What ceramic coating do you use?

[JRT]

Day 1 I used Surf City Garage Clayzilla, the finish is highly contaminated and the dealership sucks at detailing. After that I use Mothers CMX Ceramic Spray. I do a touch up with CMX as it needs it, haven't needed any additional claying since July 2021 and 23k miles.

I had my wife's Flex professional coated, it was amazing but very expensive with prep and coating ($2,200). I'm very happy with my system above and resuts.

https://mothers.com/products/cmx-ceramic-spray-coating-01024

https://surfcitygarage.com/products/clayzilla®xl-clay-bar-replacement-system-1

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[worachj]

X2 in terms of the Hybrid Solutions ceramic spray! I park my car outside and do two coats at a time and just reapplied after 9 months.

Excellent comparison test:

Good to know you like the Turtlewax Hybrid Solutions. Thanks for the great video review!

I got 20% off by joining Turtlewax.com. Purchased their line of ceramic solutions (ceramic polish/ceramic wash/ceramic wax/ceramic detailer). Waiting for warmer weather to apply for the first time.

 

[joebruin77]

What brand of ceramic do you use? And is it the easy to apply spray or little bottle? Is there a brand you don't like? How long did your ceramic last? Let the discussion begin and post those pictures of your car.

Choosing a ceramic coating depends on your specific needs. Are you a beginner doing your first ceramic coating? Are you an experienced car detailer and looking for a coating that will last many years? Are you applying the coating outside or in a garage?

I am into car detailing as a hobby and I often visit the car detailing forum Autogeekonline.net . This is an online forum that a lot of professional car detailers frequent. I asked for a recommendation for my first ceramic coating on this forum. One of the coating "gurus" recommended Gyeon Cancoat Evo. Cancoat Evo is one of the easiest ceramic coatings you can buy. There is no dwell time, no guessing if it has had enough time on the paint or not. You just wipe it on in a small area, then immediately wipe it off.

And any Gyeon coating in the Evo line, including Cancoat Evo, can be applied outside, if like me you do not have an enclosed garage.

The tradeoff for a super easy to apply coating is that it is not as durable as other coatings. But Cancoat Evo should last 18 months. And it is so easy to apply that I don't mind reapplying it every 18 months.

 

[ATL]

I used Ceramic Magic. I believe this product is sort of mid-way between the professional products and the hardware store brands. It sure went on easy for me--following instructions carefully. As with anything that is applied as a coating to anything else, proper surface preparation is essential to achieve a good result. Clay bar at a minimum but I see many have had more complex paint repairs done.

It shouldn't matter with a new car as you'd think factory processes would be well controlled, but the finishes on many new cars I've seen are highly variable.

 

[leehinde]

As a guy who used to run his car through the car wash every 3/4 months, but wants to do better, I appreciate this discussion.

 

[doogie63]

I have an older car that I would like to try out ceramic on. The paint still looks good but does have some swirls. Thinking of just washing and then using a ceramic. Don't want to do all the other work. Before I would just wash and wax this car like once a year. It's the red car in the background of picture I posted at the beginning of this thread.

 

[eleven24]

Might I also put this out there: NEVER let your dealer wash/detail your car. On any delivery of a new car I always emphasize do not wash. I also hang a sign on my rear view mirror when taking in for service "Do not wash, thank you!"

If you've ever seen the bucket of dirty water and the never cleaned rags they use to "wash" your car, you'd agree. It only ends up scratching the paint/plastic.

 

[ATL]

I have an older car that I would like to try out ceramic on. The paint still looks good but does have some swirls. Thinking of just washing and then using a ceramic. Don't want to do all the other work. Before I would just wash and wax this car like once a year. It's the red car in the background of picture I posted at the beginning of this thread.

You'll get the hydrophobic properties and it will remain clean longer and be easier to wash, especially when when it comes to bug removal. Just don't expect showroom shine 'cause it would take doing the work to get that back.

 

[jay1122]

I have an older car that I would like to try out ceramic on. The paint still looks good but does have some swirls. Thinking of just washing and then using a ceramic. Don't want to do all the other work. Before I would just wash and wax this car like once a year. It's the red car in the background of picture I posted at the beginning of this thread.

I would always recommend doing a single stage polish on a used car. For coating, I have always used cQuartz UK3.0. The flash time is very lenient. It lasts 1-2 year. My opinion on ceramic coating is, it is not worth it to have professionals do it. But it is a must have for DIY.

 

[joebruin77]

NEVER let your dealer wash/detail your car.

I totally agree. When I took delivery of my MME, I told the sales manager to not wash the car at all prior to delivery.

I read a post about an employee at a car dealership washing a car. The guy would pick up suds off the ground and put them back on the car. When asked why he was doing this, the employee said that he didn't want to waste any of the soap.

I cringe at the thought of how many scratches and swirls this guy induced in every car he washed.

 

[Lord Polymath]

X2 in terms of the Hybrid Solutions ceramic spray! I park my car outside and do two coats at a time and just reapplied after 9 months.

Excellent comparison test:

Another cool thing about it, I treat my windshield and it lasts longer than rain-x.

 

[Izzle]

Another cool thing about it, I treat my windshield and it lasts longer than rain-x.

Same. Works great for the windows too!

 

[Lord Polymath]

Same. Works great for the windows too!

As a side note, I tried it on my newly installed shower door and it didn't work. You would expect water to bead and roll down the door but it just doesn't. Maybe the door has some sort of coating on it from the factory that negates it or something.

 

[Graction]

If you are looking for any type of spray or ceramic coating this guy has the most comprehensive and unbiased tests of hundreds of products. He even has a google sheets spreadsheet of all of the tests and results: https://www.youtube.com/@ScottHD/videos

 

[Scooby24]

Scott is amazing. Been following him for years and changed up many products based on his reviews. I had previously been using carpro UK 3.0 topped with sic but after seeing his review of that exact combo do WORSE than either of the two alone, I've now just been sticking with sic, as it showed similar durability to uk 3.0 but I significantly prefer it for its slickness.

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