What happens to Nano Ceramic coat after N years
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zmcgovern45
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- Sep 5, 2012
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In order to properly prep for a new layer of coating, I always recommend a deep cleaning consisting of a proper hand car wash, followed by the necessary chemical and mechanical decontamination steps. Afterwards, assess the condition of the paint... assuming it has been 1+ years since the vehicle was corrected/polished & coated, then the chances of having at least light wash induced marring is pretty high. If the vehicle was not maintained properly there may be swirl marks and other defects that should be removed.
If just light marring, simply proceed with a quick light polish, solvent wipe, then recoat. This is how I maintain my cars. Clean, decon, light polish, eraser, recoat... do this every 2-3 years.
If there are swirls and scratches, perform required paint correction prior to recoating.
swanicyouth
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- Mar 3, 2011
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I see the question more as not how to fix the original coating, but does it ever wear away? And, if not (and nobody seems to be able to give a strait answer to this) - if you plant on keeping a car for 15-20 years; do you want layers and layers of old coating on your paint?
While this may go against the thinking of anyone installing/selling coatings for a living - just hear me out.
If paint is peaks and valleys under a microscope - does the old coating ever come out of the valleys from polishing? Does it oxidize in the valleys over time making paint look dull?
It does on textured plastic coated with DLux - which is why I personally wouldn't coat any special car I planned one keeping for a very long time who's appearance is important to me.
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zmcgovern45
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There is no way to answer this without some high tech lab. Coatings are so incredibly thin that all we can do is assume they have worn some, but we cannot know if it is gone or if it is still there after X amount of time. If you polish a vehicle before recoating, I would think it is highly likely that you are removing or at least removing almost all of the previous coating layer that, according to manufacturers, should be about 1 micron thick.
Is it possible that DLUX wasn't properly leveled during application in this instance? I've gone through a lot of bottles of DLUX over the years, and have parts of my car that had been coated for over 2 years, and never had any discoloration or oxidation.
thanks for the response, i do almost all the step you indicated except the light polish , the main reason , polishing a car can take a very long time.
would you say if i just apply another coat after 2~3 years without polishing would longevity be compromised because it's not grabbing onto the first coat rather than clear coat?
I'd like to know if you have heard of a new coating called Gentoo. It is a very complex chemical that was developed by NASA for military use and for those reasons it is only applied by trained or certified applicators. All of the hype makes it look attractive so I'm wondering if this latest technology has any advantages over other coatings?
RippyD
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- Jan 24, 2016
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Never heard of it. Caveat emptor. NASA and military use!! I would move on to something with a large and experienced user base.
Desertnate
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- Aug 5, 2013
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I always get a chuckle when I see the "NASA and Military" use. As someone who's worked in that arena for a couple decades now, this seems to be one of the biggest gimics any marketing department can use. I've lost count of the products promised by vendors with similar usage claims and when you really press them you get answers like, "we gave a guy who works at X a sample and he really liked it", or "we have one customer assigned to unit Y who bought it for his personal use and uses it EVERY DAY!". Those are the more honest claims, and they suddenly become endorsements for the entire government. Many are far less honest and simply have no basis in fact.
BudgetPlan1
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- Dec 21, 2015
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NASA used Tang too and that stuff sucked...
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TiredOfPaintStains
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- Aug 2, 2017
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I think we can understand the coatings better if you know the thickness. Use the thickness as your guide on how the coating behaves.
From what I gathered;
- coatings are permanent. They'll harden over and on top of the paint and last as long as the coating can withstand the environment your cars in. I believe some coatings advertised that it will "fill" light scratches and swirls.
- coatings are extremely thin. Probably thin as a layer of wax coating or a sealant. But obviously, they're not wax or something that degrades easily. It's ceramic or SiO2 or a combination of these? @ 1 micron = .001mm aka is extremely thin. Gyeon Mohs is .19 micron, so that's even thinner.
- thinking in terms of thickness. It is so thin, 1 or 2 section pass of compound or polish depending on pad choice and machine will most likely remove it. But, i think what really separates from the traditional stuff is how hard it is after it's cured. So, we also have to consider the hardness of the coating. But regardless, seems like you just have to go thru the same process; test spot, soft or hard paint? .....etc.
- Browsing thru Mike's articles, it seems like even garage kept cars get road film. That said, it's good to polish every 2-3 years or sooner anyways. I haven't came across how a coating oxidizes or will it? I'm not sure if anyone figured out if there's road film build up on a garage kept coated car either. That'll be interesting.
From what I gathered;
- coatings are permanent. They'll harden over and on top of the paint and last as long as the coating can withstand the environment your cars in. I believe some coatings advertised that it will "fill" light scratches and swirls.
- coatings are extremely thin. Probably thin as a layer of wax coating or a sealant. But obviously, they're not wax or something that degrades easily. It's ceramic or SiO2 or a combination of these? @ 1 micron = .001mm aka is extremely thin. Gyeon Mohs is .19 micron, so that's even thinner.
- thinking in terms of thickness. It is so thin, 1 or 2 section pass of compound or polish depending on pad choice and machine will most likely remove it. But, i think what really separates from the traditional stuff is how hard it is after it's cured. So, we also have to consider the hardness of the coating. But regardless, seems like you just have to go thru the same process; test spot, soft or hard paint? .....etc.
- Browsing thru Mike's articles, it seems like even garage kept cars get road film. That said, it's good to polish every 2-3 years or sooner anyways. I haven't came across how a coating oxidizes or will it? I'm not sure if anyone figured out if there's road film build up on a garage kept coated car either. That'll be interesting.
rlmccarty2000
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- Dec 23, 2013
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No need for a third coat. If you want more shine apply CarPro Gliss over the top.