New Taco - Wax?

Wrap it.

 

I assume a very light polish once every 3-5 years is ok even on our thin AF paint

 

I put (old style paste) wax on mine one weekend and it made several of the coffee shop conversations. Most of the gents could not believe that I had wasted my time waxing a pickup.

 

The hackneyed phrase “it’s a truck” doesn’t really make any sense to me. Mine cost almost as much as an E class Mercedes and, in any event, I want it looking nice. So what if it’s a truck.

 

Cquartz as soon as you can. Then top with whatever NON-ABRASIVE Lsp you want to use. I like meguires products as they are easy to locate. For right now I'm using the cquartz spray as a Leo and mist it on every month or three

 

Yup, I wouldn't ceramic coat without a light polish. Otherwise you trap in contaminates.

 

Cool

 

I don’t believe you need to polish if you’re okay with the quality of your paint before a ceramic coating. You should do a chemical decontamination of any Iron and if you use a clay bar or clay mitt carefully you can do the mechanical decontamination without marring the paint.

however if you’re paying somebody to apply the coating and the polish is part of the process then it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you discuss with the installer your concerns with thin clear coat and make sure they use a paint thickness gauge before going to town with a rotary wool pad with heavy cutting compound or something.

 

Just got off the phone with him. He doesn’t use a thickness gauge but he assured me the polish is incredibly light only to smooth out imperfections / enhance clarity. He said there’s no paint correction needed (of course) or heavy polish and added a paint depth meter probably wouldn’t even detect the polish. I trust the guy.

 

Sounds like a solid plan. Out of curiosity, do you know what brand of coating he is using?

Also, is he doing the wheels too?

 

He said OE (Owners Pride) for the ceramic coat and then for the front he’s putting Suntek Reaction PPF.

 

Ahh cool, give us feed back on the wrap. Love to see how it looks.

 

Definitely!

 

So my detailer called again .. and he’s telling me that the ceramic part of the vehicle will get a light polish but not the portion in the front that will get the PPF wrap… this is not making sense to me

 

The adhesive in the PPF will fill in any imperfections so it’s kinda pointless to polish anything that’ll be covered.

 

This is why TW. It’s like whack-a-mole truck OCD.

 

All i know is they spent an entire day prepping my truck before they actually did the ceramic glass coating. Can't believe how great it still looks without any washing, and waxing since new.

 

It's all in the prep!

 

Turtlewax Ceramic spray. Apply it every 6 months and it will bead like crazy. It is cheap and easy to apply. Works great on black plastic too and use the money you saved for other farkles...I started with TW Seal and Shine, also a great product.

 

If the truck is new it is not necessary to polish the paint prior to ceramic coat application. On older paint you absolutely want to decontaminate and then polish as whatever scuffing is there is polished away and not sealed in. On new paint this isn't necessary.

You should also decontaminate the paint, and sadly this does include new paint. It is not necessary however.

Your detailer is polishing it because it is recommended on older paint. It is also making him more money. There MAY be a warranty facet as well depending on the ceramic.

It is not necessary to polish under ppf since that is literally a plastic outer coating. It's also not necessary to polish new paint for ceramic coating. That said, it entirely serves no purpose under ppf, it arguably serves one for ceramic. Why he doesn't just do a full polish is beyond me, it's not hardly any more effort.

Your detailer is following the technical directions, and making a few bucks more off it. What he is saying isn't wrong, nor trying to cheat you, he does however make a few more dollars on the deal.

How much are you paying? I have seen it cost a grand or more, I certainly hope that is not the case here