Struggling with Product Selection After Ceramic Coating

[snaphappy]

The previous owner of my car paid for paint correction and a Kenzo ceramic coating, which is a 5 year coating made by IGL.

When I first bought the car, I didn't know that gloss enhancers and wax based products shouldn't be used on a ceramic coating.

So for a few weeks I used Blacklight and Afterwash by Chemical Guys. The results were stunning!! My car was so glossy and perfect!! I also really liked using Afterwash on my microfiber towel, just because I liked the idea of putting a lubricatant between my towel and the paint.

Bu then I read the IGL brochure in the glovebox of the car. The brochure said I should NOT use any gloss enhancers or wax based products. The brochure said to only use a PH neutral soap like Gyeon Bathe or Adams Polishes Car Shampoo.

So I switched to Gyeon Foam (for my foam canon, which was honestly great) and Gyeon Bathe+. I'm not happy. There's no gloss. With the chemical Guys products my black car looked like a mirror.

So first, I'm asking, can I just go back to using the Blacklight and Afterwash on my ceramic coated car? If not, can you guys recommend different products? If possible, is there a drying agent (QD I guess) that I can use after every wash? I've looked into Cure and CarPro Reload but you're not supposed to use those as a drying agent every time... But overall I just want gloss haha!!!

Edit: the guys at Esoteric told me to do this: Gyeon Foam -> Gyeon Bathe -> Polish Angel Cosmic Spritz
That Cosmic Spritz stuff looks glossy af haha!!

[FUNX650]

When I first bought the car, I didn't know
that gloss enhancers and wax based products
shouldn't be used on a ceramic coating.

Egad...That’s a new one on me!

•AFAIK:
-There are no set-in-stone rules
regarding that practice—yea, or nay.



So for a few weeks I used Blacklight and
Afterwash by Chemical Guys. The results
were stunning!! My car was so glossy and
perfect!!

Bu then I read the IGL brochure in the
glovebox of the car. The brochure said I
should NOT use any gloss enhancers or
wax based products.

So I switched to Gyeon Foam (for my
foam canon, which was honestly great)
and Gyeon Bathe+.

I'm not happy. There's no gloss. With the
chemical Guys products my black car looked
like a mirror.

•To say the least:
-I would not be a happy camper
with that turn of events



So first, I'm asking, can I just go back to
using the Blacklight and Afterwash on my
ceramic coated car?

Did you get a transferable IGL Coating Warranty,
(with the purchase of the already Coated vehicle),
to which you’ve been told adherence is a must?

Either way; and knowing me...
I would go back to what worked
best for me.

PS. I won’t tell on you, if you do.
But, remember: you’ve already let the cat out
of the bag by virtue of this thread-starter. :)




But overall I just want gloss haha!!!

Well, AGO forum member snaphappy...
•IMO...Two things:
1.) You use the products that make you happy;
and use them often! (Note: a slight variation of a
Mike Phillips adage.)

2.) Don’t allow this issue to turn
into an untenable moral dilemma.

Isn’t Detailing supposed to be FUN?!?!


Bob

[Coatingsarecrack]

You can wax over the coating if you like. From what I’ve researched it will not hurt the coating but mask the properties of the coating.

Coatings usually self clean better and have better hydrophobics. If that doesn’t matter then your good. Just remember if you top with wax/polymers will be hard to without damaging coating at least as far as I’ve looked into it.

I do like to top my coating as well and cosmic spritz one of my favorites. Try Ech20 from car pros as your drying aid. Will add better gloss than that chemical guys stuff and is made to work with a coating. It is a waterless wash.


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[Nix]

well i believe blacklight has some abrasive in it if i am not wrong..it will damage the coating if you use it after each wash or more often..skip blacklight if you want coating to do its job..there are many Sio2 topper which will work well with your coating and you can also try Sio2 infused quick detailers..

[snaphappy]

The Esoteric guys reached out to me and told me drop Bathe+ and switch to Bathe and to use Cosmic Spritz by Polish Angel. It's expensive, but supposedly the shiniest glossiest stuff you can put on a ceramic coating.

[Billy Baldone]

Just top it with BeadMaker. It is cheaper and just as glossy

[FUNX650]

The Esoteric guys reached out to me and
told me drop Bathe+ and switch to Bathe
and to use Cosmic Spritz by Polish Angel.
It's expensive, but supposedly the shiniest
glossiest stuff you can put on a ceramic coating.
Ok; I guess that settles it?


Bob

[Klasse Act]

I've tried CG's soaps on my and while not coated at the time I used them I noticed that it left the water flat on the panels, i.e. hood, roof and trunklid, I even started a thread about it and since then haven't used their soaps anymore on my own ride.

As far as soaps, not sure why Bathe wouldn't work well, its a pure clean but then again I would strip those old soaps away for sure and then start with Bathe if your doing a 2BM. If you ever do a RW with the towels in the bucket stick with McKee's N914 or Griot's Garage Brillant Finish Rinseless wash, these are pure cleaners, no gloss enhancers.

[acuRAS82]

well i believe blacklight has some abrasive in it if i am not wrong..it will damage the coating if you use it after each wash or more often..skip blacklight if you want coating to do its job..there are many Sio2 topper which will work well with your coating and you can also try Sio2 infused quick detailers..

I’m not seeing any description about abrasives, I thought this was a pure glaze, not even a pre-wax cleaner. I could be wrong though as I’ve never used it.

[rlmccarty2000]

The CG Afterwash doesn’t have much if any gloss enhancers so you could probably keep on using it as your drying aid. PA Cosmic Spritz is a very good ceramic topper. You could use IGL Premier instead of Cosmic if you want to stay in the same family. Premier lasts longer than Cosmic and has the same amount of gloss, but both are great products.

[briarpatch]

I’m not seeing any description about abrasives, I thought this was a pure glaze, not even a pre-wax cleaner. I could be wrong though as I’ve never used it.

I think he may have been referring to Blacklight Radiant Finish car Wash?

[briarpatch]

To the OP...for what it's worth, I've read that CarPro Reset is a good shampoo to use on coated cars. I don't have any coated vehicles in the family, but I tried Reset as it's advertised to be a 'pure' soap. Although I can not explain it, our cars/trucks seem to look 'cleaner' when I use it....maybe subconsciously I want them to because Reset is a little pricey?

[The Guz]

The Esoteric guys reached out to me and told me drop Bathe+ and switch to Bathe and to use Cosmic Spritz by Polish Angel. It's expensive, but supposedly the shiniest glossiest stuff you can put on a ceramic coating.

I would recommend Meguiar's Hyper Wash, Adams Car Shampoo, Reset over Gyeon Bathe. Gyeon Bathe was not my favorite wash. I ended up relegating it to wheels. As it aged, it gelled up and became a different color. You may want to consider McKee's SiO2 Auto Wash. It is nothing like Bath+ in that it leaves no protection behind but rather gloss.

I have never used anything from PA but CarPro Ech20 leaves some good gloss and slickness. It won't leave protection that is on par with PA. As some mentioned you have some products in the IGL line if you wish to stay within their family line of products.

[Calendyr]

As others said, as long as there are no abrasives, a wax or sealant will not damage the coating.

As for soaps, I am very surprised that IGL says only to use PH Neutral ones. One of the main benefits of ceramic coatings is chemical resistance, it should not matter that the soap you use if acidic or alkalyne. Normally when a car is coated, a more sturdy soap is used to make sure you remove as much gunk as possible from the car when you wash. Products like Geyon Bathe and CarPro Reset are much stronger soaps than the average PH neutral car soap. Those are the products I would suggest you use. You might want to check with IGL first but if they recommand against these type of soaps, it's a bad thing for their coatings.

As for drying aid, just stay within the ceramic family. CarPro reload is, IMHO, the best maintenance scellant you can use. It doesn't last very long on the car, less than 2 months, but it gives the highest gloss I have seen from any wax or sealant. One of the more durable ones is supposed to be Gtechniq C2V3, but I have not seen any real world test to confirm it yet.

[Calendyr]

To the OP...for what it's worth, I've read that CarPro Reset is a good shampoo to use on coated cars. I don't have any coated vehicles in the family, but I tried Reset as it's advertised to be a 'pure' soap. Although I can not explain it, our cars/trucks seem to look 'cleaner' when I use it....maybe subconsciously I want them to because Reset is a little pricey?

Reset is actually not that pricy when you consider it's dillution ration. At 400:1, it's the same dillution as Hyperwash but it's a stronger soap. Compare that to most car soaps being 128:1 or 256:1 and you can see that it's not that expensive overall.

In my business, I use 3 products to clean cars:
Optimum no-rinse
Simoniz boat and vehicle wash (alkaline cleaner that I use to foam the cars)
CarPro Reset

It takes me about 2 months to go through a 32 ounce bottle of reset, I don't use it as a wash shampoo, rather I foam coated cars with it using 2 ounces in a 32 ounce bottle for the foam lance. So that's 16 cars with 1 bottle. Not bad if you ask me.