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

[Maestro Sam]

Hey guys
Anyone who has experience or is an authorized ceramic coating installer please chime in. I am deciding if I should step up and offer the pro coatings to my clients. What is the biggest difference between the pro and the otc ceramic coatings. I have been installing opti-gloss, kamikaze, cquartz uk, and polish angel to customers without any issues. I have a handful of people looking for the pro ceramic coatings, not the consumer. Is there really a big difference between the scratch/swirl resistance and other benefits of ceramic coating between the two groups (except durability).

[Rsurfer]

You need to become an authorized installer first, before thinking about offering it to you clients.

[Audios S6]

All of the pro options I have used have been harder to work with than the consumer coatings, though CQUK above 85f is brutal too.

All things equal, they should have better performance and durability than the consumer options. But in my experience, after 3 years in the real world a car has accumulated enough defects that a discerning owner will want it corrected again. So anything beyond that is very speculative when considering durability.

Why do your clients want the pro coating? My goal with coatings is to work with the client to find which is right based on their priorities, not based on infomercials or their neighbor being thrilled with brand X. Frankly, demonstrating that you are there to get them the right product for their needs is the best sales tactic; morally, ethically and fiscally.

[Maestro Sam]

You need to become an authorized installer first, before thinking about offering it to you clients.

Yep!

All of the pro options I have used have been harder to work with than the consumer coatings, though CQUK above 85f is brutal too.

All things equal, they should have better performance and durability than the consumer options. But in my experience, after 3 years in the real world a car has accumulated enough defects that a discerning owner will want it corrected again. So anything beyond that is very speculative when considering durability.

Why do your clients want the pro coating? My goal with coatings is to work with the client to find which is right based on their priorities, not based on infomercials or their neighbor being thrilled with brand X. Frankly, demonstrating that you are there to get them the right product for their needs is the best sales tactic; morally, ethically and fiscally.

Guess from the hype that goes around that pro coatings actually protect the car a lot better than the consumer grade coatings! I guess the durability all comes down to the owner itself how they will ulitimately treat the car after installations! Thanks for the reply, I will stick to the consumer grade coatings for now!

[Nicholls]

The coating that will last and perform the best is the one which is maintained the best

[Dandy98]

Having a major issue. Had my 96 Corvette hood repainted and some of the buffing swirls ( from a rotary ) showing up ONLY after applying a hi gloss ceramic. In the sun , after buffing and polishing all of the swirls seem to be gone. Then I bring the car into my detail bay and wipe it down as instructed before applying the ceramic coating. The apply the high gloss ceramic and buff after about 4 to 5 minutes. Looks great in the bay. Then I bring it back out in the sun and minor swirl marks from a rotary appear.
As an FYI : Using the Orange Pad on a Flex 3401 with compound. Then the black pad with a polish then wipe down before applying the ceramic. After drying and buffing the ceramic bring the Vette back out into the sun and rotary marks show up.

[Audios S6]

I would not expect you to get rotary holograms from the 3401. So it's not likely you are causing them with the polisher. It's possible you are putting some marring in while applying the coating or doing your wipe down.

Try wiping down before bringing it out in the sun. The polishing oils may be masking the finish. This would start to isolate the problem.

[EngineerNate]

Having a major issue. Had my 96 Corvette hood repainted and some of the buffing swirls ( from a rotary ) showing up ONLY after applying a hi gloss ceramic. In the sun , after buffing and polishing all of the swirls seem to be gone. Then I bring the car into my detail bay and wipe it down as instructed before applying the ceramic coating. The apply the high gloss ceramic and buff after about 4 to 5 minutes. Looks great in the bay. Then I bring it back out in the sun and minor swirl marks from a rotary appear.
As an FYI : Using the Orange Pad on a Flex 3401 with compound. Then the black pad with a polish then wipe down before applying the ceramic. After drying and buffing the ceramic bring the Vette back out into the sun and rotary marks show up.

Go take a listen to the Ammo NYC podcast #30. Their discussion of waterspots under coatings may be relevant to you.

[BudgetPlan1]

Recently coated a (black) car; after polishing/correcting, wiping car down with Gyeon Prep, car looked great. Looked good under florescent lights, looked good under LED lights, heck...it even looked ready to go using ScanGrip Multimatch light. Coated it, pulled out in sun...saw some faint halo's. While repolishing coating off, picked up a small Scangrip Sunmatch light and Penmatch...the focused beam showed very faint 'wipe' marks over entire surface. Thought perhaps it was towels marring surface but it turned out to be that the Gyeon Prep was was not done carefully/thoroughly enough and left over polish residue on this particular car/paint (black Honda) left a barely distinguishable haze on surface, gooning up the entire job.

Had never run into that issue before, a reasonable diligent panel wipe had always left the surface clean but not in this case. As I compounded/polished off the coating, I would wipe the panel down with panel wipe, then carefully inspect using the more focused beam of the Sunmatch/Penmatch. It took 2-3 wipedowns with Prep to totally remove the polish residue on this particular paint, even after using products that easily wiped clean on other cars.

Some cars ('sticky' paint, perhaps?) are apparently in need of some serious and careful panel prep to completely remove polish residue. Lesson learned: Inspect panels very closely prior to coating, much like you do after polishing to see if all defects removed.

I would not expect you to get rotary holograms from the 3401. So it's not likely you are causing them with the polisher. It's possible you are putting some marring in while applying the coating or doing your wipe down.

Try wiping down before bringing it out in the sun. The polishing oils may be masking the finish. This would start to isolate the problem.

[Rsurfer]

Recently coated a (black) car; after polishing/correcting, wiping car down with Gyeon Prep, car looked great. Looked good under florescent lights, looked good under LED lights, heck...it even looked ready to go using ScanGrip Multimatch light. Coated it, pulled out in sun...saw some faint halo's. While repolishing coating off, picked up a small Scangrip Sunmatch light and Penmatch...the focused beam showed very faint 'wipe' marks over entire surface. Thought perhaps it was towels marring surface but it turned out to be that the Gyeon Prep was was not done carefully/thoroughly enough and left over polish residue on this particular car/paint (black Honda) left a barely distinguishable haze on surface, gooning up the entire job.

Had never run into that issue before, a reasonable diligent panel wipe had always left the surface clean but not in this case. As I compounded/polished off the coating, I would wipe the panel down with panel wipe, then carefully inspect using the more focused beam of the Sunmatch/Penmatch. It took 2-3 wipedowns with Prep to totally remove the polish residue on this particular paint, even after using products that easily wiped clean on other cars.

Some cars ('sticky' paint, perhaps?) are apparently in need of some serious and careful panel prep to completely remove polish residue. Lesson learned: Inspect panels very closely prior to coating, much like you do after polishing to see if all defects removed.

It's all in the prep work.