[starlights]

Originally Posted by EvasiveF87

pro detailer here, get yourself a bottle of gyeon cancoat or optimum glosscoat (known as one of the easiest DIY coatings and the coating I install most frequently for my clients)

If you're not going to polish the car I wouldn't even go for a "true" ceramic coating anyways. You're wasting your time and money. It won't bond properly.
I personally wouldn't recommend mohs to someone doing a first time coating. Nor Carpro. Just my $0.02 after tinkering with these products for years.


Edit / Couple other things

Don't waste your time with a chalky, shitty polish like Meguiars 205. Get a bottle of this instead as it's safe on trim, won't require masking and is super easy to use. You mentioned your car doesn't have a whole lot of heavy defects so this in tandem with a few RUPES Yellow pads is all you need. We're talking a few passes per panel on medium high speed and wiping the polish off. With the condition you described your vehicle to be in there's no reason you should need to spend any more than 60 - 90 minutes polishing.

Secondly, you need a panel wipe before coating. Every coating brand makes one, I usually buy GYEON Prep and call it a day. Panel wipe as you go (after removing the polish) and consider doing one last panel wipe of the entire car at the end.

Third, invest in quality towels if you're going to do this. You need the proper towels to level the coating efficiently. I guarantee you doing this job without the proper towels you are going to introduce a fuck ton of marring and swirlmarks. I've seen it time and time again and it's probably the most overlooked item for people new to detailing. You can spend hours and hours cleaning, correcting etc and the moment you go to apply that ceramic coating with those cheap yellow microfibers you got from costco or that pack from autozone you're ruining all that hard work.

Awesome info, and thanks! I wasn’t aware of the optimum polish but now it’s on my list! I am planning to use the the rag company towels as in link below but please let me know if these aren’t good enough.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NQ593K2/ or these https://www.amazon.com/RAG-COMPANY-P.../dp/B00GXRG4L8

Thanks again!

[Strz.luke]

I used CarPro Cquartz Dlux, a bit more difficult to apple but it lasted me around 9-10 moths. Will probably try something different this time but it did the job pretty good. Used a buch of tunel washers too.

[s_ribs]

Originally Posted by starlights

Awesome info, and thanks! I wasn’t aware of the optimum polish but now it’s on my list! I was planning to use the he rag company towels as in link below but please let me know if these aren’t good enough and I should be looking at different towels.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NQ593K2/

Thanks again!

Those towels will work great!

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by akashyap

I just applied Adams Advanced Graphene coating. It was pretty easy overall the and the protection seems good. I was a bit nervous as I hadnt done it before but happy with the results. Did it a little at a time over the course of about 5 days.

I used this twice, it's great stuff, tons of protection. Very pleased with it. I'm like 2.5 to 3 years deep with it and it's doing awesome still.

Ingot it in a lot that came with everything needed for like $150. Rags, smiceosuede applicators, surface prep spray, even some nitrile gloves. Better than getting nickel and dimes by these other brands that work equally as well.

[starlights]

I decided to go with Adam’s Advance Graphene as well. Three reasons for my change of heart. First, as pointed above it was easier to get everything in one package since Adam’s is available as kit. Second, yesterday Amazon had a sale and I picked up two kits for both cars at $99 for UV kit and $89 for non uv kit. Finally I saw this video that was helpful.

I have already cleaned and clayed the car. Tomorrow will touch up a few small chips on front bumper and over the next couple weekends once th temperature gets to 60, will polish and apply ceramic. Advice in this thread has been awesome, Thank you all!

Btw, there are tons of great videos on the channel above for other brands and myths of ceramic. Enjoy

[starlights]

I just realized that I didn’t post any pictures after ceramic coating that I had done in April. Here they are. Thanks to all who helped me understand the DIY process.

I found a few high spots and some scratches on hood that I will correct in the next few weeks.

[Gravityct]

I've had decent results from CQuartz UK 3.0

[Jesse_M]

+1 Vote for Mohs Evo. Product looks great and has been protecting extremely well after 1 year. Have not noticed any swirls from hand washing. Very simple to apply. I'd also recommend getting their bald wipe towels!

[Three Stents]

[Phillies8008]

I just want to say up front that that guy is fantastic. His reviews are super-thorough and unbiased. Love the channel.

But that voice... All I can think of is Kermit the Frog.

[sprmario]

None of these sprays in the video above are true ceramic coatings. They are spray on wipe off ceramic products that are usually rated at around 6 mos. I’ve used turtle wax ceramic spray and it requires me to redo it after about 6 mos because it starts to fail. Still it is very cheap so it is fine. You can also extend the life with their ceramic detailer.

[JoeyO]

If my vehicle is only three months old, would I need to polish the entire car before applying a ceramic coating? So far my vehicle doesn’t have any swirl marks or scratches. I’ve been very careful in hand washing it to prevent those things.

[wax50]

I started using onyx coatings about a year ago with great results. The 5 year seems to get the best results.

https://onyxcoating.com/?srsltid=Afm...k4LxHNyS7Ov2e8

I follow this up with their graphen coating spray every three months with great results.

I probably have coated 20 plus vehicles with the 5 year in last few months.

Just my thoughts as for fun I do paint correction and coatings on the side.

[T.R.S.]

Originally Posted by Three Stents

Looks like I made a good choice when I picked up the Griot's Garage Ceramic 3-in-1 Wax a month ago on sale at a local NAPA store for < $20 US. Also grabbed their Ceramic Speed Shine Spray Detailer that was on sale there too. My vehicle gets used in the real world, not entered into concours d'elegance, and I have no plans to ever examine every square centimeter of the surface with a loupe. Very happy with the results I got, and easily enough leftover for two more full coatings.

[Phillies8008]

I pretty much love everything Griot's – I have yet to use a product of theirs that I wasn't happy with.

[Three Stents]

Is there any wrong with applying spray ceramic wax after each wash?

[John in VA]

Originally Posted by Three Stents

Is there any wrong with applying spray ceramic wax after each wash?

No, you're just wasting product.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by Three Stents

Is there any wrong with applying spray ceramic wax after each wash?

It's not going to hurt anything, but there's not much point. The ceramic wax is designed to be (somewhat) long-lasting, so putting it on after every wash (assuming you're not going months between washes) is probably overkill. I think you're better off using something like Beadmaker as a drying agent.