So yesterday I polished my new 2024 tundra and installed my very first ceramic coating. Truck was literally a day old so not really any correction needed, basically a nice deep “paint cleaning”. I used a harbour freight rotary, DIY red waffle pad, and DIY spray polish.
I first “met” Yvan on YouTube when he was with optimum, and guest appearing with the rag company. I was intrigued with his “synergistic” methods, use of rotary (they are not scary although I was nervous with a new truck), spray polishes, etc.
if you told me 30 years ago I’d be polishing a new truck with a rotary, and one pad I’d call you crazy.
I still have some optimum products, and p&s iron remover, meguiars hyper wash to use up. And some 3D supersoak.
I did use DIY detail polish, red waffle pad, 8 year coating, AND 3 year coating. The entire truck got an 8 year coating, and then after a 2 hour wait, the entire truck MINUS the roof got eh 3 year stacked on top (DIY had a recent video on stacking). I left the roof with only the 8 year for testing purpose.
i presoaked for 5 minutes with 3D Supersoak. Rinse. ONR prerinse, followed by ONR wash. While still wet with ONR I used iron remover (as a lube) and a clay towel from optimum to do a quick decon. Rinse. I did a 5 minute foam with meguiars hyper wash simply because I had it on hand and want to use it up (I’m a rinseless guy now). A very quick towel dry to remove standing water and we were ready.
I polished as per YVAN protocol. Using the lake country pad washer (absolutely fantastic) I washed the pad after each section pass, and when each panel was complete I wiped off with an ONR dampened towel, followed by a dry towel. (I contemplated wiping with panel prep at the same time to avoid going all the way around the truck again but left that for last, just before the coating)
I absolutely love the rotary now. Red pad was very nice to work with. The polish is great. No dusting, it smells great, and I will never use a conventional polish again. Spray polish. It is the way. Optimum is the only other spray polish I’ve used. Optimum is fine but it smells ‘chemically” whereas DIY is banana-ish. Long working time. I was surprised how little polish I used on a big truck.
I was nervous using a ceramic coating the first time. I can’t compare it to other coatings, but it was a joy to apply. Way easier than a traditional wax or sealant. Certainly faster. I used jescar powerlock in the past. It’s super easy to remove, but diy ceramic doesn’t have to be removed. It just needs to be gently wiped with a short nap, followed by a plush wipe as a back up.
im sold on the ceramic coating. Even if they last only 1 year I’d still use them simply because you more or less apply, and walk away. **I did have to wait 2 hours between the 8, and 3 year**.
the only negitive (it didn’t bother me much but may be a factor to some) is the strong chemical smell. Not sure if it’s exclusive to Diydetail or as I suspect it’s common to coatings.
time will tell if the coatings hold up, and now instead of twice a year polish/wax I will simply “touch up” the coatings with tree sap remover, and an iron remover decon with clay towel. And if I hand wash I’ll use diy ceramic gloss or maybe quick beads.
I was surprised how much coating was left over. I think I’ll have enough to coat my wife’s rav.
Moving forward it’s diy detail for polish and coatings. And I think as I use up my old stock of optimum I will switch over. (Still keeping my optiseal, and optimum car wax as I change my dads winter tires and when I do I give him a “wash, clay, and,wax with optiseal as a drying aid to get home through the winter.)
hopefully I’m able to upload a pic.
*funny story about the rav in the truck reflection. It’s the same year, and color as my wife’s rav. Literally as I finished with the coating some dude (in the rav) pulls into my driveway because he noticed the tundra as he drove by to say “holly crap nice truck man!Is it ever shiny.”I thought it was my wife home from work early and some dude gets out of the driver side. Was freaked out at first. lol.