Ceramic coating botch job

[Calendyr]

Hey guys,

I came upon a very strange situation 3 weeks ago and have been wanting to talk about it since then.

So this person calls me and says he purchased a Ceramic Coating knock off from China and applied it to his car.

He want's happy with the result because it looked like had taken clear nail polish and applied it with a paintbrush. Now you could see the brush stokes in the coating and it looked really bad.

I said, no problem, I can polish it off. He answered he took his car to a detailer in the next city and the guy tried to remove it with a compound and wasn't able to.

That baffled me, I said to him the next step would be to sand it off, but that I could not see why a compound would not be able to remove it, this product should be very thin.

So I setup an appointment and went to see him.

So the first thing I did was to mesure his paint thickness. I almost fell on my ass when I was getting readings between 50 and 60 microns all over the truck. Only 1 spot on his truck had a reading of 71 microns.

I immediatelly informed him that there was no way I would touch his truck with sand paper on paint this thin. I also explained it's also too thin to compound safelly but I could give it a try and see if it did anything.

So I busted out the Bigfoot 21 with a microfiber cutting pad and M105. Compounded a 2 X 2 area on the hood for about 5 minutes.

Nothing! It did not even change the appearance of this product he had applied. I have no idea what that stuff is, but I highly doubt it is SiO2 Nanocoating. It looked like some soft of acrylic paint to me. The worst thing is that he did that on his Brand new Mazda CX-5. I wanted to give him advice but I did not have much I felt I could offer. I suggested he contact a body shop and see if they can do anything for him, but since they can't really sand that down, the only possible option would be to remove it with a solvent maybe. But if it is SiO2 coating, that would pretty much be immune to any chemicals.

I really feel bad for that guy. He wanted to save a few dollars and might have to get his brand new truck repainted. He really didn't want to live with this nightmare on his truck.

[DaveT435]

Sounds like maybe it was a knock off of Gtechniq Crystal Serum. Did he just spread it and leave it or did he do a leveling process. Chinese just copy stuff, I don't think they pay much attention to what it is or the application process. It's not like the guy will ever get anything out of them, maybe the purchase price if he's lucky. It's a shame it didn't look great and have good hydrophobic properties. Sounds like some tough stuff. I would say definitely scratch resistant!!

[Cruzscarwash]

wait, brand me car, has a coating and the measurements were thin? is that what im getting from your statement?

[Rsurfer]

Yeah, a brand new Mazda CX5 SUV with 50 mic of paint? Maybe you need to recalibrate your paint gauge.

Sure sounds like a knock off of GTechniq Serum.

[GSKR]

Hey guys,

I came upon a very strange situation 3 weeks ago and have been wanting to talk about it since then.

So this person calls me and says he purchased a Ceramic Coating knock off from China and applied it to his car.

He want's happy with the result because it looked like had taken clear nail polish and applied it with a paintbrush. Now you could see the brush stokes in the coating and it looked really bad.

I said, no problem, I can polish it off. He answered he took his car to a detailer in the next city and the guy tried to remove it with a compound and wasn't able to.

That baffled me, I said to him the next step would be to sand it off, but that I could not see why a compound would not be able to remove it, this product should be very thin.

So I setup an appointment and went to see him.

So the first thing I did was to mesure his paint thickness. I almost fell on my ass when I was getting readings between 50 and 60 microns all over the truck. Only 1 spot on his truck had a reading of 71 microns.

I immediatelly informed him that there was no way I would touch his truck with sand paper on paint this thin. I also explained it's also too thin to compound safelly but I could give it a try and see if it did anything.

So I busted out the Bigfoot 21 with a microfiber cutting pad and M105. Compounded a 2 X 2 area on the hood for about 5 minutes.

Nothing! It did not even change the appearance of this product he had applied. I have no idea what that stuff is, but I highly doubt it is SiO2 Nanocoating. It looked like some soft of acrylic paint to me. The worst thing is that he did that on his Brand new Mazda CX-5. I wanted to give him advice but I did not have much I felt I could offer. I suggested he contact a body shop and see if they can do anything for him, but since they can't really sand that down, the only possible option would be to remove it with a solvent maybe. But if it is SiO2 coating, that would pretty much be immune to any chemicals.

I really feel bad for that guy. He wanted to save a few dollars and might have to get his brand new truck repainted. He really didn't want to live with this nightmare on his truck.
I would not get involved I know you're intentions are there but this can backfire on you.I would of tried xylene that's the holy Grail next to lc.

[VISITOR]

wow, i wouldn't of applied it to the paint (taking a gamble) since there isn't much info about this product or the company to answer any questions about it if there were any problems. the only thing i would use it on would be wheels and/or barrels even if that...

[Calendyr]

I can check the calibration, but I don't think these things can be off by more than a few microns. So far the thinnest paint I had seen was also on a Mazda, on a CX-9 to be precise, and it was 70-90 microns. I think Mazda are really cheap and try to save every single penny they can. I once polished a Mazda 3 and the roof pannel kept collapsing and bending under the weight of the polisher without applying any pressure. I think now if someone asks me to do anything other than a wash and a wax on a Mazda vehicle I will simply turn down the work.

[Calendyr]

No I did not try any chemicals. I had wasted enough time already, I did not charge him for the test. In the future I need to make sure to make it clear on the phone that if I go there and can't complete the work for reasons out of my control, there will be a base charge.

Anyhow, as I said, Ceramic coatings are resistant to both acids and bases. I don't know what chemical would affect them. Unless it is not a ceramic coating at all of course.

But yes, with a paint that thin I did not want to risk anything. So no solvent or sanding.

[zmcgovern45]

Every Mazda I have ever seen (including the one we own) has stupid thin paint. Our CX-7 is <80 microns all around, but I have done a two step correction when we initially purchased it, and a light polish every other year or so since then without issue.

As far as the coating goes - it sounds like it wasn’t applied properly to begin with. Based on your description of the appearance, I’d imagine it was not wiped off at all. I have done some testing with leaving a high spot on my car... it will not fade, and it does take some serious work to remove a thick high spot that has been on there for a while. Sounds like that guy is in for a rough battle.