New Car !! ceramic coating question

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thedoc46

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Done a dealer trade for a new car i was looking for, as it had the transmission i was after, which couldn't be found locally. Anyway cutting a long story short, when the car was delivered, i found out that they applied a product called 'auto bond'. http://autobondsealant.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo010c-UbXY Tried calling them and no surprises here but its a voice mail only. Anyway I'm going to presume that they've probably taken a generic ceramic coating and applied it, All the dealers that are all probably owned by the same person, is 'offering' this added protection for god knows how much... Anyway given they're saying no more need to wax / protection for 5yrs, i'm going to presume they've added a ceramic coating. Personally the car looks like absolute crap, swirls from head to tail ! For a car that only has 35miles on the clock it's pretty disappointing. My guess is that it sat on the lot at the dealer in central FL for 4 months, and went through their automatic car wash.

So i was going to give it my usual in way of a full detail, start off with a clay, then compound then polish to get rid of all those nasty swirls, then my favorite Collnite 845 and call it good. But don't know enough about ceramic coatings. Do i have the potential of making the swirls worse ? or just go about my normal business, and treat it like another clear coat on the factory clear coat ? and do the above.
 
thedoc46 said:
So i was going to give it my usual in way of a full detail, start off with a clay, then compound then polish to get rid of all those nasty swirls, then my favorite Collnite 845 and call it good. But don't know enough about ceramic coatings. Do i have the potential of making the swirls worse ? or just go about my normal business, and treat it like another clear coat on the factory clear coat ? and do the above.
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I would do a test spot, odds are you'll find that it should clear up. If your test spot proves worthy, do the rest of the vehicle and apply your LSP.
 
You should be able to easily remove it with compound. I have read two scenarios where the coating absolutely would not come off with anything but sanding.
While not a real scientific test, or an absolute guarantee the coating is gone. If you go ahead and compound and polish the hood then run water on it, not high pressure just normal hose if the water slowly sheets off it's a sign it's gone.
Others may have better methods, this is a pretty simple test that can give you useful information.
 
Congrats, on your new ride. What make and color?

Since the coating is micro thin, treat it like regular clear coat and you'll be fine.
 
Ceramic coatings are about 1 micron thick if applied correctlly. So a polish should be able to remove it. A compound would be faster at it if you want to do the extra step.

Congrats on the new car.
 
There are not many if any coatings that cannot be removed with a good polish job, then apply whatever you want to the car.

HUMP
 
Seems like it’s just a sealant hence the name sealant in the actual name.

Should have no issues polishing it off.
 
Thanks all, my biggest worry is that they applied this coating to an already swirled up car thus making it much harder to get the swirls out. Maybe the car was on the lot for a couple of months, and regularly going through their dreaded automatic car wash as the dealers do to all their cars on the lot, then they thought, lets put on the auto-bond package, which includes pin stripping (which i immediately took off!!) mud flaps and a tint, oh and this auto bond product.

Car is a Pearl black VW Gti Autobahn. I like to detail my cars to perfection, so i hope i haven't bitten off more than i can chew getting a black car lol... Only picked it up this week, so need to work on dropping the suspension this weekend, and a good clay, compound, polish and wax job, before i can really enjoy her ! I should also mention i have a Meg's MT300 and the foam cutting and polishing pads. I've only used Megs Ultimate Compound and Polish for compound and polishing. Waxes i've tried all sorts, but Collnite is my go to !
 
thedoc46 said:
Thanks all, my biggest worry is that they applied this coating to an already swirled up car thus making it much harder to get the swirls out. Maybe the car was on the lot for a couple of months, and regularly going through their dreaded automatic car wash as the dealers do to all their cars on the lot, then they thought, lets put on the auto-bond package, which includes pin stripping (which i immediately took off!!) mud flaps and a tint, oh and this auto bond product.

Car is a Pearl black VW Gti Autobahn. I like to detail my cars to perfection, so i hope i haven't bitten off more than i can chew getting a black car lol... Only picked it up this week, so need to work on dropping the suspension this weekend, and a good clay, compound, polish and wax job, before i can really enjoy her ! I should also mention i have a Meg's MT300 and the foam cutting and polishing pads. I've only used Megs Ultimate Compound and Polish for compound and polishing. Waxes i've tried all sorts, but Collnite is my go to !
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Do a test spot, you may need a heavier compound than Ultimate Compound as VW's cc is pretty hard.
 
The Guz said:
Car dealers sell this stuff claiming many years of protection. Nothing new there.
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I almost got suckered into something like that on my new Corvette! For $699 they were going to apply this product called Diamond Kote which has a 10 year warranty, as long as you let them re apply it after 5 years (free of charge they say). So because it makes claims like repelling bird droppings and other contamination, it makes people (including myself sadly!) assume it's a ceramic coating. Further investigation proved it's not, and making an actual warranty claim is relatively futile, they always find a way to deny the claim somehow.

I saved myself a boatload of $$$ by not falling for their scam, and my plan is to continue using Meguiar's UFF (I've had great results so far with my wife's BMW, my Honda Civic and my previous Corvette) I still can't believe this stuff costs only $12.97 (and I've done 8 coats with one can so far and it's easily got 8 more left in it)
 
Patman22 said:
I almost got suckered into something like that on my new Corvette! For $699 they were going to apply this product called Diamond Kote which has a 10 year warranty, as long as you let them re apply it after 5 years (free of charge they say). So because it makes claims like repelling bird droppings and other contamination, it makes people (including myself sadly!) assume it's a ceramic coating. Further investigation proved it's not, and making an actual warranty claim is relatively futile, they always find a way to deny the claim somehow.

I saved myself a boatload of $$$ by not falling for their scam, and my plan is to continue using Meguiar's UFF (I've had great results so far with my wife's BMW, my Honda Civic and my previous Corvette) I still can't believe this stuff costs only $12.97 (and I've done 8 coats with one can so far and it's easily got 8 more left in it)
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oh yeah i know its a complete scam. One i would have said no way too, except when this particuar car was delivered the previous dealer (as it was a dealer trade) had already applied it. Car looks like crap. The worst swirling i've seen to come off a lot. Almost haze like. I'll tackle it this weekend, just wanting to know what i'm up against, never having dealt with a ceramic coating in my past.
 
If you have the time and possibility to take before shots on the paint and after shots. And share it with us on how it looks and what you get it looking would be nice.
Hope it's coming of easy and you get your car as it supose to look. Good luck with your work!
 
thedoc46 said:
oh yeah i know its a complete scam. One i would have said no way too, except when this particuar car was delivered the previous dealer (as it was a dealer trade) had already applied it. Car looks like crap. The worst swirling i've seen to come off a lot. Almost haze like. I'll tackle it this weekend, just wanting to know what i'm up against, never having dealt with a ceramic coating in my past.
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That would have been my worst nightmare if I had paid $699 and my new car came with the paint messed up like that too. At least in your case you didn't pay for it, and you have the skills to remove the damage yourself. Just think about all those people out there that buy new cars and have stuff like this happen to them and they then end up having to pay even more money to have it corrected by a pro.
 
When I bought my gti autobahn a few years ago they tried to up sell me the same thing for $800!!!!! At the time I wasn’t very knowledgeable about the whole detailing process and to think I almost took the offer...

Enjoy your car it’s a fun one.


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Congrats on finding the car you wanted with the right trans, I assume that means 3 pedals!

You mentioned #845 and I would like to suggest #915 for that paint color, after you prep because it will look better and last much, much longer!

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Klasse Act said:
You mentioned #845 and I would like to suggest #915 for that paint color, after you prep because it will look better and last much, much longer!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
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This.

915 is the only wax I keep around. Great stuff.
 
Congratulations on the new ride!

I would simply put in the work to get that "nail polish" off short of wetsanding. There have been those times when I have used my most aggressive compound, my rotary and a wool pad to level out super hard paints and after multiple attempts on the same section. I am NOT a fan of wetsanding especially brand new paint. I will however do a lot of section passes with rocks in a bottle, rotary and wool and then do that section again...and then again until I am happy it's now ready for a finer polish refining.

In my case above I am seeing the slow reduction of swirls and scratches and can see my progress. Plus I don't like removing too much clear... just enough to level flat. In your case you're trying to abrade away that "nail polish" and would be tougher to judge success going through it but I still like the incrimental approach to save paint.

I did read calendyr's thread and experience linked above reposted by DaveT435 and that sounded wicked. If it's THAT stuff it's like a second clearcoat and wetsanding may be the only effective solution. If I came to that conclusion after maybe 3-4 compounding sessions on that one test area so be it. At least I tried a lesser aggressive approach to confirm.

Keep us posted on what happens for you. Also, enjoy that color paint. I bought the same color specifically to hone my skills.

And it worked!
 
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