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Finally put ceramic on the car. Some lessons learned.

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I finally DIY ceramic coated my car since the weather was nice. It sure is slick and shiny now. The large bottle of CarPro CQuartz (50ml) did 2 coats on the car and a car on the wheels.

I have PPF on the front and did not need to polish that area but it still took forever :p

I would have used a more aggressive polish because at night with fluorescent lights I can still see some micro swirls, but you can't see them in the daylight. I was aware this might be an issue but decided to just double polish and go for it anyways. This is my daily driver not a show car, but a more aggressive polish would have done a bit better. I used this polish:
https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-Mir...swirl+remover&qid=1560188393&s=gateway&sr=8-3

I would have gone for this one next time (It was sold out at wallmart which is the local place that carries these:
https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-Mir...guires+polish&qid=1560188499&s=gateway&sr=8-1

My Process was:

1) Iron-X (applied to slighly dirty car (washed it one week ago, youtube tips say this helps it to stick and not run).
2) Foam cannon and wash, and rinse and dry.
3) Claybar
4) I did an ONR detail spray mixture wipe down instead of another wash.
5) used a random orbital to polish the car. (most time consuming part)
6) foam, wash, dry.
7) Carpro Eraser Wipe down.
8) One coat of ceramic, I hope I did this right. I would work a small area but it was hard to see it flashing on white paint. So I was sure to wipe it off before it dried.
9) Next morning I put on another coat of ceramic, and also applied the left overs to the wheels.
10) Next morning I put on the bottle of reloaded.

ceramic.jpg
 
nice job, i did a similar process, after 2 coats i did a coat of carpro gliss. i wish i had more light in my garage, my car is gray so it was easier to see flashing but i still missed 1 or 2 spots on the buffing out of the ceramic and now the paint has a bit of a rainbow appearance . eventually ill polish it level and reapply but not enough to bother with the hassle. im "polished out" after the hours of polishing i did for prep
 
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nice job, i did a similar process, after 2 coats i did a coat of carpro gliss. i wish i had more light in my garage, my car is gray so it was easier to see flashing but i still missed 1 or 2 spots on the buffing out of the ceramic and now the paint has a bit of a rainbow appearance . eventually ill polish it level and reapply but not enough to bother with the hassle. im "polished out" after the hours of polishing i did for prep
I hear that, my wife said I was acting like a crazy person with sever OCD with all the time I spent on it. Of course now she wants me to do her Volvo.
 
I did similar but used the CarPro polish. Reload is great. I put that on every few months. Since you're local, I'd recommend the wash mist from Elite Detail. That stuff is great and works on everything. Nice wipe down spray for use in between washes. They're in Miramar near the original delivery center.
 
I did similar but used the CarPro polish. Reload is great. I put that on every few months. Since you're local, I'd recommend the wash mist from Elite Detail. That stuff is great and works on everything. Nice wipe down spray for use in between washes. They're in Miramar near the original delivery center.
I have just been using ONR mixed 16-1 for a detail spray. Is this allot better? I'm planning to use beadmaker for a topper instead of reload, It really makes things feel slick, but it's probably not as durable.
 
I have just been using ONR mixed 16-1 for a detail spray. Is this allot better? I'm planning to use beadmaker for a topper instead of reload, It really makes things feel slick, but it's probably not as durable.
I don't know anything about ONR besides it being the latest internet fad, TBH. My concern was scratches when cleaning and this is what the detailer uses and recommends (their house brand, so take it for what it's worth), but they seem to know what they're doing considering the cars that roll through there. After putting in all the work I did on the paint correction and coating, I didn't want to mess it up with other products that have different bases such as waxes or polymers. I used to be a Zaino guy with the other cars so the ceramic stuff is new to me.

I don't think ONR is silica based like reload it. Since the ceramic coating is silica based, it seems logical to supplement it with a silica based spray. They have another spray by Shine Supply that has a higher silica content than Reload, but since I have plenty of Reload, I haven't had the need to try it yet.
 
I don't know anything about ONR besides it being the latest internet fad, TBH. My concern was scratches when cleaning and this is what the detailer uses and recommends (their house brand, so take it for what it's worth), but they seem to know what they're doing considering the cars that roll through there. After putting in all the work I did on the paint correction and coating, I didn't want to mess it up with other products that have different bases such as waxes or polymers. I used to be a Zaino guy with the other cars so the ceramic stuff is new to me.

I don't think ONR is silica based like reload it. Since the ceramic coating is silica based, it seems logical to supplement it with a silica based spray. They have another spray by Shine Supply that has a higher silica content than Reload, but since I have plenty of Reload, I haven't had the need to try it yet.

ONR is just a cleaner, I think you meant bead maker? Reload is probably a better topper, but after using beadmaker I almost decided not to ceramic coat at all. I think the trick is just keeping something on top of the paint and on top of the ceramic, so either should do the trick. Beadmaker is allot cheaper, and even a little easier to apply than reload. You can just use it as a drying agent if you want to and that should last until the next car wash.


Did you treat the PPF any differently or did you use orbital polisher on it? Also, did you claybar ppf?
I just washed it and let it sit in the sun for a bit then I just applied the ceramic over the top (in the shade), applying ceramic to PPF was the easy part :).
 
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Thanks so much for the tips! Haven't seen a great how to on what to do with ceramic after PPF. From my searches it seems like some people say only stick with PPF specific ceramic, others say CQUARTZ uk works just fine. Is carpro eraser a good idea on the ppf prior to ceramic application?
 
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Thanks so much for the tips! Haven't seen a great how to on what to do with ceramic after PPF. From my searches it seems like some people say only stick with PPF specific ceramic, others say CQUARTZ uk works just fine. Is carpro eraser a good idea on the ppf prior to ceramic application?
I used eraser on it. I also just used CQUARTZ uk. Just make sure you don't let it harden, because you really don't want to be polishing PPF by hand. I have used some hand polish to remove a stain in my PPF, and it seems to have worked fine, but you don't typically want to polish PPF.