Jumping in with both feet but have some questions about ceramic coating

[SubieSnax]

Mike,

Before I get to the ceramic coating questions, allow me to paint the full picture. I have been a car enthusiast for years and have always taken pride in my car's appearance. I have, for the last 20 years, spent hours upon hours detailing my cars by hand. I have never once use any sort of machine polisher or buffer. Now that I am getting older, I can appreciate the mechanical help, not to mention superior results, that a DA polisher can provide. Being a meticulous and detail oriented person, I enjoy doing these types of things myself. With that being said, the orders that I placed contain the following:

-Griot's Garage 5.5 inch FLAT Pad Complete Kit
-Griots Garage G8 Polisher Hydro-Tech Kit
-Buff and Shine 5.5 inch Flat Foam Pads 6 Pack x2
Pad 1 = Yellow
Pad 2 = Orange
Pad 3 = White
Pad 4 = Green
Pad 5 = Blue
Pad 6 = Black
-Buff and Shine Red Foam Ultra Finishing Pad - 5.5 Inch
-Griots Garage Leather Care Kit
-Microfiber Towel Combo By Cobra
-BLACKFIRE Clay Lubricant [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]32 oz.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- 2 grit guard inserts and one washboard attachment[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I have yet to purchase any kind of polishes or compounds because I do have some Meguire's products on hand already and welcome your opinions on those as well. I also already have a Meguire's Clay bar and I will be purchasing some kind of IPA spray prior to starting this project. Pictured below are the products I already own (and have used by hand in small applications) as well as some photos of the patient (2017 WRX in Pure Red)

[/FONT]

Prior to applying this coating, I plan to go through the following process:

Wash
Chemical decontaminate (recommendations here for something I can buy at any car supply store (ie Pepbopys) because that's just one other thing I forgot to include in my order and I would rather not pay shipping for something like that)
Clay Bar
Compound/Polish
Seal

So now that's out of the way, lets get to the crux of this post: Ceramic Coating. The reason I am interested in this is because as you probably know, Subaru has notoriously soft paint and considering the monetary investment as well as an investment of my time, I would like to protect it the best way I can. Now I have zero experience with ceramic coating but I do have experience with using Klasse paint sealant. How similar is it to that? Is this something that I should even consider doing myself? And if so, I have also read that some ceramics leave a rubbery feel to the finish and that is something I would like to avoid. That being said, which products leave a slicker finish OR what products would I need to apply on top of the ceramic to give it that slicker finish?

I did purchase a bottle of this based on a recommendation of a friend (although I have not tried it out yet) and would love your input:

I've already learned a ton on this forum so allow me to thank you for what you have taught me so far and I look forward to hearing your response.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Did you forget a polisher to pair those 5.5” pads with?

 

[SubieSnax]

Did you forget a polisher to pair those 5.5” pads with?

The Griots 5.5 inch complete kit comes with the G9 DA Polisher :xyxthumbs:

 

[DeadlySheds]

Don't forget you should have some quality microfiber towels as well. With soft paint you can ruin hours of work with one poor quality (or dirty) cloth.

I always find the biggest problem for me after spending countless hours polishing is that I don't want to actually drive my rig cause I don't want it to get dirty again.

Sent from my VOG-L04 using Tapatalk

 

[The Guz]

Welcome to the forum.

There is nothing wrong with the ultimate twins. Ultimate Polish is a little on the oil side so the important thing is to get yourself a panel wipe to remove those polishing oils.

Applying a ceramic coating is not hard at all. Time consuming is more like it to avoid the dreaded high spot. Although a high spot is not the end of the world. It is fixable and part of the learning process. I recommend you watch videos on how to apply a coating so you can see how different it is then applying a sealant and wax.

One thing to keep in mind that even with a coating the soft paint is still going to be soft. A coating is going to do a lot better over a wax or sealant in protecting you from getting those deeper swirls. With that said a majority of coatings are tacky by nature which is why some don't like it because they are so accustomed to slick paint. This is where too coats come into play and spray sealants to add that layer of slickness.

This is probably where I would recommend a primer polish that you don't need to prep wipe to eliminate the possibility of marring the paint during the panel wipe process. Gyeon Q2 Primer and CarPro Essence are two that work well with their respective coatings. There is the new Dr. Beaseley's primer polishes that are designed to work with most coatings from what I gather. I have not used these at all so I can not comment if it affects the longevity of other band coatings. But Mike swears by the.

If you are looking for slick coatings then these are what I would consider:

Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light topped with Gtechniq Exo.
Cquartz UK 3.0 topped with Cquartz TiO2. I think TiO2 is slicker than gliss. Cquartz is little harder to use than Gtechniq.
Gyeon Synchro. Skin is so slick and great. Just wish Skin would last longer. This would be my last option.

One last thing I will mention is to have good lighting. That is key to avoid those high spots.

 

[PaulMys]

You will also find that there will be only 1 or 2 pad types that work well on your paint for correction.

All the others will end up collecting dust on a shelf unless you like to machine-apply LSP's with the softer pads. But.....You stated that you were interested in ceramics so you wouldn't be using those.

Find which pad(s) work well, then stock up on at least 6 of each. (I'd even have 10-12 if it were me.)

 

[SubieSnax]

Don't forget you should have some quality microfiber towels as well. With soft paint you can ruin hours of work with one poor quality (or dirty) cloth.

I always find the biggest problem for me after spending countless hours polishing is that I don't want to actually drive my rig cause I don't want it to get dirty again.

Sent from my VOG-L04 using Tapatalk

I did purchase the MF Cloth bundle from Cobra Microfiber Towel Combo By Cobra

I do also have a ton of general purpose MF cloths that have never been used as well. But I do plan on slowly building up a collection of high quality cloths.

 

[SubieSnax]

Welcome to the forum.

There is nothing wrong with the ultimate twins. Ultimate Polish is a little on the oil side so the important thing is to get yourself a panel wipe to remove those polishing oils.

Thank you for the welcome. Forgive my n00bness but when you say panel wipe, are you referring to a MF cloth of some kind or a spray or both?

Applying a ceramic coating is not hard at all. Time consuming is more like it to avoid the dreaded high spot. Although a high spot is not the end of the world. It is fixable and part of the learning process. I recommend you watch videos on how to apply a coating so you can see how different it is then applying a sealant and wax.

Definitely plan on doing this. I did want to narrow down my product options so I could hone in videos that are product specific.

One thing to keep in mind that even with a coating the soft paint is still going to be soft. A coating is going to do a lot better over a wax or sealant in protecting you from getting those deeper swirls. With that said a majority of coatings are tacky by nature which is why some don't like it because they are so accustomed to slick paint. This is where too coats come into play and spray sealants to add that layer of slickness.

This is probably where I would recommend a primer polish that you don't need to prep wipe to eliminate the possibility of marring the paint during the panel wipe process. Gyeon Q2 Primer and CarPro Essence are two that work well with their respective coatings. There is the new Dr. Beaseley's primer polishes that are designed to work with most coatings from what I gather. I have not used these at all so I can not comment if it affects the longevity of other band coatings. But Mike swears by the.

If you are looking for slick coatings then these are what I would consider:

Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light topped with Gtechniq Exo.
Cquartz UK 3.0 topped with Cquartz TiO2. I think TiO2 is slicker than gliss. Cquartz is little harder to use than Gtechniq.
Gyeon Synchro. Skin is so slick and great. Just wish Skin would last longer. This would be my last option.

One last thing I will mention is to have good lighting. That is key to avoid those high spots.

This gives me a lot to chew on. Based on what you said, I went and watched a video on the Gtechniq products and that looks like my speed right there. Easy application process and a durable finish. I really appreciate the time you've taken to help me out.

 

[SubieSnax]

You will also find that there will be only 1 or 2 pad types that work well on your paint for correction.

All the others will end up collecting dust on a shelf unless you like to machine-apply LSP's with the softer pads. But.....You stated that you were interested in ceramics so you wouldn't be using those.

Find which pad(s) work well, then stock up on at least 6 of each. (I'd even have 10-12 if it were me.)

I definitely plan on beefing up my pad inventory and of course focusing on the pads that work for my vehicle as well as my wife's Explorer which you see a little of in the photos in the OP and that thing is HURTING for a good compound and polish. I have a feeling I will get a greater sense of accomplishment with her car being that its a darker color and in worse shape than my own. I also do have an interest in starting up a little side gig for myself if I find myself to be good enough at it so a diversity in pads would be a plus there.

 

[The Guz]

Thank you for the welcome. Forgive my n00bness but when you say panel wipe, are you referring to a MF cloth of some kind or a spray or both?




Definitely plan on doing this. I did want to narrow down my product options so I could hone in videos that are product specific.



This gives me a lot to chew on. Based on what you said, I went and watched a video on the Gtechniq products and that looks like my speed right there. Easy application process and a durable finish. I really appreciate the time you've taken to help me out.

A panel wipe is in a spray format to wipe on and wipe off. For example CarPro Eraser or 3D Panel wipe. There are plenty of them offered by various brands.