New Yaris Cross ceramic coating

[Qasim]

Hi team,

I have got a new car and was looking for opinions regarding ceramic coating.I was offered this at car purchase but I refused.

My question is does it protect the car?

Which is the bestselling product and duration I should go with?

thanks

[ToyotaFanDriver]

Welcome to the forums...!

I cant offer too much on the matter except for the fact that anything that the dealer offers like that will be a poorer product than the best available and will probably not be applied correctly and to the standard you would want it to be, considering what they will be charging you.

Others here will be able to suggest a good brand of ceramic coating 🙂

[Qasim]

26 minutes ago, ToyotaFanDriver said:

Welcome to the forums...!

I cant offer too much on the matter except for the fact that anything that the dealer offers like that will be a poorer product than the best available and will probably not be applied correctly and to the standard you would want it to be, considering what they will be charging you.

Others here will be able to suggest a good brand of ceramic coating 🙂

Thanks alot for your feedback.I realised this and didn’t go with the dealer product.

 

[ColinB]

I must admit that I've gone with the dealer ceramic coating option. Cost wise no doubt I've paid over the odds, but in the context of the thousands of pounds I'm paying to change cars it isn't that significant. Whether it's the best out there I doubt it, but I wouldn't know what to choose anyway. One positive is if there was any issue with the coating affecting the paint I would at least have a single point of contact, rather than two suppliers blaming each other. 

I did have two cars one after another, one treated, one not and the treatment definitely made the car easier to clean, especially bird mess, so now always have the treatment done, but only you can decide whether it's money well spent. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

As regards which is the best, it is always going to be personal opinion rather than as a result of any testing, etc.

[dash]

Absolutely right to refuse the dealer coating. Expert Detailers will spend best part of a day to machine polish the car to remove swirls and marring in the paintwork before applying a coating. I had IGL products applied to mine (and have done with last 3 cars). I usually get mine ‘topped up’ after a year to maintain protection.

[TonyHSD]

Just buy a good quality car wax and apply yourself after a good hand car wash. 
No need a fancy name of a car wax and protecting the protection. 
Your paint work is protected by the top lacquer clear coat.
For long lasting and good looking paintwork you only ever need to seal this clear coat and keep it clean.
The best way and cheapest is to do a regular car washes by yourself or at a good place or auto valeter, avoid cheap and car park trolley dry washers or auto car washes .
Apply car wax once or twice a year and keep your car parked at open spaces or garage  and avoid parking under trees. That’s all. 

 

[Qasim]

14 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Just buy a good quality car wax and apply yourself after a good hand car wash. 
No need a fancy name of a car wax and protecting the protection. 
Your paint work is protected by the top lacquer clear coat.
For long lasting and good looking paintwork you only ever need to seal this clear coat and keep it clean.
The best way and cheapest is to do a regular car washes by yourself or at a good place or auto valeter, avoid cheap and car park trolley dry washers or auto car washes .
Apply car wax once or twice a year and keep your car parked at open spaces or garage  and avoid parking under trees. That’s all. 

 

I think this is best and realistic advice.Car detailer quoted 999£ for 10 years 600 for 2 years.This is insane price!!

Which car wax you think will be best ?

[MikeSh]

20 minutes ago, Qasim said:

Which car wax you think will be best ?

Like ceramic coatings, and most other things, it'll be personal preference.

I use Bullet Carnauba Wax spray these days. It's so much easier to apply than stuff I've used in the past and seems to work well.

[TonyHSD]

22 minutes ago, Qasim said:

I think this is best and realistic advice.Car detailer quoted 999£ for 10 years 600 for 2 years.This is insane price!!

Which car wax you think will be best ?

I know from the forum and other members recommended this https://amzn.eu/d/1POOomx

and this 

https://amzn.eu/d/fDnTYbN
 

I personally use auto smart platinum car wax left over from my valeters years long ago.  https://amzn.eu/d/5d2wT8t 
But this is too large container. 
Auto glym are also great products. 

Here what I currently use to keep my car clean : 

Karcher K2 - 6m long upgraded hose and vario lance - https://amzn.eu/d/cD0l5Cd

Pro Kleen - snowfoam pre wash bottle and green Apple stuff https://amzn.eu/d/68i0Ovq - keeps black plastic trims looks like new. 

TFR - mixed 100ml/ 1800ml of water https://amzn.eu/d/9hSl2Zl

Tfr bottle spray https://amzn.eu/d/8IWDgPg

Car shampoo - https://amzn.eu/d/aR8HsrY

Wash mitt - similar to this but made by auto smart https://amzn.eu/d/5EFJ9Tw

Dry towels- microfibre cloths and natural or synthetic chamois again good quality from Amazon 

Interior clean with microfibre cloth and dettol antibacterial spray which is 95% water , this is the best. Keeps the car interesting look like new without adding any extra shine. 
Hoover at the end of course Henry vacuum cleaner. 
That’s all pretty much. 
And here is my 14 years and almost 300k miles Toyota, just been washed. 

[Qasim]

Thats impressive and show your love and commitment for the car. 

I am impressed.I believe every car deserves this kind of attention and love!!

I live in apartment on 1st floor,I always thought of buying a hoze and vacuum but thoughts of difficulty in arranging connections always let me down.

 

[jthspace]

1 minute ago, Qasim said:

I live in apartment on 1st floor,I always thought of buying a hose

 

2 bucket method with grit guards is as good as anything. 

2 buckets

[Ralph H]

Let the dealer do mine when they offered it for half price after I declined it the first time of asking, this made it way cheaper than a professional detailer. I don’t know how long it will last but it is guaranteed for 5 years 

[Qasim]

1 hour ago, TonyHSD said:

I know from the forum and other members recommended this https://amzn.eu/d/1POOomx

and this 

https://amzn.eu/d/fDnTYbN
 

I personally use auto smart platinum car wax left over from my valeters years long ago.  https://amzn.eu/d/5d2wT8t 
But this is too large container. 
Auto glym are also great products. 

Here what I currently use to keep my car clean : 

Karcher K2 - 6m long upgraded hose and vario lance - https://amzn.eu/d/cD0l5Cd

Pro Kleen - snowfoam pre wash bottle and green apple stuff https://amzn.eu/d/68i0Ovq - keeps black plastic trims looks like new. 

TFR - mixed 100ml/ 1800ml of water https://amzn.eu/d/9hSl2Zl

Tfr bottle spray https://amzn.eu/d/8IWDgPg

Car shampoo - https://amzn.eu/d/aR8HsrY

Wash mitt - similar to this but made by auto smart https://amzn.eu/d/5EFJ9Tw

Dry towels- microfibre cloths and natural or synthetic chamois again good quality from Amazon 

Interior clean with microfibre cloth and dettol antibacterial spray which is 95% water , this is the best. Keeps the car interesting look like new without adding any extra shine. 
Hoover at the end of course Henry vacuum cleaner. 
That’s all pretty much. 
And here is my 14 years and almost 300k miles Toyota, just been washed. 

Tony i know it’s variable but how often should the car be washed?

[TonyHSD]

32 minutes ago, Qasim said:

Tony i know it’s variable but how often should the car be washed?

It depends how much you drive. 
Usually once every two to four weeks. 
I do weekly or every two weeks but I drive a lot. 
If you don’t have facilities to wash by yourselves it is better to find a good car wash or valeter who can come once a month and thoroughly wash and dry the car, apply car wax etc . 
And whenever possible after car wash drive for 20 min to clean the brakes , remove rust and water . 

[MikeSh]

47 minutes ago, Qasim said:

Tony i know it’s variable but how often should the car be washed?

When it's new, every week. 

When it's 6 months+ old, every month. 

When it's a year+ old, when it looks dirtier than you'd like. 

When it's 2 years or more, when it looks dirtier than you'd like, the weather is ok and you can be bothered.

 

(In my case I wash them (we have two) with detergent once year and wax them after. But we only do about 2,000 miles/annum on each car. The rest of the time I just rinse them with water and a soft brush (a brush on a hose) when they look disreputable, so the wax lasts longer.)

[Qasim]

53 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

It depends how much you drive. 
Usually once every two to four weeks. 
I do weekly or every two weeks but I drive a lot. 
If you don’t have facilities to wash by yourselves it is better to find a good car wash or valeter who can come once a month and thoroughly wash and dry the car, apply car wax etc . 
And whenever possible after car wash drive for 20 min to clean the brakes , remove rust and water . 

That seems plausible.My daily commute is roughly 10miles to my hospital and about 350-400 miles a month.

I would look for local hand wash .Thanks though for recommendations,again impressed with the pristine condition of your car!!

[Qasim]

38 minutes ago, MikeSh said:

When it's new, every week. 

When it's 6 months+ old, every month. 

When it's a year+ old, when it looks dirtier than you'd like. 

When it's 2 years or more, when it looks dirtier than you'd like, the weather is ok and you can be bothered.

 

(In my case I wash them (we have two) with detergent once year and wax them after. But we only do about 2,000 miles/annum on each car. The rest of the time I just rinse them with water and a soft brush (a brush on a hose) when they look disreputable, so the wax lasts longer.)

I appreciate your response.Dont you think weekly wash is too much ? We already have almost daily rain on west of Scotland.

[TonyHSD]

56 minutes ago, Qasim said:

I appreciate your response.Dont you think weekly wash is too much ? We already have almost daily rain on west of Scotland.

In the winter time if you drive through salty roads which you probably will be driving, best practice is to wash underneath the car weekly or every two weeks because the salt will take it’s toll. 
I also do every year engine bay jet wash, skipped this year though as it looks good but every time I wash the car I try to spray water well under wheel arches, suspension, and radiators to make sure no salty water left unwashed .  

[MikeSh]

3 hours ago, Qasim said:

Dont you think weekly wash is too much ?

I do. But it all depends on your level of OCD. Many people are 'protective' of their brand new car and spend a lot of time keeping it as shiny as possible. Once it's a bit older with a few car park scratches, etc, the enthusiasm wanes.

There really is no 'right' frequency, or thoroughness. Keep it as clean or dirty as you want (except to keep windows, lights and number plates legal).

Even washing salt off is debatable. Maybe once a year when the gritting season is done, but otherwise it's just getting another coat soon after anyway. And as you don't have a hose you'll be dependent on the car wash*, unless you use one of the do-it-yourself with a pressure wand ones.

( * The ones that pull the car through, actual car wash locations usually, often include underbody wash. I don't think the smaller ones, at the side of petrol stations, where car stays still and the machine moves back and forth do as a rule.)

[Ralph H]

I haven’t got access to a water supply near my car so I use one of these great for car washing you just need a couple of buckets. 
https://amzn.eu/d/3LhIyhf

[Pannett]

I use Autoglym Rapid ceramic spray to polish the car, which lasts about three months. I also use Autoglym Aquawax for an interim polish. Outside windows are cleaned with RainX, except for the windscreen as it smears, so I use Invisible Glass spray for the outside of the windscreen and all inside surfaces. A Megulars drying towel removes all the water after washing the car. Scotchguard spray protects the seat fabricc and Gummipflege keeps the door and boot rubbers flexible.

[dannyboy413]

16 minutes ago, Ralph H said:

I haven’t got access to a water supply near my car so I use one of these great for car washing you just need a couple of buckets. 
https://amzn.eu/d/3LhIyhf

Even though I have an outside water supply and a Karcher pressure washer, I use a very similar item, mainly because it is such a faff connecting the Karcher to the extension lead and then the outside tap. I use one of those big garden rubbish holders to hold the water, stick the end of the washer in and off I go. I think it is a brilliant piece of kit. Just as powerful as the Karcher.

[Cyker]

Mine had dealer 'applied' Supagard and it was... okay. It did seem to impart some minor scratch resistance, and did help noticeably with the removal of bird poop initially, but lost its hydrophobic qualities after maybe 6 months.

I was going to renew it, as it was rated for 3 years which is now up, but like MikeSh says as I've had the car longer I'm not so precious about it now and probably CBA to get it done

And I put the 'applied' in quotes, as it was fairly obvious the car had NOT been coated when I collected it. I was sick of dealing with the dealer by that point and called Supagard instead, and they showed excellent customer service - After verifying my car was down to have it, booked in one of their franchisees to come round my house to clean the car and apply it. I was quite impressed at how little hassle that was to organize - Was easier than booking a service!!  

I was talking to the guy that came to do it, and confirmed they charge far less than the dealer charges, so it's definitely not worth paying the dealer for it unless they discount it heavily or get it thrown it in as a freebie as I did.

TBH, you could easily do it yourself too, just clean one panel at a time and put the coating on as you go - It's just that the stronger coatings tend to be harder to get as they limit them to licensed franchisees.

[Cyker]

1 hour ago, Ralph H said:

I haven’t got access to a water supply near my car so I use one of these great for car washing you just need a couple of buckets. 
https://amzn.eu/d/3LhIyhf

You need to nick one of those water barrels caravanners use - Fill it up, tilt it on its side, the roll it to the car, tilt it back up then drop the hose in!