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Ceramic coating - Applying ourselves Vs. Professionally??

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Another option is to hire a well rated mobile detailer to come to your home (preferably if you have a garage) and do the paint correction/prep on your car (do not wax it) and then you do the ceramic coating yourself. Shouldn't cost more than $300-400, esp if it's a newer car. Like others have said, it's the prep of the car that's a pain. Reason I suggest a mobile detailer is so that you can jump straight into ceramic coating after the detailer is done.
 
I just did a ceramic coating my self.

Im not new to auto detailing, but this was my second ceramic coating.

Used the line of Gyeon products.

Total Cost: $117

1) 10 pack The rage store microfibers
2) 10 pack microfiber foam blocks
3) Small bottle of primer
4) Small bottle of prep
5) 1 bottle of CanCoat

This will do 3 - 4 cars.

1) After washing and speedtowel preping the car i air dried it
2) Did a quick wipe down of all the panels with AeroProducts waterless wash
3) Used Gyeon Primer on every panel as directed. Slow speed to get the product on, medium speed after, then wiped off. Neat product no dusting very little product used.
4) I let the car sit for 24hours even though I was going to wipe it down with prep (im going to do my friends car this weekend, and will immediately follow up primer with prep wipe down).
5) Wipe down each panel i was going to apply CanCoat to with Gyeon Prep spray (are we sure its just not alcohol and distilled water haha)
6) Applied CanCoat by using a microfiber block (Thank you for the suggestions on that, it indeed was much easier to apply in straight even lines and prevent overlapping).
7) Doing one panel at a time i then removed the product until gloss, did the same on the outside sections of the rims.


I will take some pictures of the Tesla model 3 soon, as it jsut finished curing. But here is our Discovery:

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Keep in mind also that most of the products you can apply yourself at home have an application life of about 1 year (a few claim 2 years but who knows). Most of the really heavy duty ceramic products have an application life of 5, 7 or even 9 years and require special curing procedures (use of heat lamps for example) and some of them have different products for use on the chrome trim, glass, etc.

As someone else pointed out, if it didn't take a lot of work to apply a pro coating and the materials cost $100 then you'd see plenty of competition driving the price of a pro coat down to $300-$400 but somehow you don't see that.

One of the local installers near me indicated it takes a crew of three guys working 8 hours, at a minimum to do the paint correction, prep and application of a pro coat properly.

So, 24 X $20 = 480 just in labor, doesn't include all of the other costs of materials, rent/heat/electric, etc.
 
The prep is def the hardest.... but here is my take.

So your paint isnt perfect. You car had some correction needed.... do you mind how the paint looks now? If you can live with how it looks at its current state, then why not do some basic prep and apply a coating that wont last 6 yrs (Gyeon CanCoat is rated for 12months). The point of the coating is help with routine washing and prevent the paint from getting worse.

Im not going for showroom (technically showroom paint is trash) quality job on my cars i jsut dont want them to get worse.

The tesla was brandnew, and took about 4 hours with a wipe down, primer polish, ipa wipe down, coating.
 
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The prep is def the hardest.... but here is my take.

So your paint isnt perfect. You car had some correction needed.... do you mind how the paint looks now? If you can live with how it looks at its current state, then why not do some basic prep and apply a coating that wont last 6 yrs (Gyeon CanCoat is rated for 12months). The point of the coating is help with routine washing and prevent the paint from getting worse.

Im not going for showroom (technically showroom paint is trash) quality job on my cars i jsut dont want them to get worse.

The tesla was brandnew, and took about 4 hours with a wipe down, primer polish, ipa wipe down, coating.

I don't disagree. However I would say that objectively Tesla factory paint seems to be in poorer shape than many of their competitors. Polishing and other prep techniques are always going to give the paint a deeper luster. It really comes down to time vs. money vs. effort. Personally I am a high speed go-go-go person and don't have the patience and attention to minute detail to do the prep work properly. I'm also a bit of a perfectionist so I'm the guy that lays 100 square feet of new tile, finds some small error and rips it out and re-does it.

I am still on the fence about what PPF & ceramic product to use on the Model 3. I have an appointment with the most in-demand local shop that does PPF & ceramic in my city for early November and am on the fence about blowing a few thousand $$ on a pro coat and enough PPF to deal with highway driving or just going with a lower end coating and a basic PPF to take care of the worst of the rock chips.

At the end of the day, the Model 3 is a mass market product, it's not collectible and it will only depreciate in value. While I plan on keeping it for probably four years at a minimum, if a good enough alternative product (or even a dramatically improved Model 3) showed up in a few years time I would probably swap it out for that.

PPF + ceramic + tint + other cosmetic products have virtually zero resale value and consumers should absolutely be aware of that... you buy these products for your own gratification.
 
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Guarantee year 2 and beyond would be more labor due to existing ceramic coat. But let’s just assume 4 hours labor per year for 5 years. That’s 20 hours. It now depends how you value your time. I’ll gladly pay a pro to do it perfectly one time for $1000.

Personal preference. I just think it is important that people concerned about the expenditure do the math.
 
I was speaking with one local shop & they mentioned once they apply the ceramic coat, the whole car's paint surface is 'baked' to harden and mature the ceramic coat, which isn't possible by if done by me.

So, is the 'baking' process really necessary, what happens if it's not done?

Am planning to purchase the CarPro CQuartz UK 3.0_50ml Kit on Amazon.
Also, seems the CarPro Reload Spray Sealant needs to be applied over to 'seal' in the ceramic coat, any suggestions?

Some formulations of Ceramic coating needed to be baked onto the care to cure, it was just part of the process, this was more common when coatings were new. A lot of them would require you bake the car for an hour after application before wipedown. CQuartz "UK" is a reference to the weather in the British Isles, it's called that because it's meant to cure at lower temperatures/higher humidities and even then be applied/wiped off within minutes (in fact waiting an hour would be a big mistake).

The instructions on the bottle still point out it's important not to get the car wet for 24 hours and also to not wash your car for a week, but the "bake" step is generally not necessary.
 
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Am planning to purchase the CarPro CQuartz UK 3.0_50ml Kit on Amazon.
Also, seems the CarPro Reload Spray Sealant needs to be applied over to 'seal' in the ceramic coat, any suggestions?

If you end up going this route, 30ml is enough for two coats on a Model 3. They sell a kit that includes a 100ml bottle of Reload for the topping step as well, so my suggestion is to go with the 30ml with Reload kit if you're only doing one car.
 
It takes some experience, working with paint, to get the best results. You need to use specialized tools and products.
You need to be able to properly evaluate the condition of the paint, and formulate a multi step plan/process to bring the paint up to the highest gloss possible, without damaging any portion of it.

This is why so many people hire pros to to the highest end projects. They have acquired experience with many different techniques and products and use the ones they feel will give the best results on your project. Some even have specialized experience with other Tesla and can apply that knowledge to your car as well.

I have a good comfort level using an orbital buffer on my own car, but would never dare to take a full circular buffer to my paint, especially with some of the more aggressive paint correction compounds the pros use.

Individuals can access the internet or speak to others that have done it DIY, but the results from the pros have the greatest chances at success, but of course. at a higher price.
 
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There can be a lot or a little involved depending on how close to "perfect" you want to get ;) If you get the entire vehicle wrapped in PPF before applying the coating, you won't have to worry about paint correction. It will be more of an investment, but will be very beneficial in the long term. Otherwise, even with the commercial grade ceramic coating, the application itself is not too time consuming. You just need to be patient and have a good eye! We use Modesta which can be a little trickier but the results are AMAZING!
 
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I was close to doing this myself but by the time I buy a rotary polisher and a few other items I'm missing the cost savings won't make sense. If my quote was 1300 bucks maybe, but I'm seeing around 800 or so in my area.
It’s a long term investment and labor of love for sure.

I don’t want to add up what $ I have into my equipment but I don’t keep cars that long but I keep them pristine? so my return on investment makes more sense than paying someone each car.
 
It’s a long term investment and labor of love for sure.

I don’t want to add up what $ I have into my equipment but I don’t keep cars that long but I keep them pristine? so my return on investment makes more sense than paying someone each car.
If I thought I'd do the paint correction more than once that would probably tip the scales. Heck, if I didn't have so many hobbies already I might still do it for the heck of it.
 
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If I thought I'd do the paint correction more than once that would probably tip the scales. Heck, if I didn't have so many hobbies already I might still do it for the heck of it.
OK so here's the question for the pros: how do you need to prep the car in order to re-apply a short term (12 month) ceramic coating? Do you have to remove the remainder of the prior coat? If so, that's probably AT LEAST as much work as correction. I'd want to know the answer before embarking on an "every 12 months" regimen.
 
The prep is def the hardest.... but here is my take.

So your paint isnt perfect. You car had some correction needed.... do you mind how the paint looks now? If you can live with how it looks at its current state, then why not do some basic prep and apply a coating that wont last 6 yrs (Gyeon CanCoat is rated for 12months). The point of the coating is help with routine washing and prevent the paint from getting worse.

Im not going for showroom (technically showroom paint is trash) quality job on my cars i jsut dont want them to get worse.

The tesla was brandnew, and took about 4 hours with a wipe down, primer polish, ipa wipe down, coating.

I can relate to your thoughts. I am happy with the paint right now, don't see any flaws (no scratches, bumps, bubbles... etc.) on it. It's a brand new Model-3 that's driven only 450 miles since I purchased it a month back.

I have wrapped the entire front bumper, headlights, turn lights, frunk, side mirrors, rocker panels with clear vinyl wrap to prevent minor road debris damaging the paint.

Now, I wish to protect the remaining 'exposed' paint surface (and clear vinyl wrapped areas) with ceramic coating that will help me in routine maintenance of cleaning the car.

So, now am on fence whether to spend a couple of hundred dollars on products & putting in a lot of elbow grease....
OR ... give it in for a complete professional job?