Ceramic Coatings?

[cburbs]

I just started looking into ceramic coatings and would like to add it to my current process for when I prep my cars in spring. Just finished with winter routine recently.

I see that there is Ceramic Coatings available for Paint, Glass, Chrome and Plastic trim.

If the use is just prepping the two maybe 3 cars that we own suggestions on each type of product? I put in a few that might work from looking around.

Paint - CQuartz UK 3.0 or CarPro Cquartz Ceramic Quartz

Glass -

Exterior Plastic - CQuartz Dlux

Wheels -

Can one product be used for multiple items from the list above?

[Bruno Soares]

You can use UK on your wheels and glass but avoid the windshield as the wiper blades will deteriorate the coating too quickly. On the windshield a coating specific for glass works better.

You can also use Dlux on the wheels and all plastics but UK is nicer to apply so I’d do the wheels with UK.

I also highly suggest topping UK with Gliss V2, it just makes it a much nicer coating.

[Rsurfer]

You can use UK on your wheels and glass but avoid the windshield as the wiper blades will deteriorate the coating too quickly. On the windshield a coating specific for glass works better.

You can also use Dlux on the wheels and all plastics but UK is nicer to apply so I’d do the wheels with UK.

I also highly suggest topping UK with Gliss V2, it just makes it a much nicer coating.

:iagree:^^^^:dblthumb2:

[cburbs]

Great info and thanks.

[MarkD51]

Hate to slam a product, but my experiences with Carpro Cquartz DLX are a little mixed. Others have noted what I'll comment on.

As for wheels, painted, or chome, I have had good luck. For painted or clear coated wheels DLX is tough to beat and never had issues.

But on plastics, particularly textured plastics, DLX looks beautiful upon initial installation, and it lasts a pretty long time too.

But when it starts to wear off with time, the surfaces, black in my case, no longer look jet black anymore. They start to appear a bit greyish, and as many have mentioned, there's basically now no way to remove this product.

While the product may be still present at this point, and still protecting somewhat, the cosmetic appearance does start to look less than good IMO.

About the only way one might rectify and lessen this greying, is the use of some restorative product that contains a dye. Solution Finish might be one, and I'm sure there's some others.

Just wanted to mention this, just in case you were to do a customer's vehicle, and 6-9 months later they are contacting you and asking you what happened, and what can be done? You will have a problem at that point in time.

Thus, I might look towards another plastic protectant product, and although such might not last as long, at least you won't have such issues to deal with.

[Eldorado2k]

Hate to slam a product, but my experiences with Carpro Cquartz DLX are a little mixed. Others have noted what I'll comment on.

As for wheels, painted, or chome, I have had good luck. For painted or clear coated wheels DLX is tough to beat and never had issues.

Bot on plastics, particularly textured plastics, DLX looks beautiful upon initial installation, and it lasts a pretty long time too.

But when it starts to wear off with time, the surfaces, black in my case, no longer look jet black anymore. They start to appear a bit greyish, and as many have mentioned, there's basically now no way to remove this product.

While the product may be still present at this point, and still protecting somewhat, the cosmetic appearance does start to look less than good IMO.

About the only way one might rectify and lessen this greying, is the use of some restorative product that contains a dye. Solution Finish might be one, and I'm sure there's some others.

Just wanted to mention this, just in case you were to do a customer's vehicle, and 6-9 months later they are contacting you and asking you what happened, and what can be done? You will have a problem at that point in time.

Thus, I might look towards another plastic protectant product, and although such might not last as long, at least you won't have such issues to deal with.

So it turns ugly and there’s no way to remove it? That’s horrible.

[The Guz]

I just started looking into ceramic coatings and would like to add it to my current process for when I prep my cars in spring. Just finished with winter routine recently.

I see that there is Ceramic Coatings available for Paint, Glass, Chrome and Plastic trim.

If the use is just prepping the two maybe 3 cars that we own suggestions on each type of product? I put in a few that might work from looking around.

Paint - CQuartz UK 3.0 or CarPro Cquartz Ceramic Quartz

Glass -

Exterior Plastic - CQuartz Dlux

Wheels -

Can one product be used for multiple items from the list above?

I saw your post on another forum and I missed that you are going to get DLUX. You can use that for wheels as well. If you go with a paint coating and if you plan to coat the wheel faces and inner barrels then invest in the larger bottle of the paint coating.

I would lean a little more towards DLUX since you already have it and you probably don't have much plastic to address.

You may want to look at the new P&S Vue Inspiration Glass Coating. Super easy to use and it seems substantial as the applicator will harden up.


Hate to slam a product, but my experiences with Carpro Cquartz DLX are a little mixed. Others have noted what I'll comment on.

As for wheels, painted, or chome, I have had good luck. For painted or clear coated wheels DLX is tough to beat and never had issues.

Bot on plastics, particularly textured plastics, DLX looks beautiful upon initial installation, and it lasts a pretty long time too.

But when it starts to wear off with time, the surfaces, black in my case, no longer look jet black anymore. They start to appear a bit greyish, and as many have mentioned, there's basically now no way to remove this product.

While the product may be still present at this point, and still protecting somewhat, the cosmetic appearance does start to look less than good IMO.

About the only way one might rectify and lessen this greying, is the use of some restorative product that contains a dye. Solution Finish might be one, and I'm sure there's some others.

Just wanted to mention this, just in case you were to do a customer's vehicle, and 6-9 months later they are contacting you and asking you what happened, and what can be done? You will have a problem at that point in time.

Thus, I might look towards another plastic protectant product, and although such might not last as long, at least you won't have such issues to deal with.

DLUX is not set it and forget it. It will need reapplication at some point. Top it up and it is good to go.

Solution Finish won't work as it won't last long once a ceramic coating is used on trim. So if the trim needs restoration then it is best to just stick with SF and a trim protectant rather than topping it with a coating.


So it turns ugly and there’s no way to remove it? That’s horrible.

I have not seen any issues with the trim turning ugly using DlUX. I am reapplying it once a year as it will lose its look a 12-15 months later. Optimum Hyper Polish works to remove it as it won't stain trim. It may not get everything out of the texture but it does work.

[cburbs]

I haven't bought anything yet as I just starting looking into the Ceramic stuff so I will add it to my list for Spring things I need.

[dgage]

You mention spring and fall prep. I actually bought a good ceramic coating and then decided not to use it and went with a shorter term product instead (Gyeon CanCoat). One of the knocks on a ceramic coating that may last 2 years is that it may get minor scratches and other issues as any car out in the elements will be under attack. With a ceramic coating, you can’t really do any correcting without redoing the coating or at lest an area of the coating. Plus coatings may not last more than 3 months depending on the coating so you might have to buy the product again to repair it. I decided to go with Gyeon CanCoat with Uber SiO2 Rinseless wash so I can touch my cars in the fall and spring to address any paint issues. Just something to think about.

[Craig Encinitas]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201211/c128f25ee34aa927b9f5117dfaf6cfab.jpg


CarPro Essence PLUS is a unique siO2 nano coating, made from a distinct blend of ceramic coating repair agents, high gloss quartz resins, and hydrophobic nanoparticles, that will lay down protection on uncoated paint and work as a repair agent on already coated paint! This non-abrasive formula will repair fine swirls in a damaged ceramic coating while also increasing the hydrophobic properties and cleaning the surface underneath!


CarPro Essence PLUS (https://www.autogeek.net/carpro-essence-plus.html)

[Rsurfer]

[QUOTE=dgage;1699836] Plus coatings don’t last more than 3 months so you’d have to buy the product again to repair it.




Do you mean that the left over coating will not last more than 3 months? I have opened bottles of coating pushing the one year mark and still good. Most ceramic coatings will keep well in the frig.

[dgage]

Plus coatings don’t last more than 3 months so you’d have to buy the product again to repair it.

Do you mean that the left over coating will not last more than 3 months? I have opened bottles of coating pushing the one year mark and still good. Most ceramic coatings will keep well in the frig.

Wording matters so sorry about that. I corrected to may not last depending on the coating.

[dgage]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201211/c128f25ee34aa927b9f5117dfaf6cfab.jpg


CarPro Essence PLUS is a unique siO2 nano coating, made from a distinct blend of ceramic coating repair agents, high gloss quartz resins, and hydrophobic nanoparticles, that will lay down protection on uncoated paint and work as a repair agent on already coated paint! This non-abrasive formula will repair fine swirls in a damaged ceramic coating while also increasing the hydrophobic properties and cleaning the surface underneath!


CarPro Essence PLUS (https://www.autogeek.net/carpro-essence-plus.html)

Thanks for that Craig. But really at that point your coating in the corrected area is Carpro Essence Plus right?

[Craig Encinitas]

^
I would presume a combination.
Unless we could microscopically analyze each swirl and scratch to see which ones penetrated the ceramic coating and went into the clear coat, then decide to polish off the coating and re-coat that panel...we wouldn’t know.

What’s the next best thing to do? Use a product like Essence+ as a quasi-band aid and the customer can make a decision at a later date.

I used Essence+ on a coated car recently to cover up the swirls. I’ve also used it on some pretty bad scuffs and horizontal line scratches. How long will it last on top of a now repaired coating? So many different factors. But, it only took me a couple hours to “repair” this swirled up BMW. Which was what the client chose over completely stripping it and re-coating it.

$ cost versus $$$ cost.

Let it dwell for about thirty minutes.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201211/13351d3ddce074886b8968e6cc504951.jpg

To this (sorry, no before shots):
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201211/614465e7b7036242d6f888c0256841fd.jpg

I guess if this were my car (and my cars are coated), I’m going to do the easiest and least invasive, least time consuming method first to see how that goes.

And I agree, ceramic coatings aren’t for everyone. But, we can kind of agree that a good coating should guard against some scratching. And I reminded the owner, DO NOT go to a car wash!

[Bruno Soares]

Essence+ was pretty mediocre in my experience. Didn’t do any fixing and reduced the hydrophobic behavior by a lot. I even tried more than once in different cars and still think it’s worthless.

Dlux has always been great for me, every year and a half or so reapply and the trim is back to looking great.