Kamikaze Ceramic Coat

I have used Carpro products with good results, but Kamikaze ISM is a superior product.
I first decon the Tacoma after washing with trix iron and tar remover, the purple is the iron deposits. I then used the speed clay 2.0 from Mothers, did paint correction with Sonax perfect finish, wiped down with Carpro eraser. I installed the ISM coat and did all the black trim, it turned out great.

 

You truck looks great, but I have a question. What makes this product "superior" to others?

 

I like it better than Cquartz UK, I’ve used it on three other vehicles including my RV.
ISM takes less product and goes on smooth, removal is easier and better gloss and depth.
They make a product called Overcoat to use every three to four washes, similar to Reload.
Also very slick finish, Cquartz with Gliss is slick but with ISM you only need it.
I think the durability will be longer, just my opinion though...

 

That sounds good to me. My big criteria is longevity. Most of the ceramics I've played with have silly good gloss. Most are reasonably easy to apply, level and remove. Most bead water like crazy. A few seem to last as long as advertised. I may have to try this stuff - after I exhaust my stash of other products.

 

I think you'll like it, should last two-three years...
There is another one Kamikaze Zipang Coat says up to five years of durability, but a lot more costly.

 

The problem I have with any of the manufacturers claims of longevity is that it takes a long time to verify them. One could say that this is a great problem to have, but I don't want to buy every new product that comes out with a claim of longer life than the product I just applied.

 

Thing is Carpro, Kamikaze and others have all been around many years now so their claims should be easy to find. Not sure if Kamikaze is like Polish Angel, the user paid 3-5x more than other products so is that what makes people say it's the best they've used. I think durability is the one attribute people focus on the most but is it the most important. I know the claim with Kamikaze is that it's the easiest to work with (same said about Polish Angel) but everybody says that about all the coatings now. Cool thing is that now that the already tiny niche market of detailing all the brands are coming up with easier and easier product to work with. Like OP here, i've seen many people say the same thing about Kamikaze though.

Now lets just get on with the graphene as it's soon to be the latest greatest. Just as all the traditional brands are flooding the market with their ceramic stuff like it hasn't already been around for years now.

 

So far it’s superior based upon application. Carpro along with a few others (Optimum, GTechniq) I have tried are all relatively easy to apply and remove. As the others, mentioned durability is the real measurement. Keep us posted, always on look out for something else to try.

 

I will, also it was not grabby on removal like Cquartz can be sometime.

 

cool. I didn’t notice Cquartz being grabby. I would assume temp and humidity affects that.

 

I used UK and UK 3.0, but I may have left it on a little too long... seems like the 3.0 did better though.

 

I only have experience with 2.0 as they came out with 3.0 like a month after I purchased.

 

I've heard good things about Kamikaze coatings, but I'm interested on the long-term results. Truck looks great!

 

Thanks, I’ll keep up to date with it...

 

There's way too much involved with ceramic coatings to truly say which one is the best?

And also, you gotta ask yourself what you value the most in a coating? Is it gloss level, durability, sheeting vs. beading, chemical resistance, ease of application, ease of removal (when time comes to strip it off the paint and do a new install)?

I've been in the game way before ceramic coatings even existed. One of the first players I remember was Opti-Coat. We were one of the first in the Chicago area to be certified installers, met their team a few times at SEMA, etc. CQuartz was also one of the biggest names around when they started, we're still one of the few CQ Pro/Reserve shops in Chicago. So much has changed in the last ten years, now everybody and their grandma has a ceramic coating. We no longer use OC because we've found far easier products to work with that deliver similar or better results.

You have to be honest with yourself and your customers when you sell this stuff because as you've noticed, MANY companies are making crazy claims and sadly alot of the claims are simply not true. For example, back in the day, Opti-Coat (Pro) came with a lifetime warranty, but as time passed and more and more installers had customers complain of diminished beading/sheeting characteristics, they had to change their warranty to only 5 years (which is still far fetched IMO).

I've seen companies claim coatings will prevent swirl marks, bird shit etchings, hard water spots, etc. and it's all a joke at the end of the day... you can and will still get all those things, maybe in smaller quantities if you're careful enough with the post-maintenance, but these coatings are not bullet proof. They can minimize damage make washing/drying easier, but not prevent damage altogether.

We even worked with a local coating producer "Feynlab" in their earlier days and tested all their stuff, and had their rep do a few installs and demos for us about their so-called "self-healing" coatings, and lets just say technology is not there yet to make that a reality. If you want self healing, your only true option right now is self-healing PPF which is a different and much more expensive product.

Also, alot of companies pride themselves how, once their coating is installed, it becomes super difficult to remove in case you need to do a spot repair, etc.

Gtechniq Crystal Cerum comes to mind because they claim that coating needs to be sanded (pretty aggressively) to be removed and I am not doubting that, because it's one of the most pure ceramic coatings available. But you gotta ask yourself, why is that even a good thing? Why do you want to install something on your car that would require sanding to be removed? It's not recommended to sand already-thin OEM paints, and there are very few people that can do it correctly. Applying a coating that will need sanding is just asking for trouble down the line, the risk of sanding off paint is very high. For example, Crystal Cerum has a 10 year warranty (last I checked). Let's say you get your car detailed and coated and 3 years down the line it starts to lose its luster, gets contaminated, swirled, etc. it now needs a detail and coating-reapplication to look new again even though the old coating might still be on there, it's taken years of beating through car washes, owner neglect, so on and so forth, it's just how life is. With most of the coatings, a detail shop would just do a standard process of decon and light-to-heavy polishing to easily strip the old coating off and apply a new coat. Imagine they have to sand Crystal Cerum off completely before reapplying.... that's a terrifying scenario because even if they're experts at sanding, the amount of compounding required to really remove all sanding marks would result in a ton of paint being removed off your car. All for what? What good is a 10-year non-self healing coating if most people can't keep their cars swirl free for more than a couple of years (daily drivers, soft paint, darker colors, etc.). I see no point in that.

 

Very well said!! I have been following coating brands/technology for a couple years now and have noticed what you are saying. I sometimes wonder if a coating is even worth the trouble sometimes. At this time I haven't considered a coating because I do not have garage for proper application or cure time. I currently have stuck with sealants (Jescar Powerlock) as they last about a year for me, I top with ADG Wipeout/Valor 50/50 at every wash or as a waterless if it's not very dirty. I am keeping an eye on the technology and products that are consumer grade that don't require specific training and/or dealer network type subscriptions just to be able to purchase.

What would you recommend for an "over the shelf" coating for the midwest (Iowa) once I have my garage available (6m months hopefully)?

 

You can use Optimum Gloss Coat now. I have used it on several vehicles with no garage.

 

22PLE HPC. By far my favorite coating. I’ve seen it last well over 3 years. Super easy to apply, can’t really mess anything up. Apply to a few panels, wait 5-10 minutes (at most), it will haze up like a paste wax, then wipe it off just like a wax.

 

Realistically what is the life of the coating that you have noticed? I'm wondering if it will be significantly better than Jescar Powerlock. I have used OPT Opti-Seal and thought it was just ok, though it has been a while since I've tried it.

 

That stuff looks very nice! Reasonably priced as well which is always nice. Do you find it necessary or helpful to us their specific "Final Coat" compared to other top coats or maintenance coats?