Show and Shine... Post your ride

[DFB5.0]

I tried out the Iron buster on my truck yesterday. While it got rid of a fair amount of the fallout, there was still some residual left behind. I did a clay bar wipe down which got rid of the balance, as well as the gritty feel on the paint. Polished up and looks like new.

My question is. If the GT has a ceramic coating on it which previous owner says it does, what steps do you take to get rid of the residual contamination if you aren’t supposed to use the clay bar on a ceramic film? I want to start on the car in the next week, but want to be sure I have what I need before I start.

Ceramic coatings are not completely impervious to contamination.

The best way of describing this is to think of a ceramic coating as skin. Your skin protects what's underneath but will still absorbs and emit moisture. Just like skin, ceramic coatings actually have what are termed "pores". In the same way one would exfoliate or cleanse their skin, decontamination is needed to unclog these pores to ensure the coating performs at it's best. Decontaminating a ceramic coating will often revive a coating that otherwise appears to be failing. This can restore water beading or sheeting and improve the slickness as well.

In most cases, decontaminating a ceramic coating is focused on chemical rather than mechanical (clay) methods. There a few ways of approaching this, for best results, do all of these every 6-9 months depending on vehicle usage patterns. For a garage queen, you may only need to do this every 12 - 18 months.

1/ Wash the vehicle as normal, swapping out the pH neutral soap for a high alkaline or acid leaning soap. Which you choose will be dependent on what contamination you have. If you have a lot of water spots, then choose the acidic soap, otherwise, the alkaline soap will be fine. (Don't be concerned about the term "acid", Descale is within the limits of what the coating can withstand and is safe when used as directed.)

Carpro Descale (acidic base) -
CARPRO Descale Car Wash 500ml (17oz) (carpro-us.com)

Carpro Lift (alkaline base) -
CARPRO Lift Snow Foam 500ml (17oz) - Skys The Limit Car Care (carpro-us.com)

2/ Iron removal. Wash the car as above, after the final rinse, apply iron remover to the whole car or in sections, allow to dwell and react, then thoroughly rinse. Don't ever let these products dry on the car.

3/ The method depicted in the video below is a smart way of combining products similar to the above in an efficient, calculated way. The shift between acidic, pH neutral and alkaline seems to target contamination at all angles rather than on single hit.

1 - Apply iron remover (pH neutral) onto the dry vehicle, soak for 5 - 10 minutes.
2 -Apply Lift (alkaline) soap over the top of the iron remover, soak for 5 - 10 minutes.
3 - Rinse
4 - Contact wash with Decale (acidic).
5 - Rinse



At this point, you may also choose to apply a maintenance product to fill in those now empty "pores", helping to prolong the coating and slow down the accumulation of contaminants. You would use an Si02 type spray sealant here, think Carpro Reload, Qtechniq C2v3, Gyeon Cure ect.

CARPRO Reload 2.0 500ml (17oz) *New* - Skys The Limit Car Care (carpro-us.com)

So, having said all of that, I think this demonstrates why ceramic coatings are not necessarily a low maintenance choice of paint protection.

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[Johnny Rockit]

That carpet should be red, no?

 

[Vanderwho]

I'll play.

 

[DFB5.0]

I'll play.

I love the orange stripe, works very well with the color.

 

[Vanderwho]

I love the orange stripe, works very well with the color.

Thanks. I haven't been sure that it was the right thing to do. The dark matter gray is kinda stealthy -- I was thinking of getting STEALTH for a license plate, if it's available -- but the stripe is anything but stealthy.

 

[DFB5.0]

Posted elsewhere I know, this weeks detail..............

I coated this brand-new Mazda last August with Gyeon Can Coat.

Apart from a small, isolated spot on the hood, I actually did not polish the car prior to application, it just didn't need it. (Always do what the car needs, not what the "rules" suggest you "need".) The finished result was stunning.

That stunning result didn't last long, the owner parked the car on their lawn over Christmas, the sprinklers came on overnight, sprinklers fed by bore water high in iron. The result was this..........................

Bore water is extremely high in minerals (hard). In fact, if those sprinklers were fed by our soft town water supply, this probably wouldn't have happened.

The first response was to get the owner to wash the car with Carpro Descale before a treatment with Carpro Spotless. Neither worked, which is where I had to come to the rescue.

To rule out user error, I went ahead and followed a pretty thorough decontamination process in an attempt to remove these mineral spots chemically. This process involves attacking the contamination from a few different chemical angles. First, a 5-minute soak with an pH neutral iron remover.

I then foamed Carpro Lift over the top of the iron remover. This allows the iron remover to soak for longer, while also using the alkaline soap to penetrate and remove oilier contaminants.

After another 5-minute soak, the iron remover and Lift were thoroughly rinsed away. It was then time for the contact wash with was Carpro Descale. The acidity of Descale helps remove unwanted mineral deposits.

After another rinse, I could see the water spots. The last chemical resort was to use Gyeon Water Spot remover on each panel...............to no result.

Sadly, that meant polishing was going to be needed....................... which in turn removes the Gyeon Can Coat. This was quite deflating as the coating was still performing very well, especially after the thorough decontamination. As always, its best to start with the least aggressive methods first, if they work, then great. In this case, they were just not budging, which meant I had to progress from chemical to mechanical removal.

Thankfully, the water spots were removed with a very mild pad and polish combination, helping preserve the clear coat...................and my time as well. In this case, Carpro Reflect on a medium blue Shine Mate pad cleared the paint of the water spots and instilled a wonderfully glossy finish. Don't sleep on Carpro Reflect, it produces absolutely NO dust and offers a fantastically easy wipe off.

After polishing, I wiped the whole car over with a heavy application of Carpro Eraser (an IPA type product) and then re-coated with Can Coat.

While I had the car, I also did a quick clean of the interior and engine bay.

Tires dressed with the rather excellent Carpro Darkside................

Finished results after a lot of work.....................................

I slept well after all that!

 

[Ozcraig]

I'll play.

My Magnetic version.

 

[Vanderwho]

My bro!

 

[DFB5.0]

Autumnal................................

 

[Mitt]

 

[RowdyRam]

Man, we were just in Grapevine last weekend. Cool spot for a pic.

 

[Mitt]

Man, we were just in Grapevine last weekend. Cool spot for a pic.

I managed to snag that spot this morning. I always wanted to get a pic there.

 

[Lgb0250]

Was a beautiful day. Applied a coat of Adam’s Ceramic Spray. after letting it sit in the garage all night I brought it out and took her for a ride. While I like the Adam’s, it doesn’t last the two years they suggest it will. Especially

when kept outside. The last application only lasted six months.

 

[DFB5.0]

Was a beautiful day. Applied a coat of Adam’s Ceramic Spray. after letting it sit in the garage all night I brought it out and took her for a ride. While I like the Adam’s, it doesn’t last the two years they suggest it will. Especially

when kept outside. The last application only lasted six months.

Stunning!!

 

[80FoxCoupe]

Not as good as you guys, but just ok. Simply Griots speed shine. Need to get some real lovin on this thing.

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