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Old 09-30-2019, 12:05 PM   #15
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I was under the impression that if you DD your car, the ceramic is a waste of $. Your car is going to take a beating. You're going to get rock chips and a ceramic coating cannot stop that. Better off with some PPF and call it a day.

Now if it's a garage queen...sure..go for it. All you're washing/rinsing off is dust.
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Old 09-30-2019, 01:33 PM   #16
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Ceramic coatings are great as long as you have realistic expectations. Self cleaning shouldn't be one of them.
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Old 09-30-2019, 01:53 PM   #17
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After having both my truck and car ceramic coated, I am not sold on it at all. I initially thought that dirt and road grime would just spray right off. Not so. I also thought it would stay cleaner longer. Not so. I also thought that it would prevent stains from bird droppings and whatnot. Not so. I also thought it would last for a couple of years without having to keep refreshing it. Not so.

My personal conclusion on ceramics are that they are no better than wax. There's a hint of snake oil info surrounding ceramics that I have found to be misleading. There's also a great deal of placebo effect when paying a lot of money to have your paint coated. IMHO, paint correction is where 90% of the results come from, not the coatings.
That is the thing that made me start to question ceramic coatings and the marketing that surrounds them.

They say, "good for 5 years", "keeps your car from being etched", etc. Only $800 - $2,500 (low to high end).

THEN afterwards comes the fine print. Good for 5 year , but only if you spend $100 every 6 mths for a refresh. WTF then, how is that any different than a good Polymer wax like Zaino or Adams.

You can still get etching, it just etches the ceramic coat rather than the factory clear coat. The blemishes are still there. And now that ceramic is so hard, you can't just buff them out so easily.

After a week of rainy weather, my car looks just as torn up as my previous cars that did not have a ceramic coating. The road grime and dirt are all still there and it needs a solid detail to get it nice again.
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Old 09-30-2019, 04:35 PM   #18
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I'm shocked to hear the negative reviews of ceramic coating. My car is a daily driver, 8,500 miles in, and the ceramic coating has been great for about a year now so far. It is a night and day difference for me from my previous car that was not ceramic coated. I think you guys had some very false information fed to you when you got your coatings or read about them. Your car will still get dirty. You still have to wash it every week or two and you still can't leave bird poop on the paint for days. The washing and drying part is significantly easier however, and between that and the hydrophobic properties, is what you ultimately pay for.

As for refreshing, it is certainly not $100/6mo. All I was told to do by my detailer is apply Liquid Crystal C2v3 2-3 times a year. A 500ml bottle is $30 directly from Gtechniq and will likely last me for the lifetime of the coating. I got a small bottle included when I got the coating done that I still haven't gone through.

Oh and if you are getting ceramic coating to protect against rock chips, someone lied to you on what it does. They were the first words out of my detailers mouth when I asked about ceramic coating, is that it does not protect against chips/scratches. The way it was sold to me, is to help make weekly washing easier, and keep the shine longer. Which is exactly what it did for me thus far. I am 100% satisfied.
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Old 09-30-2019, 04:46 PM   #19
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I'm shocked to hear the negative reviews of ceramic coating. My car is a daily driver, 8,500 miles in, and the ceramic coating has been great for about a year now so far. It is a night and day difference for me from my previous car that was not ceramic coated. I think you guys had some very false information fed to you when you got your coatings or read about them. Your car will still get dirty. You still have to wash it every week or two and you still can't leave bird poop on the paint for days. The washing and drying part is significantly easier however, and between that and the hydrophobic properties, is what you ultimately pay for.

As for refreshing, it is certainly not $100/6mo. All I was told to do by my detailer is apply Liquid Crystal C2v3 2-3 times a year. A 500ml bottle is $30 directly from Gtechniq and will likely last me for the lifetime of the coating. I got a small bottle included when I got the coating done that I still haven't gone through.

Oh and if you are getting ceramic coating to protect against rock chips, someone lied to you on what it does. They were the first words out of my detailers mouth when I asked about ceramic coating, is that it does not protect against chips/scratches. The way it was sold to me, is to help make weekly washing easier, and keep the shine longer. Which is exactly what it did for me thus far. I am 100% satisfied.
Again though, if you have to "do maintenance" on it every 6 mths or so, then again, a good Polymer wax will be just as good and cost much less.

I used Zaino on my previous cars every 9 mths or so and the protection, shine, and hydrophobic properties are just as good. My point is there is no need to spend the additional money if you will be "refreshing" every 6 mths anyways.
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Old 09-30-2019, 05:18 PM   #20
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Ceramic coatings are great as long as you have realistic expectations. Self cleaning shouldn't be one of them.

I've heard this before. Every time I criticize ceramics, I get the same "you expected too much." Well, what exactly are you to expect when you spend $1400 for this wonder coating? Apparently not much. After waxing my cars for 30 years and switching over to ceramic coatings, I'm still trying to figure out what I am supposed to expect and what makes these coatings any better than wax.

As these new, cheaper spray coatings hit the market, ceramics will most likely lose luster even more as people realize they can get similar results from a $8 bottle of Turtle Wax Ice Seal and Shine from Wal-Mart.
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Old 09-30-2019, 05:47 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Artryan View Post
I've heard this before. Every time I criticize ceramics, I get the same "you expected too much." Well, what exactly are you to expect when you spend $1400 for this wonder coating? Apparently not much. After waxing my cars for 30 years and switching over to ceramic coatings, I'm still trying to figure out what I am supposed to expect and what makes these coatings any better than wax.

As these new, cheaper spray coatings hit the market, ceramics will most likely lose luster even more as people realize they can get similar results from a $8 bottle of Turtle Wax Ice Seal and Shine from Wal-Mart.
The power of marketing and mass adoption is real.

As long as you get the general public to believe something is the next best thing to sliced bread and you have mass adoption, you will get $$$.

Eventually reviews come in and the long term reality of what a product actually is and is not becomes more clear, and by that point most have made a boat load of money and the fad fades, unless it is legit and really IS the next best thing to sliced bread.

Knowing what I know now, I would have stuck with my Zaino every 6 mths , still doing the front clear bra and called it a day.

I paid $2200 for Ceramic Pro (3 yr. option) (after the fact, being told that I need to come back for a "refresh", separate charge of course, every 6 months for the 3 yr. warranty to be valid) and Expel of the front bumper.
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Old 09-30-2019, 07:39 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by TRZ06 View Post
The power of marketing and mass adoption is real.

As long as you get the general public to believe something is the next best thing to sliced bread and you have mass adoption, you will get $$$.

Eventually reviews come in and the long term reality of what a product actually is and is not becomes more clear, and by that point most have made a boat load of money and the fad fades, unless it is legit and really IS the next best thing to sliced bread.

Knowing what I know now, I would have stuck with my Zaino every 6 mths , still doing the front clear bra and called it a day.

I paid $2200 for Ceramic Pro (3 yr. option) (after the fact, being told that I need to come back for a "refresh", separate charge of course, every 6 months for the 3 yr. warranty to be valid) and Expel of the front bumper.
I'm in the same boat. I swore by Collinite products for years, but got swept up into the hype of ceramics and these miracle sprays used as a "sacrificial layer" to protect the ceramic. After 3 different ceramic coatings being professionally applied (one being a redo of a ceramic that failed within a couple of months,) I still don't really see the benefit that justifies the price.
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Old 10-01-2019, 05:31 PM   #23
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wow lol, I did my research and I understand its not miracle worker. very few videos on youtube stated it "was" a miracle. Yes you will still get scratches and such and it does need to be maintained. My warranty states to have he looked at every 365 days. The guy that applied it also gave me some complimentary soap and detail spray. If it fails, and is as bad as the neg opinions state then I guess I wasted my money. Mine was almost 2k but I also got paint correction. Ive washed this car almost every weekend for 2 years and after my own math I have spent that much already. The cost of the products to maintain is way less and the timeto actually clean the car now is greatly reduced. But if it fails I will let everyone know about the snake oil.
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Old 10-01-2019, 08:35 PM   #24
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Not all coatings are created equal.

This guy does some good objective long term tests.... take a hood, put 30+ coatings on it, and let it sit outside and weather for months....

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-o...M2x8WX9VTBid4w

None of that throw some acid on it and see if it still beads BS.
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Old 10-02-2019, 05:29 AM   #25
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wow lol, I did my research and I understand its not miracle worker. very few videos on youtube stated it "was" a miracle. Yes you will still get scratches and such and it does need to be maintained. My warranty states to have he looked at every 365 days. The guy that applied it also gave me some complimentary soap and detail spray. If it fails, and is as bad as the neg opinions state then I guess I wasted my money. Mine was almost 2k but I also got paint correction. Ive washed this car almost every weekend for 2 years and after my own math I have spent that much already. The cost of the products to maintain is way less and the timeto actually clean the car now is greatly reduced. But if it fails I will let everyone know about the snake oil.
What do you mean by "the time it takes to clean the car is greatly reduced?"

I still wash my coated cars, obviously, but the time it takes to do so is no less than before they were coated and the frequency is the same, if not more so than before. Like I said before, my hopes were that I could just spray off the minor dust, pollen, and very light road dirt. That turned out to definitely not be the case. I still need to use soap and wash mit.

I think the paint correction is definitely worth the money and IMO, people confuse the results of paint correction with the coating of ceramic that is applied afterwards. People typically don't have their paint corrected to apply a coat of wax.
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Old 10-02-2019, 06:39 AM   #26
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What do you mean by "the time it takes to clean the car is greatly reduced?"

I still wash my coated cars, obviously, but the time it takes to do so is no less than before they were coated and the frequency is the same, if not more so than before. Like I said before, my hopes were that I could just spray off the minor dust, pollen, and very light road dirt. That turned out to definitely not be the case. I still need to use soap and wash mit.

I think the paint correction is definitely worth the money and IMO, people confuse the results of paint correction with the coating of ceramic that is applied afterwards. People typically don't have their paint corrected to apply a coat of wax.
Guess my experience is the exact opposite of yours. I find myself almost never having to wash my car with my Crystal Serum & EXO V4 ceramic coatings. When I do, the touch free foam cannon and an air dry make short work of it. I’ve had to break out the mitt once this summer and that was after a trip to the drag strip...

Ceramic is SIGNIFICANTLY harder and more durable than wax. It’s a broadband vs dial-up internet difference level of protection. But, it’s all in the prep. I think I did 5 different steps to get the car prepped for ceramic, not including the Sonax Perfect Finish polish work. If any corners were cut there, I can see why you could have had problems. The surface has to be impeccably clean before application IMO.
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Old 10-02-2019, 03:21 PM   #27
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Ceramic coating with a touchless carwash on my Mazda, easy peasy.
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Old 10-02-2019, 08:39 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by Artryan View Post
I'm in the same boat. I swore by Collinite products for years, but got swept up into the hype of ceramics and these miracle sprays used as a "sacrificial layer" to protect the ceramic. After 3 different ceramic coatings being professionally applied (one being a redo of a ceramic that failed within a couple of months,) I still don't really see the benefit that justifies the price.
I like your post. That Collinite is some old school good stuff. Being my car is a garage queen, I will probably stick with the Meguiars ultimate wax.
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