Ceramic coating recommendations near Manchester/Cheshire please?

[HenryT]

As the collection date for my new car gets nearer, and having read many threads on the subject, I am becoming more inclined towards the benefits of ceramic coating.

I have tried a number of searches both on these forums and more widely to find a recommended provider but still could do with any recommendations from personal experience please. I have contacted a couple - Pure Detail near Rochdale and JR Automotive near Hyde, both accredited Gtechniq installers apparently (mindful of the suggestion from VanillaAir, I think).

Has anyone positive stories to tell about these or any others within the general area, or conversely are there any with the view that having done it, it was a waste of time?

(For the record, I did go down the DIY route with a BMW I had some years ago and scared myself to death with the state of the car at the machine polishing stage 'what have I done?'. As it happens though, the final result was fantastic. Not an experience I fancy going through again though).

Thanks.

 

[MrBadger]

Has anyone positive stories to tell about these or any others within the general area, or conversely are there any with the view that having done it, it was a waste of time?

I wouldn't bother with ceramic coating again. Not very impressed with ours and for the sake of an extra 10 minutes / extra stage on wash, I get just as good hydrophobic finish using Autoglym Polar Seal. No before/after experience, but ceramic coat doesn't seem to make things any less prone to dirt in the usual places. Its quite straight forward to clean though, but I'm now using snow foam so it may also be down to that too - my other car seems just as easy to keep clean using snow foam.

Obviously ceramic coat does not protect the paintwork. Our supposedly 9H coating suffers just the same scratches/chips as any other car we have had, but thankfully I was aware of that so came as no surprise.

Lower sills PPF on the other hand. Yes, I would do again on a Tesla, but probably not another car.

 

[yfwt]

I used PP protect who are based in the Midlands and the coating does work in my eyes as Tesla paint is “soft” (not thin - you can see R S symonds post on YouTube that deals the the paint depth issues- it’s on average with any car make really) according to them but PPF on lower sills and boot lip is a must. Got to say makes light work of washing the car but you got to be careful once coating not to wash it too much or the coating wears a thin over the years and does help!

 

[HenryT]

Thanks both, thats very helpful.

I was assuming that ceramic coating would afford some paint protection, but it looks like it's almost a sacrificial layer then? Possibly better I hang on to the £500 -£800 and put that towards remedial work 'after the event' if/when needed. Just need to get into the habit of waxing the car myself on a regular basis.

Selective PPF might be the better approach then - something else to consider.

 

[init6]

Get the car polished and skip the ceramic. That's where the shine comes from anyway.

 

[Mr H]

JR Automotive is 2 mins from me, i've not heard of any horror stories. I coated my own, the shine comes back just with a wash, no polishing for 2 years.

 

[HenryT]

Get the car polished and skip the ceramic. That's where the shine comes from anyway.

Makes sense - it was the protection more than the shine I had in mind, but a decent wax should do both I guess.

 

[HenryT]

JR Automotive is 2 mins from me, i've not heard of any horror stories. I coated my own, the shine comes back just with a wash, no polishing for 2 years.

Glad to hear that. The new car detail they do might be a compromise - Paint Correction — JR Automotive

 

[ShadowSix]

I had my SQ7 done at Pure Detail. I would say overall a positive experience.

I'm going to pipe up for ceramic coatings as well though. I had that car for nearly three years with the Gtechniq stuff applied and on it's last wash before I handed it over to the new owners the water was streaming off it like the first day it was done.

Coatings like this don't stop scratches or stone chips, and they won't stop the car getting dirty. What you do get is a protective layer that will resist the holographing and hazing that is particularly noticeable on darker colours in sunlight... assuming the car has gone through a paint correction process before it's applied.

Every time I washed that Audi it left the paint looking as though it had just rolled off the production line, and it stayed that way for the whole time I had it.

Will be doing the same thing (plus a bit of PPF) to my June 21st arrival too.

 

[init6]

Makes sense - it was the protection more than the shine I had in mind, but a decent wax should do both I guess.

The shine comes from polishing the car. Usually anything you apply on top will diminish that shine - although there are some products that will enhance the shine, they tend not to be long lasting.
Ceramic will give you chemical resistance and hydrophobic properties (and limited protection from minor scratching as @ShadowSix mentions However as @VanillaAir_UK says, you can get that from other products such as Polar Seal. It only adds a few minutes to your wash process unless you go the wax route which takes a bit longer. There are plenty of waxes that last 6 months so even that overhead isn't too much.

Suggest you look at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_4lRohBzY20wjsFGWS0Jzg for more tips. I take no responsibility for the expense if you fall down this particular rabbit hole

 

[init6]

I'm going to pipe up for ceramic coatings as well though. I had that car for nearly three years with the Gtechniq stuff applied and on it's last wash before I handed it over to the new owners the water was streaming off it like the first day it was done.

I've polished and applied ceramics to the last 3 cars we've had and while I liked the easy maintenance, I missed being able to try different products for different looks/water behaviour. I know you can wax over ceramics, but that seems a bit pointless and the M3 is a bit smaller than my previous BMW 5 series, so I'm quite enjoying the whole waxing process again.

 

[HenryT]

It seems my insurer Direct Line have made my mind up for me - I'm not having PPF.

Evidently, despite hosting an article arguing for and against PPF and ceramic coating, and including a link to a provider (see here) they have confirmed they still won't provide cover if you go for PPF.

On my final comment below, they thanked me for the feedback and agreed to 'tell the relevant department'

 

[MrBadger]

Evidently, despite hosting an article arguing for and against PPF and ceramic coating, and including a link to a provider (see here) they have confirmed they still won't provide cover if you go for PPF.

Purely playing devils advocate, other than using the general term 'paint protection', I see no reference to film based products. The only product type getting a specific mention is ceramic coating.

 

[HenryT]

Purely playing devils advocate, other than using the general term 'paint protection', I see no reference to film based products. The only product type getting a specific mention is ceramic coating.

True, hence asking DL to clarify their position.

Some might suppose I was I was trying to leverage the argument in my favour and get them to agree to PPF based upon their own implied endorsement, but of course I would never stoop so low.

*uncrosses fingers and slinks away*