What is the point of a ceramic coating if you have to maintain it?

[DetailZeus]

I think toppers are sort of like putting a wax over a sealant. IMO a true coating should reject most everything you throw at it or shed it in short order, and should shrug at most acids and bases. I don't think the coatings you get for buses and industrial products need any sort of topper.

Now I think part of the issue is these types of coatings are a PITA to apply or need to be cured with heat or IR. Consumer coatings I think are closer to "super sealants" and the toppers pick up when the coating starts to die. Look at the Sonax coating, I believe it can last years when you top it with PNS every 6 months but let's be honest, after 3 years I'd think the PNS is doing all the protecting.

[Mike Phillips]

Just real quick (I'm in the middle of teaching the boat class)


I like our car coated because,

1. Faster washing
2. Faster drying
3. Stays cleaner longer
4. Can do a quickie wash at a self-car wash just by blasting the car and wheels with high pressure
5. Car looks amazing - super high gloss I call it GLASSY

[yakky]

I dunno, I guess I dont really get where the 'extra' maint. required w a coating comes from. Unless I'm messing around with something just for fun, maintaining a coated vehicle takes me far less time than when I used a sealant.

Sealant:
1. Wash using a bottle of your favorite shampoo
2. Dry
3. Apply Detail Spray/Spray Wax

Coating:
1. Wash using a bottle of your favorite shampoo
2. Dry
3. Apply SiO2 Topper monthly

As for the yearly Spring Refresh:

Sealant:
1. Wash
2. Clay
3. Apply sealant

Coating:
1. Decon (hose down with iron/tar remover)
2. Wash
3. Apply SiO2 Topper

With a sealant, if car got rained on, it needed washing. With coating, if car gets rained on, it *may* need washing but not always; sometimes if car is dusty I'll just leave it outside if heavy rain is forecast overnight and let Mother Nature give it a sufficient rinse.

With sealant, if wife brings car home with a large bird bomb on the hood at 10pm, address it immediately. With coating, I'll get to it tomorrow or hope for rain to rinse it off overnight.

While water spotting is often mentioned with coatings, I've never had an issue with it. In the sealant days, water spots on the hood I didn't get to quickly enough etched the paint (although that coulda been some rare freakish devil-rain incident that woulda damaged a coating as well)

And when you consider wheels & tires, coatings are a real timesaver. Used to take an hour alone to wash wheels, apply tire dressing (which would maybe last through a rainstorm or 2). With coated wheels and tires, spray down and dry.

Granted the initial prep and application can take somewhat longer with a coating but I'm only doing that every 2 years as opposed to every Spring when using a sealant.

Coatings certainly ain't perfect, they have some concessions one has to accept but overall, keeping a black car presentable is far less work for me than when I was using a sealant. Since going with a coating I feel that our cars have better protection and require far less physical effort from me to keep them looking good enough to me that I still turn around and look at em after parking them somewhere.

Everyone is different though, gotta do what works for you.

Seems like a lot of work.... Here is my routine for DDs.

1. Wash
2. Dry using OCW as a drying aid.
3. Enjoy the shine

Once a year or so I'll clay and use ZAIO. Sometimes I'll use 845 after a wash if I have lots of time to burn.

[The Guz]

Seems like a lot of work.... Here is my routine for DDs.

1. Wash
2. Dry using OCW as a drying aid.
3. Enjoy the shine

Once a year or so I'll clay and use ZAIO. Sometimes I'll use 845 after a wash if I have lots of time to burn.

It's no different that what you are already doing other than using a dedicated coating topper over the base layer coating rather than OCW. Some people just enjoy touching the paint and have the need to apply some thing.

[FUNX650]

Some people just enjoy touching the paint and
have the need to apply some thing.

And some of those “paint touchers” will be
among the very first to wonder why so many
swirls, and/or other types of ‘marrings’, seem
to inexplicably appear out of nowhere.


Bob

[spazzz]

Maybe I typed that wrong... What I meant was the biased opinion against those towels by many who just won’t allow themselves to believe they could be good for anything besides wheels and interior. Forensic comes to mind... He came up with some way out reason about how they “may” scratch your paint, but it seemed more like he was trying to convince himself that had to be the case because some people just feel like the only way a towel can be worthy is if it’s from North Korea and costs at least $3 each.

The Kirklands just don't hold their shape after a couple/few washes.
They have a tendency to thin out.
I use the new ones for drying wheels and the older ones for cleaning the wheels.

They are surprisingly nice after the first wash and could be used any where.
They are an excellent towel for the price but don't try to pamper them because it's pointless.

[Eldorado2k]

The Kirklands just don't hold their shape after a couple/few washes.
They have a tendency to thin out.
I use the new ones for drying wheels and the older ones for cleaning the wheels.

They are surprisingly nice after the first wash and could be used any where.
They are an excellent towel for the price but don't try to pamper them because it's pointless.

I have 2 batches of Kirklands. 1 batch is strictly for my waterless washing, the other I consider my interior/all purpose microfibers. They’re between 2-4yrs. old and have been washed countless times. The paint batch still feels just about as good as new, the other batch is good enough to use on paint if I needed them to. I’ve never experienced any major degradation from those towels.

[Eldorado2k]

The Kirklands just don't hold their shape after a couple/few washes.

I’ve never heard of microfibers that lose their shape.

[BudgetPlan1]

Seems like a lot of work.... Here is my routine for DDs.

1. Wash
2. Dry using OCW as a drying aid.
3. Enjoy the shine

Once a year or so I'll clay and use ZAIO. Sometimes I'll use 845 after a wash if I have lots of time to burn.

Que? It sounds like pretty much the same as your routine using different bottles...

And some of those “paint touchers” will be
among the very first to wonder why so many
swirls, and/or other types of ‘marrings’, seem
to inexplicably appear out of nowhere.


Bob

Considering that every time my car leaves the garage it's subject to road debris, environmental fallout of all kinds and all manner of other attacks on its finish, I'll roll the dice on wiping it down after a wash with the softest, most pampered and well cared-for towel I have.

Living dangerously perhaps but where's the fun in playing it safe all the time?

[yakky]

Que? It sounds like pretty much the same as your routine using different bottles...

True except I don't spend an extra couple of hours for coating prep and application.