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Although not an F150, I had my trucks little brother, My 2016 Mustang GT Premium paint corrected and ceramic coated. It was done at Venomous Works, A Croftgate professional shop, in Yorktown, Virginia. I was blown away. The Ruby red paint literally glows. It is flawless! They will be doing the paint correction on my 2015 F150, but probably next spring. I still have not decided whether to get it ceramic coated or not.
Im curious how much deeper the ignot silver would look. Thinking about it
I did my ingot silver with Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light. It's the third car I've done and so far I like it a lot - but can't testify to longevity yet. It does make it glossier, but I would not say that the color is any deeper.
A couple of things I'm not sure of with the ceramic coatings and others more knowledgeable might know:
1) If paint correction is not as complete as it should be, would the ceramic coating make it look worse, or just make the underlying problem extremely difficult to correct later? (I did a lot of prep, but not nearly as much as some. It all looks good to me, but my old eyes might not see the flaws.)
2) If the coating lasts for 5 years or so, am I back to bare paint? In other words, does the coating wear off like wax, or does it just lose its gloss?
A couple of things I'm not sure of with the ceramic coatings and others more knowledgeable might know:
1) If paint correction is not as complete as it should be, would the ceramic coating make it look worse, or just make the underlying problem extremely difficult to correct later? (I did a lot of prep, but not nearly as much as some. It all looks good to me, but my old eyes might not see the flaws.)
2) If the coating lasts for 5 years or so, am I back to bare paint? In other words, does the coating wear off like wax, or does it just lose its gloss?
No ceramic is permanent, the pro quality chemicals last longer and they all perform better if they are properly maintained.
They all can be removed mechanically and when it’s time to touch them up that is the best prep.
Some coatings loose hydrophobic and gloss characteristics a long time before the protection is lost.
Like anything paint related it’s all in the prep work but there is nothing “wrong” with not investing 30hours in prep as long as you understand the outcome.
My truck took 15 hours to correct and it’s not show perfect but better than most and it’s easier to wash so the likelihood of adding more scratches is reduced, and that’s really the goal for me with black vehicles.
My regime is consumer coating after polishing and maintain with Ceramic friendly products like Carpro Reset. This has done well for me.
A couple of things I'm not sure of with the ceramic coatings and others more knowledgeable might know:
1) If paint correction is not as complete as it should be, would the ceramic coating make it look worse, or just make the underlying problem extremely difficult to correct later? (I did a lot of prep, but not nearly as much as some. It all looks good to me, but my old eyes might not see the flaws.)
2) If the coating lasts for 5 years or so, am I back to bare paint? In other words, does the coating wear off like wax, or does it just lose its gloss?
1) It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get paint completely corrected. Basically once the coating is applied, whatever condition your paint is in, it will just remain that way until the coating wears off, or if it is buffed off with a DA polisher. Just get the paint corrected to the point that you are satisfied with, and then apply the coating. It won't make anything look worse, it would however just be more difficult to correct later because you would have to get the coating off to correct it.
2) If it lasts 5 years, then you would be back to your bare clearcoat. You could then do any corrections you may want to do and re-apply the coating. Just remember that because a coating claims it lasts 5 years, it rarely lasts that long. In order to get it to last that long, you need to do proper maintenance on it. Proper maintenance would be washing it regularly (like weekly) and coatings usually recommend a maintenance coating that you would quickly apply every 6 washes or so. For example, Gyeon brand coatings recommend you use their product called "Gyeon Cure". It is a maintenance coating you basically wipe on with a microfiber towel every 6 washes.
CarPro Reset is a wash that was formulated to work with CarPro CQuartz coatings, and CarPro Reload is used to extend the properties of the CQuartz as it contains a small amount of what makes the ceramic work in it and recharges what was lost to help extend the life of the coating. No matter what brand Ceramic, or whether it is Pro grade or Consumer grade, they all wear off over time. Many of the top coatings have some sort of spray solution to rejuvenate the coatings, so they last longer, and some of the pro coatings require a retreat after so many years in order to maintain the warranty.
Once the coating loses the Hydrophobic properties, it is pretty much done for. It is still there, but broken down to where crap can stick and dull the finish, at which point it is time to buff the paint smooth and reapply. Any marks left in the paint will be buried when applied, so if you didn't get swirls or scratches out first, you wont later without some serious buffing. If for some reason you don't get the coating buffed off completely before it cures, then it will need to be removed with mechanical buffing, so make sure you stay ahead of the flash so that you don't have high spots.
11-20-2018, 06:37 PM
