The case against multi-year ceramic paint coatings - Road Grime = Surface Staining Daily Drivers by Mike Phillips

[Belo]

Another benefit of the annual detail is you don't have to go crazy with maintenance in the interim. Is my coating slowly losing its hydrophobic properties ? Is it degrading or just getting clogged? Will claying damage my coating? What should I top it with? How do I deal with waterspots?

All of these questions are moot if you know you will simply repolish and recoat come spring. You could do nothing but simply gently wash the car over the course of the year, which in my opinion, is the reason to choose a coating in the first place.

this post is confusing to me. The point of the article is that some think a coating is longer than annual. And honestly, what you're describing with an annual polish and coating is what a lot of people, like myself do with a sealant. And honestly, There are about 5 steps i can skip in a sealed car vs a coated car.

idk, maybe i'm not understanding your post.

[Calendyr]

Wouldn't that acid cleaner for example Megs wheel brightener degrade the coating?

Coatings are acid and alkaline resitant. If you look at the MSDS of the coating you are using, it will very likelly state resistance from 2 to 12 on the PH scale. In order to have an acid be a level 1, you would have to use battery acid type of products. Wheel cleaners are much less acidic. For example, I use Meguiars Wheel Brightener diluted 4:1 as my standard wheel cleaner. This is one of the most agressive products available, some detailers refuse to use it because of the health risks. With that being said, that product is perfectly safe on non-coated paint. So imagine how safe it is on coated paint.

On the other hand, your clay bar has the potential to seriously marr your coating if there are heavy contaminants on it. So with that, your risk is actually very high.

[Mike Phillips]

As soon as I get time, I'm going to write the companion article to this article only the title will be,

The case for multi-year ceramic paint coatings - Road Grime = Surface Staining Daily Drivers by Mike Phillips

[SWETM]

As soon as I get time, I'm going to write the companion article to this article only the title will be,

The case for multi-year ceramic paint coatings - Road Grime = Surface Staining Daily Drivers by Mike Phillips

What is your thoughts or experience with decon with different products like IronX and TarX and other brands and products to revive the coating?

I think that many gives up on their coatings to fast before trying to revive them. The bigger brands has products that desolves different contaminants on the paint. And when useing the traditional car soaps. They don't get the coating clean enough.

This is more for the daily drivers than show cars. And very environment depending too. I'm totaly agreed with you when talk about a show car finish. The need to do a finishing polish and cleaning the paint and with a fresh wax. You can not beat. And I can see that it would be hard even with regualar decon washes to have a coating clean over the 2 year mark. To hold down the road grime build up to an acceptable level on a daily driver.

[Dr Oldz]

Always great photography to prove you point, Mike!! Those 50/50 shots are impressive.

I find in my area(NE PA) that ground in Dirt/staining is a major issue. I find it simply amazing, especially when using a white pad, how dirty paint can get even after a proper wash. It is one reason that my minimal service has to include at least a paint work cleaner such as Pinnacle or similar. White cars and lighter color vehicles can really show this in a 50:50 like done here in this thread but darker colors like black for example can actually show a brownish tinge that really takes away for the depth black can obtain.

Great article! I personally don’t really offer coating unless requested because paintwork still need proper maintaining. I feel some of the coatings are selling themselves as a totally maintainence free alternative when it truly is not if you want the best looking paint over the long haul.

[DetailZeus]

this post is confusing to me. The point of the article is that some think a coating is longer than annual. And honestly, what you're describing with an annual polish and coating is what a lot of people, like myself do with a sealant. And honestly, There are about 5 steps i can skip in a sealed car vs a coated car.

idk, maybe i'm not understanding your post.

My point was coating maintenance has seemingly become complicated with toppers, stripping soaps, multi-step decons, etc. You can avoid all this by just choosing an interval where you know you're going to polish and re-coat the car (could be two years instead of one), and just wash and dry in the meantime.

But yes, I agree that anything around a year or less and you have to decide if the extra cost & effort of coating is worth it. I personally prefer AIO's maintained with WOWA sealants. You could wash, clay, AIO and walk away with a great looking car if you wanted to.

[BudgetPlan1]

My point was coating maintenance has seemingly become complicated with toppers, stripping soaps, multi-step decons, etc. You can avoid all this by just choosing an interval where you know you're going to polish and re-coat the car (could be two years instead of one), and just wash and dry in the meantime.

But yes, I agree that anything around a year or less and you have to decide if the extra cost & effort of coating is worth it. I personally prefer AIO's maintained with WOWA sealants. You could wash, clay, AIO and walk away with a great looking car if you wanted to.

It's really only as complicated as you make it. One of the downsides of coatings for hobbyists is that it's boring if you enjoy touching your car. Once applied, a coating can live just fine with a simple wash/dry, maybe use a complimentary 'booster' as a drying aid, which usually makes drying easier. If the need arises, hose it down with something like a Tar Remover and/or Iron Remover after winter, back to easy maintenance.

I like the fact that if a bird drops something on my car or it gets rained on and then sits in sun (*potential* water spots), I don't need to immediately deal with it if I choose not too; it allows me to be lazy with maintenance and still have a vehicle that looks cleaner than 90% of the other cars in the lot. I like clean cars but don't like cleaning cars...coatings fit well into that regimen.

As for yearly repolishing/correcting, I only have to do it when my personal threshold for defects via usage (stone chips, light scratches/marring, road damage/loss of sharpness or gloss) is exceeded. My threshold for this is likely less than most Detailers (one of which I don't even consider myself). Longevity aside, coatings are a purely functional curiosity for me. YMMV.

[Goonie75]

It's really only as complicated as you make it. One of the downsides of coatings for hobbyists is that it's boring if you enjoy touching your car. Once applied, a coating can live just fine with a simple wash/dry, maybe use a complimentary 'booster' as a drying aid, which usually makes drying easier. If the need arises, hose it down with something like a Tar Remover and/or Iron Remover after winter, back to easy maintenance.

I like the fact that if a bird drops something on my car or it gets rained on and then sits in sun (*potential* water spots), I don't need to immediately deal with it if I choose not too; it allows me to be lazy with maintenance and still have a vehicle that looks cleaner than 90% of the other cars in the lot. I like clean cars but don't like cleaning cars...coatings fit well into that regimen.

As for yearly repolishing/correcting, I only have to do it when my personal threshold for defects via usage (stone chips, light scratches/marring, road damage/loss of sharpness or gloss) is exceeded. My threshold for this is likely less than most Detailers (one of which I don't even consider myself). Longevity aside, coatings are a purely functional curiosity for me. YMMV.

What's a good polish to clean paint/coating without removing the coating or is that possible. Say a year in one polished to just clean the paint.. and as you guys say 'boost' the coating without reapplying. Say Polish Angel Cosmic or CQuartz UK 3.0


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[BudgetPlan1]

What's a good polish to clean paint/coating without removing the coating or is that possible. Say a year in one polished to just clean the paint.. and as you guys say 'boost' the coating without reapplying. Say Polish Angel Cosmic or CQuartz UK 3.0


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No pro here, total amatuer but, aside from Carpro Essence PLUS, there is no polish that won't degrade/remove the coating. Essence+ I think is marketed to be a coating 'fixer' product...dunno, never had the chance to use it.

Boost/maintain is done periodically with something like Carpro Reload.

Others can likely elaborate more/better.

[Calendyr]

What's a good polish to clean paint/coating without removing the coating or is that possible. Say a year in one polished to just clean the paint.. and as you guys say 'boost' the coating without reapplying. Say Polish Angel Cosmic or CQuartz UK 3.0


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Only type of polish you could use are non-abrasive, chemical stripper types. I don't know any but those should be safe if you use them with a finishing pad.