I apologize if this has been posted before but this guy is spot on giving project farm a serious run for his money
1 year
2.5 years
1 year
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multiple Wax/sealant/ceramic coatings compared in video
- Thread starter Brybo86
- Start date
Thanks for posting it!
If you are only interested in durability and protection (and not appearance), one can buy CQuartz UK 3.0 for <$50....why should one pay $1500-$2K to have this done?
Is that really how much people charge? Yikes.
It seems as though the trickiest part is being careful to not leave extra product that will dry to a hard drip like over applied house paint.
I'm guessing you would clay bar before applying a ceramic coating too.
That is the rate in my area on a passenger car for a 2-step correction and coating the paint, glass and wheels. To do this every 2-4 years is tough to justify, imo.
You need to clay the paint and do a light polish to remove any sealant/wax on the surface.
If you miss a high spot, it will look like this:
The last vehicle I ceramic coated for a customer was a black 2017 Raptor.
He wanted it perfect; polishing his paint and coating the multiple surfaces (paint, painted trim,plastic trim, glass, wheels, and metal) took me almost 15 hours. I charged $1200.
I won't ceramic coat a car without a paint correction. All you're doing is locking in defects.
Further, I won't recommend a ceramic coating unless the customer is interested in maintaining the coating. They still need care.
And when they're damaged, you have to polish them off to get anything else to adhere to the paint.
And when they're damaged, you have to polish them off to get anything else to adhere to the paint.
$1200 is a great price for a truck but this depends on your market.
I agree that ceramic coatings should not be applied without some form of paint correction. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that all existing protection has been removed.
I fundamentally disagree with the premise that paint needs to be perfected in order to apply a ceramic coating. Most owners are not capable, able or interested in maintaining their paint to a high level. These same owners can still benefit from the easier maintenance gained with ceramic coatings. So, "locking in some defects" for 2-4 years is irrelevant to these owners. For these owners, a light one-step polish followed by a coating is a reasonable approach.
I see where you're coming from, but even in this case we only save a few hours of labor for polishing. All other steps must still be taken. If you're going that far, why not all the way?
Going back to your original post, I guess my point is that the cost of a coating isn't just $50 for the coating. Even if you DIY, you're still probably looking at a minimum of $300 in tools and chemicals.
And you still may not get the results you were after, as illustrated by your photo above.
The difference in time can be pretty drastic. A quick enhancement polish with M210 or CarPro Essence can be done in 1.5-3 hours, a full two-step correction to achieve 90%+ defect removal can easily take 10-15 hours depending on the vehicle.
For a DIYer I suppose that a HF DA, some generic pads and a small bottle of polish would add another $100 to the bill, so you're correct that < $50 would not suffice. But I can also see someone doing a "light polish" with a hand polishing applicator and some polish and still achieving enough progress to allow for the coating to adhere.
Wow, thanks for posting.
Very cool, I have my answers, for the general public including me.
NuFinish or Turtle Wax Ice and I am hoping (not in the test) That Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Wax lasts a year.
Any of the 3 above would work for me, I prefer a year long wax but do my cars twice a year anyway.
NuFinish is great except on black plastic, so not worth it to me, except the hood and maybe the roof.
Im hoping the Mequiars Ultimate Wax will hold up because that is what I bought, for some insane reason it seems hard to find Turtle Wax Paste, even in Walmart.
For me personally, I would prefer to wax once or twice a year no matter how long the others last.
Very cool, I have my answers, for the general public including me.
NuFinish or Turtle Wax Ice and I am hoping (not in the test) That Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Wax lasts a year.
Any of the 3 above would work for me, I prefer a year long wax but do my cars twice a year anyway.
NuFinish is great except on black plastic, so not worth it to me, except the hood and maybe the roof.
Im hoping the Mequiars Ultimate Wax will hold up because that is what I bought, for some insane reason it seems hard to find Turtle Wax Paste, even in Walmart.
For me personally, I would prefer to wax once or twice a year no matter how long the others last.
