Coating a White BMW X3 with Carpro SiC

**Epilogts** · 11-07-2021, 07:40 PM

Ok, so a buddy brought me their 340ix to coat with Carpro SiC. I did a decon wash only to quickly notice that the Kamikaze ISM I had installed a year and a half earlier was still holding strong. I broke the news to him, and told him as much as he wanted something “new” it would be a waste to coat a car that was still going strong.

His wife had given him a ride to pick up his car and then said, “Maybe you could do my car?”

It was a white X3 and looked big but I said sure because I hadn’t used SiC before and was looking forward to giving it a try.

Well I’m happy to say all of my other customers are guys with ‘performance’ cars, and I have never had the pleasure of detailing an SUV. I figured how much more work could it be… Well I’m happy to say that beast is now out of my life. It turned out to be a lot bigger than I initially expected, I had to get out my scaffolding so I could polish and coat the roof.

White is truly a forgiving ‘color’ that hides a ton, but it made applying the coating difficult! The coating applied invisibly, and SiC doesn’t flash like UK so coating this car was more of a coating by feel process. Thankfully I’ve coated enough cars where it wasn’t terrible, but if it was my first coating attempt I would have been in trouble. I was however surprised that once the coating was leveled how slick it felt.

My take a ways: Understand the size of an SUV before you take on a job. Have good eyes and patience when you coat a white car, and CarPro’s new SiC seems to be a nice replacement for UK.

**dgage** · 11-07-2021, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by Epilogts

My take a ways: Understand the size of an SUV before you take on a job. Have good eyes and patience when you coat a white car, and CarPro’s new SiC seems to be a nice replacement for UK.

CarPro SiC is not a replacement for UK 3.0, it is complimentary. It is actually a replacement for TiO2. SiC contains Silicon Carbide and is meant to have greater chemical resistance and should protect from water spotting more effectively. And as you found, it is slicker. You could use SiC by itself or over UK3.0.

**Epilogts** · 11-07-2021, 09:16 PM

Thanks dgage, sorry you are correct I believe they will still sell UK.

I have seen on the YouTube’s that some folks recommend layering on top of UK but I wanted to see how it behaved on its own. I understand some folks say that it performs slightly better when layered over UK but this seems counter intuitive for a coating as a coating coats over a surface and then has the properties of t self and I’m not sure how what’s and I find it difficult to believe how any properties of the substrate would impact how a coating performs(unless they somehow mix during the application, and then why wouldn’t you just mix them in the bottle CarPro?), but I’ll try for myself on my car soon just to see… you never know.

**The Guz** · 11-08-2021, 01:20 AM

UK is not going anywhere. It is the more durable of the two coatings. SiC replaced TiO2 which was a great coating as well. They are very similar in performance and slickness. It is not new to top UK with the other cquartz coating. UK topped with TiO2 was popular before Gliss came out as a topper. Now that SiC is out people think it is a new concept to top UK but it is not.

UK topped with TiO2 was a great combination. The idea behind this was to get the hardness of UK and the chemical resistance and anti-water spotting from TIO2. This is the same for UK topped with SiC. Again nothing new but not many come to the forums and go to youtube where it has become popular.

**Desertnate** · 11-08-2021, 08:54 AM

I own an SUV (wife's daily) and have done a couple of my neighbors. They aren't fun at all, but since we have one in the family fleet it's simply a necessary evil. Kind of like having to drive them too... Step ladders or scaffolding is a must even to wash the roof, let along polish and coat.

Interesting to hear that SiC doesn't flash. So what does it do as it cures? Understand white is a horrible testbed. I've applied CQuatz UK many times and TiO2 at least once and found them both to flash.

**Bruno Soares** · 11-08-2021, 07:46 PM

It flashes, just not the typical rainbow we’re used to look for. It’s similar to Gliss, doesn’t change appearance a whole lot to indicate when it’s ready to wipe off so you have to try and see how long it takes to be at optimal removal time.

**Desertnate** · 11-09-2021, 08:51 AM

So, not even a haze? I assume then there is a little trial and error to figure out the timing when it can be removed without smearing yet not get too tacky?

**Bruno Soares** · 11-09-2021, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by Desertnate

So, not even a haze? I assume then there is a little trial and error to figure out the timing when it can be removed without smearing yet not get too tacky?

It might haze a bit but it's hard to tell, it's a very clear liquid on the paint, maybe varies on paint color. But you're right, gotta try different times and see when it's still smearing a lot and when it's getting hard to remove and then go for something in between.

I hadn't left a high spot in a while but with SiC I left a few. I found it's easy to wipe off too soon and also easy to let it stay on too long and then you can't get all of it off the paint. Definitely more finicky than UK or Gliss to install but it's not bad, just need to be careful and watch the time. If I had to coat another car today, I'm not too sure I'd go for UK+SiC or UK+Gliss. Maybe the latter just because it's so easy to install, even if it won't last as long as SiC.

**The Guz** · 11-09-2021, 04:43 PM

SiC like TiO2 where it is a hint of haze and not so much the rainbow like UK.

The thing with SiC is the flash time has to be perfect in order for it to perform properly. Wiped off too soon and it will lose it’s hydrophobic behavior in about 6 months. Get it right and it can probably achieve the same level of performance as TiO2 which is over the 2 years from my experience.

**Rsurfer** · 11-09-2021, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by The Guz

SiC like TiO2 where it is a hint of haze and not so much the rainbow like UK.

The thing with SiC is the flash time has to be perfect in order for it to perform properly. Wiped off too soon and it will lose it’s hydrophobic behavior in about 6 months. Get it right and it can probably achieve the same level of performance as TiO2 which is over the 2 years from my experience.

So again, user error.