Ceramic for northern climates + salt roads

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nvestr

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Hi guys,

I am a hobbiest and have ceramic coated 3 of my own cars in the past. All with GTechniq CSL+EXOv4. I have been disappointed with the longevity and performance (water beading, self cleaning, etc.) on lower vertical panels after a short time.

Horizontal and above the mid-door still has great water beading and performance but nothing below. I suspect it's related to the harsh winter elements of Atlantic Canadian winters. Lots of road salt and crap on the road gets blasted onto the paint.

I enjoy a ceramic coated car for ease of cleaning and ease of drying with a Master Blaster. A freshly EXOv4'd vehicle takes only minutes to dry with the Master Blaster...

I just bought a new car am debating what to coat it with, hopefully something that lasts longer on lower panels than CSL+EXOv4 did.

Thoughts? I am considering Kamikaze ISM 2.0 (sorry, I know that is not a product sold through Autogeek, but for comparison's purposes) as they are marketed as being designed for enhanced chemical resistance to meet Nordic climate demands.

I am looking for something easy to clean, that resists water spotting (CSL was not great for this) and maintains water beading through salt. Not as worried about how it looks on the paint.

Car is an Alpine White (not tricoat) 2021 BMW X6 M50i. I am also interested in coating the wheels as they are bi-color (black painted + polished aluminum). KEeping the black portion clean is going to require work. Recommendation for that?

I will be picking up some Sonax PerfectFinish and a yellow Rupes pad for prep correction. Came swirled a bit from dealer/factory.

Thanks!
 
I can't really answer your question, but do have a comment.

My only coating experience is with CSL and EXO_V4.
I applied those to my Golf R May-2020, so it's been right about 1 year.
I racked up a whole 5k miles since then (most of those miles in the winter). The car is garaged all the time (except when it's driven, obviously).
It's still beading like crazy on all surfaces, but again, not many miles.

My biggest complaint is it seems that bugs etch the EXO much easier than I've experienced without coatings.
Maybe it's just the red that makes those bug etching stick out, but I really don't notice any etching on my '14 Explorer with 100k miles on it and that has only been waxed about 2x per year since I bought it in 2014.

If/when the coating starts to fail, I'm not sure if I'll go with that combo again.
 
Hopefully Guz or Budget will chime in. I know Budget deals with winters. From what I’ve read, look into CQUARTZ UK topped with SIC. It may be that a lite coating like CanCoat or CQUARTZ lite would be the best bet of nothing is go8ng to survive the extended time.

Also, have you decontaminated your car?
 
Thanks! Yes, cars were always clayed, Iron-X'd, corrected and then panel wiped before application.
 
nvestr said:
Thanks! Yes, cars were always clayed, Iron-X'd, corrected and then panel wiped before application.
Click to expand...

I'm in Canada. Thats a very reputable coating. Good luck! Personally, when i was looking for a coating i wanted a 1 layer coating. Not sure about ISM actually. I picked up nv evo.

Update: ISM topped with overcoat would be what i would do i think. :) budgetplan has a lot of experience with kamiikaze.
 
nvestr said:
Thanks! Yes, cars were always clayed, Iron-X'd, corrected and then panel wiped before application.
Click to expand...

What about chemical decontamination after the winter? That’s part of maintaining a coating.
 
My last 6 household vehicles have been with all versions of the CQUK, keep it clean regularly and every application has given me over a year and a half. Surely not a miracle product but I wash when I can during winter and a thorough cleaning in spring works for me.
 
nvestr said:
Hi guys,

I am a hobbiest and have ceramic coated 3 of my own cars in the past. All with GTechniq CSL+EXOv4. I have been disappointed with the longevity and performance (water beading, self cleaning, etc.) on lower vertical panels after a short time.

Horizontal and above the mid-door still has great water beading and performance but nothing below. I suspect it's related to the harsh winter elements of Atlantic Canadian winters. Lots of road salt and crap on the road gets blasted onto the paint.

I enjoy a ceramic coated car for ease of cleaning and ease of drying with a Master Blaster. A freshly EXOv4'd vehicle takes only minutes to dry with the Master Blaster...

I just bought a new car am debating what to coat it with, hopefully something that lasts longer on lower panels than CSL+EXOv4 did.

Thoughts? I am considering Kamikaze ISM 2.0 (sorry, I know that is not a product sold through Autogeek, but for comparison's purposes) as they are marketed as being designed for enhanced chemical resistance to meet Nordic climate demands.

I am looking for something easy to clean, that resists water spotting (CSL was not great for this) and maintains water beading through salt. Not as worried about how it looks on the paint.

Car is an Alpine White (not tricoat) 2021 BMW X6 M50i. I am also interested in coating the wheels as they are bi-color (black painted + polished aluminum). KEeping the black portion clean is going to require work. Recommendation for that?

I will be picking up some Sonax PerfectFinish and a yellow Rupes pad for prep correction. Came swirled a bit from dealer/factory.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

How long is this pairing lasting you? Sorry to hear it isn't lasting as long as it should, it could very well be the harsh winters as my experience has been very positive as the years go by, my wifes daily was also susceptible to greater than normal salt exposure (norfolk naval yard parking for ships is no joke lol), but Canadian winters (especially in the northern parts) are absolutely brutal on cars in general.

If a coating is under performing it could be due to a wide variety of reasons. Some questions that could help shed some light on how you can get better life from your coatings:
-What products are you maintaining your car with?
-How often do you wash your car in general as well as during the winter?
-How often do you do decontamination washes (Pre-wash, shampoo, fallout/iron spray) a year? I generally do twice a year per car (before and after winter).
-Do you utilize a simple sacrificial topper like Gtechinq C2 or CarPro Reload?
-Have you tested your water at the spigot that you use for cleaning?
-Are these cars garage kept?
-What does your prep look like prior install and what temp do you apply these coatings?

I know CQuartz UK 3.0 is a popular coating here, and rightfully so, but in this case I don't think you will get better results down the road as it isn't as durable as CSL + EXO. I don't know Kamikaze, but I have read good things on 22ple product if you want to try something different.

Regarding your comments about water spotting, ceramic's are still susceptible. Water spotting can happen with any product, wax, sealant or coating. I never worried about water spotting (with or without my 8hp metro blaster) in VA. Moving to CA, different world. The water is so bad that I had to be on the spot with my drying and quick detailer to remove any left behind until I was able to get a setup that addressed my water.
 
One of the biggest complaints is the Exo V4 is not as good as V3. Which is why I am hearing Gtechniq is working on V5. I have only used V3 but the harsh winter in So Cal is clouds and 65 degree weather. I am about to test CSL/Exo V4 as part of my coating test.

You also mention the drop off in beading of CSL. Well CSL is more of a sheeting type coating rather than a heavy beading coating.

The first thing is have you tied to chemically decontaminate to see if the coating itself is clogged?

Coatings do have the potential to spot. But how were those spots developed? Rain doesn't cause spotting it is all the dirt that is already on the paint that develop into spots with the water sitting on the surface.

I can't comment on harsh weather. Harsh weather in So Cal in the summer is a cloudy day. Here I see the upper surfaces lose their hydrophobic behavior due to UV while the sides are perfectly fine. For me Cquartz has been the better option. I mean both UK and the previous TiO2 along with the combo of UK/TiO2. SiC is the upgrade to TiO2 so If you want to try a combo that rivals CSL/Exo then UK/SiC would be the way to go.

If you are looking to try something different perhaps consider a graphene coating. In theory graphene is supposed to have a less potential to spot. They still spot in my experience when using them. Easier to apply though and there are some easy ones to use.

I can't comment on kamikaze coatings. For some reason they just interest me or attract me as a must try product. That's budgets area of expertise.
 
1st off i agree with others. If coatingvis clogged up try a decontamination wash.

Iron remover, tar remover if needed and then a decon (alkalline) soap. Some like CarPros Reset for this but i felt it isn’t strong enough. I use Mckee’s coating prep soap but any alkaline soap should do.

CQUK3 was made for North type winters. They were made for UK conditions which is very much the same. Excellent product. I know [mention]BudgetPlan1 [/mention] goes through some harsh winters and has spoken about his like and stoutness of ISM 2.0.

I thought of this as well but their is some difficulty applying. Ended up with Nova Evo. I wanted to try one coat and maybe topped with Gyeon OverCoat as that was a good topper.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've had great experience with CQuartz UK 2.0 and 3.0 through our mid-west winters.

After a long winter of grime and salt the beading and sheeting will be a little off, espicially on lower door panels and rear trunk/hatch area. However, after 2~3 good hand washes with a quality soap or 1 good wash with Reset, everything is back to normal and works great.
 
Texchappy said:
What about chemical decontamination after the winter? That’s part of maintaining a coating.
Click to expand...

I Iron-X before and after winter. Does not seem to change anything with regards to water performance on the coating.
 
Thanks for all the responses guys

Responses to some questions:

I wash the vehicle weekly (I'll admit sometimes it goes to every 2 weeks during the winter, but still try for weekly). Every wash is with 2 capfuls of CarPro Reset in a small-ish amount of water (2 bucket method with grit guards). I Iron-X twice per year (cars are white, so I get orange rust-spotting all over the vehicle anyway). No change in apparent performance of coatings on lower panels after doing this.

Garage kept (heated)

I always dry using a Metro Blaster.

On my last vehicle (BMW X3 M40i, Alpine White as well), the coating had been applied June 2019. AFter 1 winter, there was some diminished performance on lower panels, but by second winter (this winter passed), no visibile performance at all on lower panels. Above the belt line still going strong.

I do have Gtechniq C2 that I use from time to time, although it doesn't seem to make much of a difference... if it does, it doesn't last so I don't use it too often...

Appreciate the feedback - I am interested in CQUK 3 based on comments above. Also looking forward to getting BudgetPlan's comments on ISM 2.0 :)
 
Interesting observation on the vertical vs. horizontal panels, as my experience (with CQUK anyway) has been the opposite - the vertical panels sheet water crazy fast, but the horizontal surfaces have been significantly degraded in comparison, which is what I expected. The car is outside all of the time, in southern New England.
 
I have CSL no EXO on both my vehicles, one is going on 3 years and I am just noticing this on the lower panels but after 3 years Im ok with that. The other is one year in and things are holding up GREAT. This is Upstate NY so lots of road salt.
 
dcjredline said:
I have CSL no EXO on both my vehicles, one is going on 3 years and I am just noticing this on the lower panels but after 3 years Im ok with that. The other is one year in and things are holding up GREAT. This is Upstate NY so lots of road salt.
Click to expand...

Oh thank goodness. I was getting discouraged by the negative CSL & EXO reviews here and I am using that on my F150 this weekend.
 
hoyt66 said:
Oh thank goodness. I was getting discouraged by the negative CSL & EXO reviews here and I am using that on my F150 this weekend.
Click to expand...

This pairing is a tough to beat pairing in the consumer friendly world. I have been running CSL + EXO for 35 months now on my Mustang. I reapplied EXO when I noticed it was going away, and there has been zero signs of CSL degrading. You will be happy!
 
nvestr said:
I Iron-X before and after winter. Does not seem to change anything with regards to water performance on the coating.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't expect iron remover to make any difference on water behavior.

Tar-X on the other hand will. It's a fairly aggressive cleaner that will really help unclog a coating.

Perhaps not the tool to use on an entire car but if you suspect a coating is clogged this can be used on a test spot to find out.
 
dwaleke said:
I wouldn't expect iron remover to make any difference on water behavior.

Tar-X on the other hand will. It's a fairly aggressive cleaner that will really help unclog a coating.

Perhaps not the tool to use on an entire car but if you suspect a coating is clogged this can be used on a test spot to find out.
Click to expand...

Fair point - GTechniq specifically mentions not to use Tax X on their coatings, so I always stayed away from it... That being said, I guess I have nothing to lose by trying... I will order some next time I buy product...
 
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