Blackfire Pro Black Edition - First Timer's Experience

[KevinWarren]

Wanted to share my experience with Blackfire Pro Black Edition. To start, this was my first time ceramic coating a vehicle. I've been using sealants for years with TW Seal and Shine as my latest go-to. I've always been happy with sealants but wanted something more durable and that offered more protection for the clear coat so I decided to go with ceramic.


Here's a few bullets:
Overall, I'm extremely happy with the product and the results.
This was my first time ceramic coating. Coated a full size Pickup
I'm 60. Took my time so the project took longer than what I think it takes most folks. I spent the better part of 5 days from decon to completion.
Installed the coating in high heat and humidity. (70-95F and 60+ humidity)
Installed in the OKC area during July.

I bought two 30ML bottles. Reading this forum, I predicted I would need two bottles for 2 coats. This proved to be spot on for me. I ended up using about a 1/4 of the second bottle. So a bottle and a 1/4 was sufficient for two coats on a 2020 RAM 1500.


I decon'd and polished the paint before coating. The truck was in pretty good shape, very little scratches. Mostly just some oxidation that polished right out. The truck has never seen a tunnel wash. Actual polish time (minus my many breaks) was about 12 hours. Was in no rush. Like many of you, my OCD kicks in and things just take longer.


I applied the product using coating saver applicators. A few drops on the applicator and spread with a cross hatch pattern. Did 2x2 foot sections at a time. For the hood of the truck, this equated to 3 sections. I divided the doors into 4 sections as I did for the roof as well. Each side panel of the bed ended up being around 4 or 5 sections.


Application was as expected and as described by others. Easy on, easy off. However, I did run into difficultly as the temp and humidity rose. I found that as the temp pushed 90, the coating would flash super quick. Between 70 and 80, I had plenty of time to apply and level. I'd say I had around a minute after applying before I had to remove excess and level. Over 85 or so and I really had to work fast basically applying the coating and almost immediately leveling. I started getting nervous about high spots so I learned to stop once the temp got too high. This meant installing each coat of the Blackfire Pro Black edition took a couple days as I only had a few hours a day before the temp got too high. Again, I was in no hurry. I could have worked faster and got it done before the heat of the day.


As long as I didn't try to push through the heat and subsequent fast flashing, I had zero issues with installing or leveling.


I ended up with three small high spots. All were due to my leveling technique. Once I figured out how to avoid pushing product around while leveling, I had no further issues.


For me, I found that initially wiping/leveling INTO my section of work (being careful to not push product into the surrounding sections) I had no further issues with high spots. It was all about containing the product to the section I was working on. The high spots I ended up with were clearly the result of my wipe off cloth pushing product were I didn't know it was. I suppose that's where a light would help but my eyes are bad and though I tried, I couldn't get the hang of seeing the high spots with the light I had.


So I really just applied the coating as best I could and hoped for the best. Turns out, I did pretty good. Just three small high spots. I simply repolished those three very small areas and recoated. Easy peasy.


I did not use Blackfire on the plastic trim or glass. I used GTechniq C4 on the trim a couple of weeks prior to coating the paint and then taped it off.


I spent over a year reading this forum and watching countless YTube videos before I felt comfortable enough to proceed. Glad I did. It's helped me understand heat, humidity, paint polishing, surface prep, installation and removal technique, and how to correct errors like the previously mentioned high spots.


The end result is amazing. Extremely glossy. It definitely looks like there's now some sort of shiny 'shell' added the paint. Seems to repel our Oklahoma dust and there's truth to the self cleaning. We've had several rain showers since and each time, the truck comes out pretty clean though not as clean as a contact wash.


Coating a car is definitely something any decent home detailer can do but it's not fast, easy or cheap. Take you time with the wipe off and leveling. Be careful when wiping off the product to avoid pushing it on to unwanted areas. 1 30ML bottle could easily coat (2x) my wife's Avalon. I needed just over one bottle for my full size truck.


Thank you to all that helped me in this coating journey. I'm an IT guy. With the world the way it is these days I work from home full time so a project like this gave me a nice break and some physical work that I love.


If you're considering installing a coating, I say go for it. It's not too hard. Just take your time and pay attention to details. You'll be fine and your ride will be awesome.


Now I'm struggling with whether or not to top it. I'm considering topping with Griots 3 in 1 or Beadmaker. Or maybe the Griots topped with beadmaker. Still don't fully understand the arguments for and against topping. Pretty sure my OCD is going to drive me to top it. I'm leaning toward the Griots 3 and 1. Fact is though, Blackfire is super shiny and the beading and sheeting are great so a topper is probably not really needed. You could put the work in and have a coating (Blackfire Pro Back) that lasts for years without periodic topping if that's your preference.


My truck is now one of the shiniest rides in town.

[The Guz]

Enjoy it. No need to top with both products. Choose one or the other. I haven't used Griot's 3 in 1 and I don't plan to but I have played with a bottle of Beadmaker and overall it is good. I don't get the dusting that others do and it does not seem to mask the coating given that it's durability is not great. Works great as a drying aid as well. If you want to stay in the blackfire family then pick up the SiO2 spray sealant but you would be fine with what you have.

[Bobby B.]

That's awesome! I love reading reviews like this. I'm glad you took your time and didn't rush the coating job on your Ram 1500. Detailing outside in the summer heat can be difficult.

The Blackfire Pro Ceramic Coating Black Edition - 50ml.
BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Paint Coating Black Edition

[fly07sti]

Now let’s see some pictures!

[Loach]

Great feedback, appreciate you taking the time to document and share with everyone!

I would recommend going with Bead Maker instead of Griot's Ceramic 3-in-1 Wax for maintenance. I don't have any experience with the Blackfire Black Edition Coating, but the 2 years that the regular Blackfire Pro Ceramic Coating was on my paint it was loving Bead Maker after regular washes. Every stronger coating that I tried to top with Griot's Ceramic 3-in-1 Wax saw a slight reduction in the water behavior, it bonds to a higher degree and is less hydrophobic by itself, so it's going to be fighting more with the underlying coating if it's in decent shape. Whereas with Bead Maker, this is a lighter and less durable spray that provides that slickness and gloss on application without really clogging and masking what the coating underneath offers. That's been my experience between the two, you may see different results though.

Blackfire does have Coating Booster in the lineup which would be the one I would recommend if you're staying within the brand. This is lighter than their Sio2 Spray Sealant, and again this idea of being a mild or lighter spray is more effective for me on the coatings because they do a better job at staying out of the way of the coatings' performance when they're still healthy. When to top is based on preference and in my case, the car was ungaraged and accumulated either spotting or a reduction of slickness faster than most. I was also washing most of the time in the sun in warmer temperatures, which can lead to dried drip spots that need to be addressed regularly. In that situation, I would want to be topping after every wash with something like Bead Maker beginning about a month after applying the coating.

[KevinWarren]

Thank you for the advice. Another reason I like Beadmaker is actually it's shorter lifespan. Much easier to remove, getting down to the actual ceramic. I feel like if I had oxidation with the Griots, I would have to polish thus removing the Blackfire Pro Black and having to reapply at least in spots. Thanks so much again for the tips and your experience.

[Coatingsarecrack]

No experience with beadmaker but had zero problems using the Griots 3-1 as a topper for my cquartz UK3.0 and Tac Systems Moonlight topped with Adam’s Graphene spray coating.

Both performed just fine. I prefer a more stout topper as Ceramic coatings are more prone to water spotting and that is the point of the topper...... protect your coating from what it’s not good at.


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[Rollo]

I switched from CQUK to the Blackfire black a few months ago and am also extremely happy with the process and results. I have been using the coating booster periodically and using the Mothers Ceramic detailer for its intended purpose and it seems to play well with the coating. (used Carpro Elixir with the carpro but it seems to streak on the BF coating)

This on a 2018 Black Sapphire metallic BMW 230i.

[Desertnate]

No experience with beadmaker but had zero problems using the Griots 3-1 as a topper for my cquartz UK3.0 ....

No issues with the same combo here. The only reason I'm using the 3-1 on the coating is the coating is 2+ years old at this point on my wife's car and it was starting to show signs of age. I topped in order to keep the beading/sheeting going until the weather cools off and I can re-coat the car. No way I'm doing it in these summer temps...and I have a garage!

If a coating is a quality product, I really don't feel the need to top it with anything if I'm being practical. I'll do a wipe down as needed with ECH2O to remove any water spots left from drying, but that's it.

I will admit to being tempted to top a coating occasionally simply to enhance the look of a vehicle, but I almost never do it. CURE on top of CanCoat was an amazing combo.

[KevinWarren]

So here's some pictures. These are 2 months after application of BLACKFIRE PRO BLACK edition. I did notice an additional high spot on the side of the bed that I'll have to fix. Posting here so that if anybody's curious as to what a high spot can look like, here's one example.
I have not topped it.

I contact washed the truck today for the first time since coating. I noticed the hood had a couple spots that seems to not bead as well but after washing, they went away and the truck is beading super good and I could feel the slickness when drying. The hood and the roof collected the most dust (though not much for Oklahoma) so I figure the coating was just contaminated and needed a good cleaning.

Still very happy.










Here's a picture of a high spot I'll need to fix