

 

[Regcabguy]

Never use the brushes on a pole. Rinse thoroughly and carefully use a microfiber wash mitt. Not perfect but it will leave less scratches than a brush. That's why car washes have gone to brushless. The paint since the government removed VOC's is nothing like the past. My neighbor has an old Camaro that he had painted at Maaco no less 15 yrs ago. The paint has no clearcoat and looks superb.

 

[Bill Blackmon]

aint I have a red 97 1500 that has a shine/ gloss that looks like it was just painted. it gets compliments all the time. I use Eagle 1 Wax as you Dry every time I wash it. I give a thorough wax once per year. Original paint looks great!

 

[Mohican69]

Ive had three black vehicles... Never again.

My first car was black and it was a nightmare to really keep it like new. I'll never buy another black car either. I like my vehicle to look nice but I'm not going to be a ***** to it just keeping it nice.

 

[Big Jims 1500]

IMO professional ceramic coating is the way to go with a caveat. The “installer“ has to know what he’s doing.
I’m on my second go with ceramic as the first place effed it up. Their answer fo make it right was for me to circle the areas I thought were bad with a yellow Sharpie and bring the truck back to them and they would correct it, I called BS. Fortunately I paid with a cc and disputed the charge and won.
Im picking it up today from the 2nd detailer and if does as good with the coating as he did with the prep I will be ecstatic. I find out shortly and let you know.
Using “System X” coating.

 

[Elkman]

I have only owned one black vehicle and it always looked dirty. I prefer tan colored vehicles that require less frequent washing.

The guys with show cars that are black have multiple coats of clear lacquer applied over the paint. Some have as many as 20 coats but a car paint shop should be able to tell you how many your truck needs.

 

[Silby]

aint I have a red 97 1500 that has a shine/ gloss that looks like it was just painted. it gets compliments all the time. I use Eagle 1 Wax as you Dry every time I wash it. I give a thorough wax once per year. Original paint looks great!

I had a gorgeous’99 in red, perfect paint job.

 

[Bomber1955]

I used the Ceramic coating myself and foun that it not only stops this problem but keeps it looking great for a year or more. Don't y a cheap ceramic coating, get a good brand.

 

[michaelm_ski]

Sad to say but the darker the color the more it will show scratches .

 

[joesstripclub]

how much does it cost to get ceramic coating?

If you have all the detailing tools and products, you can get a professional quality ceramic coating job for pretty cheap. I think the coating was about $150 and did my truck and our two cars. The reason professional coating costs so much is you want to correct the paint to be as perfect as you can get it before coating. I spent two days on a vehicle when I coated mine. One for washing, buffing, and polishing and another to coat. And of course you need to do all this inside.

 

[BlackSheepRebel]

it's not just you, and it's not just dodge/ram...

when i bought my rebel, spent about a year researching the next truck. going down rabit holes, watched a lot of "uboxing" videos including several by professional detailers. a consistent theme was "paint from the dealer sucks" and accepting spending a lot of time doing off-the-lot conditioning as the norm. this spanned the "big three" manufacturers, anyone with a critical eye could easily find paint defects on new vehicles which my father would never have accepted.

my rebel was not much different... i looked at a handful including a few power wagons (nice to dream ;-) ) in various states and all of them had serious scratches, swirl marks or other damage. i know the car duster / dirty sponge / hard brush crap they pay teenage interns to go over everything with doesn't help -- but that's always been the case with dealer car washes, the damage has just increased exponentially over the years.

several years ago i had some paint work done at a local shop that has a good reputation and does high end restoration. i've seen a lot of their work and been impressed. the main guy there told me anything he did at the time was better than dealer because the EPA had hit big manufactuers first with regulations that kept them from using a lot of ingredients which made harder paint. smaller businesses were exempt longer, but eventually would have to comply. as a paint professional, his story was that it's not manufactuers doing shoddy work but more about regulation overhead preventing them from using products which will stand the test of time.

after all the looking i was able to find a truck in decent condition -- nothing glaring on the lot, but when i went over things in my garage with a swirl finder there were the usual cobwebs and a few deeper scratches i missed in natural light. i went over it with a two step compound/polish and then ceramic coated (prep/condition/coat was ~13 hours for me). it made a huge difference, but the main thing i noticed was how little effort it took to take down the clear! while the cermaic does a great job at preventing water spots, i view it as "long lived wax" vs something new -- it keeps me from having to reapply multiple times a year, which is a huge benefit, but does not prevent most forms of paint damage. the paint is still so soft that even getting hit by "hard bugs" seems to leave nicks here and there on the hood. what prevents the most damage is hand washing yourself!

overall i'm happy with the truck...looks great, super comfortable and is a lot of fun. sadly, i think softer paint, thinner almuinum, glitchier electronics... these are par for the course in the modern world, regardless of brand, color, vehicle type, etc. i guess anyone that is OCD just has to accept frequent reconditioning.

 

[BigTex13]

You stated "corrective waxes", but waxes will not correct swirls or scratches. Did you use an All-In-One (AIO) type product that has polish, cleaner, and wax/sealant? If you used a glaze then the glaze will fill scratches/swirls, but will come out over time as the glaze only hides or covers them up a glaze will not correct.

 

[doubleM]

I have a 2018 Big Horn Ram 1500 QC 5.7 in PXR, which is the color code for black granite metallic I believe. It amazes me how easily it is to scratch this paint. I wash with two buckets, use my back pack blower to dry it, and am very careful overall. I finally got fed up and spent a whole Saturday with my machine and corrective waxes and got it perfect. No swirls, no scratches. Literally within days I could see little scratches again. Was it the wind that scratched it, did I stare at it too long and the force of my stare scratch it? Anyone else having this sort of trouble with this paint code or others? Is it something I’m doing or not doing? I know I’m a little OCD, but it’s getting ridiculous.

I have the exact same problem with that color on my Ram. Constant scratches appearing.

 

[Big Jims 1500]

IMO professional ceramic coating is the way to go with a caveat. The “installer“ has to know what he’s doing.
I’m on my second go with ceramic as the first place effed it up. Their answer fo make it right was for me to circle the areas I thought were bad with a yellow Sharpie and bring the truck back to them and they would correct it, I called BS. Fortunately I paid with a cc and disputed the charge and won.
Im picking it up today from the 2nd detailer and if does as good with the coating as he did with the prep I will be ecstatic. I find out shortly and let you know.
Using “System X” coating.

Here’s a pic with the new coating. A deep mirror finish.

 

[Hookedup87]

I used the machine again today on my truck. Used Griots AIO corrective wax. Then followed it up with the 3-1 that Burla suggested. Truck looks amazing. Btw, Thanks for the tip on the 3-1. Let’s see how long it stays this way.