VaderMachE
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Robert
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2021
- Threads
- 18
- Messages
- 282
- Reaction score
- 594
- Location
- Ohio
- Vehicles
- Fusion Hybrid, Mustang Mach E! (Shadow Black)
- Occupation
- Supervisor
Excellent write up! You give me hope for paint jobs across the planet.. Applying ceramic is not that tough (over the counter versions) the devil is in the "details". (See what I did there?) The prep work is what makes great looking paint, and you spelled it out well.A couple things to consider.
First wash the car with a good car shampoo (without wax as has been stated). Follow that up with a fallout/ironite remover to get rid of the contamination from shipping. These will chemically bond with iron and other metals and rinse off. I use Griot’s Fallout Remover, but there are a ton of good products.
At that point, inspect your paint. My car was 11 weeks in shipping with over 6 of those spent sitting at the dock in San Diego waiting for the boat to Hawaii. I had water spots on both the paint and windows. Small and not very heavy, but they were there. Your car likely will fare far better. This inspection will determine if you need to paint correction or not.
Regardless of whether you’re going to be polishing or not your next step is to clay bar the car. This will remove any small particles from tge oaint, making it very smooth. You can use a natural clay bar made for car paint or a synthetic one. You’ll also need a lubricant. Water doesn’t count. I use a speed shine (detailing spray).
Once all that is done, polish if you’re going to do paint correction.
After polishing, (or clay bar if not paint correcting) you need to wipe down the car with an Isopropyl Alcohol spray (50% IPA-50% distilled water). Thus removes all the residue you may have missed when cleaning up after polishing as well as any other minor surface contamination.
Now you can do your ceramic coating. I used Avalon King’s Armor IX on our restored 2000 Jeep Wrangler. It works great. There are many good brands though. Take your time (sort of). Spread a small section in two directions and wipe it off fairly quickly. Do two coats as you’ll miss a spot.
Keep in mind that even the better consumer grade ceramic coatings are somewhat softer than professionally applied coatings. Professional coatings often require various special lights for curing and respirators. They have thinner but very hard coats. What you’ll be applying is by its nature thicker and thus a bit softer. Amateur coatings can last a long time though if you properly maintain your car (wash very regularly. Don’t let dirt sit on it, etc.).
Our 2021 Mach-e and 2020 Raptor were professionally curated with Ceramic Pro. We had the Silver Plus package done. 3 coats. They look great. I did the Jeep. It looks great (it’s red. Ceramic coatings make red really pop. The Raptor is performance blue, the MME is infinite blue).
Good luck
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