Paint correction and ceramic coating.

Motorsport3

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868
The car looks spectacular. Is it that shiny because of a permanent treatment/correction or because of the ceramic coating that will fade and swirls will surface again and will need another treatment?
 

Sam McGoo

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1,745
And what can be done if it gets taken to the local Kosovan Car Wash... shocking before, stunning after.

Black cars are a nightmare aren't they. The best colour when clean and shiny, but can look rough so quickly.

I think the paint on these must be reasonably soft, as I've had my current one 18 mths and its gone from almost showroom condition to almost as bad as the OPs in that time.
It has never been to a car wash in my ownership. I do everything as well as is practical to do when washing it, but I think using it all year round and living in a relatively dry, dusty area in summer and muddy in winter soon takes it's toll.
 

Sam McGoo

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1,745
Yours looks great now! I am tempted with ceramic coating, as I'm starting to fall out of love with the whole polishing routine. Takes too much time.
But IMO a pro detail and ceramic is so expensive.
 

huesey1974

Member
Messages
107
The car looks spectacular. Is it that shiny because of a permanent treatment/correction or because of the ceramic coating that will fade and swirls will surface again and will need another treatment?
Hi, i seen it before the coating went on and it was still shiny, all the swirls etc have been polished out. There are still some visible scratches if you get right into it but these were slightly deeper . I can only find two.
 

huesey1974

Member
Messages
107
Yours looks great now! I am tempted with ceramic coating, as I'm starting to fall out of love with the whole polishing routine. Takes too much time.
But IMO a pro detail and ceramic is so expensive.
Its definitely is expensive, i wasn’t sure but glad I did, just need to wash it properly and in a few years top up the coating which will be a lot less as the correction has already been done
 

huesey1974

Member
Messages
107
That looks excellent, good job! You must be delighted.
Sure am, it was the only thing that bothered me about the car, swore i would never buy black again but loved the car so much i couldn't resist. Ceramic getting its 1st test as its been torrential here all day!
 

Felonious Crud

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21,013
Ceramic getting its 1st test as its been torrential here all day!
Are you watching in amazement as the rain just falls off?

Mine is so easy to wash since it got coated, but that was three years ago so it's now in for an enhancement detail (I think) and fresh front PPF then more Gtechniq stuff. The last PPF wasn't fitted brilliantly - done in a bit of a hurry - but lasted ok and did a great job of keeping the paint free of swirls and stone-chips.
 

huesey1974

Member
Messages
107
Are you watching in amazement as the rain just falls off?

Mine is so easy to wash since it got coated, but that was three years ago so it's now in for an enhancement detail (I think) and fresh front PPF then more Gtechniq stuff. The last PPF wasn't fitted brilliantly - done in a bit of a hurry - but lasted ok and did a great job of keeping the paint free of swirls and stone-chips.
Yeah, was outside earlier and it just flows!! Was looking at possibly getting the front done with PPF, stone chips are the biggest pain and i use the car in winter all be it not too often. Noticed a company up here doing front ends for around £500, not sure how good that is.
 

ChrissGT

Member
Messages
341
So the ceramic coating is not that expensive. It's the cleaning and polishing thats makes it time consuming and expensive. If the paint is beat up it needs a 3 stage polish at least. And this is a big car to polish. After that it's quite easy to apply a coating. Also some coatings are more expensive and durable compared to others.

900 is very cheap, 2000 is a bit expensive. For 2000 i would expect the car, wheels, calipers, exhaust, windows and interior to be coated as well. Mine was about 1100 for a 3 stage polish and exterior coating. I chose the cheap coating because she needs a respray soon. But i paid for the paint to be corrected and make it look as good as possible. The coating was just an extra.
 

Felonious Crud

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Yeah, was outside earlier and it just flows!! Was looking at possibly getting the front done with PPF, stone chips are the biggest pain and i use the car in winter all be it not too often. Noticed a company up here doing front ends for around £500, not sure how good that is.
£500 sounds a bit 'cheap'. You might find for that you get pre-cut PPF which is a bit small and hence you'd get obvious PPF lines which over time would accumulate dirt and become unsightly. Find somewhere that uses templates but cuts large so the film can wrap around corners, but only ever choose somewhere that doesn't cut on the car.

£300 should get you the bumper only (which is 90% of the risk), £1-1.5k should get a full frontal including mirrors.
 

huesey1974

Member
Messages
107
£500 sounds a bit 'cheap'. You might find for that you get pre-cut PPF which is a bit small and hence you'd get obvious PPF lines which over time would accumulate dirt and become unsightly. Find somewhere that uses templates but cuts large so the film can wrap around corners, but only ever choose somewhere that doesn't cut on the car.

£300 should get you the bumper only (which is 90% of the risk), £1-1.5k should get a full frontal including mirrors.
Ah, it does mention pre-cut, i'll have a look around. Cheers
 

Felonious Crud

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Ah, it does mention pre-cut, i'll have a look around. Cheers
Exactly what wizardry they use I'm not sure, but templates are good, pre-cut can be good (as long as they cut large) and not cutting on the car is mandatory unless they employee surgeons with rock steady hands.

Some types of PPF might be better than others as well. I honestly don't know. Have a look at the Topaz site and a few others to see how they do it and what they use. Even if you don't go to one of those places the sites can be quite informative.

As a general point, my PPF has saved my car from God knows how many stone chips and the usual damage from debris. The paint is as good now as it was when the PPF went on. I'd say that overall PPF works out slightly cheaper than a front-end re-spray every few years (my paint colour is a sod to match, by the way), with the added benefit that you don't have a car in the meantime spattered with road-rash. I'm a fan.