Dealership messed up sio2 coating I think?

**laramik** · 05-12-2019, 09:05 AM

I bought a 2019 Honda Insight 2 weeks ago brand new from a dealership in Illinois. As part of all cars they sell there, the dealer offered a ceramic coating that came with a 3 year warranty on the inside and outside of the vehicle. Since this is done by an outside third party that sublets space at the dealer I had to wait a week before I could being it back in for the ceramic coat. Car had 400 miles on it by the next week and I dropped it off at 830am and they had finished by about 230. When I first picked it up the paint felt slick and looked awesome. However..... On the way home my wife and I stopped and ate dinner during which time a torrential rain shower came through. It was then that I noticed that the windshield seemed to almost have a film on it and almost like the wipers were leaving permanent streaks like a car with 20 year old glass. Think like on an old car when you spray the windshield with water and you can clearly see where the wipers travel when they work even though they are off. Hope that makes sense.
So I washed off some of the tree debris with just a light rinse of the hose and it surprised me that when I sprayed the windshield the water wasn't beading of sliding off it like it would on a waxed or sio2 coated window. Also, beading on hood, roof and trunk is very minimal. Worried it didn't have sufficient cure time but only thought of this afterward when researching if ceramic coating needs time to cure and found it does. Sides of the car look like they have been coated but don't feel slick like I picked it up. also in places like on the windshield in particular you can tell there is definitely a film on it that is rough, very visible when you wipe a wet towel over it. And also spots that had dirt on them actually seemed like some of that dirt was embedded into the paint itself which is definitely weird. Wondering if because of the fact that no one told me there is a cure time that the coating was affected.

I've called the dealer twice with no response and will call the GM there next but just want to make sure I'm not wrong before I accuse them of anything. Thanks in advance for your help.

And also, just think maybe I'm better off removing and doing the coat myself since I don't think I can trust them to do it right the next time. Or can I just use a less durable type coating and have similar results but maybe have to do it more often. Any help is appreciated.

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**Mike lambert** · 05-12-2019, 09:35 AM

My opinion is it didn’t cure, most “real “ coatings should be kept away from rain for 24 hours. That’s also pretty short time for coating a vehicle, and I’ll bet there was no correction done. And I can assure you there were problems in the paint. I’m also curious about the roof? How does that look? Most of the dealerships around here don’t even wash the roof!

**laramik** · 05-12-2019, 09:58 AM

Zero beading on roof. Just to test, I sprayed the trunk with some Meguires Ceramic wax which I know isn't a true ceramic coating but once that was on it was night and day and the water beaded like crazy vs not at all.
So yeah, roof seems like no coating occurred. I'm gonna try to find out what product they supposedly used so I can see what the cure time it calls for.

That being said, will I need to remove what is leftover from the coating in order to re-apply? What will that take? Would a clay bar, iron remover, alchohal wipe then DA polish with something like 3m machine polish do the trick?

I think I may just be better off starting from scratch and doing it myself. I have a good amount of experience with paint correction and buffing from auto restorations I've done.

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**Mike lambert** · 05-12-2019, 10:12 AM

I think you just answered your question? Excellent!good luck!

**TMQ** · 05-12-2019, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by laramik

Zero beading on roof. Just to test, I sprayed the trunk with some Meguires Ceramic wax which I know isn't a true ceramic coating but once that was on it was night and day and the water beaded like crazy vs not at all.
So yeah, roof seems like no coating occurred. I'm gonna try to find out what product they supposedly used so I can see what the cure time it calls for.

That being said, will I need to remove what is leftover from the coating in order to re-apply? What will that take? Would a clay bar, iron remover, alchohal wipe then DA polish with something like 3m machine polish do the trick?

I think I may just be better off starting from scratch and doing it myself. I have a good amount of experience with paint correction and buffing from auto restorations I've done.

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Gee that too bad!

Hard to say what you should do. I'll prolly go back and find out what happened.
Doubt they'll be up-front. Maybe get some $$ back and have someone
from here do the job for you. Or you can do it, if you have the time...

I'm following this thread and I'm hopeful you'll find a satisfactory result.

Tom

**laramik** · 05-12-2019, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by TMQ

Gee that too bad!

Hard to say what you should do. I'll prolly go back and find out what happened.
Doubt they'll be up-front. Maybe get some $$ back and have someone
from here do the job for you. Or you can do it, if you have the time...

I'm following this thread and I'm hopeful you'll find a satisfactory result.

Tom

Would like to ask you all what I should say and point out when I go back to the dealer.

My wife would really prefer that I try to have them rectify it first as this is the first brand new vehicle we have bought in almost 20 years.

So I guess my questions are

So what exactly should I point out?

What questions should I ask (ie. What product did u use, did u clay the car)?

And what should I demand to have done for correcting it?

I do have time to do it myself as I currently am off work due to an injury but would prefer to just have it done (correctly) since I already paid for it. I do feel like I could do this but wife just now is telling me she REALLY doesn't want me to. Wife's lack of faith is lame but since it's mother's day I'll forgive her.

Dealership messed up sio2 coating I think?

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**TMQ** · 05-12-2019, 10:39 AM

Trying to figure out from your post above. You said no beading. That is what a good coating does---it doesn't bead, it sheets off in a sheet. Is this correct?

Hummm....I'll start. Others will chime in.

1. 6 hours to perform a coating? What was done to the car within 6 hours?

It takes me 18 to 25 hours just to get paint ready and to do one coat!!!

2. Did they tell you or give you any instructions re what you need to do with your coating? If not---that should be enough to get you out of the deal.

The last car I just did---it was not allowed to leave my shop until 12 hours have passed. Then I'll instruct NOT to touch and NOT to wash until 7 days have passed.

Tom

**laramik** · 05-12-2019, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by TMQ

Trying to figure out from your post above. You said no beading. That is what a good coating does---it doesn't bead, it sheets off in a sheet. Is this correct?

Hummm....I'll start. Others will chime in.

1. 6 hours to perform a coating? What was done to the car within 6 hours?

It takes me 18 to 25 hours just to get paint ready and to do one coat!!!

2. Did they tell you or give you any instructions re what you need to do with your coating? If not---that should be enough to get you out of the deal.

The last car I just did---it was not allowed to leave my shop until 12 hours have passed. Then I'll instruct NOT to touch and NOT to wash until 7 days have passed.

Tom

No instructions at all were given. And I know what you mean by like sheeting off. No, it's more like a car that has nothing on it. Like the water just kinda pools and doesn't react much with the coating at all. The sides seem to behave as hydrophobic. But definitely not the top and hood. I can take video or post photos if that helps.

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**TMQ** · 05-12-2019, 10:48 AM

OK...you got the concept re coating. Which leads to #3...

3. There's no coating on hood and on roof. You can demo to dealer with water!

Let them know that you know coatings when you see one. Let them know that charging you
$$$ for services that were not rendered is bad for business.

Tom

**TMQ** · 05-12-2019, 10:57 AM

Oh before I forget---

See if you can find scratches in paint. Maybe in sun or pull inside garage and see. If not sure---pull out your I phone and check.

All scratches will jump out through the phone!

That should shed clues to quality of their work and give you idea of what they did for 6 hours.

Tom

Sorry---will shut up for now. Grin...