Ceramic Coating

[riplipper]

I know the prep is a ton of work but vital to the coating being effective.
Could you do it in sections? Hood one weekend? Doors another? Etc?

Maybe, but not sure it is worth the time here. Almost every day I wake up and my jeep is hazed over by salt air so I would rarely see the glossy shine anyway. My underside will be way more at risk here than my paint job.

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[Pat2Alaska]

Yea I know its a temporary thing will see how long it last before wearing off. Have seen some folks say it last about 6 months but none have said it will last the year that the manufacturers claim.

I have a professional do the 3 step paint correction, then use the Cquartz UK 3.0 and Reload. On my LE, it was still in great shape at about 2 years and I'm confident it would last well over 3 years. I used the reload to give it a refresh every 6 months or so. Very simple. So I spent $750 for in and out detail, paint correction, and Ceramic. I used to wax my vehicles twice a year. The Ceramic is much better and well worth it. I just traded the LE for a new Rubicon and had this done to it with less than 150 miles on it. I like to protect a big $$ vehicle!

 

[teamblkdog]

I have a professional do the 3 step paint correction, then use the Cquartz UK 3.0 and Reload. On my LE, it was still in great shape at about 2 years and I'm confident it would last well over 3 years. I used the reload to give it a refresh every 6 months or so. Very simple. So I spent $750 for in and out detail, paint correction, and Ceramic. I used to wax my vehicles twice a year. The Ceramic is much better and well worth it. I just traded the LE for a new Rubicon and had this done to it with less than 150 miles on it. I like to protect a big $$ vehicle!

Heyo! Where in Iowa did you have the work done?

 

[Pat2Alaska]

Heyo! Where in Iowa did you have the work done?

Le Mars. My guy comes from Florida several times a year for two weeks at at time. He is coming again in May.

 

[teamblkdog]

Le Mars. My guy comes from Florida several times a year for two weeks at at time. He is coming again in May.

Thank you! Could you please send me his contact info?

 

[Pat2Alaska]

Thank you! Could you please send me his contact info?

Sent you a PM

 

[Ogre_FL]

Resurrection of older thread.
Just purchased a new Gladiator sport, my 8th jeep over 48 years of driving.
Did a lot of research on DIY ceramics and the Mequire's spray on ceramic got some very good reviews from quite a few different sources. So I gave it a try yesterday. My jeeps live on the beach so salt air in the wind is BRUTAL and never ending.
I am way too cheap to go the "real" ceramic route and too lazy to do the DIY "real" ceramic so I am curious how well this works. Hell, it was so easy, I could apply it after every wash.

Did you use the Meguiar's Hybrid Ceramic Wax?

 

[Mac]

I used the Turtle hybrid ceramic coating last fall, very easy to apply. Washed it for the second time the other day, looks perfect. Very good reviews and tests on YouTube as well.

 

[staying_tuned]

We ceramic (CQuartz UK 3.0) every vehicle. For us it's not about having the vehicles look shinier than new, it's about having a weekend on the trail (or in the case of the CX-9, road trip) and then being able to bring it back to new condition in 10 minutes via:

1. Shoot car with suds, wait 2 mins. Hit it again.
2. Hit it with pressure to rinse (2 min)
3. Hit it with leaf blower to dry (1 min)

I mix the above with a microfiber double-bucket wash once in spring and just before winter. During those washes I follow up with a quick spray down of reload as mentioned above. That's it.

The first time I experienced the beading effect of ceramic I felt it was witchcraft and couldn't possibly last. You can blow water off your car's hood using your lungs easily, it's almost eery. Our cars are dry to the touch in < 1 minute with the leaf blower.

Prep is indeed key but its incredible stuff. I wish every human could easily experience it. I used waxes for years, then sealants... wow, the sealant decade was rough. Ceramic is game over, truly.

 

[staying_tuned]

Also worth noting that ceramic can be applied to black plastics and it keeps them black for a year. For some reason it doesn't bond as well to textured plastic like it does paint but sure enough, makes it look like mother's back-to-black was applied every week for a year once again, making washing a breeze. Never have to deal with that scrubbing of dirt/mud stains and/or sun faded plastics.

 

[Mac]

Seems to be a lot of mystery around ceramic coatings, I have a hard time seeing the value of a professionally applied ceramic coating costing hundreds of dollars when I can get very good results with a $15 bottle of product from Amazon.

 

[JKABBQ]

I’ve posted photos of before and after of my LE being done. It’s more about the color correction and making sure the paint has been prepped and polished nicely. If the ceramic is applied over a scratched up vehicle, it will bead the water but the scratches will still remain.

So yes one could do it at home. If I had the time and skill set to polish, buff etc applying ceramic coatings at home I can see being an option. I don’t have those skills and just pay someone else to do it. I look at it that way for anything. If I make $100/hr at work, I don’t mind paying someone else for their time to do a job that otherwise I would be spending time doing myself.

 

[staying_tuned]

Seems to be a lot of mystery around ceramic coatings, I have a hard time seeing the value of a professionally applied ceramic coating costing hundreds of dollars when I can get very good results with a $15 bottle of product from Amazon.

The ceramic product itself is cheap. It's the correction that takes hours and a lot of skill to nail correctly. Most good shops take great pride in their work and will turn away business if the customer doesn't allow them to at least do a stage 1 correction where swirls/webs/contaminants are worked out. Most with ceramic experience wouldn't argue that this can be done at home for under $100 but many either don't have the 10+ hours (or skill) to put into legit correction.

I viewed wax vs. sealant the same way. Then I viewed sealant vs ceramic the same way. As in those cases, I wasn't a believer until I actually tried it. Post ceramic you start to miss the time feeling up your finish, standing back admiring your work every other month (wax) or 6 months (sealant). All that time is now routed towards trips and having guilt free fun knowing I can suds and rinse her down regardless of what kind of mess we find ourselves in hah. I don't have to resign to the fact that our trucks stay dirty because hey, they are trucks. They look like they were dredged from a lake one day, trailer queen the next until we're back out.

EOD it's about what makes you happy. For me, correction and ceramic appeased my OCD while removing all guilt & anxiety associated with having fun.

 

[RavensEyeOffroad]

Maybe, but not sure it is worth the time here. Almost every day I wake up and my jeep is hazed over by salt air so I would rarely see the glossy shine anyway. My underside will be way more at risk here than my paint job.

Well ive got a black truck so ill take all the help I can get. I read one of the benefits was that it just makes washing the truck that much easier. So instead of this big "gotta detail the whole thing each time" it makes it more of a spray and dry kinda thing. I mean this truck is going to be yellow with pollen for me all summer but will be nice to have things protected as well.

 

[staying_tuned]

On the 4Runner, before and after DIY correction w/ ceramic on a single panel. This predated UK 3.0, this was regular. After correction I found colors in the paint that I didn't know existed.

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