Kenriko, did you use the same microfiber towel to wipe away the coating for the entire car or you had to use several towels? I have heard the dried coating embedded in the towel can scratch the paint. Is it true?
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Kenriko, did you use the same microfiber towel to wipe away the coating for the entire car or you had to use several towels? I have heard the dried coating embedded in the towel can scratch the paint. Is it true?
One more question please: Did you applied the coating on the glass roof and windshield as well? Excellent job and your car looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Good point I forgot to note that. I used a new microfiber for each panel when wiping off the ceramic coating, minimum would be to use 2-3 for the whole car. Gyeon does not get too tacky when removing so it's less important than with some other brands like CQuartz.
Getting a 36 pack of new microfibers from Costco or such is advisable for the project.
I clayed and polished mine just like the paint since they had micro scratches too.
Someone needs to tell Tesla Service that using a bristle brush to wash cars is not acceptable!
I just finished coating my car this past weekend. Below are the steps and materials that I used. I got everything off Amazon. Basically, it'll cost you less than $200.00 and about 8 hours.
Steps and materials:
1. Hand wash (30 minutes)
-- car Wash (Mothers 05632 California Gold Car Wash - 32 oz.) 11.72
-- car wash mitts (Premium Car Wash Mitt - 2-Pack) 13.95
-- Towels (Zwipes Microfiber Cleaning Cloths (24-Pack)) 11.99
2. Use Claybar (1 hour)
-- ClayBar (Mothers 07240 California Gold Clay Bar System) 14.16
3. Polish Car (2-4 hours)
-- Polisher (Meguiar's M205 Mirror Glaze Ultra Finishing Polish - 8 oz.) 12.16
-- Buffer (Goplus Random Orbital Sander Variable Speed Polisher Electrical Dual-Action Polisher Grinder Buffer (5 inch)) 62.99
-- Buffer pads (Chemical Guys BUFX_102_HEX5 Hex-Logic Medium-Heavy Cutting Pad, Orange (5.5 Inch)) 7.99
-- Use flashligh to check for swirls
4. Clean car/paint surface (30 minutes)
-- Eraser Intense Oil & Polish Cleanser 16 oz. 14.99
5. Apply Carpro CQuartz (2 hours)
-- Carpro CQuartz UK 30 with Reload (CarPro CQuartz UK 30 ml Kit w/ Reload Model: CP-10CQK30K Car/Vehicle Accessories/Parts) 59.98
6. Apply Carpro Reload (30 minutes)
Good luck!
Steps and materials:
1. Hand wash (30 minutes)
-- car Wash (Mothers 05632 California Gold Car Wash - 32 oz.) 11.72
-- car wash mitts (Premium Car Wash Mitt - 2-Pack) 13.95
-- Towels (Zwipes Microfiber Cleaning Cloths (24-Pack)) 11.99
2. Use Claybar (1 hour)
-- ClayBar (Mothers 07240 California Gold Clay Bar System) 14.16
3. Polish Car (2-4 hours)
-- Polisher (Meguiar's M205 Mirror Glaze Ultra Finishing Polish - 8 oz.) 12.16
-- Buffer (Goplus Random Orbital Sander Variable Speed Polisher Electrical Dual-Action Polisher Grinder Buffer (5 inch)) 62.99
-- Buffer pads (Chemical Guys BUFX_102_HEX5 Hex-Logic Medium-Heavy Cutting Pad, Orange (5.5 Inch)) 7.99
-- Use flashligh to check for swirls
4. Clean car/paint surface (30 minutes)
-- Eraser Intense Oil & Polish Cleanser 16 oz. 14.99
5. Apply Carpro CQuartz (2 hours)
-- Carpro CQuartz UK 30 with Reload (CarPro CQuartz UK 30 ml Kit w/ Reload Model: CP-10CQK30K Car/Vehicle Accessories/Parts) 59.98
6. Apply Carpro Reload (30 minutes)
Good luck!
Good stuff Dan. Can you tell me what color your car is? Do you think you could have gotten away with a finishing pad + M205 or was the heavier cut pad needed?
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barjohn
Member
I had my car professionally done with Ceramic Pro Sport. They bucket washed, clay bared and polished before applying the Ceramic Pro Sport. It is warranted for 6 months. My question is, can I wash and apply a harder finish Ceramic Pro product or product from another vendor such as Gyeon or Car Pro CQ Quartz UK over the Ceramic Pro Sport and obtain the benefits of a harder finish without having to strip off the Ceramic Pro Sport and would the car have to be clay bared again and polished again? (I assume washing in any case) I cannot see any swirl marks in my paint with a flash light.
drewbaumann
Member
You still need to wash and prep but polishing would not be needed.
No need to polish again if you don't have scratches or swirl marks. Depending on how long it's been since you had it coated you should be able to coat it again. IIRC Gyeon recommended to wait at least a month before applying again after the initial "window" when it was first applied.
You CAN prolong the life of a ceramic coat by maintaining it with other products. I'm more familiar with Carpro. But Carpro has a wide range of products (so many that they all start sounding the same, actually) that can prolong the life of your ceramic coating. But in Carpro's case, they sell a product called Reload that essentially tops your coating with another coating (actually, you can see in DanH's post that after his CQuartz application, he topped it with Reload). Check out some of the Carpro Youtube videos to see their products in action.
A quick search makes me think that Ceramic Pro seems to like to be layered though:
barjohn
Member
Ceramic Pro is similar to the others I mentioned. There is Ceramic Pro Professional a 9H base coat, then Ceramic Pro Lite that can go on top of it and Ceramic Pro Sport that can be used as a touch up or by itself. I'm not sure there is any real difference between any of these multi-layer products other than the amount of SiO2 and the addition of other chemicals to add more hydrophobicity or slickness. As I recall reading somewhere they are all produced by a couple of companies and then re-branded and packaged with various additives to differentiate one from another. That is the reason for my question, whether anyone has practical experience actually doing this.
barjohn
Member
I guess what I am really asking is can you reverse the order if needed. If you start with the lighter less durable coating can you apply the longer lasting base coating with higher SiO2 content over it without removing it? Will it still bond to the paint as well or will the bond be weaker and thus not as long lasting? Do you still get the benefits of the harder surface? Can you then apply the higher gloss layer on top of that?
If you completed it in 8hrs clearly not enough beer was involved in the process.
Definitely not enough!
Considering I’m not a handy person at all and it’s my first time doing it, I’m pretty happy with the results.
I was going for silver or white, but I couldn’t justify the extra 1000.00. I’m cheap.
I went with black.
I've heard a lot of good things about Menzerna Super Finish Plus 3800, so I'm going to try that out as my M3 has very faint swirl marks on some places. I'm lucky whoever washed my car didn't leave much marks. I've got M205 also and I'm hoping I don't need to use it before the Menzerna 3800.
Thanks for posting this (as well as the OP!), it’s very helpful. Just wondering, did you use a foam wand? I’ve hand washed my cars for years but never used the soap foaming wand. Wondering if it’s necessary?
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