Coatings Pros and Cons

My truck is coated with UK 2014 and I love it. As stated before, coatings keep it much cleaner and therefore easier to maintain. My only con with a coating is that they do swirl, pretty easily in my experience, and it's not like waxing where you can just glaze over it and re wax until it's time to polish the car again, because if you do, you lose the characteristics of the coating for a short time because the wax loses a good deal or durability.
 
frankprozzoly said:
I'm gonna start researching coatings. Since the is new now would be the time to do it.

I do enjoy waxing so I'm on the fence. I'm pretty sure people have said you can wax or seal over the coating.

I talked to Evan about a PPF but unfortunately it's not in my budget right now.

I saw an old posting about cquartz finest. At the time was only available through a dealer. The way this was talked about it sounded like it was one of the best. Any thoughts
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I have Finest on my car and it's really great. I'm still a weekly washer and I'll use UWW+ to get my " make the paint pop" fix or use Reload. I highly recommend coating even if it's not Finest.
 
Evan.J said:
Well let's see here I have installed all of the following coatings:

Opti-coat
Opti-gloss
Cquartz UK
Gtechniq C1
Gtechniq EXO
Gtechniq Cystal Serum
22ple
Pinnacle Black Label (the entire line)
DP coatings (the entire line)
Few unreleased ones and few in the waiting.

As you can see I have some time in coatings and they all are different in the way they are made up, the way you apply them, and the way you take car of them after the install.

When deciding in a coating, if this will be your first trip down coating lane you need to ask yourself what are you looking to get out of the coating?

With today's market there are too many company's trying to jump on the coating train so you want to choose a company that has been in the game and has a great track record. Additionally when picking a coating since this maybe your first time you want one that is fairly easy to install as well.

Here is what I fell are my rose for coatings:

Offer a clean, glossy, and just detailed look for a longer length than a wax/sealant

Some coating offer more scratch resistance than the traditional clear coat that is currently on the vehicle.

They help to reject objects like contamination, road paint, tar, and dirt for example from sticking or attaching to the surface of the vehicle

It acts as an additional layer of clear coat preserving the already thin clear on the vehicle. This allows the coating to take the beating to so to say from the outside world instead of the cars clear coat

They offer easy maintenance routines after the coating is installed

They offer very hydrophobic surfaces

Coatings have the potential to offer a higher resell value to a car


Those are just a few and those will vary slightly depending in the coating.

The cons:

Some coatings are a bit more difficult to install properly than other and can cause streaking and Hugh spots to remain if missed. This will result in a non-uniform look. Fixing these issues requires polishing off the coating.

The coatings are not bullet proof meaning they can and will scratch if they are not properly maintained

If you have to fix an area that is coating you may have to polish and re-coat an entire panel

Some coatings will last longer than others

As you can see the pros definitely out weigh the cons.
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How do you like the crystal syrup?? I know about the application.
 
Zubair, I know how you feel. The coating process made me re evaluate the entire field of detailing.

Coatings are definitely worth the effort if you're not going to be able to pamper your car every week like it deserves. The extra resistance to contaminant damage alone makes it worth it IMHO. It also helped me to justify the time investment of a show car detail.

Are you detailing the Accord in your Avatar photo? If so, check out my review of pinnacle black label's diamond surface coating here. I coated my new 2014 Accord in modern steel metallic.

Even with the less reflective color and the severe orange peel all hondas get these days, it made a huge difference. If you're looking at eliminating the orange peel, coating will give you the UV and environmental protection you need to make removal a "safe" process. Plus, our clear coats are a bit on the softer side.

Cons are plentiful, most significantly, the time investment for your first coating job. Took me about 2 weeks worth of labor, but I did not have the proper tools or experience. However, the pros do outweigh the cons IMHO. Most especially, the flexibility you get from having the option of delaying a detail without worry is priceless. The extra gloss is a plus as well.
 
I have a silver 14 sport. Even though I do spend alot of time with it, I'm still thinking of a coating. I'm still on the fence though. Someone mentioned the point you made, Coatings are for people that don't have time to take care of the car. You think it's still worth doing
 
frankprozzoly said:
I have a silver 14 sport. Even though I do spend alot of time with it, I'm still thinking of a coating. I'm still on the fence though. Someone mentioned the point you made, Coatings are for people that don't have time to take care of the car. You think it's still worth doing
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Coatings are something that I think more people should look into and those more people are the people who drive their cars, don't have as much time to take care of them and like an easy to manage car.

What I mean by all this, is that there is a time and place for coatings, and then there are cars that I don't think should receive coatings.

I coated my daily driver and although I do take great care of the car, it is:

1.) Older, 2001 Lexus IS300
2.)Like I stated, driven almost daily

The reason I coated was two-fold, I wanted to test the coating, so I made sure to do it on my vehicle before I tried it on another client's car and the other aspect is that if I don't have the chance on the weekend to clean it, I can at least pressure wash it off and it looks much better because the coating makes the clean up easier.
Now, if say for instance I had an older Classic, all original or even one that I may get out to go to a show or to just to a cruise in, I would most definitely stick to a super high quality wax, because more than likely prior to any show or other, I am going to clean it and put another coat on it. I still like how wax looks compared to coatings.

So, to conclude, I think newer vehicles that are driven or will be driven and those that need the ease of maintenance are the coating candidates.

HUMP
 
I'm leaning towards this. Give me some recommendations and any application tips. I'm interested in hearing different people's process. That way I can put everyone's opinions and experiences together so it makes me do it right the first time
 
frankprozzoly said:
how did you get finest? is it available to the public now?
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Finest is a Pro only offering just like Opt-Coat Pro. I don't see a time when they will be offered to us mortals. But the consumer versions are just as good IMO.

Honestly after using / testing CQ original on one of my cars for 2.5 years I think the consumer version is really all anyone needs. After even 1 year it was tough to not bring out the polisher and just gloss it up again with a jeweling polish. After 2.5 I stripped off the CQ org and applied CQUK. And I fully expect 2+ years out of it as well.

Doing a decent "full" detail every 2-3 years is not to bad IMO and better than having to do it once or twice a year when using waxes.



CQ org: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...-cquartz-ceramic-quartz-paint-protection.html

DLUX: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews/54420-product-review-carpro-dlux.html

 
DaveT435 said:
How do you like the crystal syrup?? I know about the application.
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Its a different coating all together IMO. The gloss is nice but its very finicky with the application.

frankprozzoly said:
Coatings are for people that don't have time to take care of the car.
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I have to disagree with this thought.

Think about it like this, coatings are essentially another layer of clear coat that you put on the car. These coatings (depending on what ones) a harder and more scratch resistant than the clear that's on the vehicle to begin with. I would rather have a coating that may last 2+ years that is going to preserve the already paper thin clear you have on your car.

I would rather have to polish off a coating about every 2 years due to minor defects than have to polish a car 1-2 times a year and remove a little bit of clear each time.

It seems as if the idea of a coating leaves some feeling as if once a car is coated that it has become bullet proof and proper care and maintenance can go right out the window when that is in fact not the case.

Coatings need to be, and should be cared for the same way as you would care for a car that is not coated. While coating have great features and benefits they are still susceptible to swirls, scratches, and water spots just like a car with a wax or a sealant.
 
frankprozzoly said:
I'm leaning towards this. Give me some recommendations and any application tips. I'm interested in hearing different people's process. That way I can put everyone's opinions and experiences together so it makes me do it right the first time
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there are a lot of options for coatings that you can get.

CQ
CQUK
Pinnacle Black Lable
GTechniq C1/ layer it with EXO
Opti-Glass
Bulletproof

There are a few steps you want to do before you apply a coating. have to chemically and mechanically decontaminate your paint. this is done with Iron-X and clay/nanoskin. then you have compound/polish the paint. make sure you have it perfect or get it to a point that your are satisfied with because any imperfections left will stay there once you apply the coating. after you compound/polish the paint you have to do an IPA wipe down. this can be done with several methods as well. i prefer to use CarPro Eraser. now you are ready for the coating. you must follow what the directions tell you to a T. some are easier that others. not all coatings are going to break the bank with cost. some are more than others, and each have their place in the market
 
You know who turned me off to coatings and made that statement. Coatings are more for people who don't have time. A guy who owns a detail supply store.

I'm new at this so at the time I valued his opinion
 
frankprozzoly said:
You know who turned me off to coatings and made that statement. Coatings are more for people who don't have time. A guy who owns a detail supply store.

I'm new at this so at the time I valued his opinion
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•I personally won't totally discount this guy's statement!

-Nowadays:
It comes very close to describing my current abilities
to always be on the OCD/AR-side of detailing-timeliness.

-The day to apply Coatings...to my vehicles:
looms closer and closer.


Bob
 
frankprozzoly said:
You know who turned me off to coatings and made that statement. Coatings are more for people who don't have time. A guy who owns a detail supply store.

I'm new at this so at the time I valued his opinion
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Coatings are a good option for people who don't have time to be polishing and waxing all the time, but they still require regular washing.
 
I think if I'd waited just a few weeks longer for the OGC reviews to start coming in I'd have probably opted for it. Instead I kind of based my decision on the cynical posts of OC users who had yet to try OGC. Oh, and AutoGeek's EXOv2 project Mustang was so lusty it pushed me over the edge.
 
I'm not sure Bob. I need to watch some more videos of the application. I think that's what its gonna come down to. Ease of application. I'm sure some are superior but I don't think I'll go wrong with whatever I choose.

I've been mostly reading about cquartz and optimum coatings
 
From what you have read about these coatings, which one would you recommend
 
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