Ceramic Pro Coating

Worth it or no? Looks to be in the $1500 range out here.

 

no.

 

Care to explain what your asking?

 

OP is asking if that paint sealer is worth the $1500 it costs to apply it to your vehicle.

I have no idea, I know of no one who has had it done.

 

Spoke to a member here who highly recommended it. I'm having my truck done this weekend. As far as the price goes, yes it is a little high, but I don't think it's unrealistically high. I have swirls on my passenger side 2 doors. And all along my driver side from the factory and Toyota attempting to correct imperfections. I was quoted over 1k just for paint correction. So the price I'm paying for the coating includes paint correction. I see it as a good deal as they correct the paint on the entire vehicle. Just my two cents.

 

Where is out here? To answer the question simply... Yes. It is a great protectant and the cost is a wash if you're planning on keeping the vehicle for a long time.

Ceramic makes the maintence of your paint so much easier and you only have to re apply the exterior coating once a year for a minimal cost.

Care to elaborate on your opinion? I'm sure the OP would love to hear from both sides. I have worked with the stuff before and it's great. There are a few reasons the application is so pricey but it's mainly labor. You basically do a full paint correction before application so there are a lot of labor hours.

 

How does ceramic pro do against pin-striping

 

Thanks for the responses!
What kind of maintenance is involved after application? You mentioned re-application once a year?

 

No. Look out for anything worded 'coating'. They are snake oil. I know because I spend $1600 for mine. Trust me. Not worth it. Use that money for 3M or XPEL films rather. They require maintenance. The company makes another product that you need to apply when you wash your vehicle, and yes re-application. It's stupid. The warranty of the product is void if you don't maintain the vehicle as as suggest, which is a complete bullshit.

 

Well, not all products are created equally so if you're talking about a specific one, then my knowledge is limited.

The stuff I worked with required two coats. The base coat, and an exterior coat. You re apply the exterior coat once a year in order to maintain the base and protect the paint. I will get back to you with the exact product to mitigate any confusion.

As I previously stated, all products are not created equal so you have to take that into consideration. The business I worked for had to try many different types of Ceramics before finding one that worked the best and held up their claims. I'm not sure of the product required when you washed your car, the stuff I have experience with could not be chemically removed.

 

I was told the same, but I could not even say my truck has any protection since it's something I could neither see nor test its present. I just have to take their word for it's application. They say it's applied. Like some magic juju on my trucks paint protecting it. In the beginning, my first few washes my truck was hydrophobic and the droplets would run down on its own and I never had to use a microfiber cloth to wipe it dry. Nothing would stick to it which was nice and i earned some confidence. But that effect wore off in a few months (<3). I think the product was called Opticoat Pro or something like that. I was expecting it to be some kind-of film like the 3M or something when I paid for it as I had it factored into the cost of buying my truck. I dropped it off there (it was a friends business) the same day I got my new truck. After I got my truck back, I felt like an idiot. Lessons learned i guess. Now my truck is like any other vehicle on the road. Dirty when it gets dirty. When you wash, you wipe it down and the rest. 1 year old this July.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CarPro-cQua...626380&hash=item1c89258e2e:g:CWAAAOSws5pZM3QG

My buddy just put this on his new Grand Cherokee. He's had it on for a couple months and loves it. Took him about 5 hours to do it himself. I'll probably do the same

 

http://gtechniq.com/about-gtechniq/crystal-serum/

This is a general link to the product I worked with.

 

in the car circle that I hang with they pretty much do the ceramic coatings on their 911's etc and it's amazing the the shine and low level of maintenance once it's applied.

 

I got this done on my previous 2016 Tacoma with G Techniq, my local detailer said it's good for 2 years.

1500 seems high though
I got mine done for $450 with paint correction

And my brother paid $750 for a 5 year double ceramic coating with paint correction on his Camaro SS 1LE

 

I just got this done maybe a month ago or so. 2 coats of ceramic pro and plus got all my Windows done. Extremely hydrophobic to water and dirt comes off with effortlessly. Do your research because who applies it has to do a full paint correct where your paint is flawless before they apply the coat then they have to cure the coating over a few days. This is why it's so expensive and I got mine done for 700.

In all honestly it's worth it if your a detail freak like me, but most importantly I would only get this done if you know how to PROPERLY maintain the coating, actuallly know how to wash a car/truck properly, and most importantly you have TIME to do so.

I'm talking about 3 bucket method; 1 bucket dedicated for wheels/tires with grit guard as shown below (basically all tools to clean wheels never touch your paint),

1 bucket for soap with grit guard, and 1 bucket with grit guard just water. 1 wash mit dedicated for the top half portion of the truck, 1 wash mit dedicated to the bottom half. I'm not gonna go over my steps on how to wash it. There is YouTube for that, I watch ammonyc, chemical guys, etc there's plenty of them out there.

If you have a foam gun great, foam cannon even BETTER!! I basically just power wash it weekly and wash it by hand biweekly.

Never dry it by hand or dry in the sun!!!
Get your leaf blower and blow dry it, its faster and easier, the less you touch your paint the better. I'm now able to wash my truck in half the time or faster.

You do have to change the products you use:
Basic Detail sprays basically get thrown away, car soap with waxes and all that other crap they put in is thrown out as it will take away from the hydrophobic properties.

Products I use:
- Meguiars hyper wash soap (recommended for ceramic coats)
-carpro reset shampoo ( haven't used yet but they say use to use it every 3-4 months or so)
- I have carpro reload and Gtechniq c2v3 seeing which works best as a detail sealant spray.

Sorry for the long post, but if your serious about it, I hoped this helped. If you got the time and money to do it, you won't regret it.

 

I did all this except a wihout few things from your list.

I got tired of it and became a detail freak which caused me to be OCD and super upset when I saw a new scratch or chip.

I won't be getting it done on my new 2017 Tacoma because I don't want to be OCD with the paint lol
Don't get me wrong I still want to take care of it and will wax it myself but I don't want to dwell over every little detail.
It's my daily so scratches and chips are going to be inevitable whether it's my fault or someone else tossing up rocks on the highway.

That being said, ceramic coating did make it look super shiny and also made it very easy to wash. Bugs would easily come off, no mitt required.

 

The OCD came from a line of owning black cars and you really don't know how to wash a car until you own black car imo. This is my daily driver as well.

If anything washing a car is more therapeutic than just a chore to do for me at least.

 

Black is a career.

 

Perhaps you should apply a good wax a couple times a year.