Ceramic Pro, opti coat pro, Cquartz finest, or stay with consumers

[Calendyr]

So why is the original installer not re-doing the work? Not sure I understand. If the guy did not do the job he was supposed to, should he not be honoring the warranty himself? And why are you making a warranty claim, is there an issue with the coating? I would imagine that CP cannot be used as a single layer product, but I have no idea. Everytime I read about it they state countless layers blah blah blah... So maybe it's bullcrap and a single layer is enough?

One thing you need to understand though. Most of the cost you pay for pro installlation is for the preparation of the vehicle for coating. That includes washing, claying, full decontamination, paint correction, paint polishing, then fully degreasing the surface for coating and then the coating. So out of all you paid, the coating part is probably worth 300$. The rest is getting the car to max appearance. Did the detailer do that correctly?

[Powerman]

I am glad someone with experience with the product chimed in. I was about to say Ceramic Pro is a serious waste of time, having to apply countless layers. How bad does a product have to be that you need 10 layers of it to work?

I have been toying with the idea of going pro coating this year. So far that are 2 products I am strongly considering:

Optimum Opti Coat Pro and Pro+. I think those are the best coatings on the market. The only issue I have with it is that you have a minimum you need to charge your client and it's pretty steep. Can't remember the numbers but it's around 1000 US$ if memory serves. Right now, people find it expensive to apply my consumer grade product at 400$. I am sure I could sell some, but I am afraid I would loose many potential customers. Also the product is pretty expensive. Over 200$ per car as opposed to 20$ per car with McKee's 37 Paint Coating. I might pull the trigger next year, but for this year I decided to stick with McKee's since it's easy to sell and the profit margins are excellent.

The other one worth noting is Gtechniq's offering. I contacted them, and it looks I cannot qualify. They require you among other things to have a garage. I am mobile. I answered explaining I was mobile and asking if exceptions could be made and never heard from them again... so I guess that is a no

But Gtechniq's coatings are nice. And if you don't want to go pro coating, their Crystal Serum Light is supposed to be good for 3 to 5 years, so it's almost pro grade. I think that is what I will be adding to my offering when I start running low on McKee's products (still have 2 full bottles so about 8 more cars).

Gtech requires you to keep the car garaged after application so unless you have a rental you can use you won’t qualify.
I’m borrowing my mechanics garage to park my 9ft tall fan in after the application of the consumer product to let it harden in a low dust low pollen environment.


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[Alex378]

So why is the original installer not re-doing the work? Not sure I understand. If the guy did not do the job he was supposed to, should he not be honoring the warranty himself? And why are you making a warranty claim, is there an issue with the coating? I would imagine that CP cannot be used as a single layer product, but I have no idea. Everytime I read about it they state countless layers blah blah blah... So maybe it's bullcrap and a single layer is enough?

One thing you need to understand though. Most of the cost you pay for pro installlation is for the preparation of the vehicle for coating. That includes washing, claying, full decontamination, paint correction, paint polishing, then fully degreasing the surface for coating and then the coating. So out of all you paid, the coating part is probably worth 300$. The rest is getting the car to max appearance. Did the detailer do that correctly?

They have different packages from about $1000 up to $2000. They differ in the quantity of layers they supposed to put on the car. The car was inspected by Ceramic Pro and they themselves confirmed my suspicion that there is less layers than i paid for. The original installer is happy with his free money he got from me and to be honest I don't trust him to touch my car any more.
And btw the car is brand new, so not very much contaminated and not a single scratch big or small yet on it.
So I truly paid to protect my new car with many layers in the "gold' package. I don't know if thew single layer is enough, I am a layman. But I paid for 5 and never got them.

[Calendyr]

Ya, that sucks for sure. I don't understand the installer willing to soil his reputation like that. To me, this is something he should be willing to fix since it's his error. People make mistakes, that's life but where it counts is if you are willing to make things right or not.

[Alex378]

Ya, that sucks for sure. I don't understand the installer willing to soil his reputation like that. To me, this is something he should be willing to fix since it's his error. People make mistakes, that's life but where it counts is if you are willing to make things right or not.

No mistakes, he got what he wanted - my money.