School me on ceramic paint protection......

[Trauma PA]

Working on a strategy to keep my black Gladiator looking it's best. I realize that owning a black vehicle can turn into a Love vs Hate relationship. I'm just starting to scratch the surface on learning more about ceramic paint protection. So is it the car's meow? Who has done it and are you happy with the decision. Is it worth it? How much is too much to spend? What are the better ceramic products out there? Who thinks it's a waste of money and why? Would love to hear and learn more about this form of paint protection. Also, what are my other options to make it easier to care for a black vehicle.

Sponsored

 

[WXman]

My uncle paid a lot of money to have that done to a brand new Honda Accord he bought. Two weeks later the car got totalled by a drunk driver.

I think I will just keep a good coat of wax on mine and let it go. The paint is really good on these new Jeeps. Should hold up for years as long as we wash and wax them periodically.

 

[iammacey]

Working on a strategy to keep my black Gladiator looking it's best. I realize that owning a black vehicle can turn into a Love vs Hate relationship. I'm just starting to scratch the surface on learning more about ceramic paint protection. So is it the car's meow? Who has done it and are you happy with the decision. Is it worth it? How much is too much to spend? What are the better ceramic products out there? Who thinks it's a waste of money and why? Would love to hear and learn more about this form of paint protection. Also, what are my other options to make it easier to care for a black vehicle.

I have three vehicles nano coated and will be doing the Gladiator as well. All vehicles are black and two are coated with GTechniq Crystal Serum Light/Exo and one is coated with CS2 Titanium. For the Gladiator I will use GTechniq as well. I love their product and have started doing the application myself, so I will do the Gladiator.

The thing about ceramic is, while it is protective, it isn't magic. It doesn't prevent scratching or rock chips. It's a protective layer that's extremely hard. But what makes it worth it to me is the ongoing vehicle upkeep. I wash my cars a lot and having them coated makes the washing/drying process much easier.

The other thing that is important is quality of paint before application. The most expensive part of having professional install is the paint correction. So if your paint needs correction and you aren't comfortable doing it, then that becomes part of the cost as well.

It all depends on what you're looking for. And there are different levels to all of them. Some can be applied at home and some require professional installation. I would also ensure that your home care setup is effective and your process designed to minimize swirls.

 

[ATLTiger]

I have three vehicles nano coated and will be doing the Gladiator as well. All vehicles are black and two are coated with GTechniq Crystal Serum Light/Exo and one is coated with CS2 Titanium. For the Gladiator I will use GTechniq as well. I love their product and have started doing the application myself, so I will do the Gladiator.

The thing about ceramic is, while it is protective, it isn't magic. It doesn't prevent scratching or rock chips. It's a protective layer that's extremely hard. But what makes it worth it to me is the ongoing vehicle upkeep. I wash my cars a lot and having them coated makes the washing/drying process much easier.

The other thing that is important is quality of paint before application. The most expensive part of having professional install is the paint correction. So if your paint needs correction and you aren't comfortable doing it, then that becomes part of the cost as well.

It all depends on what you're looking for. And there are different levels to all of them. Some can be applied at home and some require professional installation. I would also ensure that your home care setup is effective and your process designed to minimize swirls.

Since I'm in the area, who would you recommend for this?

 

[ScottA]

Working on a strategy to keep my black Gladiator looking it's best. I realize that owning a black vehicle can turn into a Love vs Hate relationship. I'm just starting to scratch the surface on learning more about ceramic paint protection. So is it the car's meow? Who has done it and are you happy with the decision. Is it worth it? How much is too much to spend? What are the better ceramic products out there? Who thinks it's a waste of money and why? Would love to hear and learn more about this form of paint protection. Also, what are my other options to make it easier to care for a black vehicle.

I have done 3 cars now on my own. My 2018 Colorado ZR2, neighbors Nissan 300z and wife’s 2017 Jaguar F-Pace. All have turned out fantastic. They look much better than the day we bought them. Bought a kit on Autogeek for about $150. Will do five cars. It is supposed to last at least 3 years. Takes some time but cars look fantastic and are much easier to clean, especially bug removal. Will never use anything else. As soon as I get my Gladiator it will be done as soon as I get it home.

 

[XPEL]

Working on a strategy to keep my black Gladiator looking it's best. I realize that owning a black vehicle can turn into a Love vs Hate relationship. I'm just starting to scratch the surface on learning more about ceramic paint protection. So is it the car's meow? Who has done it and are you happy with the decision. Is it worth it? How much is too much to spend? What are the better ceramic products out there? Who thinks it's a waste of money and why? Would love to hear and learn more about this form of paint protection. Also, what are my other options to make it easier to care for a black vehicle.

It's difficult to keep black paint looking great. The best way to do this is to have paint protection film installed and then have ceramic coating applied on top of it. Jason from Engineering Explained (2.3 million subscribers on YouTube) says it best.



For help finding a Quality Certified Installer nearest you, visit our XPEL Installer Locator HERE.

It's a bit of an investment as was your Gladiator when you bought it, but it would be well worth it for the protection and the peace of mind you'll get.

 

[iammacey]

Since I'm in the area, who would you recommend for this?

If you want to go with GTechniq use Buff Guys Detail. GTechniq has their American HQ here in Alpharetta and Buff Guys is located in Roswell. He's pretty connected to them and GTechniq doesn't do installs.

Evan, the owner, did a great job on the correction for my GT4.

https://buffguysdetail.com/

Definitely worth getting the wheels coated as well. So ensure you discuss this with him and include that in the price.

Pricing is also dependent on paint condition and whether a single stage or dual stage correction is required.

Happy to talk through this. Also happy to meet up and you can check out the GT4 prior if you want an example of the work.

 

[WakesurfVT]

There's some threads about ceramic coating that you can find under the Ceramic Protection/Maintenance section you can check out, along with my write-up/pics/vids from the ceramic coating I had done to my Black Gladiator. Do your research, talk to guys who've had their vehicles done at the shop you decide to go with, and personally in my experience I wouldn't go for a "DIY kit" and I've been an avid car/boat detailer for years. They'll give decent results but NOT fantastic since most guys aren't doing any type of paint correction prior to wiping some product over their flawed paint. Most reputable products can only be applied by trained professionals (and offer exclusivity application of their product within a certain market/radius). In one of the links below, I include a video of a true paint correction and ceramic coat process (comes with a $3000 price tag but watch and you'll see the difference versus a bottle you shake and apply).

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...headed-to-buy-it-now.17569/page-2#post-268699

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/ceramic-coating-and-alternatives.19279/
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/waxing-protective-layer.18857/

 

[Chance_P]

I'm doing it myself. Look into the carpro products as well as autogeek.net for info. For everything, including a DA I'm about $300 in. Basically just wash/clay and iron removal/polish/apply coating.

 

[ScottA]

I'm doing it myself. Look into the carpro products as well as autogeek.net for info. For everything, including a DA I'm about $300 in. Basically just wash/clay and iron removal/polish/apply coating.

I understand the comment about paint correction. The paint needs to be free of swirl marks, etc because the ceramic will “lock” it in. I did paint correction on neighbors car and my wife’s Jag before applying. With my Rubicon I am bringing straight home from dealer and washing, clay baring and applying coating. Should need any paint correction. I use Pinnacle Black Diamond from Autogeek.net. Everyone that sees our vehicles are amazed by the look.

 

[Chance_P]

I understand the comment about paint correction. The paint needs to be free of swirl marks, etc because the ceramic will “lock” it in. I did paint correction on neighbors car and my wife’s Jag before applying. With my Rubicon I am bringing straight home from dealer and washing, clay baring and applying coating. Should need any paint correction. I use Pinnacle Black Diamond from Autogeek.net. Everyone that sees our vehicles are amazed by the look.

Make sure you check over your paint throughly. Lots (most) of dealers apply wax with a buffer and introduce swirling to the brand new paint. You want to remove all products from the paint and inspect before deciding whether or not you are going to need any correction. There's likely product filling in the swirls the dealer installed.

 

[ScottA]

Make sure you check over your paint throughly. Lots (most) of dealers apply wax with a buffer and introduce swirling to the brand new paint. You want to remove all products from the paint and inspect before deciding whether or not you are going to need any correction. There's likely product filling in the swirls the dealer installed.

Yeah. I know. I will clay bar to remove any wax and then look close for swirl marks. I know a lot of times when cars set on dealer lots for a while they have people come through and power wash and wipe off which is terrible and can cause swirls. Coming straight from factory to my dealer and me picking up right away I hope there will not be time to get any. If so I will buff them out. Not an expert but I have become pretty good at detailing. Was actually offered a detailing job by a local body shop recently after they saw my work. 4 years away from retiring as a Judicial Officer so not interested now but maybe part time when I retire. I do enjoy it.

 

[iammacey]

Yeah. I know. I will clay bar to remove any wax and then look close for swirl marks. I know a lot of times when cars set on dealer lots for a while they have people come through and power wash and wipe off which is terrible and can cause swirls. Coming straight from factory to my dealer and me picking up right away I hope there will not be time to get any. If so I will buff them out. Not an expert but I have become pretty good at detailing. Was actually offered a detailing job by a local body shop recently after they saw my work. 4 years away from retiring as a Judicial Officer so not interested now but maybe part time when I retire. I do enjoy it.

I'm certainly not trying to jump in your process so hopefully no offense is taken.

A new vehicle may well need some contaminates removed from the paint from shipping and will likely have iron on it. Given it is new, I would ask the dealer not to touch it. This is what I did. I took delivery with all the dirt and bugs all over it.

While clay might be necessary in some areas, I wouldn't clay the entire truck. Claying is scratching the paint as it removes particles. You can use a decon wash to remove wax and oils from the surface and won't have the issues of introducing additional light scratches.

Once the decon is done, spray it down with IronX and let it set a few before rinsing. Then you can feel out if claying is needed. And if you haven't tried it a NanoSkin Autoscrub is fantastic for the particle removal. Maybe 95% as effective as claybay but lasts for years and can be cleaned.

 

[ScottA]

I'm certainly not trying to jump in your process so hopefully no offense is taken.

A new vehicle may well need some contaminates removed from the paint from shipping and will likely have iron on it. Given it is new, I would ask the dealer not to touch it. This is what I did. I took delivery with all the dirt and bugs all over it.

While clay might be necessary in some areas, I wouldn't clay the entire truck. Claying is scratching the paint as it removes particles. You can use a decon wash to remove wax and oils from the surface and won't have the issues of introducing additional light scratches.

Once the decon is done, spray it down with IronX and let it set a few before rinsing. Then you can feel out if claying is needed. And if you haven't tried it a NanoSkin Autoscrub is fantastic for the particle removal. Maybe 95% as effective as claybay but lasts for years and can be cleaned.

None taken. Like I said no expert but I have gotten pretty good. I do use a wash to remove wax and oils but claybar if paint isn’t smooth and feels like it needs it. Have not tried the NanoSkin autoscrub so I will look into that. I am always looking for the best products. I will make sure my dealer knows not to touch it as I figured they would try to clean it up so it looks good when I pick it up and I k ow they will half ass wash it and dry it and probably scratch it. I had a JK and used to get told all the time that my Jeep was too clean and looked to good. People would always say Jeeps are supposed to be dirty, which I agree if Off-roading but I want my daily driver to look good.

 

[Woody]

I had mine Ceramic coated. It’s fantastic. Had Ceramic Pro do it.

Sponsored