Ceramic Coating

[SouperChris]

Me and my lady got new cars at the same time. She has hers coated because she has to park under trees, so lots of sap and some very regular birds. When I'm there I also park similarly. When the cars are washed, there is no difference; difficult with both. Maybe the spray I apply, but that is rare because I'm lazy.

[152bobby]

5 hours ago, Corolly Poly said:

I've tried just jet washing but unless you dry off quickly it seems much more prone to water marks than my previous non-coated cars, even with a water softener. And you can't just fetch them off easily with a bit of polish because that removes the ceramic coating. I appreciate that for some they are worth it but for me never again. Although I hate cleaning my car and I might see how the coating fares with just being being professionally valeted every 8 weeks or so😁

When I spent £350 on a 3 coat 3 year ceramic coating on my red metallic Aygo X, it was more prone to getting/seeing water white spot marks.  I then had to get a pre conditioner white spot shampoo prior to washing the car.  To be honest it was more work keeping the paintwork good after I got the coating applied, so for that reason I'll not get another one. I think it depends on the colour of your car to be honest.

I just now use a good quality Snow Foam PH free shampoo followed by a waterproof sealant via my snow gun.

I am now using on my YC Autoglym Polar Blast and then Autoglym Polar Seal and it's doing a pretty good job.

If I want to, not sure yet, there's a Autoglym Ceramic Wax spray on buff off, but not tried that yet.

[Roy124]

Bobby, what is the process with the two?  

[152bobby]

According to their instructions, Polar Blast , spray on with foam gun, leave for 10 mins, don't let it dry and wash it thoroughly off, the Polar Seal you again use the foam gun, douse it all over the car, but try and avoid windscreen and then thoroughly rinse and microfiber dry.  I did forget that in between these two, I use Autoglym Polar Wash shampoo, again apply with foam gun, adjitate with a mitten or sponge and rinse off.  So in short ...I jet wash car to wash off loose dirt, foam gun on the Polar Blast, leave for 10 mins, rinse, apply Polar Wash Shampoo, use a mitt to adjitate, rinse, apply with foam gun a coating of the Polar Seal, rinse and dry off.  If you think that's all too much, you can just use the Polar Wash shampoo and then the Polar Seal.

[anchorman]

8 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Harsh.

Chris makes a good point.  If ceramic coating is a good idea (and I think it is), why is it not done at factory?

It is like underseal.   Cars used to be sold with a minimal spray of paint underneath.  Someone came up with underseal.   Some products were good.  Some products were well applied*.  

What happened?  Cars now have factory applied underseal.

*I had underseal applied to my Ford Anglia.   I was a little miffed when it was applied around the sills until they explained why.

I had my next car undersealed too.  After the wings were changed (warranty) I decided to have a look.  Red oxide and dots of underseal so it felt like it was done.

You won’t get cars ceramic coated at the factory, I’m surprised you suggest it.  It’s entirely at the behest of the customer and despite the fact the paint needs time to cure (at the end of the line) and 99% of customers would tell you to do one if you told them they were going to pay an extra £400 for a coating.  Most of them only reluctantly buy a car wash once in a blue moon and the day before they hand it back on a PCP.  I’m anal about keeping mine Kleenex and I simply wouldn’t want it.  It would be wrong of me to criticise somebody’s opinion because it’s unfounded or subjective and then do so myself but I personally think these coatings are a waste of time in most cases.  You can apply whatever you like to paint but unless you are pedantic about keeping it clean, it’s no better than not washing it and I’ve heard salespeople say you don’t need to wash it.  Even if you do wash it and you’ve bought the most expensive coating, I absolutely guarantee that if after three months, if you go to the rear door just in front of the wheel arch and feel with the flat of your hand, it will feel like sandpaper.  The airborne contamination and tar will stick to a coating in exactly the same way as it does to clean paint.  There’s only tar remover and iron remover together with graft that will get it off.  They reckon coatings will last several years but I’ve yet to find one make a year before it fails to bead like it did at first and there’s a lot of placebo involved.  It’s the weather that stops me most of the time but I’ll pitch my car against any coating after one, two or three years and that’s with frequent washing, detar every year and good quality wax about every quarter.  Washing it by hand once a week takes some beating.  

[anchorman]

7 hours ago, Cyker said:

Generally ceramic coatings should be mostly maintenance free - The whole point of them is they're much harder than wax and don't abrade just from being rained on like wax does; The only thing you have to be mindful of is they are razor thin coatings so any physical contact from e.g. scrubbing, polishing etc. should be minimized, but this is true normally anyway as if you don't have the coating then you're wearing into the clear-coat layer.

If it's a good coating, you can normally get away with foam lancing then jet washing the car as the dirt shouldn't be able to stick on hard enough to require e.g. use of a clay bar.

Alas reality and FRIGGIN BIRDS mean that isn't always the case and some gentle agitation is sometimes require to remove more stubborn dirt deposits...

If you like to clean the car regularly, a good wax is much better IMHO; I feel ceramic coatings are more for lazy people like me who cba to clean their car every week because it gets covered in **** again almost immediately...!

 

They’re Khaaans crack team of revenge birds.

[anchorman]

5 hours ago, SouperChris said:

Me and my lady got new cars at the same time. She has hers coated because she has to park under trees, so lots of sap and some very regular birds. When I'm there I also park similarly. When the cars are washed, there is no difference; difficult with both. Maybe the spray I apply, but that is rare because I'm lazy.

Don’t be offended by my comments, I’d much rather you didn’t beat around the bush if you don’t agree with me, you won’t offend me.  On this occasion I wholeheartedly agree with you that a properly washed car will look just as good as a coated car to most onlookers and I bet if you did the Pepsi challenge, many would guess wrong.  

[CPN]

29 minutes ago, anchorman said:

Washing it by hand once a week takes some beating.  

Absolutely.

[152bobby]

2 minutes ago, CPN said:

Absolutely.

That's me 👍 I'm lucky enough to have a double garage and a carport, should the weather be crap😄

[TonyHSD]

As an ex valeter myself I will refrain from comment about ceramic coating and any similar including wrapping .
Generally  speaking the clear coat top  lacquer is the one that seals and protects the paint. Anything on top it’s just an added protection on the protection . I personally had applied these things as part of my job in the past, but with the years and from personal experience regularly and property washed car and plus two quality waxes a year will protect your car paintwork as good as any other fancy named top coat protection and most likely cost less. But everyone is different and likes to treat their motors differently. 👍

 

[Countryside]

24 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

As an ex valeter myself I will refrain from comment about ceramic coating and any similar including wrapping .
Generally  speaking the clear coat top  lacquer is the one that seals and protects the paint. Anything on top it’s just an added protection on the protection . I personally had applied these things as part of my job in the past, but with the years and from personal experience regularly and property washed car and plus two quality waxes a year will protect your car paintwork as good as any other fancy named top coat protection and most likely cost less. But everyone is different and likes to treat their motors differently. 👍

 

Totally agree and saves £400 👍

[Countryside]

My Chr came with coat of polish I’ve now given it a full autoglym polish and autoglym extra gloss protection and use autoglym conditioner in bucket to wash it ! The silver paint is sparkling so much I’m not looking in the bathroom mirror I’m having a shave I looking at the bodywork 😀👍

[Roy124]

2 hours ago, 152bobby said:

According to their instructions, Polar Blast , spray on with foam gun, leave for 10 mins, don't let it dry and wash it thoroughly off, the Polar Seal you again use the foam gun, douse it all over the car, but try and avoid windscreen and then thoroughly rinse and microfiber dry.  I did forget that in between these two, I use Autoglym Polar Wash shampoo, again apply with foam gun, adjitate with a mitten or sponge and rinse off.  So in short ...I jet wash car to wash off loose dirt, foam gun on the Polar Blast, leave for 10 mins, rinse, apply Polar Wash Shampoo, use a mitt to adjitate, rinse, apply with foam gun a coating of the Polar Seal, rinse and dry off.  If you think that's all too much, you can just use the Polar Wash shampoo and then the Polar Seal.

Thank you. It was the wash off and rinse routines.

I have the Turtle Wax foam, looks impressive but not convinced it does more than a soapy sponge.  Autoglym does sound better.

[Roy124]

1 hour ago, anchorman said:

You won’t get cars ceramic coated at the factory, I’m surprised you suggest it.  It’s entirely at the behest of the customer and despite the fact the paint needs time to cure (at the end of the line) and 99% of customers would tell you to do one if you told them they were going to pay an extra £400 for a coating

I am astonished by this comment.   Did you not comprehend my point about underseal?

After market add-ons, not just underseal,  become embodied in the original spec.   Metallic is an OEM extra, why not an extra seal on a seal as Tony says.

By incorporating what were aftermarket extras the manufacturer can provide these and reap the extra profit.

 

 

[Cyker]

That's reminded me of something - I remember Nissan were going to do this to their cars years ago:

https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/nissan-develops-first-self-cleaning-car-prototype

but what ever happened to that, as current Nissans definitely don't have any such special coating from what I've seen!

[Roy124]

I remember Prince Charles, as was, on Tomorrow's World throwing a bucket of muddy water on a sheet of glass where the treatment  was self-clean.

The window cleaners lobby probably killed it.

 

[Cyker]

I miss shows like Tomorrow's World... straight up factual shows with a bit of whimsy, not something clearly sponsored, or trying to push an agenda or covertly advertising some products!

I don't recall that specific episode, but it's interesting to know we've had such things for even longer than I knew, yet still none of them have come to market!!  

 

[Paul john]

25 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I miss shows like Tomorrow's World... straight up factual shows with a bit of whimsy, not something clearly sponsored, or trying to push an agenda or covertly advertising some products!

I don't recall that specific episode, but it's interesting to know we've had such things for even longer than I knew, yet still none of them have come to market!!  

 

Hydrophobic glass exists 

[anchorman]

46 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

I am astonished by this comment.   Did you not comprehend my point about underseal?

After market add-ons, not just underseal,  become embodied in the original spec.   Metallic is an OEM extra, why not an extra seal on a seal as Tony says.

By incorporating what were aftermarket extras the manufacturer can provide these and reap the extra profit.

 

 

Not really, I thought you’d done our forum usual of going off at a tangent.

 

Do me a favour Roy, take me a photo of this underseal on your Yaris Cross - not the tiny amount of sound deadening under the boot floor, underseal.

Assuming there was some underseal on your car, you think that qualifies getting the paint sealed???  Why?  The body has been painted.  Did you not get my point about sealant being an option?  An expensive and totally unnecessary one at that.  Where do we stop because some people would rather have a spare wheel or a jump pack.  Others might like jacked up rear suspension and two furry dice.

[anchorman]

6 minutes ago, Paul john said:

Hydrophobic glass exists 

I have it on my Lexus front side windows and door mirrors 👍

[Rhymes with Paris]

9 minutes ago, anchorman said:

Others might like jacked up rear suspension and two furry dice.

I think two furry dice should be compulsory on all new cars under UK legislation.

 

[Cyker]

13 minutes ago, anchorman said:

I have it on my Lexus front side windows and door mirrors 👍

Oooh really?? As in water just beads up on it, no need for any special coatings?

I wonder why they don't use this for the front and especially rear windscreen on all cars! It would be such a big improvement!

If they even just used it on the sodding rear view camera it would save me having to get out and clean it every time after it rains!  

[MikeSh]

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

regularly and property washed car and plus two quality waxes a year

As low mileage cars kept in the garage ours get a wash (just water and a hose-brush) a few times a year and a coat of Bullet Carnuba * around autumn time. ( * cos it's just so much easier than anything else I've used.)

[bathtub tom]

Fer chrissake, we're talking about a budget car. Does anyone really care about how shiny it looks?

I'll wash mine occasionaly, perhaps more often when the roads are wet and salty and give it a good hose down underneath.

MOT tester once commented, it was the cleanest car he'd ever seen, presumably because he didn't an eyeful of carp when underneath.

[Cyker]

Yes yes but's it's a very *expensive* budget car!