When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
A ceramic coating is absolutey worth it. Starting with a new truck, minimal paint correction is needed. Unless your dealer "detailed" it before delivery. If thats the case. You most likley have nasty swirl marks all over the truck. That will need to be corrected and polished out to get the best results. The Ceramic coating needs to have a nice flat and even surface to bond to. Once applied and cured you can have protection up to 2 years. (Brand of coating, maintance, use of the vehicle can affect the longevity)
I understand many folks don't have the wherewithal to go full blown ceramic coating for their vehicles. You can easitly spend $1k in some markets to have your truck coated.
I use to be nothing but a Zaino advocate. Their products have dropped in quality, and have not had a revision or new product introduced in nearly a decade. It left me to start trying other brands for car care products.
Keep in mind, these are just my prefernces, other detailers can have different opinions or thoughts on products and thats fine. From my experiance I found the following to be a great alternative to coatings and the cost is minimal to what the coatings are. I also found that it is not too much to maintain once applied.
The two products you may want to give a shot is Gyeon wet coat. This is a coating that is applied via a wet car and its activated from the water on the car. This needs to be applied in the shade on a freshly clean car and you'll want to have a pretty flat surface. Minimal to no swirls are best. Application is simple. Once car is clean, spary a few spritz on one panel, then rinse off. Using a power sprayer is best as you want to thoroughly rinse it off. Once the car is fully coated. You follow up with their "Cure" spray as a drying aid. A quick mist on a panel and a nice drying microfiber you give the panel a wipe to dry.
This product will give you a few months of protection and has the same protection level as the ceramic coating. It just doesn't last as long. I can wash and coat my truck in 1.5 hours every 3- 4 washes and maintain a great finish. The wet coat can be applied to all surfaces, windows, plastics, even wheels.
Second product that I have found to give great results is Adams polishes H2O guard and gloss. It is a similar application process as Gyeon, but combines its application and drying in one step. Nice clean flat surface, you spray on a panel when its wet, wipe with one microfiver cloth to evenly distribute onto the paint, then a second towel to do a follow through wipe to remove excess water and product. I found each wash you will need to apply to maintain protection.
Both can leave some product smudges or streakes if you let sit or dry, so working fast is best.
Like I said, these are regimines that I have found that work for me, keep in mind proper washing techniques should be used to maintain your paint properly.
I prefer to minimalize the touching of my paint. A good rinse down with a pressure spray, two buckets, one soap and one water.
I foam cannon the truck and use a clean sheepskin mit each wash and go top to bottom, each section gets one side of the mit. Once I have used each side I rise in the water bucket, and resoap in the other until the truck is fully clean. Then rinse completly.
I then used a nozzle from my air compressor to blow the remaining water off. Some areas will require wipe down but a good detailing spray and a soft micro fiber towel will do the trick, minimalizing the contact with your paint will reduce scratching and swirling in the paint.
And for the love of god, do not get the curtesy washes at the dealer. They will run it through the automated car wash and those brushes are never cleaned and typically caked with dirt and mildew. Those car washes scratch the hell out of your paint and it makes me cringe thinking about it.
I hope this adds some insight and helps many of you in your detialing endevours and sorry for the long right up. Happy Detailing!
There are 4 basic personality types and value systems . I am, and have been for a long time, primarily a Knowledge/information based person who needs facts and proof. Although the weighing in of recommendations from experts is always part of the body of information, I usually am compelled to say “show me the data” Over the years I have watched many internet debates on the best finish system to apply on your vehicle. Somewhere about 15 years ago I happened upon Klasse products including AIO. Since then, I have seen many comparative tests performed by a variety of individuals over the years and generally I find Klasse products to be among the top finishers, maybe not the shiniest when measured with a glossmeter, but generally very long lasting. The one test I remember most vividly was the guy with a motorhome who sectioned off the entire side of his vehicle and put 50 different products on to see which ones lasted the longest. Is Klasse the best? I dunno. I know it rates right up there in all the unbiased comparisons I have seen. Is a ceramic coating worth it? I am still waiting on more unbiased comparative data before I would consider switching. Cost and time/effort are also part of the equation for me. I have more fun things to do with my time than coat my vehicle every Saturday. I just completed a 2 month trip from Michigan to Alaska. Lots of roads are unpaved due to permafrost problems. Dust or mud is the norm. I only found carwashes in a few major cites on the way. I purchased a longhandled “washing brush” to occasionally wash my truck in the rain, at the motorhome “dump station”, once in the boat launch in the lake, and sometimes at my campsite if they supplied a water spigot. I got to drive the “Top of the World Highway”. I knew I was in for it when every vehicle I met was coated on both sides in dirt, if they had a tow vehicle behind, is was caked solid. The road actually went up in the clouds where of course... it was raining. When I was done there was no “foam cannon” available. I had only my brush, some shampoo and sparse amounts of water. So I just returned home and I could finally properly wash my truck. It still looks shiny. The finish survived major torture. If I run my hand over it, I feel the need for a claybar, but I sustained no permanent damage. If I ever go to Alaska again maybe I should coat one side of my truck with Opticoat and compare to my faithful 15 year standard. 2˘ submitted YMMV
Takes 2 days to do a proper Zaino. a day to get the paint prepped and the first coats of Z. You can only apply two coats a day. I usually started with a AIO coat, followed by 2 coats of Z5 swirl remover, with Z6 spray in between each coat. Then let the Z5 cure overnight, go back and wipe it down, and apply 2 coats of Z2 polish, with Z6 in between, followed up with Clear seal and then Z8 Grand Finale.
Once done it looks great, and lasts at least 2 years. If I can get the same out of a one coat ceramic, I would certainly do it.
you're issue there is zaino.
I do the same thing with optimum products stuff in one day. and if you use something like opticoat - you'll spend that same day too. Since you have to strip off all residue (dish soap wash etc etc), clay it, fine scratch remove (optional but I would do it), then polish, then 2 coats of finish, then spray wax. and yes I use a porter cable buffer.
I hate zaino with a passion for a laundry list of reasons - but there are a number of products that work as good or better with less effort.
Also they can be removed if something is murfed up. opticoat doesn't come off if you needed it to. - well not easily that is.
I have Xpel film on my entire front end and on top of that the entire truck is then coated with Modesta BC-04. For 99% of the people on the forum this would be over kill but I have the privilege of doing all the transportation for one of the top detail shops in the country Luxe Auto Spa.
For me I plan on having my truck for awhile and at 3 years old now it looks like it did (but better) the day I picked it up from my dealer. Washing the truck is a breeze. After the wash is done I use an air hose and blow off the water. Towel drying is cut down to almost nothing. The towel drying part is where the fine scratches come from on peoples paint.
I had to have the driver and passengers door skins replaced and repainted. Some one wanted the lane I was already in more then me. The painter told me that Ford Ruby Red was a hard color to blend in but my paint on the front fender and rear fender had NO color fade what so ever so it was easy for him to get the match perfect. The Modesta coating is to thank for this.
The one thing about Modesta is it can only be applied by a shop that has been certified by Modesta. The coating has to be baked on.
Is it worth it? For me yes. There are a lot of products to help your paint. It is a question of what fits your budget or how much you care about you paint.
When I am delivering cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to customers it is nice to be able to show them with my truck how good their paint can look.
I have Xpel film on my entire front end and on top of that the entire truck is then coated with Modesta BC-04. For 99% of the people on the forum this would be over kill but I have the privilege of doing all the transportation for one of the top detail shops in the country Luxe Auto Spa.
For me I plan on having my truck for awhile and at 3 years old now it looks like it did (but better) the day I picked it up from my dealer. Washing the truck is a breeze. After the wash is done I use an air hose and blow off the water. Towel drying is cut down to almost nothing. The towel drying part is where the fine scratches come from on peoples paint.
I had to have the driver and passengers door skins replaced and repainted. Some one wanted the lane I was already in more then me. The painter told me that Ford Ruby Red was a hard color to blend in but my paint on the front fender and rear fender had NO color fade what so ever so it was easy for him to get the match perfect. The Modesta coating is to thank for this.
The one thing about Modesta is it can only be applied by a shop that has been certified by Modesta. The coating has to be baked on.
Is it worth it? For me yes. There are a lot of products to help your paint. It is a question of what fits your budget or how much you care about you paint.
When I am delivering cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to customers it is nice to be able to show them with my truck how good their paint can look.
Man that truck looks good. I just ordered a fully loaded 2018 Platinum in Blue Jeans on Thursday . It was between Blue Jeans and Ruby Red. Does anyone know the time frame for changing the color on a custom order? The color is the hardest decision.
08-20-2017, 02:48 PM
YMMV
