Recommend a "ceramic" coating?

B

beanbag

New member
Hello folks,

Got a new car recently and started reading about these new fangled "ceramic coatings" that are supposed to help prevent small scratches and make the car very easy to wash, as compared to the usual wax or polymer sealant coatings from a decade ago. I saw a long thread by BudgetPlan regarding many products he tried, but the main one he likes (Kamikaze) seems to be out of stock, and my criteria are a bit different anyway. For example:

High priority - resists small scratches
makes car easy to wash
lasts one year

medium priority - not too hard to apply. Car is a daily driver, so I can`t leave it undisturbed for even half a day

low priority - I don`t care too much how good it "looks". I can always add other stuff on top if I really cared.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
The main sticking point with the situation is:

"medium priority - not too hard to apply. Car is a daily driver, so I can`t leave it undisturbed for even half a day"

Ceramics generally need 24 hour, no moisture (including overnight dew) to cure; that`s gonna knock many ceramics outta contention.

Hardness and resulting resistance to scratching is, IMO, one of the most over-hyped aspects of a coating. While it will provide some minor resistance to wash-induced swirling (and in any case, certainly more than a wax or sealant) it`s by no means gonna prevent marring should someone bang/drag their jewelry against the car while opening the door. Where a coating helps indirectly in that case is that the self-cleaning behavior of the good ones mean you wash less often, giving you less of a chance to instill small swirls and scratches.

Given your limitation regarding curing time, the only item I know of that *might* meet your needs would be Gyeon CanCoat, kind of a `coating-lite` product.

Product info for CanCoat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKCC76DIKhE showing application

Product blurb from Autogeek:
"Six months’ worth of protection in about 20 minutes!


GYEON Q2 CanCoat is the quick an easy way to coat your vehicle with protection that will last up to six months. This super-convenient formula yields a glossy shine an insane water beading that you won’t believe is possible with so little effort. GYEON Q2 CanCoat blocks out contaminants and UV rays and the self-cleaning effect helps keep your vehicle cleaner between regular washes.


You may like the idea of a paint coating, but you may be intimidated by the application process. Or maybe you simply don’t have the time to allow your vehicle to cure for 12-24 hours before driving it. GYEON knows that just because you’re busy, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to enjoy extreme water beading and that’s why they developed Q2 CanCoat!


GYEON Q2 CanCoat is the easiest to apply SiO2 coating available. The formula is ready to use and application is as easy—simply spray on and wipe off. In about 20 minutes, you’ll have coated your entire car so you can sit back and enjoy the water beading! GYEON Q2 CanCoat is durable enough to protect against UV rays, harsh chemicals, bird droppings, road salt, and other environmental contaminants, and it increase shine and gloss too!


200 ml"
Click to expand...

If you could leave your car sit I`d recommend 22ple HPC over Kamikaze in your case, based mostly upon this post: https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-...411-messing-coatings-final-3.html#post2126546 which shows that `something` ran down the side of the truck that left a scratch in the soft decal but did not really extend to the paint; pretty much doesn`t show true durability but, in my mind, shows that there is *possibly* resistance to scratching with this product, not that others wouldn`t show the same thing but this is the only concrete evidence I have that I could put my eyes on.

Unfortunately, the application process for 22ple HPC requires a 24hr wait between coats (most ceramics only an hour or two) which is a real logistical PIA if you can`t take vehicle outta service for 2 days at least.

My fondness for coating A or B has nothing to do with resistance to marring `cuz I believe that aspect of coatings to be somewhat minimal; I`m more concerned with:

1. Great Self Cleaning Abilities: Our cars see rain and often get rained on in the morning and then sit outside in the sun in the afternoon; don’t like waterspots. I like clean cars but don’t like cleaning cars.


2. Durability and resistance to environmental contamination like water spots and bird bombs. Don’t wanna have to worry about running home and immediately dealing with removing things that would otherwise etch bare paint. Like hard water spots did to our Corvette during the Zaino years. Also has to last cuz I don’t wanna be hauling out compounds and polishes every Spring, given reasonable maintenance.


3. Appearance: Well, stuff has to look good. Has to accentuate body lines, curves and hard edges. It needs to make me stop and admire it when walking towards it, walking away from it or catching a glance in the garage when I take out the garbage.

I like Kamikaze because of the amazing self cleaning properties and the way the different products (Miyabi, ISM, Infinity Wax and Overcoat) produce a distinct look, a combination of gloss, depth, warmth and polarizing effects on metallic`s that is pleasing to *me*, something other might not even notice but it makes me happy when I look at it. 22ple HPC is very, very close to Kamikaze in terms of self cleaning and always looking good.

The need to keep your car in service kinda takes this outta the realm of my experiences (heck, sometimes it takes me a week to finish a vehicle) so perhaps other folks with more knowledge can offer better solutions as my scope is pretty limited outside of slathering ceramics on vehicles and making totally subjective judgments based upon wholly unscientific criteria.

Mr. Lamberts suggestion above will carry much more actual experience behind it; while Polish Angel has tempted me many times, I have yet to dive in, and he has far more experience with these types of thing on a higher level; strictly amateur hour over here B)
 
Try McKee`s 37 Paint Coating. My vehicles sit outside 24/7 and I had no issues with with application.
 
Gyeon Can Coat made it 10 months on my daily driver on all the panels. Lower panels failed at 10 months. Upper and horizontal panels made it 14 months. Disclaimer my car is garaged at night and weekends.
 
I would second Gyeon CanCoat. Maintain it with Gyeon Cure and you can easily make it to 1 year or close to it. CanCoat still needs 24 hours to fully cure. Should still be fine after a few hours. I will toss in Sonax CC36 in as well for a 1 year coating.


Whichever coating you go with be sure to properly prep the surface.
 
Regarding: "medium priority - not too hard to apply. Car is a daily driver, so I can`t leave it undisturbed for even half a day"

You might try a coating where the application is sealant-like. Maybe Dr. Beasley`s Plasma Coat. Mary has some of this and I`ve been anticipating her opinions on it. Without a garage and EXCELLENT LIGHTING, I would never try a straight-up coating. But that`s me.

Coming from a total novice with coatings and just a few hours of experience with them: I find them hard to "see", such as where you`ve been and if the application is "taking" or if your applicator has dried out and you need more product, etc. Secondly, to knock down high spots, you need kick-butt lighting and you need to inspect from all angles, etc. It`s not rocket science, in fact it`s not even that hard to do, but without a controlled environment (lighting, wind, debris, interruptions), mmmmmm, I`d look for a garage to borrow (and some lights).
 
Excellent suggestion of Dr. Beasley plasma coat! Forgot about that, cures fast and is easy to apply and on my wheels it has lasted 3 months.
 
WaxAddict said:
You might try a coating where the application is sealant-like. Maybe Dr. Beasley`s Plasma Coat. Mary has some of this and I`ve been anticipating her opinions on it. Without a garage and EXCELLENT LIGHTING, I would never try a straight-up coating. But that`s me.

Coming from a total novice with coatings and just a few hours of experience with them: I find them hard to "see", such as where you`ve been and if the application is "taking" or if your applicator has dried out and you need more product, etc. Secondly, to knock down high spots, you need kick-butt lighting and you need to inspect from all angles, etc. It`s not rocket science, in fact it`s not even that hard to do, but without a controlled environment (lighting, wind, debris, interruptions), mmmmmm, I`d look for a garage to borrow (and some lights).
Click to expand...

Great points all around.

My daily drivers are routinely used, but I`ve found I can typically at least let them sit in the garage for 12-ish hours. I`ll finish the work late in the evening and wont drive the car until the next day. I`ll also try to plan around the weather such that if I do drive it before a 24-hour period ends, the car will only see sunlight and be moisture free.

Lighting is a killer too. I haven`t applied a coating since I upgraded the lights in my garage and I`m really looking forward to it. My first attempts were with pretty awful lighting, but I was fortunate the McKee`s 37 coating doesn`t cure too quickly and I was able to back the car out into the natural light of my driveway and buff out all the highspots I missed due to bad lighting.
 
You sound like a good fit for gyeon can coat topped with cure or tec system moonlight. The moonlight has super high silica content for a quick application product and deliebers nice results, one bottle goes a long ass way
 
To the OP, here`s my suggestion. You say it`s your daily driver, so you need it every day. Understood, but that seems to be placing a huge limitation on choices for (better) coatings. Why not rent an inexpensive car for a day or two and get a whole lot more choices to use?
 
Yeah, the thing is that I only have outdoors covered parking, which means that the car will probably get some dew on it in the early morning.

If something only has a 12 hour "cure", then I guess I could apply it in the morning and let it cure throughout the day.

ok ok, maybe I can "borrow" my brother`s garage and car for a day if I really need to.

But if the Beasley Plasma coat is only slightly worse (in terms of small scratch resistance and ease of future washing), then I`d rather go with that. Can`t really find any long term reviews of it, though.
 
Definitely give CanCoat a go. I spoke with Jeff from Gyeon and he mentioned that one could apply 2 coats 1 hour apart and that because it dries faster than their coatings that it can be topped with Cure a few hours later.

One other option is to go with Optimum Gloss Coat. It still requires a 24 hour window but it can get 1 hour after application. It is common practice to use Opti-Seal 1 hour after applying Gloss Coat to protect it during the 7 day curing window. Also Gloss Coat only needs one coat.
 
I went with Garry Dean`s Infinite Forcefield (acrylic coating) for my new Golf R earlier this week. Obviously, I can`t say anything about durability at this point, but it`s worth pointing out that it has much fast cure time than most ceramic or glass coatings. It was pretty easy to install, although I did leave some high spots I`ll need to polish later, and while it went on a bit dull, it glossed up nicely after about half an hour.
 
Maybe go with something that has a topper which will help protect the ceramic coat during the cure time. In any case, a few hours of garage time would be helpful.
 
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