[NeverEnough]

My PITA to maintain black Hellcat is going to need another round of my buffer after winter is over. I'm wondering if any of these do-it-yourself ceramic coatings are 1) worth using and 2) a big PITA to do properly.

Anyone have any insight for me please?

 

[Mattm400]

I did mine myself when car was new. I used Avalon King & love it. I've done 3 of my own vehicles when new, so not much was needed as far as paint correction. It was easy & has excellent results. I highly recommend doing this.

 

[NeverEnough]

I did mine myself when car was new. I used Avalon King & love it. I've done 3 of my own vehicles when new, so not much was needed as far as paint correction. It was easy & has excellent results. I highly recommend doing this.

Wonder what the process is for mine. Maybe I get lucky and just the usual clay bar, polish out the swirls, then apply the ceramic?

 

[Mattm400]

That's about it. You'll need to wipe car with alcohol after your other work, then apply ceramic.

 

[NeverEnough]

That's about it. You'll need to wipe car with alcohol after your other work, then apply ceramic.

That's not bad at all. I was expecting a huge PITA drawn out process

 

[Turd McGavin]

I did mine with the avalon king. Pain in the arse and super simple to do all at the same time. Even though my car was brand new, is in right home from the dealer, I still did a full paint correction. Clay bar (i was shocked how much garbage came out of it), compound, polish, dawn dish soap wash, rubbing alcohol wipe down

 

[NeverEnough]

I did mine with the avalon king. Pain in the arse and super simple to do all at the same time. Even though my car was brand new, is in right home from the dealer, I still did a full paint correction. Clay bar (i was shocked how much garbage came out of it), compound, polish, dawn dish soap wash, rubbing alcohol wipe down

Did you guys also use their
Essential: IPA Preparation Spray and/or Aftercare: Ceramic Topper/Boost Spray or are they not needed?

 

[Mattm400]

I got the boost spray last fall but haven't tried it yet. The Redeye has been parked & I'm waiting for a good warm day to clean up my others.

 

[saagz87]

Yes you want the prep spray and aftercare topper.

I have done quite a few over the years. Usually used CQuartz. If you daily drive it year round and have to use automated touchless washes it will wear off in under two years. If your car only sees nice weather and you wash it with soap that isn’t too harsh on the coating, it will likely last close to 5 years. My black Hellcat still beaded water and paint was perfect after 5 years on two original coats of CQuartz. My wife’s SRT Durango that saw the elements and touchless washes over winters, it was almost all gone after two years. Used the same product, same application method.

Biggest thing is don’t let it dry at all between application and removal. Seen a few buddies make the mistake and it took so many hours to get the product back off the paint.

I have no experience with Avalon king but most of these products are similar in composition. CQuartz is not very fun to put on and get back off in my experience. Avalon king stuff I have seen on YouTube make it look much easier to be honest. But being your car is black, prep will likely take the longest if you want it to look perfect. Hope that helped a little

 

[Turd McGavin]

Did you guys also use their
Essential: IPA Preparation Spray and/or Aftercare: Ceramic Topper/Boost Spray or are they not needed?

no on the prep spray and no on the booster spray. However I am by now means an expert. I feel the prep spray can be skipped as really the only thing you are attempting to is remove any wax or oil. Dawn dish soap can do that, or a grease and wax remover solvent for painting prep. And i'm not sure what this booster spray is all about, so I can't give an opinion

 

[saagz87]

no on the prep spray and no on the booster spray. However I am by now means an expert. I feel the prep spray can be skipped as really the only thing you are attempting to is remove any wax or oil. Dawn dish soap can do that, or a grease and wax remover solvent for painting prep. And i'm not sure what this booster spray is all about, so I can't give an opinion

You want to wash it with dawn dish soap, do your prep work, then use the prep spray right before you coat. Sure you can use a more generic product, but if your gonna commit the time to this what are you trying to save? $10?

And the aftercare/booster is more important than you might think. You apply this after the initial cure time to be sure your keeping water off the ceramic base coating you laid down until full cure time is done. I know as time has gone on this step has become less important as the ceramic coatings have gotten better. But there are horror stories of people that got the car wet in the first few days and it water spotted/etched into the ceramic coating. The companies claiming this boosts the ceramic protection I don’t really buy into but it does add a temporary/sacrificial layer. My issue is most want to do the coating to ease cleaning, not add more work. I haven’t ceramic coated my last few vehicles and they honestly look just as good as the ones I coated and I don’t spend any more time washing or polishing them. I suppose it depends how you look after your paint. But this stuff doesn’t work any miracles even though you hear people
Say a simple garden hose will make your car sparkle better than new once it’s applied. Maybe for the first few months it will if you don’t put many miles on…

 

[Turd McGavin]

You want to wash it with dawn dish soap, do your prep work, then use the prep spray right before you coat. Sure you can use a more generic product, but if your gonna commit the time to this what are you trying to save? $10?

And the aftercare/booster is more important than you might think. You apply this after the initial cure time to be sure your keeping water off the ceramic base coating you laid down until full cure time is done. I know as time has gone on this step has become less important as the ceramic coatings have gotten better. But there are horror stories of people that got the car wet in the first few days and it water spotted/etched into the ceramic coating. The companies claiming this boosts the ceramic protection I don’t really buy into but it does add a temporary/sacrificial layer. My issue is most want to do the coating to ease cleaning, not add more work. I haven’t ceramic coated my last few vehicles and they honestly look just as good as the ones I coated and I don’t spend any more time washing or polishing them. I suppose it depends how you look after your paint. But this stuff doesn’t work any miracles even though you hear people
Say a simple garden hose will make your car sparkle better than new once it’s applied. Maybe for the first few months it will if you don’t put many miles on…

My car will have seen 5 months before water could even see it...I dont think the booster would do anything for me.

 

[saagz87]

My car will have seen 5 months before water could even see it...I dont think the booster would do anything for me.

Nope not for the initial reason of keeping water off the coating. Let us know how yours holds up as time goes on. Winter time is what killed the coating on all my daily drivers.

 

[Turd McGavin]

Nope not for the initial reason of keeping water off the coating. Let us know how yours holds up as time goes on. Winter time is what killed the coating on all my daily drivers.

It would be tough to say how it holds up or even predict how it would hold up....mines a fair weather car for sure that spends 98% in a garage. My thinking is if the booster was needed they should have made this a two step process. I'm not against using it, I just didn't. I'm not 100% sold on these coating, but it was worth a shot to give it a try. In the end I'm out a days worth of work and a few hundred dollars...not terrible if you ask me

 

[saagz87]

I agree totally. For your application the coating is worth the time, money, and effort. This is especially true for a black car if you aren’t super careful with washing and don’t want swirls

I think you will be happy. I just wanted the OP to know if his car is a DD, this isn’t maintenance free like some lead you to believe. At least not in my experience. If you add the booster coating every couple months it will seem worth it, but if your doing that kind of maintenance on your paint the hard work of initial application is hardly worth it

 

[BigBuckeye]

I did mine myself when car was new. I used Avalon King & love it. I've done 3 of my own vehicles when new, so not much was needed as far as paint correction. It was easy & has excellent results. I highly recommend doing this.

I like to detail my car a lot using spray waxes….how does that work with a ceramic coating? Does it wear off? Do you have to reapply often?

 

[Turd McGavin]

I like to detail my car a lot using spray waxes….how does that work with a ceramic coating? Does it wear off? Do you have to reapply often?

I know you do not want to use any wax with a ceramic coating, you are defeating the purpose of the coating by using the wax. Use one or the other, not both

 

[Turd McGavin]

I agree totally. For your application the coating is worth the time, money, and effort. This is especially true for a black car if you aren’t super careful with washing and don’t want swirls

I think you will be happy. I just wanted the OP to know if his car is a DD, this isn’t maintenance free like some lead you to believe. At least not in my experience. If you add the booster coating every couple months it will seem worth it, but if your doing that kind of maintenance on your paint the hard work of initial application is hardly worth it

I don't buy into any "miracle" products...but this stuff has been out for a while now and to me it was worth a shot. In reality I only waxed my fun cars once a year...it was all that was ever needed. Now with that being said, I hope this coating can live up to its name. And I did everything on the car, under the hood, door jams, trunk surround, glass, wheels and calipers. I figured if I was out there I might as well do the whole thing. IF it needs an application of a booster every now and then, then that's what it gets. If I don't like how this product works, I strip it, and go back to waxing

 

[Vet Rider]

Its called wax. Its $20 a bottle and you can reapply it once a year...

 

[OKSS]

The prep work prior to applying the coating is what makes/breaks the entire process. For the most part, applying the coating is fairly straightforward, it's getting the water spots, swirls, etc. out of the paint before applying the coat that takes some work. After having a ceramic applied, I wouldn't do anything to the car other than using a quality detail spray and a good microfiber. Anything that touches your cars paint when it's dry does damage, albeit minor or maybe unnoticeable. It's also best to look at the car under good quality LED lighting and at different angles when looking for imperfections.

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