Ceramic car coating

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CX-5 Touring
Has anyone ever done a ceramic coating on their CX-5? I just bought a new CX-5, and want to do a ceramic coating while the paint is still perfect. I'm thinking about trying out 9H. Any products you would recommend for doing a ceramic coating? Any tips or advice would be great.
 
Save your money and put a good coat of synthetic wax on it!

Besides price, what's good about using a synthetic wax? I not worried about spending $100-$200 on the ceramic coating, if it works as well as everyone says it does.
 
You talking something like CQuartz UK????? Had mine done right after I got my CX-5 nearly two years ago and love it.
 
Besides price, what's good about using a synthetic wax? I not worried about spending $100-$200 on the ceramic coating, if it works as well as everyone says it does.

Modern synthetic waxes are far better than the Carnauba waxes of yesteryear. The TurtleWax Ice paste wax I use twice a year gives an incredible shine, sheds water like crazy and would last much longer than six months, but I'm anal about the frequency of that sort of thing. I don't know anything about the ceramic coating of which you speak, but I'm sure it's some form of synthetic and if you're only talking $100-$200, that's the cost of a good detailing so it's probably a decent investment. Most of the fancy dealer-offered paint sealants I'm familiar with usually cost much more.
 
I have a coating on my car and recently polished and applied a coating to my wife's MB GLE350. To me they are worth it. Sure they are expensive but so is time if you think about it. They are not going to offer "better" protection then a regular sealant or wax for that matter, they will last A Lot longer though. The nice thing with the coatings is that the car is much easier to keep clean. Rain washes off most of the dirt since the coatings are so Hydrophobic. There are a lot of good coatings out there. I don't know what brand your are talking about when you say "9H", is that a brand? 9H is a hardness rating on the Mohrs scale, diamond is a 10. Most of that language is all marketing BS anyhow. Yes, coatings are hard, most achieve a 9H hardness rating but they are very very thin so there is virtually no extra protection from the likes of rocks and that sort of thing. They do help with bird dropping though which is nice. I used Optimum Gloss Coat on my CX-5 when I bought it 2.5 years ago and it's still going strong. For my wifes car I used Gtechniq crystal serum light topped with EXO V3, the detailing forums rave about that combo. They say it should last 5+ years. I can tell you it looks really good on my wifes black Mercedes!!!

If you do decided to go with a coating, pick a known brand, gtechniq, Carpro, Gyeon, Optimum, McKee's Pinnicale, 22pple are all good brands. Autopia-carcare and autogeek.com as well has detailedimage.com are all good sources to find quality coatings. Do it sooner rather then later because none of them have hiding capabilities so any blemish will be locked in. You want perfect paint before applying a coating. I spent roughly 15 hours polishing my wifes car before applying the coatings. Good luck
 
Modern synthetic waxes are far better than the Carnauba waxes of yesteryear. The TurtleWax Ice paste wax I use twice a year gives an incredible shine, sheds water like crazy and would last much longer than six months, but I'm anal about the frequency of that sort of thing. I don't know anything about the ceramic coating of which you speak, but I'm sure it's some form of synthetic and if you're only talking $100-$200, that's the cost of a good detailing so it's probably a decent investment. Most of the fancy dealer-offered paint sealants I'm familiar with usually cost much more.

Ceramic coating systems almost all use an SiO2 compound which is very hard and durable lasting anywhere from 2-5+ years for the consumer versions. There are Pro level coatings which last 10+ years but they need to be applied by a certified installing. The reason, If they are applied incorrectly, they are so hard that they must be sanded off with 1500 grit wet sanding and re applied. With the consumer ones, polishing or compounds will remove them with a machine polishing cycle. It's not uncommon to see professional detailers charge $1000 or more for the pro level coatings. This is because before applying them the paint needs to be polished to absolute perfection or you will just be locking in all the blemishes. A lot of synthetic paint sealants and waxes have "fillers" that help hid minor swirls and paint blemishes but they wear off after several months.
 
I think it’s a lot more then $100-$200.

For the consumer versions of the coatings it is not. Gtechnig Crystal Serum light is about $70 for a 30ml bottle, more then enough to do 2 coats on any vehicle. The CSL with EXO kit called CSL Black is about $115 with 30ml of CSL and 30ml of EXO V3. There are some consumer ones that cost more and less but you get the idea.

Now if you are going to have someone else apply the coating, then yes it will be more then $100-$200 because the car needs to be prepped before coating. Wash, Clay, Iron decontaminate, Compound, polish, final wipe down to remove polishing oils and then apply coating, very labor and time consuming.

The Pro level coatings are the same story, they just last are harder, thicker and last longer. Crystal Serum Pro will last about 10+ years on a car where Crystal serum light is about 5 years under ideal conditions. The Pro level coatings can only be removed with wet sanding at 1500 grit if you make a mistake so best to leave to a PRO.
 
Turtle Wax...lol

$100-200....lol


Ceramic Pro Light applied to paint,glass,exterior trim,and rim faces after a clay bar,and dual action polish,you're looking at roughly $800. It is good stuff,though. Like Ride said,if you're looking at DIY,you better be prepared for an extensive job,and know what you're doing and getting yourself into...
 
Turtle Wax...lol

$100-200....lol


Ceramic Pro Light applied to paint,glass,exterior trim,and rim faces after a clay bar,and dual action polish,you're looking at roughly $800. It is good stuff,though. Like Ride said,if you're looking at DIY,you better be prepared for an extensive job,and know what you're doing and getting yourself into...

I probably should have been more specific in my original post. Yes, I'm looking for advice on DIY ceramic coating. It's not a problem for me to spend a weekend on a project like this. I was hoping to get some advice from people that have done this in the past.
 
Optimum Gloss coat (2years) - 10cc - $60 (10cc is enough for about 2 cars), Gtechniq Crystal serum light (3-5years) - $70 can be topped with Gtechniq EXO to had more shine and hydrophobic properties as well as extended protection - $115 for CSL + EXO kit, Carpro Cquartz Kit (2-3years) 30ml bottle - $75, and pinnicale black label diamond paint coating (3years) - $80.

With any of these coatings the paint needs to be free of defects and swirls because they'll be covered with a coat of SiO2 infused polymer, you'll also need to prep by wiping with a 15% Isopropyl Alcohol or equivalent wipe or panel wipe to remove polishing oils and residue before applying the coating.

I used Optimum Gloss Coat on my new CX-5, it's very easy to apply. So far, after 5 months it's worked great. I've gotten tree sap and bird droppings on my car but they didn't stick or etch my paint, all I need to do is wash periodically. Don't expect it to protect from scratching, nothing really does, but it's much better than wax. You can wax over this coating if you want another layer of protection.

Here's a thread by a guy who has a fleet of vehicles and decided to try all the different coatings on them and compare them. Read through it if you want a fairly unbiased view of what's out there and how it works: https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-detailing-product-discussion/187103-coating-try.html
 
If you have a strong attention to detail and take your time to do it right, coatings are not that hard to apply. Make sure you have good lighting and plenty of quality microfibers on hand. Of the 2 that I have personally used I have to say optimum gloss coat was a bit easier to apply and remove. You use the syringe it comes in to apply to the applicator pad provided and due about a 2ftx2ft section, watch for it to flash almost completely off and then wipe/level with a clean microfiber. For me it flashed in about 3-5 mins but it cold be different for you depending on temp, humidity that sort of thing. I found the Gloss coat to be a little more forgiving with the time before you needed to remove and the time it was too late to remove. CSL on the other hand was a bit more finicky for me, I was also doing it at night with higher temps and humidity then when I used the gloss coat. I found for the CSL, it worked best to apply and then remove right away otherwise I would get high spots and have to go back and polish it off and try again.

Since your car is new you can probably get away with out a full polish as long as you have been doing proper washing, ie no automatic car washes that sort of thing. Be sure to clay bar the car before hand, then wash and completely dry followed by an 15% IPA (isopropyl alchohol) wipe down or a dedicated panel wipe. Carpro and Gtechniq both make great panel wipe down products. You don't want any wax or polishing oils left on the paint when you apply the coating.

Check out the forums at Autopia.org and autogeek.net. There is a lot of good info and instructions on how to apply these coatings. You tube has good videos as well.
 
I would recommend getting clear bra on the front bumper and hood first. I waited a few weeks to have it done and already had several rock chips after 400 miles. Also clear bra cannot be applied on top of ceramic coating, so do that first. I got the rest of my CX-5 coated with CeramicPro. I'm happy with how it turned and how easy it is to wash the car now. Best part is having the plastic trim protected and not having to worry about that fading and turning ugly. I really didn't want to pay to have it done but the wife didn't trust me experimenting with her new baby. If I had to do it again I would have saved our money and gone the DIY route behind her back using Gtechniq or Cquartz . My sister got Optimum Pro Coating, it also looks and works well I cannot tell the difference. I spent $1000 for CP and Opti Pro was $1300, the certified installer had a lot of experience and seemed to work primarily with high end cars.
 
I would recommend getting clear bra on the front bumper and hood first. I waited a few weeks to have it done and already had several rock chips after 400 miles. Also clear bra cannot be applied on top of ceramic coating, so do that first. I got the rest of my CX-5 coated with CeramicPro. I'm happy with how it turned and how easy it is to wash the car now. Best part is having the plastic trim protected and not having to worry about that fading and turning ugly. I really didn't want to pay to have it done but the wife didn't trust me experimenting with her new baby. If I had to do it again I would have saved our money and gone the DIY route behind her back using Gtechniq or Cquartz . My sister got Optimum Pro Coating, it also looks and works well I cannot tell the difference. I spent $1000 for CP and Opti Pro was $1300, the certified installer had a lot of experience and seemed to work primarily with high end cars.

Good points you make about doing any PPF (paint protection film) first! That's what I did with my car. Those Pro coatings are no joke, they were just too rich for me after I bought the car so I went the consumer route. You can't buy the pro coatings because like I've said you have to be a certified installer and if they mess up it requires wet sanding it off, but they do last 10+ years!!! Thought about getting a Pro coating for my wife's Mercedes but since we bought it pre-owned I went with the consumer coatings since there were already a few nicks and dings and to be honest, I like doing that sort of thing.
 
Those who park their car outdoors often/subject to elements and you folks with dark paints in particular will probably want to get this ceramic coating. People living in areas where salt is used (which absolutely destroys older cars) will probably find it useful as well.

A clear bra would be very useful for lots of highway driving but guys, at the very least if you dont wanna spend money on the costing just hand wash the car and keep it waxed...
 
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