Ceramic coatings application vs ambient temperature....

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scv2005

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Does it have to be above a certain temperature to apply a ceramic coating properly? Do any work better around 40-50F? I am in the northeast, recently had the clear bra on my 2006 Porsche 911 redone and would like to coat the car... Previously I used Xpel's fusion on another car but it was the middle of the summer here in the Northeast... My garage is not heated but if I time it right and use a few space heaters I can likely get it up to a maintain 50 degrees for say 48 hours or so...Better off waiting till spring?
 
Cquartz Lite has a recommendation of 40-100 F

Cquartz TiO2 50-100 F

Cquartz UK 3.0 40-100 F

Cquartz Skin 40-100 F. This is a dedicated PPF coating.
 
I recently did CQ UK3 and Gliss. I’m also in the north east. I had to wait days to crack 50 degrees. When I did it it was taking really long to flash. I say it’s better to do it in warmer weather.
 
ntwillie1 said:
I recently did CQ UK3 and Gliss. I’m also in the north east. I had to wait days to crack 50 degrees. When I did it it was taking really long to flash. I say it’s better to do it in warmer weather.
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Thanks and Thanks... Kind of what I was afraid of, that even though it can be applied down to 40 it's going to be a pain to work with...I might look into renting some sort of industrial heater. I have two large windows and a door at the back of the garage for plenty of ventilation.
 
scv2005 said:
Thanks and Thanks... Kind of what I was afraid of, that even though it can be applied down to 40 it's going to be a pain to work with...I might look into renting some sort of industrial heater. I have two large windows and a door at the back of the garage for plenty of ventilation.
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Any kind of heater that takes propane will generate a ton of moisture in the air(and on everything), you don't want that.

If you can use 1500 watt space heaters you can do it. They will just have to run a bit. Do not plug more than one on any given circuit. A 12 gauge extension cord can get you to another circuit in a different area of the house.
If the kitchen or bath are close by those will be 20 amp circuits(or should be)
 
spazzz said:
Any kind of heater that takes propane will generate a ton of moisture in the air(and on everything), you don't want that.

If you can use 1500 watt space heaters you can do it. They will just have to run a bit. Do not plug more than one on any given circuit. A 12 gauge extension cord can get you to another circuit in a different area of the house.
If the kitchen or bath are close by those will be 20 amp circuits(or should be)
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Thanks Spazzz! Never thought of the moisture issue... Have a ton of dedicated outlets in the garage... My 1,500 watt space heater does very little currently...Garage is about 600 square feet, epoxy floor... Funny side note we cut into the ceiling a few months back as I am planning to utilize the rafter for storage...no insulation at all! Ideally I would love to dormer out the rafter and really utilize the space above the garage but living just outside NYC I am sure the cost and permitting process will prohibit that lol....
 
Humidity can be a larger problem than temperature. The higher the humidity, the longer the drying time. 50 degrees is about as low as I would want to go when applying a coating. Wait until Spring.
 
ntwillie1 said:
I recently did CQ UK3 and Gliss. I’m also in the north east. I had to wait days to crack 50 degrees. When I did it it was taking really long to flash. I say it’s better to do it in warmer weather.
Click to expand...

Did a car last week in 45f-50f ambient temp, and the CQUK3.0 took forever to flash. I kept thinking I need to remove it, but literally after 15 min it was still smearing. Ended up being around 20 min. After I figured it out on the first panel, it did allow me to apply it to most of the car at once and not feel rushed.
 
mrmarkmac said:
Did a car last week in 45f-50f ambient temp, and the CQUK3.0 took forever to flash. I kept thinking I need to remove it, but literally after 15 min it was still smearing. Ended up being around 20 min. After I figured it out on the first panel, it did allow me to apply it to most of the car at once and not feel rushed.
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Case closed, really going to wait till spring, not driving the car much next 7-8 weeks anyway....
 
mrmarkmac said:
Did a car last week in 45f-50f ambient temp, and the CQUK3.0 took forever to flash. I kept thinking I need to remove it, but literally after 15 min it was still smearing. Ended up being around 20 min. After I figured it out on the first panel, it did allow me to apply it to most of the car at once and not feel rushed.
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Glad to hear I am not the only one that had that experience. I don’t think I waited 20 min per panel as I was worried I would end up having to re-polish my whole car again to remove if I left it on too long. I think I waited about 10 min per panel. When it warms up again I will do a thorough inspection and see if I need to redo. For now I have washed the car twice or so and the protection seems to be there but it had also only been about 5 weeks or so since I applied. My wife will be getting a new car when her lease is up in 4 months so I will coat her car w the same products and hopefully get better flashing times.

OP, for now maybe just apply a sealant for your winter protection. Something like 845 or Optimum spray on sealant (optiseal) should do the trick. Wipe on, wipe off, walk away.
 
Sealant good idea to get you through winter. I would recommend maybe a sio2 topper/sealant you can use to top your coated vehichle. PA Cosmic and Kamikaze Overcoat are to of my favorites, Pricy though.

If bot wanting to spend A lot I just used Griots new Ceramic 3-1 and if it last a strong 3 months may be a game changer. Easy on easy off. Great beading. I left a high spot and it hardened up like a true coating. Cleaned up easily with more product.


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Nothing new to add, but just another data point. I too tried an application of CQuartz UK in weather which was 60's-ish in my garage and pretty humid. Flashing was taking upwards of 10 minutes or longer. Normally I can coat a car pretty quickly, but in this case it took much longer due to the wait for everything to flash. I think the 70's is the sweet spot for applying a coating.
 
The best for colder temps - would be CQUK - but even then I also found 50 deg is about the lower limit....

I did have good luck with Gyeon CanCoat in high 40 deg temps though - so you could try that - it's a coating lite - but certainly an option for now.

I also just finally tried Kenotek ShowRoom Shine after my latest Waterless Wash (WG Uber Rinseless) - and that really seems to work out well in 40 Deg temps for some added protection (And mates well with WG Uber). Or another similar option might be CarPro Elixor

Ultimately I believe the option to wait until spring for a full coating is the best plan - but there certainly are options to add protection in the short term.
 
interesting post. any updates on how the coating held up so far guys? for the folks that had long flash times?
 
I've not experienced any issues with durability or performance of the coating after application. As long as it dries and flashes correctly everything is fine, it just takes FAR longer in cooler weather.
 
Desertnate said:
I've not experienced any issues with durability or performance of the coating after application. As long as it dries and flashes correctly everything is fine, it just takes FAR longer in cooler weather.
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thanks, I guess you can easily do a average size hood before breaking out the towels?
 
I used UK3.0 and Gliss V2 last week and temperature was cool, not cold. I actually appreciated the fact I could do a whole panel at a time and not rush to wipe it off, it wasn't flashing super fast. Last year when I did my wife's car I did it in June and it was hot and humid and I was having to rush quite a bit more then. Gliss flashed a little faster than UK but still allowed me enough time to do larger areas. CQuartz UK was designed for colder climates but when version 3.0 came out they tweaked it a bit to make it work better in warmer climates (which wasn't easy to do with original UK) and now the new version takes a while to flash if it's cold. To me it's not a bad thing, you can spread coating over a bigger area before you need to go back to wipe. You just have to keep things under control so you don't end up forgetting to wipe off an area.
 
yeah I love the idea actually of being able to take my time. was kind of kicking myself for not going with kamikaze just for that reason. Then i ended up ordering cquartz for the very reason I don't have to worry about warmer Temps lol looks like I choose the right product for my situation :D
 
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