Looking to possibly have a couple vehicles ceramic coated, but have a few questions:

What is the advantages/disadvantages it provides?
How long does it last?
Is there a typical warranty?
Typical cost for application for a car and also for an SUV?

Ok first things first this time

What is your car wash regimen?

'03ag said:

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Ok first things first this time

What is your car wash regimen?

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This.. are you ok always hand washing your car. My truck and FJ are both ceramic coated, but my wife's car is not. So you can see the pattern here.

Can you pls explain why this matters. Is a ceramic coated vehicle hand wash only?

One of the vehicles I would ceramic coat never goes through an automatic car wash and is washed by hand. The SUV I'm considering having coated does go through a car wash. How does this effect the ceramic coating?

A drive through wash is going to destroy a ceramic coating in short order. The coatings cost several hundred dollars. So coating a car that isn't hand washed is lighting money on fire.

Several different levels of coating ranging from 5 year warranty to 50 yr, or something like that. Then you can add paint correction or other options and you can spend $1500 +/- real quick. But, yes it's worth it.

While I (almost) never run my vehicle through the tunnel car washes, and while I may be in the minority, I'm still not sold on the whole ceramic stuff. If you do it yourself, there is definitely a learning process to it. If you hire it done, you'll pay.

I personally think that if you get your paint in relatively good shape (something you can learn to do), CLEAN your car well (something you can both learn to do and do repeatedly), and get the right sealant, you will get very close if not the exact results of most of the ceramic coatings for a fraction of the cost and much less headache.

How? Higher pH soap (I use Purple Power Vehicle and Boat Wash from Walmart, but there are others), and Meguiars Fast Finish. There are numerous good polishes and polishers that an inexperienced person can use for paint correction (Meguiars D3xx series, the 3D line, or Griots BOSS just to name 3).

Before you get a ceramic coating, especially from a detail guy, ask him this: does the coating survive road film? If not, how do you get that off with a high pH soap without damaging the coating? With my method, the FF is so easy to apply, it doesn't matter if the soap degrades the sealant a little. If a car isn't clean, it won't look good no matter what kind of protection is on it -- carnuba, sealant, or ceramic.

Does a touchless Carwash ruin the coating as well?

EvenPar said:

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Does a touchless Carwash ruin the coating as well?

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Ever looked at the leading edge of a painted general aviation aircraft wing?

If paint peels off in the 150 mph mist flying through clouds, ceramic coating would likely fare much worse.

It's the high Ph chems that are the problem, not the brushes.

Supposed to use PH neutral soap. My M4 is ceramic coated. I LOVE it. One of my favorite things I've done to my car. BMW M4 - get compliments on the color all the time. Coating really helps keep the windshield and wheels clean too.

I just went through this with our families new SUV. We typically hold onto cars for 10+ years, so it has been a long time since I've cared about auto detailing and keeping new paint looking great. I had to do a LOT of research and still had quite the challenge just deciding which ceramic coating to go with. Once I did that, I built my entire detailing system off that coating.

For a brand new vehicle, I got a foam cannon and pre-washed with that, rinsed, chemical iron-remover, powerwash, 2-bucket wash with high-ph prep shampoo, clay bar, decided on no polishing/paint correction because I couldn't see or feel any appreciable defects, coating prep spray, and finally ceramic coating. The coating itself was actually very easy to apply. I coated all smooth plastics, chrome, windows and wheels, too. Very easy application on all. It's the prep that's tedious. The thing is, all the prep is what you should be doing everytime you wax or seal your car anyway. I'm happy knowing that I won't have to go through all that again for a couple of years, minimum. It was absolutely worth it, in my opinion, to learn and do the work myself.

So now we have clear coat protective coatings that require special care to maintain that might just be more tedious than the care of the clear coat that protects the top cost paint?

I have a different car philosophy I suppose: one car is just like all the others of the same model, there's nothing individually special about any of them unless the my have been mechanically modified, they are tools for certain work, and as long as they function as such, appearance is irrelevant. I can admire a new car as a pristine effort of the latest engineering and design and manufacturing, but it is a capitol good meant to be used until it is not functional for the intended purpose, then replaced. Paint exists to inhibit corrosion. It only has to do so for the functional life of the vehicle.

That being said, if you want your car to appear new and be more easily kept clean, the ceramic coatings do seem to work. Time is money, if you want to save time with frequency of washes but intend to do them all yourself by hand anyways, seems like it could save you some time spent washing a vehicle more frequently.

Probably a really dumb question, but is there a way to know if a car has had ceramic coating by previous owner?

I suspect the wife's new-to-us ES350 does, but i dont know that for sure.

Ceramic coatings don't require any more care than a traditional wax

Interesting topic. I wash my car two or three times a year……maybe.

'03ag said:

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Ceramic coatings don't require any more care than a traditional wax

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They require less care.

Mine will get clogged with crap (tree sap, road grime) from being outside 24/7. I'll wash it with a stripping soap and it will be back to beading watering.

I'll


I will occasionally (2x year) use a booster (Adams boost) to refortify the coat. But it's been more 2 years since I did the car and it still holds up.

rme said:

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Interesting topic. I wash my car two or three times a year……maybe.

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That's two to three times more than me.

This whole "car washing" thing is foreign to me.

Yeah, I don't have time to meticulously hand wash my car and rub it dry with a diaper. We bought my wife's Challenger T/A 392 without researching washing it. The flat black decals that cover the entire hood, roof, and stripes on the side can not get wax on them or they'll turn chalky looking. I would have to tape them off to wax the car which would take at least an entire day. Screw that, the car just gets a quick hand wash with a soapy rag and my pressure washer from time to time. I'm more of a function over form guy though.

I live in the country. There is dust on everything, and my driveway is 1/4 mile of dirt and gravel.

I rarely bother, myself. I can see why people do it in urban areas, but it is pointless where I live. People invest to much in vehicles to signal elements of their personality to others and so it's really important to some people to appear new and tidy.

'03ag said:

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Ok first things first this time

What is your car wash regimen?

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If nothing else, I'm glad my experience has brought awareness to the board.

For those not in the know, I had my wife's new van ceramic coated about a month ago. It looks really great, but I learned on here that running it through carwashes will damage it quickly. So now I hand wash it.

If I had done better research going into it, I probably wouldn't have done it considering the price tag (I also probably paid too much. Total impulse thing) and the fact that you have to hand wash.

But, I went out and got all set up with new hand washing equipment and now my 2 year old son can't wait to help me wash the van every weekend. Each time we do it, we do it a little quicker. It's really not the end of the world, and he loves it, so all in all I'm happy.

I can't relate at all to those saying they don't wash their car at all. That would be like not mowing the yard or combing your hair to me.

MouthBQ98 said:

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I live in the country. There is dust on everything, and my driveway is 1/4 mile of dirt and gravel.

I rarely bother, myself. I can see why people do it in urban areas, but it is pointless where I live. People invest to much in vehicles to signal elements of their personality to others and so it's really important to some people to appear new and tidy.

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Or it could be as simple as wanting to keep a car as long as possible without the paint failing. The car I mentioned above is a 2008 kept outside exclusively and with the exception of some rock chips the paint looks as good as it did on dealer's lot.

To me the big value of putting a coat of glass on a car is the paint protection, not the gloss.

Trying this one last time…

How long does it last?
Is there a typical warranty?
Typical cost for application for a car and also for an SUV?

I believe mine is supposed to last 5 years
Not sure about a warranty
$2k on a Honda Odyssey

I drive them to death long before the paint is an issue. My lowest mileage vehicle is about to roll 180,000.

But yeah, I suppose if I had a nice car I wanted to keep in good condition a long time, it would make sense.

EvenPar said:

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Trying this one last time…

How long does it last?
Is there a typical warranty?
Typical cost for application for a car and also for an SUV?

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The detailer we took my mid-sized SUV (Lincoln Aviator) used the professional gtechniq line which I'm pretty sure was crystal serum ultra. It has a 9-year guarantee but I have to take it in for a check annually for the warranty to stay active. They gave me a kit with car wash solution, spot detailer, glass detailer, and tire shine as well. I've washed the car twice and I'm really pleased with the results. Seems like it cost about $2K, but may have been a little less. This was my husband's doing…seemed a bit excessive to me. But I have always preferred hand washing my car anyway, and have had trouble staying ahead of bugs, etc, damaging the paint permanently. So far I am glad we had it done.

It seems like the Fast Finish is discontinued (finished).

I've had mine on my black car for about 3 years now. Still beads water great, and I appreciate it the most after a quick wash pulls out the mirror finish again.

It's not for everyone, but it has gotten a non-touch wash when I couldn't hand wash it, and it still has great results

Streetfighter 02 said:

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It seems like the Fast Finish is discontinued (finished).

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I still have a couple of cans. The stuff works and is super easy to apply. No idea why the killed it.

I'll probably swap over to the new version turtlewax "seal and shine" when I run out.

Seal and shine is almost as easy to use as FF.

EvenPar said:

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Trying this one last time…

How long does it last?
Is there a typical warranty?
Typical cost for application for a car and also for an SUV?

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I did mine my self. Cost me $50 for the coating. I already had everything I needed. It's last 2 years so far. I bought some Add graphene coating to do another car, that was $100.

To get it professionally done? No clue.

It's still available on amazon but at what appears to be twice the normal cost. I ordered a can to see what it's all about.

GTechniq is supposed to last 5-7 years
No Warranty
Paid $1200 for clay bar, polish/paint correction, ceramic coating on an M4 from a mobile detailer who did it all in my garage.

dlp3719 said:

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GTechniq is supposed to last 5-7 years
No Warranty
Paid $1200 for clay bar, polish/paint correction, ceramic coating on an M4 from a mobile detailer who did it all in my garage.

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Different Gtechniq products have varying warranties. The Crystal Serum Ultra (top of the line, must be professionally applied by an accredited dealer) that we got has a 9-year warranty.