Ceramic coating - Applying ourselves Vs. Professionally??

[Glamisduner]

I had my Model 3 professionally coated though I thought I could do it myself after reading up on it. I just leased a Fiat 500e and decided this would be a good test to see if I could do it myself. I went through all of the typical steps (wash, clay, polish, etc) over a weekend and can say that I made the right decision by having pros do the Model 3.

Even though the 500e is a very small car, it still took many hours. The coating itself was pretty quick, but all of the steps to get there took what seemed like forever. I had never polished a car before so that was nice to learn, but I ended up skipping polishing the roof because it was brand new, didn't seem to need it, and I settled on "good enough" at that point since this was just a lease car.

If i did my 3, it would have taken me much longer because it's a bigger car, and I wouldn't be able to settle for "good enough".

I thought the opposite, 3 is so small after polishing the 3500 pickup. the 3 does not even have a roof!

 

[Glamisduner]

That would be my plan as well if I had more time and if I was confident it would not get scratched in the time between polish and getting it back.

Once they are polished they will scratch if you breathe on them so maybe put a wax on it that you can strip off before you coat it.

I have some scratches at the PPF transition due to no polish beforehand but you have to really look for them to spot them.

Right i might have to give the non ppf panels a quick buff depending on when i can get to the ceramic. That should be very fast though.

I'm still undecided on just using the ultimate polish it might actually be better under the ppf?

 

[agarabaghi]

1 month of Florida weather and the coating is working as it is was advertised.

Super happy with how it’s holding up for the price. If we get to even 6months without having to re apply I’ll be happy.

 

[reheat]

I'm planning to use the Gyeon Syncro kit, I heard the coating would last about 2 years. How do you know when it's time for a new coat? And do you just apply the new coat on the old coat or do you need to remove the old coat first?

 

[agarabaghi]

It’s up to you to decided when the properties of the coating and faded away

I will prep the car once more before re applying a coating.

 

[voip-ninja]

I'm planning to use the Gyeon Syncro kit, I heard the coating would last about 2 years. How do you know when it's time for a new coat? And do you just apply the new coat on the old coat or do you need to remove the old coat first?

Syncro kit is Gyeon Mohs with some other things.

Mohs is a very good ceramic and what I was going to use until I did more research and talked to the guys at Esoteric who strongly recommended the Miyabi coating for first timers.

This guy wrote a very useful thread as he had access to way more cars to coat than a typical owner would have in a lifetime. After trying all of them his best picks were either Kamikaze Miyabi with ISM or just Miyabi.

Think I`m done messing around with coatings, final thoughts...

Mohs is an excellent product, but my understanding is it is harder to work with than Miyabi as it has a much shorter flash time. With Mohs if you try to do a whole hood for example you might find that the product has already gotten tacky by the time you go to buff it off.... whereas with the Miyabi I did a whole hood, wiped it down after 5-10 minutes, and then 1-2 hours later when I was inspecting the work in better light I was still able to buff out high spots (streaks). This really saved my bacon as if the product had set up hard I would have had to remove it and reapply.

Only other advantage of Miyami is that it has a much glossier "candy" like finish where-as the Mohs coating is a bit warmer. Kind of comes down to your personal preference and the author of the thread I linked comments that some products are better on dark finishes than light finishes.

Any ceramic coating will eventually wear out. You will probably know when it is wearing out as the shine will be gone and it won't be beading as well. If maintained well (washed properly and correct top coat applied every 1-2 months) you should get 18-24 months out of most consumer grade coatings.

When it is time to apply you want to remove what's left of the old coating with either a chemical removal spray (available for some finishes) or you will have to polish the coat off so new coat will stick to clear coat. This is needed for removal of Miyabi and is probably the only real drawback I can see to it.

Probably when my coating starts looking worn I will just pay a professional detailer to polish off the old coating, and then I will do application of a new coating myself. If someone else did that part and I did the coating in good weather (warmer temps, lots of light) it really shouldn't take more than a few hours to do 2 coats of the Miyami and one coat of the ISM, I believe that is supposed to be good for about 2-3 years.

Good luck.

 

[smatthew]

I'm planning on treating my Model3 next weekend. I've got Chemical Guys Clean Slate to wash the car with, Iron-X, Clay Bar, V36 and V38 polish, IPA rinse, and Armor Shield IX ceramic treatment. I'll make sure to take before and after pics.

 

[agarabaghi]

Gyeon makes a nice 3 step process for their can coat

Gyeon primer polish
Gyeon prep wipe down
Gyeon can coat

I really like when all the products come from the same manuf so that they are guaranteed to work properly together.

 

[jkcheng122]

I'm planning on treating my Model3 next weekend. I've got Chemical Guys Clean Slate to wash the car with, Iron-X, Clay Bar, V36 and V38 polish, IPA rinse, and Armor Shield IX ceramic treatment. I'll make sure to take before and after pics.

What're everyone's take on the Armor Shield IX? I'm trying to decide between it ($45), Feynlab Ceramic Lite ($40), and CQuartz UK ($80). From what I've seen of Armor Shield on YouTube, the reviews looked very biased with graphics from the site flashing in the vids. One reviewer looked like he was reading off prepared script on the product.

 

[smatthew]

What're everyone's take on the Armor Shield IX? I'm trying to decide between it ($45), Feynlab Ceramic Lite ($40), and CQuartz UK ($80). From what I've seen of Armor Shield on YouTube, the reviews looked very biased with graphics from the site flashing in the vids. One reviewer looked like he was reading off prepared script on the product.

One of the guys from vinwiki tried it and liked it.....

 

[daver6640]

I have never done a ceramic coating. That said I thought Gyeon Mohs Syncro was easy to use. The key is working in small sections and using plenty of microfiber towels. Everything I read indicated that it was not easy to use but that was not the case. Take your time and enjoy the process.

 

[huangbong]

I'm planning on treating my Model3 next weekend. I've got Chemical Guys Clean Slate to wash the car with, Iron-X, Clay Bar, V36 and V38 polish, IPA rinse, and Armor Shield IX ceramic treatment. I'll make sure to take before and after pics.

You have enough supplies for two cars? I’m down to meet up and pay for my share of the supplies and do it with you lol. DM me if interested.

 

[smatthew]

Oh my goodness this is a large amount of work.

Wash. Check
Iron-X. Check (at 4K miles, I had very little metal in my paint)
Clay Bar - Check.
Polish with V36 and V38. Check. Time consuming, but not too bad on the hands
IPA treatment. Check. Car got Isopropyl Alcohol and I got India Pale Ale.
Ceramic Treatment. Wow. More work than I assumed. I'm half done, car is in the garage, I'll finish in the morning.

I feel like I could have skipped the iron-x, and most of the polishing. Only because the Model 3 is in great shape. I'm planning on treating Mom's Rav4 and my 2005 Chevy Silverado 1500, and they will need and benefit from the paint corrections.

 

[CapnOMatic]

Oh my goodness this is a large amount of work.

Wash. Check
Iron-X. Check (at 4K miles, I had very little metal in my paint)
Clay Bar - Check.
Polish with V36 and V38. Check. Time consuming, but not too bad on the hands
IPA treatment. Check. Car got Isopropyl Alcohol and I got India Pale Ale.
Ceramic Treatment. Wow. More work than I assumed. I'm half done, car is in the garage, I'll finish in the morning.

I feel like I could have skipped the iron-x, and most of the polishing. Only because the Model 3 is in great shape. I'm planning on treating Mom's Rav4 and my 2005 Chevy Silverado 1500, and they will need and benefit from the paint corrections.

Yes it's doable but much easier if you have one additional helper.

 

[jkcheng122]

Oh my goodness this is a large amount of work.

Wash. Check
Iron-X. Check (at 4K miles, I had very little metal in my paint)
Clay Bar - Check.
Polish with V36 and V38. Check. Time consuming, but not too bad on the hands
IPA treatment. Check. Car got Isopropyl Alcohol and I got India Pale Ale.
Ceramic Treatment. Wow. More work than I assumed. I'm half done, car is in the garage, I'll finish in the morning.

I feel like I could have skipped the iron-x, and most of the polishing. Only because the Model 3 is in great shape. I'm planning on treating Mom's Rav4 and my 2005 Chevy Silverado 1500, and they will need and benefit from the paint corrections.

The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning toward just doing polishing and skipping compound. At less than 2K miles on the M≡, and after a bit of inspection, I don't think compound is needed.

Will be doing the coating this weekend with Feynlab Ceramic Lite.

 

[voip-ninja]

The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning toward just doing polishing and skipping compound. At less than 2K miles on the M≡, and after a bit of inspection, I don't think compound is needed.

Will be doing the coating this weekend with Feynlab Ceramic Lite.

Another option is to just have a mobile detailed come to you and do the polishing and then you clean the car with isopropyl alcohol solution and coat the car.

Coating would not have felt as laborious if I hadn’t just spent nearly 4 hours on the rest of the prep.

 

[reheat]

I did the coating with Gyeon Syncro kit on my car over the weekend. First time doing ceramic coating, watched bunch of videos on how to do it. I kept the car low mileage prior to coating it so the prep was not too bad. The coating part was not that hard to do but it did required 3 coats so it took longer than other kits. The whole process took an entire day and it was labor intensive but I think the end result was pretty satisfying.

 

[smatthew]

Ok, finished my coating. I think part of the reason the ceramic coat seemed like a ton of work was I wasn't putting enough liquid on the microfiber. Once I slightly increased how much coating I was using it became much easier to apply, and didn't require any additional effort to buff off.

The car looks pretty awesome.

Only bummer is that I got rear-ended on Saturday. I assume the rear bumper will be replaced, so I didn't bother doing any prep or coating on the bumper.

 

[agarabaghi]

Prob should have waited to do the whole car more than likely the body shop will polish the whole car after replacing the bumper and remove the coating. I would def mention it to them.

I did my dads c300 yesterday in a few steps

Foam / clay / ipa / primer polish / prep / can coat / cure

 

[mrshiny]

definitely let the professional do the application for you doesn't matter what brand you go with but the prepping is most important.