Ceramic coating - Full process

[JSong]

Just had my car ceramic coated in full (using 10H product from Majestic)

- Car body
- Door jams
- Windows
- Wheels
- Wheel Well
- Under hood compartments (minus the engine)
- Brake calipers (don't know why they cleaned the rotors, but I was told rotors were not sealed.. just the centerpiece so brake dust doesn't build on them).
- All interior (leather with leather treatment, and all other areas including carpet and fabric)
- All lights
- Exhaust tip
- Under car plastics
- Whatever else you can see, was done

Price $3k. I hope it wasn't too much, but love the results.

2 coats of 10H ceramic coating + Hydro layer on top

Uploading pictures throughout the process.

Took 5 days, + 2 days to cure inside (Heat lamps used and these guys are trained professional are certified applicators for the ceramic coating)

Also, got a lot of good advice from these guys and they are very professional. Not the cheapest, but very detailed oriented and fantastic job. Throughout the 2 days, they said they would be addressing any observable high spots if any, and make sure it is pristine.

Located in APEX, NC area.

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[jmn444]

HOLY crap.... that's a ton of $$$$.

May be the only gt350 i've seen with a dealer sticker on it though!

 

[JSong]

HOLY crap.... that's a ton of $$$$.

May be the only gt350 i've seen with a dealer sticker on it though!

The sticker wasn't removed because it has a slight crack and a new one is on order to replace it. Will coat the new one and replace it. The hairline crack was found where the emblem located.

 

[JSong]

Also to be fair to the company I used, the ceramic coating for the car with full decontamination, prep and paint correction with a 10 year 2 layer 10H ceramic coating + 1 layer of hydrophobic layer was $1900. The $1100 was all of the other things I had done such as all interior, wheels, engine compartment, exhaust, wheel well, brake caliper and center piece.

 

[302@12psi]

Just to be clear... this stuff wears off?

 

[Demonic]

Just to be clear... this stuff wears off?

Yes, but very very slowly. I'm not sure how they can make a 10-year claim, but the pro ones will often say 5 years. I did it myself with Opticoat, which grant it isn't supposed to last as long as the formulas only available to pro's, but I did get 2 years out of it. Took me a full Saturday and Sunday. Saturday for all the paint prep and polishing with a random orbital, and Sunday to apply the coating. I left a high-spot unbuffed as a test to see how long it lasted, and could still see the high spot after a year. So $1900 isn't out of line for the work involved. I have one of the newer GTechniq coatings I'm going to try next. It does not give the same kind of impact protection as PPF though. Not a replacement for PPF.

 

[Shift]

Car looks great! I'm just confused why you have to replace the dealer sticker? People usually hold back slapping the dealers across the face for sticking their advertisement on your brand new car.

 

[jmn444]

Car looks great! I'm just confused why you have to replace the dealer sticker? People usually hold back slapping the dealers across the face for sticking their advertisement on your brand new car.

he's replacing the entire panel if i understand correctly....

 

[JSong]

Car looks great! I'm just confused why you have to replace the dealer sticker? People usually hold back slapping the dealers across the face for sticking their advertisement on your brand new car.

The sticker was on there when i got the car. When I get the new replacement panel, I hope it will not be on there. Otherwise, I will have the detailer remove it.

As for doing it your self. I thought about it, but this is much more difficult than meets the eye to do it right. To get a professional looking show room finish, it seems there is proper training and certification needed. This product I was told was not available to people without proper training. Only sold to detail shops who can carry it. Also, it is not that easy to put on a new coat 2 or 3 years later. You would need to potentially wet sand all of the excess coating evenly before reapplying a new coat. Otherwise, it would not look as good.

I personally don't have the time nor the confidence I could do this. The detailer told me it usually takes a good 2 - 3 years of doing this to get to a point you can do it right. After watching some of their work, I believe it.

You get what you pay for is what I would say. I seen some people spend a lot more for the same due to worst condition of the paint. So they did say, doing this right after you acquire the car is the best thing. Saves original look the longest and lot less repairs to get it done.

 

[Shift]

The sticker was on there when i got the car. When I get the new replacement panel, I hope it will not be on there. Otherwise, I will have the detailer remove it.

As for doing it your self. I thought about it, but this is much more difficult than meets the eye to do it right. To get a professional looking show room finish, it seems there is proper training and certification needed. This product I was told was not available to people without proper training. Only sold to detail shops who can carry it. Also, it is not that easy to put on a new coat 2 or 3 years later. You would need to potentially wet sand all of the excess coating evenly before reapplying a new coat. Otherwise, it would not look as good.

I personally don't have the time nor the confidence I could do this. The detailer told me it usually takes a good 2 - 3 years of doing this to get to a point you can do it right. After watching some of their work, I believe it.

You get what you pay for is what I would say. I seen some people spend a lot more for the same due to worst condition of the paint. So they did say, doing this right after you acquire the car is the best thing. Saves original look the longest and lot less repairs to get it done.

I love washing my car and topping off with synthetic waxes every few months. What I never enjoyed was actual paint correction. Bought all the supplies, DA polishers, etc, but never got into it. In the end, I realized it's not for me. I also had my car professionally detailed and ceramic coated. 3 years in, the car still looks better than new due to how anal I am with washing the car: wheels washed and dried first, then covered, car pre-soaked by spraying optimum no rinse and shine to soften the dirt, then pressure rinse before I start the actual 2 bucket wash method, rinse car, metro air blast the car, then sprayed with wolfgang uber rinseless(to help the paint pop), and finally wiped dry.

Process is definitely on the OCD side, but I actually enjoy it. Took it back to my detailer a few weeks, and I asked him if the car needed a buff or polish, and he replied no.

My point is, once you pay that big upfront fee to get that PITA process out of the way, as long as you take care of the cars paint properly, you won't be needing any paint correction for a very long time. My car pops in the dimly lit garage.

 

[Alain]

It's a lot of money but you got your money's worth. Definitely did not overpay.

car looks incredible !!! keep up with the wash and detail spray and the coating will last you for a long time.

 

[Jetnoise]

How often do you need to redo?

 

[MikeR397]

I spray on wipe off hydrosilex recharge. 1L for $50, not the same ballpark as this but a HuGe improvement over nothing and 2 coats last months. Each bottle has like 20 coats worth, and it takes 5 minutes to do a car. Hard to beat for time and value, but I’d also prefer a top notch job, just prefer to use the cash for tires and brakes ;)

 

[fiveoboy01]

Price seems about right for all that was coated.

Haven't heard of that brand coating.. but the market has recently been saturated with new brands. 10H is a marketing gimmick used by a few coating companies. It just means that they found a harder pencil to scratch it with.

No coating will last 10 years under any kind of normal use and regular washing.

The one thing I do not sell my clients is leather coating. No coating stands up to the abrasion of you getting in and out of the vehicle as well as what's encountered due to roadgoing movement.

Car does look good, need some pictures of it out in the sun to know for sure.

 

[lightrules]

hey it looks great. no doubt about that. but you decided to pass on PPF? thinking for $3k, you could get a lot of PPF (not entire car, but a lot of it). then DIY an Sio2 like Mother's CMX Sio2 spray ($20) to keep the gloss and hydrophobicity. again though, the car looks fantastic.

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