To ceramic, or not to ceramic

[max_bobby]

Hi guys,

 

Just wondering peoples thoughts on getting a full exterior paint 2 stage decontamination, 1 stage polish, and coating (ceramic). The cost ranges from $600 to $1200. This has been suggested for a new car prep?

 

thanks in advance

[lilredwagon]

I have ceramic on two of my cars, but for my OBXT, I went with a polymer sealant. The ceramic is ridiculously cool, but the only advantage I've seen is how long it lasts. One car has had it on for 3 years, and the other has had it on for 2 years and they're both still going strong. Well, maybe not as good as when they were new, but they're both still on there. The thing I've noticed is that I haven't seen any extra durability in terms of resistance to scratches and road specks on the front. So it it's not going to be any more resistant to those things, then the biggest advantage is not having to re-apply it as frequently. For the polymer sealant, they say I would get 6 mos to a year out of it - that's plenty long for me, and I'll have no problem saving the difference and just applying it twice a year. I used Jescar Powerlock, and so far its beading properties are great!

 

I did everything myself. I bought a DA from Harbor Freight for something like $50, and then big bottles of Meguiars 105/205, and then bought the ceramic coating. I already had a clay bar. With the DA, the only real work is claying the panel before doing the compounding, and then the ceramic coating afterwards. It's a pain to remove/buff the ceramic coating, but it worked well. I don't remember the costs of the ceramic coating, but I remember it was surprising how much they charge for how little you get. On the OBXT, I used all the same stuff - the same DA (new pads though), the same bottles of 105/205, and even the same clay bar. The difference this time was that Powerlock goes on really easily, and buffs off in one swipe. So it was MUCH easier to use the Powerlock compared to the ceramic coating, and you get a big bottle for the cost of an off the shelf wax. You can look up Youtube videos of the products you are interested in to see how easy they are to work with. I used 22PLE, cQuartz, and Powerlock on my 3 cars. And I use Hydro2 every other wash.

[max_bobby]

Thank you for the information. Very helpful indeed.