Ceramic coating?

[VaderMachE]

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

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.?

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[MRyan7465]

Thanks for the tips, all!

 

[joebruin77]

Do you think I'd need to wash/polish it if I get straight from the dealer?

You need to inspect the car in direct sunlight. Even though a car is new, it can still have marring and blemishes induced during manufacturing, transport, or delivery. Plus, if you use a clay bar on the paint, even with lubricant, that will still almost always induce some marring. So I would definitely recommend at least a light polish.

I would recommend Dr. Beasley's NSP 45 Polish. The special thing about this particular polish is that no IPA wipe is required. You just apply the polish, buff it off, and then apply the ceramic coating.

As for a ceramic coating, you want one that is easy to apply and a bit forgiving if you make a mistake. I personally chose Gyeon Cancoat Evo. This is supposed to be super easy to apply. Just wipe on and wipe off. It should give me 12 to 18 months of protection. Plus, it can be applied outside, as long as it is applied in the shade out of direct sunlight.

 

[RedlegCA]

Just had the XPEL Fusion Plus ceramic coating done to the entire MME. $1400 wasn’t cheap but I’m happy with the results

 

[SinaiKD]

On the way to pick up MME GT. Can't wait to see the final product. Took delivery Saturday. Tint front d/p windows and front windshield, plus ceramic.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

On the way to pick up MME GT. Can't wait to see the final product. Took delivery Saturday. Tint front d/p windows and front windshield, plus ceramic.

Congratulations! Hope you love it as much as we do.

 

[Bodyshopguy]

Looking for opinions on getting a ceramic coating done on my mach-e. I've never had a vehicle worth coating. Worth it? Does it ever peel? Appreciate the input.

The clear bra is worth the money to protect the Mach-E... It's an expensive car... probably worth it... A few more bucks than Ceramic coating... Ceramic coating must be reapplied every year... it helps to make the car easier to wash... not "snake oil" but, it won't hold a candle to PPF/Clear wrap. Finding a place for the clear wrap... do your homework... find the best material and applicators. I used Scott at Advanced Auto Engineering. https://advancebra.com/index.php

 

[joebruin77]

I had a bad experience with ceramic coating.
It rained and then the water drops dried before i got to the car.
Semi-permanent spots on all surfaces where water drops were left to dry.

This doesn't happen on a non-ceramic coated car. It looks like crap yes, but then you wash it away.
I was told this is common for ceramic coated cars and there are products to get rid of the spots, but this meant the ceramic coat was now more maintenance than non coated.

No specific brand as I've read reports of this happening on several brands.

I sincerely hope someone can tell me this isn't the case for all types of ceramic coating, but until then, I'm staying away from this stuff. Even a garaged car will occasionally have rain that you can't dry/wash right away.

it is true water spots can be an issue with some ceramic coatings. You can prevent them by applying a topper on top of the coating. For example, if you apply a Gyeon coating such as PureEvo or Cancoat Evo, you can prevent water spots by applying Gyeon Cure on top of the coating.

For those interested, here is an interesting post on the topic on Autogeek:

https://www.autogeekonline.net/foru...amic-coatings-not-worth-need-suggestions.html

 

[joebruin77]

That's my point, if you have to add a product on top of the coating, does that product need to be reapplied during the "life" of the ceramic coating? If so, might as well skip the ceramic since it's not doing the actual job and just being used as a base...

Again i'm not bashing, I absolutely would love to find something that truly works. I absolutely love a clear car, but i absolutely loath washing and detailing them.

I get your frustration. Even though some ceramic coatings have issues with water spots, they still work really well overall to keep your car cleaner and your paint protected. No matter what kind of paint protection you have, even a ceramic coating, you still need to wash your car every week or two. And with a ceramic coating, you need to apply a ceramic topper or boost spray every 3 or 4 months.

You can also reduce water spots by washing your car with a ceramic-infused wash, such as Carpro Ech2o. Or you can use a ceramic-infused drying aid, such as Griot's Garage Ceramic Detailer.

If you want to skip a ceramic coating all together, I have been very impressed with Griot's Garage Ceramic 3-in-1 Wax.

If you truly loath washing and detailing your car, it may be best to hire a professional mobile detailer who comes to your house every couple weeks and takes care of it for you.

 

[kindofblue]

I've got Griot's 3 in 1 ceramic wax on both our vehicles and have not noticed an issue with water spotting.

 

[Mach1E]

I get your frustration. Even though some ceramic coatings have issues with water spots, they still work really well overall to keep your car cleaner and your paint protected. No matter what kind of paint protection you have, even a ceramic coating, you still need to wash your car every week or two. And with a ceramic coating, you need to apply a ceramic topper or boost spray every 3 or 4 months.

You can also reduce water spots by washing your car with a ceramic-infused wash, such as Carpro Ech2o. Or you can use a ceramic-infused drying aid, such as Griot's Garage Ceramic Detailer.

If you want to skip a ceramic coating all together, I have been very impressed with Griot's Garage Ceramic 3-in-1 Wax.

If you truly loath washing and detailing your car, it may be best to hire a professional mobile detailer who comes to your house every couple weeks and takes care of it for you.

Wow I think you definitely talked me out of it.

I hate washing my car. Was hoping ceramic meant I could wash less and maybe just spray it off. Doesn’t seem the case.

My goal is less maintenance, not more.

The description of having to put a coat on top of it reminds me of a scene in the 90s movie- “Go”

They’re selling pills to teenagers to make quick cash. The pills are aspirin. They tell them “the secret to the pills are to smoke a lot of weed with them…..” ?

 

[joebruin77]

Wow I think you definitely talked me out of it.

I hate washing my car. Was hoping ceramic meant I could wash less and maybe just spray it off. Doesn’t seem the case.

My goal is less maintenance, not more.

The description of having to put a coat on top of it reminds me of a scene in the 90s movie- “Go”

They’re selling pills to teenagers to make quick cash. The pills are aspirin. They tell them “the secret to the pills are to smoke a lot of weed with them…..” ?

I remember seeing a video on youtube where a guy would clean his ceramic-coated car by spraying foamed soap using a foam cannon followed by a rinse with deionized water. He claimed this got the car clean, but IMO you need to make contact with a wash medium to truly clean the car.

I personally do a rinseless wash using ONR or Mckees37 N-914 once a week. I can get around the whole car in about 25 minutes. Plus, its a good workout!

 

[MacherAWD]

Another newbie to ceramic, the last car I maintained well was a 25 year old black stingray vette, I would just use turtle wax every month or so, and a california car duster between. I live in New England, have a garage, but dont garage every night. Our local car wash which I am very impressed with did a full "clean and detail" of our 8 year old highlander, inside and out for $140. He said it would $500 to ceramic coat my MME, which is 5 months old, space white. He said most of the cost is labor, wash, polish, clay bar, ceramic. Other places I have seen $2,000 as a cost, there has to be a difference between $500 and $2000? Why do the costs vary so much? He said he has gone to training on it, and I do trust him. Thoughts?

 

[Bikespace]

Another newbie to ceramic, the last car I maintained well was a 25 year old black stingray vette, I would just use turtle wax every month or so, and a california car duster between. I live in New England, have a garage, but dont garage every night. Our local car wash which I am very impressed with did a full "clean and detail" of our 8 year old highlander, inside and out for $140. He said it would $500 to ceramic coat my MME, which is 5 months old, space white. He said most of the cost is labor, wash, polish, clay bar, ceramic. Other places I have seen $2,000 as a cost, there has to be a difference between $500 and $2000? Why do the costs vary so much? He said he has gone to training on it, and I do trust him. Thoughts?

Find out what he's using. I just DIYed with Gtechniq (CSL and EXOv4), and material alone was $250-, including cleaning supplies. The $2K jobs might include a full paint correction, to polish out the orange peel in the clearcoat. I did not do that on my commuter car.

The Gtechniq came out okay. I learned a lot, and can improve my process when I do my black C3.

 

[joebruin77]

Other places I have seen $2,000 as a cost, there has to be a difference between $500 and $2000? Why do the costs vary so much?

I would ask him what specific ceramic coating is he applying. There are many different types of coatings on the market. Consumer-grade ceramic coatings are a lot cheaper than professional only coatings. I would ask him what specific coating he would apply for $500. Also ask him how long the coating is rated to last and does it come with any kind of warranty.

For example, if he is applying a coating that is only rated to last 2 years, that is going to be cheaper than a coating that is rated to last for 7 years.

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