Semi-Permanent Paint/Exterior Protection

[V8Power]

After hearing about semi-permanently protecting the exterior surfaces with a 'nano ceramic' coating from our dealer and a car enthusiast friend, I was intrigued and researched this quite a bit. Last weekend, I went ahead and coated the paint, wheels, trim, chrome & lenses on our 2 Clarities with CQuartz UK 3.0, SiO2 quartz coating. It took about a full day or so per car of labour but we are thrilled with the results and thought I'd share what it is like in case others would like to do similar while your cars are still relatively new. Outsourcing this job was too expensive for us so it was DIY. I figured this is worth it to make washes easier, minimize repeat polishing / waxing and maximize the cars' shiny new appearance. The dirt & dust mostly just rinses away.

Here's the before/after video:


The car went through:
1. Hand wash with Autoglym ph neutral
2. Decontamination with CarPro Iron X
3. Spot claying with Mother's speed clay 2.0 only where Iron X revealed iron deposits
4. Polish with CarPro Essence Coating Primer with 8" orbital
5. Coat paint, wheels, black & chrome trim, lenses with CarPro CQuartz UK 3.0.
6. Windows coated with Rain-X, use Rain-X washer fluid

In the future, I will freshen it up annually with CarPro Reload, a spray on / wipe off low concentration treatment to maintain the awesome hydrophobic properties!

 

[Heino]

This process is a lot of work, but I know many people swear by ceramic coatings.

I may give this a shot as well...

 

[V8Power]

Today, the coated car saw its first rain. It beads up and rolls away like this under very light rain. Cool pattern and mezmerizing to see various beads spontaneously roll off! I've never seen anything like this before.

 

[Omgswify]

I've ceramic coated every car I've owned and really dig the water beading whenever I wash my car. My only gripe is that it doesn't protect against rock chips. And it doesn't help that I've already found 2 on my bumper since I drive on the highway daily. Paint protection film is expensive but if I could I redo it I would do the front and just ceramic coat the rest of the car.

BTW, they recommend using soap safe for protective coating if you guy's hand wash your cars so I went digging on eshine.ca and found a few good options.

CarPro Reset wash is safe for any ceramic coating. It's perfect for two-bucket wash method. Gyeon Foam soap is also safe for any ceramic coating, if you use a foam cannon to wash your car.

After washing, I follow up with Chemical Guys Carbon Flex Vitalize Spray for whatever dirt didn't wash off. Along with any other blemishes on the paint. It's also safe for protective coatings.

I was told by a few car detailers that automatic touchless car washes are bad for the coating so I'm still thinking of a way of washing the car during the winter without it.

 

[V8Power]

Thanks for the tips!