dumb question about coatings

[FrancoNY]

If coatings are so great and obviously so profitable (you can buy CQuartz retail for well <$100 for a bottle that can prob cover 2 cars but most places charge >$1000+ to put it on), why don't carmakers just put it on in the factory as an option?

You have to figure they could do it so much more easily by putting it on robotically. Would be a huge $ maker for them, and for any coatings company that partnered with them.

 

[forkee]

i would think it has to do with quality control issues and consistency. everyone getting ceramic coating is all done by hand meticulously with paint correction. tesla's paint is bad enough by itself, can't imagine them tackling ceramic without a higher reject rate.

funny enough, our family car in the late 80's (a Dodge Dynasty) had an extra layer of protective coating added upon delivery. to this day, it's paint outshines our other cars from the 90's and 2000's. don't remember if it was factory installed or not.

 

[Gavyne]

It's usually done by dealerships, not at factory, and definitely not done by robots as OP would suggest lol. One problem with ceramic coating is you are sealing the paint, with paint defects and blemishes. This actually makes it harder to paint correct later on because you have to strip the coating. This will cost you money to do paint correction later. Not to mention the proper steps if you are into protecting your car is to do paint correction first, then lay PPF, and lastly apply ceramic coating.

With Tesla ramping up to huge demands over their cars, they simply don't have the time, nor do they want that liability headache.

 

[jdw]

If it were just a matter of applying a $100 bottle os sealanr, you would be right to be concerned. First, cQuartz UK is $100 while most shops are applying cQuartz Finest or Reserve - a different product. A much tougher and difficult to apply product. But the real cost is in preparing the car to be coated. Washing, polishing & several decontamination steps before you can apply the coating. Then it has to cure. It's a lot of labour and a lot of time, 2 days minimum start to finish.

Not so practical for a car manufacturer to add 2 days to the manufacturing time.

 

[zippy]

I just wish there is a practical solution to do it in a somewhat more assembly-line fashion, to reduce the typical $2000 plus price tag quoted for a top-of-the-line ceramic coating with all necessary prep. Surely a good part of that cost is due to it being done in a bespoke manner that hundreds of little shops across the country.