I've been using the Meguiars since last year. After a wash by hand, I use it as a drying aid after the second coat. Then use Bead Maker as a detailer. Works well I think.

 

I'll give it a try this weekend

 

Just a side note, last year, before applying the prime coat, I did clay-bar the truck.

So...I washed it last week and was looking at clay-barring again as it has been one-year. No need, the cermanic is still slick and smooth. That speaks well of its longevity and hardness.

 

Some serious shine there, Spoat!

 

I have a new F150 on order, I want to apply something as soon as possible after getting the truck, Does the paint on the new truck have to cure for a period of time before applying this? I know they used to tell you to wait 3 months before waxing a new paint job. Has anyone tried Mothers CMX Ceramic Coating, it worked well on my Wife's Honda Odyssey, they now also make a CMX Wash and Coat car wash soap.

 

Which Meguiar's product did you use?

 

Same as the OP in post #5, above. The instant spray.

 

I would post that question in the Detailing section here. Some experts there.

Mothers makes some good stuff.

 

It's possible that the detail place was quoting you a ceramic coating. BIG difference between doing a true ceramic coating and all these SIO2 hybrid waxes. The SIO2 waxes are great. Easy to apply, relatively inexpensive and quite hydrophobic. That said, they are no where near as durable as a true ceramic coating. I ceramic coated my truck and my sons Altima. It was a 3 day process as I did two coats of ceramic, so day 1 was paint correction (wash, strip, clay bar, polish), day 2 was 1st coat of ceramic and day 3 was second coat of ceramic. I kept vehicle dry for a week, then gave a light maintenance wash and then applied beadmaker, which I do after every other wash just to maintain depth and shine.

A good ceramic coating will last anywhere from 1-3 years, depending on quality of coating and how you maintain the vehicle (garaged, wash regularly, etc.).

Like I said, these SIO2 spray waxes are great, but they don't last nearly as long as a coating, but typically outperform a traditional wax. The good news is that reapplying is a simple spray and wipe process that shouldn't take much more than 10-30 minutes depending on the vehicle size.

Here's a great YouTube series showing longevity in a true test of waxes and coatings. He's done several of these in the past where he'll treat a hood with a grid of different products, Leave exposed 24/7 in Texas, Wash monthly, and track how each product performs over the course of a couple of years. This current test began in July of last year and has the Meguiars ceramic wax spray in the test. He took a car hood, treated with 42 different waxes/coatings, leaves exposed 24/7 with weekly wash. First video shows all the contenders and is pretty long if you're interested in getting the full rundown. The next two are most recent (March being the latest) updates. Meguiars was going strong after 2 months.

 

Finishes are baked on at factory. You won't need to wait. You'll definitely want to wash and clay bar before you do anything else. You'll be amazed at what claying a surface will remove, and to treat it without claying will definitely shorten the life of anything to apply because you'll simply be treating over impurities.

Personally, within 2 weeks of getting my truck, I washed, clayed, stripped with an IPA wash, the ceramic coated two coats with true ceramic coating (not SIO2 hybrid spray waxes). I do apply PS Beadmaker after I wash, but the ceramic coating I applied should give me a good 18-24 months protection before I'll want to do a full paint correction. The benefit of getting a coating on right away is that there was little opportunity for any swirl or light scratches to get into the clear coat, so I didn't need to do a round of machine polishing to correct the finish before I applied the ceramic coating, which basically saves me a day of work.

As for what you want to do, it really depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it. Hands down, the best coating that you can personally apply today would be a good ceramic coating (not the SIO2 sprays). The con with ceramic coatings is that they are prone to water spotting. Graphene is better than Ceramic, It's a carbon based nano coating however, as of today, it's only available to professionals to apply. I imagine that it will open up to hobbyist before too long and that's what I'll use instead of ceramic when I re-treat mine when it's due.

Like Spoat said, hunt around and ask on the detailing side and you'll get enough information to make your head spin.