Ceramic Coating? Waste of money?

Just looking for opinions from those who have spent the $1500-2500 to get their car prepped and ceramic coated.

Do you regret it? That money buys a lot of wax, clay, soap not to mention fuel, insurance and mods.

No regrets. Lots of time saved washing my car and getting an amazing waxed look from a simple 2 bucket wash and dry.

soldier989 said:

No regrets. Lots of time saved washing my car and getting an amazing waxed look from a simple 2 bucket wash and dry.

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Curious if you did the DIY route or the professional route.

Just be sure you know what you are buying. I have never done ceramic coating, but my friend had it done on her GTR. I guess the guy gave her a false sense of "protection", because she was extremely disappointed when her front end got rock chips, and of course the ceramic coating didn't do jack to protect from that. Another downside is ceramic coating must be reapplied periodically to maintain that luster.

I am a clear bra guy, and I have been very satisfied with that product. I've had clear bras on 7 vehicles, and I think it does a fantastic job keeping the paint looking good AND protecting against rock chips and bird poo. No, it doesn't repel water like ceramic coating, and it doesn't make the car always look like you just washed & waxed it. But I have a membership at a detailing shop, so I can get it detailed every day if I want.

membership at a detailing shop? never heard of such a thing...please elaborate. Have the ceramic coating, prep and 3 coats for $600 like it for what it is but yes does not protect from chips.

jasduke said:

membership at a detailing shop? never heard of such a thing...please elaborate. Have the ceramic coating, prep and 3 coats for $600 like it for what it is but yes does not protect from chips.

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Wow! Guys here in phoenix are asking 3 and 4x the amount you paid.

jasduke said:

membership at a detailing shop? never heard of such a thing...please elaborate. Have the ceramic coating, prep and 3 coats for $600 like it for what it is but yes does not protect from chips.

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I pay $35/month for unlimited hand washes, vacuuming, and tire polish. Wax jobs are extra, but I only do that every few months.
I probably spend close to $500/year for detailing & waxing, which is close to your quote for ceramic coating, so the cost is similar. But how often must ceramic coating be reapplied? And how much does that cost per year?
Personally I'd prefer the extra rock chip protection over a shimmering gloss finish. It all depends on your priorities

DevilDocAZ said:

Wow! Guys here in phoenix are asking 3 and 4x the amount you paid.

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Yeah my friend paid considerably more than $600. I guess it depends on your location. It also depends on how good/busy the installer is.

DevilDocAZ said:

Curious if you did the DIY route or the professional route.

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I had it professionally applied and half of the front of my car covered with a clear bra. It cost me around $1200 for both, I did some haggling. I will have some kind of ceramic coating added to my future cars because of how well it works.

I had ceramic pro done professionally done about a year and a half ago and it still looks amazing. worth every penny in my opinion. its not going to prevent every rock chip etc out there but it definitely does help. makes cleaning that much easier and I just see my detailer once a year so he can touch it up and make sure every thing is on point. yes it does buy a lot of wax but then again if the person does it right and you follow up it wont need to be waxed again.

The coating itself isn't all that much money, most is going to paint prep. That said, those figures are really high. For $2500 you could get half of your car covered in PPF. There's a lot of misconceptions out there about coatings. Despite what a lot of people say, they do require a regular maintenance program, it's just with different products than for polymer sealants/carnuba waxes.

ceramic coatings will help keep things from getting attached and ruining your finish, ie bird bombs. and it should be hydrophobic enough that washes are easier and avoiding water spots is easier, but it will never be 100% full proof.

It does not prevent scratches and rock chips. In my experience it adds nearly 0% protection for rock chips, and only the slightest resistance to scratches. If you dry wipe the dust that settles on a car after a few days of it sitting, it still can scratch the coating.

Clear Bra = Protection

Definitely NOT a waste of money.
I have it on my truck, which is my daily driver and it works awesome. Rains beads like crazy and the color just pops and looks way cleaner than other vehicles that are not ceramic coated. Could have something to do with the paint correction too though.

Over 2 years in and absolutely loving it. I only hand wash my car 3 or 4 times a year. Most weeks it's just a spray, blow and go!

I'm completely sold on the benefits of coatings. I installed a coating on my daily-driven Mustang about 4 months ago (not long, I know) and I'm very satisfied with it. Washing (waterless or traditional) is a breeze and it looks great.

I don't have any personal experience with coatings and rock chips, and I know that some are harder than automotive clearcoat, but I don't think they can compare to paint protection film if that's your primary concern.

My thought is that a good portion of the coating's installation price comes from:
1. The value to you the customer in terms of easy future maintenance/washing
2. A quality coating installation will involve paint correction and prep work. This is the most time-intensive part of the process and is necessary for the result to last and look good.
3. A lot of the "professional grade" coatings require installers to acquire some sort of "certification" or such that allows them to offer warranties to customers.


If you're looking to save a little money, and are willing to learn some detailing skills, my suggestion would be to do the paint correction yourself as necessary, spend a portion of that $ on a quality paint protection film installation, and apply a coating yourself.

I had Suntek Ultra film installed on my front fascia, mirror caps, full hood, and the leading edges of my front fenders for ~$650 with a 10 year warranty at a local shop about 9 months ago. It started peeling on one of the contoured edges of the bottom part of the bumper but I took it back to the shop and they re-applied it. No problems since.

I already had a dual-action polisher and I've done some paint correction in the past, so I was comfortable doing the prep work on my own car without having to learn on the go. Fortunately due to my washing techniques and the fact that Ingot Silver doesn't show defects very well, I had very little work to do as far as paint correction.

There are several "consumer grade" coatings available that you can use. I would suggest doing some research on them on detailing forums. Off the top of my head, Optimum Gloss Coat, CQuartz and CQuartz UK, HydrO2, and McKee's 37 are all pretty popular, but there are other options as well. I used McKee's as it was a little less expensive and I read that it was pretty easy to install for someone who was new to coatings.

Assuming you don't have very many detailing supplies, you can do all of this (partial film, correction, coating) for around $1000, less if you already have some detailing gear.

Hope that helps.