I've recently been told that there is a process of ceramic finishing the paint jobs on cars, and that this is desirable to some.

I'm guessing that it has to do with the painted bumpers, new car styles, and current status of the sorts of paint used.

Beyond a general internet search are there peeps here with actual experience and feedback on this?

Yellow peeps?

Ceramic coatings are the ultimate in protection for your vehicle’s finish. Outlasting any natural waxes, synthetic sealants, and achieving the highest gloss levels, ceramic coatings protect against micro-marring, swirl induced washing, and make water bead like crazy on the surface. You’ve already made the investment into your vehicle to go through and perfect the paint on your car and protect with the top tier in products, but once you applied this durable coating, you can’t just walk away and forget about it.

Although superior to conventional waxes, ceramic coatings do require general upkeep from time to time to keep them performing like the day we applied it. In a way, it can weaken over time and your investment can be jeopardized through lack of upkeep. In this segment, we’ll teach you what symptoms to look for in your coating, why it’s important to properly maintain your ceramic coating, how you can do so, and how often you should keep up with maintenance.

Coating Degradation
First, let’s start with what can be degraded over time, starting with loss of beading. Water beading is the ultimate sign of a well protected vehicle and simply appealing to the eye, and rightfully so. Boosting hydrophobic properties through a ceramic coating can drastically reduce the chance of water spotting, dirt contamination, and overall buildup because it simply cannot stick! The hydrophobicity of the coating allows the water to bead right off, taking anything up with it in it’s path to create a self cleaning effect. One of the unique characteristics of a ceramic coating is how the surface energies have all to do with how liquids behave on the surfaces of your vehicle, keeping the activity low allowing the liquids to have endless room to run. Here’s the catch, just as the energy is low from a ceramic coating, it can become increased through industrial fallout, surface contaminants, dirt and grime— Basically, any unwanted items clinging to the surface create an obstacle course for water to stick to and ultimately take away from the longevity of your ceramic coating— Adding SiO2- infused products to the surface reintroduces the same chemistry back to your surface to rejuvenate the coating, instead of starting from scratch and wasting time and money.

Loss of Gloss
Next, let’s talk about gloss— that wet shine that we all love and enjoy. After spending a weekend claying your paint to a silky smooth finish, and perfecting your paint to have zero-flaws, the freshly applied ceramic coating is the icing on the cake to all of your hard work. Once fully cured, your vehicle’s finish has unbelievable amounts of gloss and depth and it’s shocking how your car hasn’t been freshly painted with the results you witness. What causes such a phenomenon? Light. The definition of gloss is the shine or luster on a smooth surface— The key word in being “smooth”. Gloss is measured by shining a beam of light at a fixed intensity and angle on to the measured surface— the amount of light reflected back at an equal but opposite angle is what is the human eye is able to see. During the testing process for ceramic coatings, we set our bar high at 95GU (Gloss Units), anything lower isn’t worthy of the Circle-A. When we roll out freshly coated vehicle out in the sun for the first time, the sunlight has a perfectly smooth surface to reflect the light and give a brilliant, mirror-like shine. Having a uniform angle gives us the wet look we are all after. Over time, your paint can go from a brilliant shine to just an okay look, this is because the surface becomes bumpy and un-evened through contamination. Just like the water beading decreases from the obstacle course, the same contaminants take away from the surfaces ability to shine. Through carefully removing contaminants during the wash process and maintenance practices, your coating can maintain its ultra-high level of gloss. Using SiO2-infused products ensures that the chemistries being reintroduced during the maintenance practices bond properly with the current coating and enhance slickness. By doing so, the SiO2-infused products repair the worn down sections of your coating and rejuvenates the beneficial properties of the coating, restoring the perfect angle for the sunlight to show the shine.

Durability & Longevity
Now, let’s talk about durability and longevity of coatings. The above characteristics are the most commonly seen symptoms of a degrading coating, but you truly cannot measure it’s thickness unless you’re grabbing your microscope and a paint thickness gauge during each wash! What we can understand and use safe washing practices to avoid is the known fact that coatings get slightly worn away with each time you wash your vehicle through abrasion— meaning that any time your wash pad or microfiber wash mitt touches the surface its abrading it at the microscopic level. Time after time, this practice can take a toll on your finish and your coatings longevity. For instance, your vehicle is in a torrential downpour a month after the ceramic coating is installed… the water beads effortlessly and your chance of water spots etching into the clear coat is almost nonexistent. Now, fast forward 8-9 months of washing with standard Car Shampoo or Ultra Foam Shampoo routinely… that same situation may bead water still but the thickness of the coating isn’t nearly what it used to be upon application, thus making you’re water spots etching into the clear coat a little too close for comfort.

So, how can you avoid this degradation from happening? How can you extend the life of your current coating without starting from scratch? Reintroducing SiO2 technology to the surface. Let’s say you drive your coated vehicle to a car show and hit a puddle or two on the way, instead of using our standard Waterless Wash and two blue Waterless Wash towels, keep the towels and use the Ceramic Waterless Wash as an alternative. By doing so, you’re safely removing the road spray and grime, and adding protection to the finish in once simple swipe. Take your daily driver for example on the weekend for a quick detail after a family vacation, instead of using our standard Car Shampoo or Ultra Foam for maximum suds, our Wash & Coat is specifically formulated to reintroduce SiO2 back to the surface during the wash. During the wash process, the suds will grace the panels and safely remove the grime from the surface, but once rinsed the water sheets off instead of beading away— this is perfectly fine! The reason for this sheeting behavior is because the SiO2 introduced through the washing process will continue to cure over the course of multiple hours. By using proper maintenance practices and boosting the properties of your coating, the longevity of your coating gets rejuvenated each time you touch your vehicle. Finally, you’re probably asking yourself “How often should I maintain my ceramic coating?” The answer is a bit more complicated to answer in simplicity since each vehicle is different than the next. In most cases, we recommend revitalizing your coating in some shape or foam every 2-3 months for optimal results.

What Next
Through the Adam’s Ceramic Line, we wanted to delineate the Adam’s Ceramic Coating groups away from the rest of the best sellers to showcase three unique properties: Strength, Support, and Consistency. Since there are 3 unique properties, the labels consist of 3 different colors, the background to which they sit, the text that provides the instructions, and the highlighting color for the product to signify its purpose. The first letter in the new label design has been changed from a conventional A to a more triangular A, signifying “delta” or the symbol for change. Each of the ceramic coating products, both new and current, have been specifically grouped to maintain, support, and strengthen your ceramic coated vehicle.

When we released our first ceramic coating back in 2016, we saw the results were exceptional and quickly trumped any conventional wax or sealant. As we have created and infused products with SiO2 and silica-resins to feed the protective layer what it wants, we interchangeably built confusion into our customers not knowing what and what not could be used on their vehicles. With this grouping of products and the ceramics family, we have found our way of simplifying the process from confused to concise, changing the results better to best. We have created comfort in coating your vehicle without any doubt of what product to use on it in any case.

https://adamspolishes.com/blog...nce-why-when-and-how

I'll chime in with my $0.02.

I was introduced to Ceramic coatings by my 25 year old son about 2.5 years ago. He had bought a new Toyota Tundra, and told me he was going to spend about $1400. on getting "ceramic coating", installed by a professional detailer he knew.

At that time, I had never heard of ceramic coatings. Quite frankly, I laughed at him and tried to talk him out of it. Being 58 years old, I remember car dealers selling "Polyglycoat" coatings for about $600 back in the late 70's and 80's. They were touted as being the latest in protection for your vehicle. In reality, it was nothing more than a $600 wax job. I since had a very negative opinion of anything other than good old fashioned claybarring followed by a good wax or cleaner-wax.

I could not talk my son out of it, despite pointing out to him that $1400 buys an awful lot of wax and clar barring materials.

Anyway, the $1400 included "paint correction" which is done before the ceramic coating is applied. I also did not understand why a brand new vehicle needed this, but my son claims to have researched it. So, I figured it would be a $1400 waste of money by my young son, but if it taught him a lesson in wasted money, I figured at least he would learn an expensive lesson.

I went with him to drop his new Tundra off to have it done. When we went back to pick it up a couple of days later, I was shocked, to the point my mouth was hanging open. The truck looked AMAZING! I still have a picture of it right after it was done. It looked much better than the day he picked it up from the dealer only a couple weeks earlier!

Anyway, by coincidence, I bought a new Lexus GS350 a few months later. I decided to get the same coating put on my new Lexus - came to about $1300, a bit cheaper than my son's, presumably because the car is significantly smaller than his truck, and once again, they performed some pain correction.

Once again, the brand new Lexus looked better than it did when I picked it up from the dealer. 2.5 years later, both my son's truck and my Lexus feel glossy-glass smooth after washing it, and neither vehicle has ever been waxed. They stay cleaner much longer than normal, presumably because dirt has a harder time attaching to the paint. Rain/water still beads up like crazy. For both my son's 2017 Tundra, and my 2017 GS350, the detailer used a coating called Ceramic Pro 9H. This year, 2019, my wife wanted a Tundra as well. Given my positive experience with ceramic coatings, I decided to contact the same detailer about my wife's 2019 Tundra the day we bought it. He told me he has found an even better coating than Ceramic Pro. This one is called Kenzo. So I had this applied to the wife's 2019 Tundra back in July.

So, in total I have three vehicles with this type of coating now. I plan to get it for any new vehicle I purchase that I intend to keep for a significant amount of time.

So I guess my son taught his old man a lesson!

In addition to what the others said. Ceramic coating usually only lasts 2.5-3 years and has to be redone. When calculating the cost of having the vehicle waxed with a polymer every 6 months, it generally comes out much cheaper to have it waxed.

Ceramic Pro here, and service includes paint correction and reapplication annually for 5 years. If you hate waxing, this is your stuff.

I plan on doing my new car, but I'm waiting until it's one year old. Reason I'm doing that is that they have to do paint correction (buff and polish). If they are going to be buffing out scratches, might as well put some scratches on first. Plus it only last 2-3 years even if the places claim 5 years.

All good info shared so far. One thing that wasn't covered though is, perfecting the paint first and applying the ceramic coating correctly is not a simple process. Every detailer advertises ceramic coating as an option (given the margins), but in my experience, only a select few do it really well. Real ceramics are unforgiving, and if applied wrong, can really screw up the finish for a long period of time. Do your homework and ask to see examples done by the detailer you settle on before handing over your car to someone. Short of that, ceramics do a wonderful job protecting the finish on your car, but they don't come cheap.

I know a guy that makes a good living doing ceramic coatings on classic cars. It is really expensive, but if I had a '67 corvette on tip top shape, spending $2k to keep it that way doesn't seem crazy.

If you’re a wash and *maybe* wax every couple of months, ceramic might be a good idea.
If you don’t mind washing and sealing: wash, IronX, clay mitt, Carpro Reload and P&S Beadmaker would be FAR cheaper and look as good IMHO.
You only need to clay once a year.

ETA: The Reload is good for months, Beadmaker is the sacrificial coating, like a layer of carnuba.
Looks pretty but doesn’t last as long. Really easy to use.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: KMitch200,

For those costs and limitations I'd hope it would last much longer than it does. I would think that with jostling if a vehicle goes offroad that this sort of finish could craze.

I don’t think they’re that delicate.
If going off road, I sure wouldn’t want to get branch pinstripes on a finish that cost that much.

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
For those costs and limitations I'd hope it would last much longer than it does. I would think that with jostling if a vehicle goes offroad that this sort of finish could craze.

You bring up an interesting aspect of ceramics. 'If' they're damaged/scratched in some way, there is no real means to 'repair' the finish given the longevity of the coating. If you have a regular wax or sealant on your paint and it suffers scratching, I can remove that wax or sealant, remedy the abrasion with my buffer, re-wax/re=seal the vehicle, and it will look as good as it can look. Something to think about when considering a ceramic coating.

Ceramic Coatings do have their place but lots of folks have wasted a lot of money.
They work as they are supposed to but I think a lot of folks have the notion that you’re getting some liquid armor that is good forever and won’t scratch. That is not true and a lot of that is perpetuated by some bad apples in the industry and their marketing.

As for your daily driven run of the mill car it is an absolute waste of money. It will do nothing a good buff, polish, wax, and sealant twice a year will do at far cheaper cost.

Now if I had a high end vehicle that did not see as much use and was a bit of a show car I’d do it.
Or if I just happened to have $2k to drop and would never notice it missing, sure why not.

As we talked off line the detailer I sent you is likely the best in the state of not the whole region. They do great work ceramics included.
I’ve had them do a number of things I just did not feel like doing or did not have the tools to do (my wife spilling powdered make up on to her perforated leather seats and that got compacted down in the perforations).

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
(my wife spilling powdered make up on to her perforated leather seats and that got compacted down in the perforations).

Ouch. Sounds like some shit my wife would do. Did that detailer take care of it?

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
For those costs and limitations I'd hope it would last much longer than it does. I would think that with jostling if a vehicle goes offroad that this sort of finish could craze.

You bring up an interesting aspect of ceramics. 'If' they're damaged/scratched in some way, there is no real means to 'repair' the finish given the longevity of the coating. If you have a regular wax or sealant on your paint and it suffers scratching, I can remove that wax or sealant, remedy the abrasion with my buffer, re-wax/re=seal the vehicle, and it will look as good as it can look. Something to think about when considering a ceramic coating.

Feynlab claims to make one that is self repairing. It does not have the hardness layer most others claim, but will soften and smooth out minor scratches from sunlight

I used Polish Angel on my Tacoma and was very happy with it. I ran the truck through an auto car wash almost weekly for 3 years and there was not a single swirl mark or scratch anywhere to be seen

If washing and waxing or ceramic coating is too tedious, you could get the whole vehicle Rhino-lined/ Linex'd. Saw this Tundra at the station the other day. The whole job was $6,000 over all exposed body and frame metal. I'd think it would be very desirable to somebody wanting the ultimate in protection from the elements. Comes in several color options

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
Feynlab claims to make one that is self repairing. It does not have the hardness layer most others claim, but will soften and smooth out minor scratches from sunlight.

Very minor scratches maybe. Anything more significant than that and no ceramic is going to be "self healing". Damage to the coating and an inability to fix it is the number one negative to ceramics in my book.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
Feynlab claims to make one that is self repairing. It does not have the hardness layer most others claim, but will soften and smooth out minor scratches from sunlight.

Very minor scratches maybe. Anything more significant than that and no ceramic is going to be "self healing". Damage to the coating and an inability to fix it is the number one negative to ceramics in my book.

You need to use a different product, XPEL for self healing. Just be ready to drop $3-$5,000 or possibly more.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/ND4vE9vmQWE

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
You need to use a different product, XPEL for self healing. Just be ready to drop $3-$5,000 or possibly more.

Yep, Xpel and a couple other films are terrific at protecting the finish. Unfortunately they're ridiculously expensive if you're having large areas of the car covered. Personally, I like the use of Xpel over the nose of a vehicle to guard against paint damage from road debris, or here in Florida, Love bugs. What the video you provided did't note though is Xpel has a finite lifespan, and if you keep your cars for a long time, you'll need to have it reapplied, As such, the $3k+ buy in is only the beginning.