Coating or Sealant on a new vehicle

[bojans]

I should be picking up my new F-150 next week. I feel like I take better care of my vehicles than the avg person, hand wash only (usually every 2 weeks or so), decontaminate, polish and use Klasse ~2x per year. My vehicle is garaged every night but sits uncovered at work. I drive to the UP of Michigan often so I deal with lots of bugs in the summer and crummy winter weather including sand with a high iron content (the liquid iron removers turn the whole vehicle purple every spring) and salt.

I find it hard to find the time to do a full detail 2x a year and as the kids are getting older this will become even more challenging. My question is just how good are the coatings? Knowing that I drive in an area with lots of "rail dust" and bugs, will a coating really protect the vehicle? I understand I will likely not get the 3 years as stated but if I can get 1.5-2 years and not have to do more than washing and spraying a booster on the coating a few times a year (or monthly?) I would be very happy with this. My other 2 questions are how difficult is the prep when you need to redo the coating and do you really need to use the coating specific car shampoo or can I just use a high quality shampoo?

Thanks
Scott

 

[vobro]

Even with a coating you'll still have to stay on top of the maintenance. I fish and tow a lot, my Durango gets hammered with bugs,tar,sap, bird poo etc and also see a lot of salt in the winter. I put CQaurtz UK on 2 years ago and I'll never go back to sealants, not that they don't work but the coating will save you time.
Before I head on a road trip I'll put Reload on and it just makes cleaning a lot easier. Even sap usually will clean of with just warm water if I wash when I get back home. Is the CQUK a miracle product? No but it can be a big time saver, just stay on top of the maintenance and keep it clean.
As far as soap I usually use a rinsless and use Reset or Optimum car shampoo when it gets trashed. As of now I have no bug or bird crap etchings but have started to see water spots forming on the hood, after this fishing season I'll repolish and apply again