A few newbie questions on CSL application for the first time!

JKoop

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I am afraid this has probably been answered, so I apologize in advance for beating a dead horse. I read LOTS of posts and mfr website and can't seem to find my answers!
Here goes:
First off I have a brand new 2020 Chevy Colorado Extended cab truck that I am going to apply Gtechniq CSL and EXO. The truck has 70 miles on it. I have only driven it from the dealer to storing it in my garage. I wanted to coat it before I begin using it as a daily driver. I was curious if I would still need to apply and Iron remover, or even have to use polish on a brand new paint job? So far the paint looks very good to me. I don't see swirls or other markings on the paint.

I know you have recommended lots of clean MF cloths for the application. I can't seem to find a clear answer on how often do you use a clean towel when wiping off the CSL after finishing a section and moving to another? If I have it right, after application wipe off, flip cloth and wipe again. Then do you use another fresh cloth for next section? My fear is that the CSL will dry somewhat and then scratch? I did see that Gtechniq says to change applicator pads every 3 or 4 sections.
Would I be better off using a foam block and suede for application or using the Gtechniq finger tip applicators for my first attempt? Seems like the fingertip applicators can soak in a lot of product and waste it or apply too heavily?

My other concern is high spots or overlap. I understand that you should use body lines as a starting/stopping point, but what about a large area like the roof that you have divided into quadrants. How much do you overlap one section to another? I would guess that the overlap is a common area for high spots? I am concerned about properly wiping it off as this will be my maiden voyage!

Last one. I know the weather/humidity has been discussed quite a bit. The range in temp for application seems pretty large. What would be your closest range to optimal temperature for application be? I am in no hurry to start so I can wait till Ohio weather will cooperate better with me!!


Ok!! I hope that is the last of my knowledge quest before I begin. Thank you for allowing me to use this forum. I look forward to a whole new path of detailing my vehicles and learning!
Jim K.
 
First welcome to AutogeekOnline! :welcome:


Assuming the dealership did NOT apply anything to the paint, like a wax, sealant or shine spray of some type, then you can wash your truck and wipe the paint down with a panel wipe and next apply a ceramic paint coating.

Me?

My normal practice is I'm going to do at least one machine polishing step to ENSURE I have nothing but pure, clean, perfected paint.


You apply the coating with a microfiber suede patch over a foam block and then give the paint a final wipe or buff with a microfiber towel.


I think I answer ALL questions about working with coatings in any one of these how-to articles, give one or two a read-through.



Review & How-to: BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating by Mike Phillips


How to detail a 2014 Corvette Stingray


Review: GYEON Q2 ONE Enthusiast Ceramic Coating by Mike Phillips



:)
 
I have not updated this list in a few months but it's a great resources.....

Heck, I forgot I even wrote this? :laughing:



Ceramic Paint Coating How-To Articles by Mike Phillips


Here is a list of articles I've written on the topic of Ceramic Paint Coatings. Most of in-depth and filled with lots of helpful information. More then you'll ever find in a message on a Facebook group. :laughing:



The below article has a TON of how-to info in it - besides the review of the product.

Review: GYEON Q2 ONE Enthusiast Ceramic Coating by Mike Phillips



This one is so important...

Installing a Ceramic Paint Coating? You MUST have a GREAT hand held light to avoid high spots!




Here's some more I wrote, most of them this year or last year.

Ceramic Paint Coating Lingo (words used in the car detailing industry to describe the paint coating process)

How to remove a Ceramic Paint Coating High Spot by Mike Phillips

Microfiber towels for ceramic paint coatings - How to care for - by Mike Phillips

The case against multi-year ceramic paint coatings - Road Grime = Surface Staining Daily Drivers by Mike Phillips

What are the benefits of a ceramic paint coating?

How to chemically strip paint for a ceramic paint coating

How, why & when to inspect your microfiber towels when detailing cars

Permeable and Impermeable - Towel Control for Ceramic Coatings

What are Ceramic Paint Coatings?

Mother Natures Car Wash and Ceramic Coatings

How to wash a coated car - The Gentle Approach for Washing a Car by Mike Phillips

Review & How-To: Wolfgang Uber Ceramic Paint Coating

Detailer’s Paint Coating on Single Stage Paint

How to maintain a Coated Garage Queen by Mike Phillips

How to safely wash a ceramic coated car by Mike Phillips - Traditional Hose & Bucket Approach

Black Label Coating Detailer & Booster - Synergistic Chemical Compatibility

2017 MONSTER JEEP - Ceramic Coating Class - Wednesday, January 17th

Review: Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Paint Coating - 2011 Inferno Orange Metallic Corvette Grand Sport

BLACKFIRE Pro Cermaic Coating - SUPER GLOSS

Review & How-To: Wolfgang Uber Ceramic Paint Coating

Review: Marine 31 Gel Coat Prep Spray & Captain’s Boat Coating with UV50

Pictures: 2002 Panoz Esperante - BLACKFIRE Crystal Coat Paint Coating

Review: - LC HDO Foam Pads - Makita PO5000C - Supercharged Dodge Yellow Jacket

Prediction - More one-step cleaner/COATINGS or CCAIOS i.e. Ceramic Coating All-in-One type products

3-Categories: Waxes, Paint Sealants and Coatings

How to use the SONAX CC36 Ceramic Paint Coating




And just to note, for anyone reading this into the future. Anytime you're looking for car detailing or boat detailing information, here's how I found the above,


I went to Skynet and typed in,


Ceramic Coatings Mike Phillips


A pulled up most of the above. A few key words and my first and last name finds a LOT of stuff on Skynet.



:)
 
I am afraid this has probably been answered, so I apologize in advance for beating a dead horse. I read LOTS of posts and mfr website and can't seem to find my answers!
Here goes:
First off I have a brand new 2020 Chevy Colorado Extended cab truck that I am going to apply Gtechniq CSL and EXO. The truck has 70 miles on it. I have only driven it from the dealer to storing it in my garage. I wanted to coat it before I begin using it as a daily driver. I was curious if I would still need to apply and Iron remover, or even have to use polish on a brand new paint job? So far the paint looks very good to me. I don't see swirls or other markings on the paint.

I know you have recommended lots of clean MF cloths for the application. I can't seem to find a clear answer on how often do you use a clean towel when wiping off the CSL after finishing a section and moving to another? If I have it right, after application wipe off, flip cloth and wipe again. Then do you use another fresh cloth for next section? My fear is that the CSL will dry somewhat and then scratch? I did see that Gtechniq says to change applicator pads every 3 or 4 sections.
Would I be better off using a foam block and suede for application or using the Gtechniq finger tip applicators for my first attempt? Seems like the fingertip applicators can soak in a lot of product and waste it or apply too heavily?

My other concern is high spots or overlap. I understand that you should use body lines as a starting/stopping point, but what about a large area like the roof that you have divided into quadrants. How much do you overlap one section to another? I would guess that the overlap is a common area for high spots? I am concerned about properly wiping it off as this will be my maiden voyage!

Last one. I know the weather/humidity has been discussed quite a bit. The range in temp for application seems pretty large. What would be your closest range to optimal temperature for application be? I am in no hurry to start so I can wait till Ohio weather will cooperate better with me!!


Ok!! I hope that is the last of my knowledge quest before I begin. Thank you for allowing me to use this forum. I look forward to a whole new path of detailing my vehicles and learning!
Jim K.

Welcome to AGO.

First off I am going to recommend you check out some of the recent obsessed garage videos. Matt shows how to work with both coatings as that is his coating of choice.

CSL is one of the easiest coatings to work with. Just remember it is not layerable and only needs one layer. Exo is easy but you have to be more meticulous in your wipe off as it takes more swipes to remove it. GTechniq recommends two layers of Exo.

As far as an applicator, you can use the ones that came with it but make sure to de-lint them before use or you will end up with lint on the paint. The suede applicator and foam block would be better. The applicator that has become of favorite of mine and others is the autofiber coating saver microfiber applicators.

Here is the thing about high spots. Don't focus too much on them because one you do that is when mistakes happens. Take it as part of the learning process if you get a few high spots. It is not the end of the world as they are easily remedied. Just be sure to wipe larger than the area you applied the coating to. The reason for that is coating is pushed around by the towel especially as they load up. Exo is more susceptible to this than CSL.

As far as towels, I would recommend getting the edgeless 300 from the rag company. They work great for coatings. Get a 10 pack in each color. Use one color for the first wipe and the second color for the final wipe.

The flash time is going to vary but you will get the hand of it after a couple panels.

Edit: An iron remover will help as new cars have iron from sitting on the lot or being delivered (ie rail dust). Is it needed no but recommended. Also you will have to examine the paint if it needs to be clayed to remove the above surface contaminants. Just be aware that claying introduces it's own defects known as marring which is removed by polishing. After polishing a prep wipe is recommended with one of the many available panel wipes.

Do you have to do all these things? No. But doing so will get you the max performance of a coating.
 
Thank you Mike. I have learned much more thanks to your help! I feel confident my coating will come out fantastic!!
 
Great info Guz! Thank you for the reply. I will do as you recommend. So much to learn...but having the extra knowledge makes things much easier!
 
Well guys, thanks to all of your help and advice, my truck has an amazing ceramic coating and 2 layers of EXO4!! It shines like a mirror now.

I really don't want to take it out of the garage now!

I ruined my desire to haul stuff in the bed and get it dirty now...LOL

So thanks again for all the help in getting there. Everything went off without any problems thanks to all your knowledge and guidance!!


:)
 
Well guys, thanks to all of your help and advice, my truck has an amazing ceramic coating and 2 layers of EXO4!! It shines like a mirror now.

Just goes to show everyone else that will read this thread into the future that installing a ceramic coating isn't Rocket Science reserved to professional detailers - if a person is willing to educate themselves and then invest themselves into what it takes then success can be yours.



I really don't want to take it out of the garage now!

I ruined my desire to haul stuff in the bed and get it dirty now...LOL

That's funny. :laughing:




:)
 
Ok so I am a little challenged on this forum.

But even sideways you get the shine quality!!

I kept having to resize my pic because I couldn't seem to find the file size limit.

Somehow in the process it rotated on me?? Doesn't rotate on my PC. Weird. But thanks again!!

Jim


View attachment 69422
 
Ok so I am a little challenged on this forum.

But even sideways you get the shine quality!!

I kept having to resize my pic because I couldn't seem to find the file size limit.

Somehow in the process it rotated on me?? Doesn't rotate on my PC. Weird. But thanks again!!

Jim


Here's your picure. Looks like liquid paint! Like it just came out of the paint booth!

JKoopTruck.jpg



I rotated the picture and put it in your free gallery here on AGO. The only way I know to upload pics to the gallery is when I'm behind a PC computer.

JKoop Free Gallery



:)
 
Hey Mike!! One more thing. I all my glory, I was showing off my finish to my brother in law tonight. I discovered a small area on my driver door(probably about the size of my hand) where I must have missed wiping down the Gtechniq EXOv4 coating. Huge face plant...LOL. I wanted to puke!! But I think if I am correct, that I can polish that out and fix the area? Any chance you could tell what to use and how to do that. I don't own a polishing machine and don't have any polish. So I am hoping I can get some polish and do it by hand? I assume my ceramic coating underneath will survive the correction? It was most definitely on the second coat of EXOv4. I can't believe I missed it. I was almost finished and I must have lost my concentration. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
You will have to polish and coat that area again as the polish will remove the coating. Probably ok to do it by hand. Not sure how CSL/EXO blend but the coatings I’ve used didn’t blend well and I had to do the whole panel.
 
You will have to polish and coat that area again as the polish will remove the coating. Probably ok to do it by hand. Not sure how CSL/EXO blend but the coatings I’ve used didn’t blend well and I had to do the whole panel.
There are so many polishes.. How do I know which one to use? Also will it remove the ceramic coating also? I thought I could maybe get just the exo off?
 
There are so many polishes.. How do I know which one to use? Also will it remove the ceramic coating also? I thought I could maybe get just the exo off?

Any abrasive polish will remove everything.

You can get yourself Meguiar’s M205 or ultimate polish locally. That should be more than enough to remove it.

Before you do that take a little Exo on an applicator and put it on that high spot and see if you can remove it. If that doesn’t work you have to polish and recoat. Recommended to to polish the entire panel.
 
Yea i tried spot removal doesn’t work.... i removed week old CQuartz UK3 with a orange pad and Carpros essence by hand


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ok thanks to all!! So I slept on this and now I don't feel any better than finding it yesterday...LOL. So another question. If I do the entire door, how do you know when you have all of the CSL and EXO removed?? I thought the CSL info said it has to be sanded off if you need to remove it? I guess I don't know how I will know what layers are gone along the polishing process?? Thanks again.
I really can't thank you guys enough. This forum is the best!! Now I need to get over myself and redo my driver door!! As Guz said, I will try a little EXO over it and see. I contemplated just leaving it for a while, but my "perfect" finish defect is driving my OCD nuts!!
 
Some coatings say that may need to be sanded but that’s BS unless you lay such a thick high spot. You’ll see slight color difference as you polish, the spots without coating seem a little lighter in color. Mask off adjacent panels to avoid polishing them as you get close to the edge and also so you don’t recoat them when fixing this door.
 
So I also emailed GTechniq and here is their response:

Jim,


No worries at all. If it is exo, my first move would to apply a little bit of exo to the spot and wipe after 20 seconds. The solvent in the product may break down the spot.


Worse case, a light polish and reapplication of exo is al that is needed.


Eric



There might be hope for me yet!! I will keep you all posted!!
Thanks for reading
Jim
 
Hey Mike!! One more thing. I all my glory, I was showing off my finish to my brother in law tonight. I discovered a small area on my driver door(probably about the size of my hand) where I must have missed wiping down the Gtechniq EXOv4 coating.

Huge face plant...LOL.

I wanted to puke!!

But I think if I am correct, that I can polish that out and fix the area?


Sorry I'm just now getting to this, I can't keep up.

Here's your picture,

69427d1588126380-few-newbie-questions-csl-application-first-time-img_20200428_203542-1-jpg



And like stated already,

Try the coating - LIKE DISSOLVES LIKE

If that doesn't work then you'll have to abrade the area and re-coat. Try a polish first and if that doesn't get it then use a compound. Then re-polish, strip and coat.

Don't feel bad - I've done this too and my own experience and the experience of a Autogeek customer that did this caused me to write this article. It is the second article I shared in post #3 of your thread.


Installing a Ceramic Paint Coating? You MUST have a GREAT hand held light to avoid high spots!

1980_Corvette_106.jpg





:)
 
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