Professional Ceramic Coating - Which Would You Choose?

[Bikeman315]

Well at this point my goal is to DIY my new car and put whatever elbow grease and time is needed for as close to pro ceramic results as I can get for $250-$300. What really got me thinking about all this stuff are the Mach 1 handling package wheels... the thought of trying to clean brake dust off them is terrifying!

Trying to coat those suckers by yourself is going to be worse. And by the way Matt did have a good point. Maybe spend a few bucks protecting your paint with PPF and use one of the ceramic spray products for the time being. You can always do “real” ceramic later on. This way you get chip protection and a great shine.

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[Vettel-ish]

Found it!! Thanks.

https://www.obsessedgarage.com/prod...138207&pr_ref_pid=348266430495&pr_seq=uniform

Yep!! Stuff is awesome.

 

[Mikepol2]

Trying to coat those suckers by yourself is going to be worse. And by the way Matt did have a good point. Maybe spend a few bucks protecting your paint with PPF and use one of the ceramic spray products for the time being. You can always do “real” ceramic later on. This way you get chip protection and a great shine.

Hmm I thought PPF was pretty expensive? Also reading conflicting opinions on applying it over all the stripes and decals on the Mach, some folks saying replacing the PPF will also peel off the decals.

GAH this is all so complicated, I just want a super shiny car!

 

[friedmud]

Jeez for some of those prices listed you’d be better off getting ppf which actually will prevent rock chips where as ceramic will 100% not and anyone who says it does is mistaken. Ceramic is good and all but most of the belief behind it is marketing, it does not prevent scratches. It can help to some extent similar to waxes. But at the end of the day it’s just a really glorified wax that makes washing the car easier. I would not spend 2K for ceramic coating but that’s just my opinion. And yes I’ve had both professional grade ceramic and do it yourself ceramic such as CQuartz. At the end of the day they had similar results.

Thanks for weighing in - definitely a lot of different paths.

I did end up doing PPF on the front of the car too. It went in for that yesterday (after my detailer polished the front).

Today it was back at the detailer for the rest of the paint correction and ceramic coating.

Should be able to pick it up tomorrow!

 

[friedmud]

Hmm I thought PPF was pretty expensive? Also reading conflicting opinions on applying it over all the stripes and decals on the Mach, some folks saying replacing the PPF will also peel off the decals.

GAH this is all so complicated, I just want a super shiny car!

Doing the front of my car (up to the hood vents) and the mirrors in PPF cost me $600. That’s some $, but not too bad to protect the things that are most-likely to get hit…

 

[Mikepol2]

OK was up really late watching videos and researching products, annoying, couldn't let it go once I got into it LOL! So I settled on CarPro products, they recommended for a new car Essence polish prep and for beginners CQuartz UK 3.0. Bought those two products plus their Reload finishing coating and a polishing pad for $88. Harbor Freight DA polisher for about $80 and I'm at $170-ish, feel good about spending that much for hopefully good results. Thinking there are going to be areas I'll have to hand polish with the Essence that the polisher won't reach but so be it. Not going to do any other paint correction, thinking I'll be tired of polishing by the time I'm done. So I ordered everything and then chuckled remembering I won't even have the car till early June... oh well, it's fun to be excited about something! The hard part when the car finally gets here is going to be parking it for a week or so to do all this stuff.

 

[Bikeman315]

OK was up really late watching videos and researching products, annoying, couldn't let it go once I got into it LOL! So I settled on CarPro products, they recommended for a new car Essence polish prep and for beginners CQuartz UK 3.0. Bought those two products plus their Reload finishing coating and a polishing pad for $88. Harbor Freight DA polisher for about $80 and I'm at $170-ish, feel good about spending that much for hopefully good results. Thinking there are going to be areas I'll have to hand polish with the Essence that the polisher won't reach but so be it. Not going to do any other paint correction, thinking I'll be tired of polishing by the time I'm done. So I ordered everything and then chuckled remembering I won't even have the car till early June... oh well, it's fun to be excited about something! The hard part when the car finally gets here is going to be parking it for a week or so to do all this stuff.

Hi Mike. Congrats on your choices. I have one recommendation. HF has two models, one for $74.99 and one for $99.99. If you chose the former I would recommend the later. My friend did and was glad he made the upgrade.

https://www.harborfreight.com/8mm-random-orbit-6-in-da-polishersander-64528.html
https://www.harborfreight.com/20mm-long-throw-random-orbit-6-in-da-polisher-56367.html

 

[Vettel-ish]

OK was up really late watching videos and researching products, annoying, couldn't let it go once I got into it LOL! So I settled on CarPro products, they recommended for a new car Essence polish prep and for beginners CQuartz UK 3.0. Bought those two products plus their Reload finishing coating and a polishing pad for $88. Harbor Freight DA polisher for about $80 and I'm at $170-ish, feel good about spending that much for hopefully good results. Thinking there are going to be areas I'll have to hand polish with the Essence that the polisher won't reach but so be it. Not going to do any other paint correction, thinking I'll be tired of polishing by the time I'm done. So I ordered everything and then chuckled remembering I won't even have the car till early June... oh well, it's fun to be excited about something! The hard part when the car finally gets here is going to be parking it for a week or so to do all this stuff.

Awesome good start.

Polish.. Get sonax perfect finish. It's a good mix of cut and polish. Great for beginners.
Pads buy nothing but RUPES. For that car I would do yellow or white. You will need at least 3. Most likely 5.

 

[Vettel-ish]

Hi Mike. Congrats on your choices. I have one recommendation. HF has two models, one for $74.99 and one for $99.99. If you chose the former I would recommend the later. My friend did and was glad he made the upgrade.

https://www.harborfreight.com/8mm-random-orbit-6-in-da-polishersander-64528.html
https://www.harborfreight.com/20mm-long-throw-random-orbit-6-in-da-polisher-56367.html

Mike try and take that arm off that unit. Cup Your hand around the top of the unit. More control and allows a bit of pressure

 

[Mikepol2]

Hi Mike. Congrats on your choices. I have one recommendation. HF has two models, one for $74.99 and one for $99.99. If you chose the former I would recommend the later. My friend did and was glad he made the upgrade.

https://www.harborfreight.com/8mm-random-orbit-6-in-da-polishersander-64528.html
https://www.harborfreight.com/20mm-long-throw-random-orbit-6-in-da-polisher-56367.html

Awesome good start.

Polish.. Get sonax perfect finish. It's a good mix of cut and polish. Great for beginners.
Pads buy nothing but RUPES. For that car I would do yellow or white. You will need at least 3. Most likely 5.

Mike try and take that arm off that unit. Cup Your hand around the top of the unit. More control and allows a bit of pressure

Will do to all above! Starting to feel cautiously optimistic about this. Thank you!

 

[Vettel-ish]

Will do to all above! Starting to feel cautiously optimistic about this. Thank you!

We are here to help keep asking questions

 

[friedmud]

Just got my car back from the detailer. Looks great! He was able to correct all of the small things wrong with the paint - and the car is gorgeous with the Gtechniq Ultra on it... really brings out the sparkle in the fleck. Glad to have the PPF on the front too.

Only sad thing is: it won't ever look this good again for the rest of its life!

Thanks to everyone who provided advice!

 

[Vettel-ish]

Just got my car back from the detailer. Looks great! He was able to correct all of the small things wrong with the paint - and the car is gorgeous with the Gtechniq Ultra on it... really brings out the sparkle in the fleck. Glad to have the PPF on the front too.

Only sad thing is: it won't ever look this good again for the rest of its life!

Thanks to everyone who provided advice!

Beautiful!! Love that color. Nothing like a clean coated car.

 

[Mikepol2]

Trying to coat those suckers by yourself is going to be worse.

Only reason I want to pull the wheels and ceramic coat them inside and out is for ease of cleaning, not for gloss. Therefore was thinking I won't need to paint correct or polish them, just prep the surface somehow to ensure the ceramic bonds. Like when you wipe a painted surface down with alcohol before applying a decal. Any suggestions on what to use for surface prep?

 

[friedmud]

Only reason I want to pull the wheels and ceramic coat them inside and out is for ease of cleaning, not for gloss. Therefore was thinking I won't need to paint correct or polish them, just prep the surface somehow to ensure the ceramic bonds. Like when you wipe a painted surface down with alcohol before applying a decal. Any suggestions on what to use for surface prep?

My detailer said that you would need to use a degreaser before ceramic coating. Something like this:https://www.chemicalguys.com/signature-series-orange-degreaser/signature-orange-degreaser.html

But do take this with a grain of salt because I’ve only been told this and haven’t actually done it myself (yet - I’m also thinking about coating the wheels to help with cleaning)

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