Ceramic Coating

[Angelus666]

I think people look at ceramic coating in the wrong way.....surely these are better used for a daily driver that you just want to keep mostly clean. The industry has fooled everyone into thinking your paintwork needs 20 hours of machine polishing before you apply it....what a load of rubbish.

If you love your car, enjoy the ownership process and will weekly wash by hand and care for it then it makes more sense to use waxes and glazes. You can strip these of, try a different product and keep your costs much lower....and if you get a scratch or ding, you'll probably want to sort that asap. You'll then need to firstly strip the coating to ensure consistency of finish and then spend loads reapplying the coating. No one with a very expensive classic car would ceramic coat it.

However, if you only want your car to be clean as quickly as possible so it's presentable (and not bothered by scratches of dings) then it makes much more sense to apply a ceramic coating. Am I wrong...?

[Z4M-2006]

Why on earth would you apply ceramic coating over damaged paint?

The idea of a ceramic coat is to protect whats underneath,so if the paint is badly prepped or scratches,swirls and mars are left in then its just sealing them in.This will just show up at the end of the application..

I would suggest that if leaving the defects in the paint wouldnt bother you,then there is no point in having a protective coat in the first place?

There is of course a huge difference between a quick buff over to enhance the look of the car and full paint correction,both in time and cost.

[Angelus666]

The point here is that you're applying it to a car that won't get a load of care or love (so if it has a few marks before applying it that's ok)....but the key point is that it potentially reduces the wear and tear impact that daily driving delivers. During your ownership, it makes life easier with the cleaning process and then keeps the marks down when it comes time to sell it on. You could easily ceramic coat your car for £100.....not the crazy £1000+ that pro detailers make you believe you need to have, like somehow it won't bond if you don't do this first.

Why anyone is paying £1500 for a ceramic coating on a cheap Z4 baffles me.... Why not just use that money to buy a better car...?

A decent wax delivers a better level of shine and depth on a well-prepped car.

[Thrustyjust]

My car isnt perfect in its finish and never will be unless it has a complete repaint . I have refined the paint to a point that all marring and swirls are gone, but there are still deep scratches, which to remove , would potentially make the paint so thin, would cause more problems than solving. So, to put a ceramic coat at a point I am happy with , will make my life easier in cleaning and help to reduce to chances of swirls and marring in the future for a while , to mean I spend less time polishing it and more time enjoying driving. I cant comment on how the long term benefit of the coating will make to my car, as I have only just finished the work tonight and have only had the car 2 weeks . But refining the paint has made it look on another level, so with a protection cover of ceramic will hopefully prolong this look

[Angelus666]

That’s exactly it’s key benefit. It’s been marketed in such a way to make you think it can only be used when your paint has had a 2 day refinement....

[Thrustyjust]

I havent used wax's on my cars for a long time now and think that they are a bit old school. The modern alternatives are a lot better and easier to apply . Putting waxes of cars in the sun and they do wear thin pretty quickly. For me, using a water repellant and a quick detailer after a wash works better. Its a personal choice with the amount of available products on the market and yes, i still have waxes in boxes, which I keep chucking out for drying up, but its less of a mess using synthetic products that seem to last well, even in the heat of the sun. Saying that, there is nothing better than wiping a newly waxed car to reveal a shine underneath

[Tinker15]

That’s exactly it’s key benefit. It’s been marketed in such a way to make you think it can only be used when your paint has had a 2 day refinement....

You seem to have some strange ideas on why people choose ceramic coatings over wax but be that as it may. I do however agree that some prices quoted appear to have lost touch with reality. I had my E89 machine polished and ceramic coated by a company about 20 miles from where I live. The total including cleaning the interior £110. It was a bit more when he did our XF.

[Jaw]

No one with a very expensive classic car would ceramic coat it.

That doesn't make any sense to me.. Many do.. How many car decisions do owners of classics or prestige cars really make with a voice of ''oh but if I drive it into a wall/trolley/bollard then....'' (and even in that case it can be remedied by expanding the area that your sanding / machining locally and an inexpensive touch up with the coating..)

I think people look at ceramic coating in the wrong way.....surely these are better used for a daily driver that you just want to keep mostly clean. The industry has fooled everyone into thinking your paintwork needs 20 hours of machine polishing before you apply it....what a load of rubbish.

If you love your car, enjoy the ownership process and will weekly wash by hand and care for it then it makes more sense to use waxes and glazes. You can strip these of, try a different product and keep your costs much lower....and if you get a scratch or ding, you'll probably want to sort that asap. You'll then need to firstly strip the coating to ensure consistency of finish and then spend loads reapplying the coating. No one with a very expensive classic car would ceramic coat it.

However, if you only want your car to be clean as quickly as possible so it's presentable (and not bothered by scratches of dings) then it makes much more sense to apply a ceramic coating. Am I wrong...?

It's all relative.. Do you need extensive polishing to apply a coating? No..

Does a quick polish and decontamination help? certainly does.

Is the result from A going to be better than B? Certainly will.

Where you draw the line depends very much on your car, what it is to you, how old it is, how you'll use it and so on..

If you want it for ease of cleaning, then you're probably not bothered if it has a few scratches - and you probably don't need to spend on a high performing treatment anyway.

If you're the type who wants it coated so it always looks fresh, then having all of the defects remedied before coating is a no-brainer. I've held off doing some of my cars for this exact reason - I don't have the time to do it right at the moment..

It makes as much sense for an expensive car as it does a daily driver, how much you spend in the process is the difference between the two.. horses for courses..

[Z4M-2006]

That’s exactly it’s key benefit. It’s been marketed in such a way to make you think it can only be used when your paint has had a 2 day refinement....

You seem to have some strange ideas on why people choose ceramic coatings over wax but be that as it may. I do however agree that some prices quoted appear to have lost touch with reality. I had my E89 machine polished and ceramic coated by a company about 20 miles from where I live. The total including cleaning the interior £110. It was a bit more when he did our XF.

Car looks lovely,but i find it really hard to see how that can be achieved..

After products used that wouldnt even crack minimum wage never mind overheads.

[Angelus666]

Anyone who's ever machine polished a car would say you would do well to get it properly cut and refined in just one day....so I'd be very dubious on the machine polishing part for £110 all in job. If that's what they 'normally' charge they've got to be mowing that paint down with some super aggressive compound for a quick one hour polish. Whack on a cheap Chinese coating and you're done.

Now, I'm not saying that's a bad thing...I actually think that's what these coatings are actually best for. For people are into detailing surely you want to be able to try different waxes, glazes and sealants to get different results. The moment you put on a coating you can throw away pretty much every detailing product you have.

[Z4M-2006]

I would guess you call me an enthusiastic amateur when it come to detailing, i have probably machine polished 50-60 cars.

I always do them so that they are the best they can be and fully paint corrected. Refined and polished then waxed/coated to customers choice.
Im probably a lot slower than a pro,but its never took me under 20 hours to complete a car,and 30+ for a black sapphire bmw once that looked like it was washed with a house brick.

I usually use around £40-£50 materials on each car and it usually works out that i get about £10 an hour...Luckily i do it more for pleasure than to make a living.

[Z4M-2006]

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[Angelus666]

Nice work there! Is there a huge difference working on modern BMW paint compared to the Rolls Royce...? What pad/compound combo do you need for something like that?

[Zoomer]

The Zed coupe looks absolutely fabulous

[Z4M-2006]

Modern BMW paint is hard and quite brittle, I always use a microfibre cutting pad as my go to pad for most things German.

I think you mean the Lagonda , I always use a lake country orange mild cut foam pad on the older stuff including the MG tourer pictured .

As for compound, after loads of messing with various products over the years I now just use Megs ultimate compound..
It’s very easy and has the desired effect across a broad band of paint and pad combo’s.I like the way it breaks down to oil base and has zero fling ..