Experience With Ceramic Coatings

Onthegeauxauto

Onthegeauxauto

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What's up guys! I'm hoping to get some imput from y'all on different ceramic coating options. I own a detailing business in Louisiana. We do a ton of Cquartz right now. All we offer is Opti-gloss and Cquartz at the moment. I have been thinking about becoming an installer for ceramic pro because I have a ton of people asking about coatings with scratch resistance. I don't know that my market can support the increase in price though going from Cquartz to ceramic pro. I have been looking around to see if there are any other coatings with good scratch resistance that wouldn't require me to be exclusive to a brand and that would allow me to keep the same price point. Does anyone have any recommendations? I've tried to find some info on Micro Detailer coatings and there isn't a whole lot of reviews. That's the only thing I've seen that advertises 9h hardness and says they have testing to prove it. I'm just not to sure about the brand though.
Right now we offer Cquartz in two or 3 coats. Our 3 coat package is selling at $950 for a truck/suv and $825 for a car. Any imput on this would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!
 
Onthegeauxauto said:
Right now we offer Cquartz in two or 3 coats. Our 3 coat package is selling at $950 for a truck/suv and $825 for a car. Any imput on this would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!
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Does that include polishing or is that price on top of the detail?
 
That includes wash, clay, and 4 hours of paint correction. If it needs more than 4 hours we charge $75 per additional hour.
 
I just applied CP to my hood. Just did a single coat. Testing its longevity and properties against 22PLE HPC currently. I have heard both good, and bad about CP. So no better way than to test it for one's self!
 
Marc08EX said:
Does that include polishing or is that price on top of the detail?
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I would go bonkers applying coat after coat after coat.To me 75.00 isn't worth the insanity. I think if you switch from cp to a promising marr resistant coating you will be fixing alot of panels for free.If your doing coating alot of coating jobs stick with what works and charge a little bit more.When you tell a customer or sell a product that supposed to be marr free or scratch resistant you are bringing the heat on to yourself.keep it simple and just make your customers happy.
 
Try the boyds coating pretty good durable stuff that can handle automatic carwashes and the crap deosnt come off.
 
That's a good point about advertising a scratch resistant coating. Never thought of it like that. To clairify though, we offer Cquartz in 2 or 3 coats. I haven't installed ceramic pro before. The Cquartz is working really well for us though. On average we are doing three to four vehicles with Cquartz and one to two vehicles in opti-gloss each week. Prices range from $825-$1150 for three coats of Cquartz and $600-$800 for two coats of opti-gloss. That also includes 4 hours of paint correction and coating the wheels and glass.
 
I have used Gtechniq C1 and Modesta+ BC-05. Modesta is by far the best coating, if you can swallow the price of it. I would look at Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light, or if you want to get accredited with Gtechniq you can apply regular Crystal Serum, which has a 7 year guarantee.
 
AeroCleanse said:
I have used Gtechniq C1 and Modesta+ BC-05. Modesta is by far the best coating, if you can swallow the price of it. I would look at Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light, or if you want to get accredited with Gtechniq you can apply regular Crystal Serum, which has a 7 year guarantee.
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How much is the Modesta? How easy are they to work with compared to Cquartz?

I appreciate all the input!
 
Onthegeauxauto said:
What's up guys! I'm hoping to get some imput from y'all on different ceramic coating options. I own a detailing business in Louisiana. We do a ton of Cquartz right now. All we offer is Opti-gloss and Cquartz at the moment. I have been thinking about becoming an installer for ceramic pro because I have a ton of people asking about coatings with scratch resistance. I don't know that my market can support the increase in price though going from Cquartz to ceramic pro. I have been looking around to see if there are any other coatings with good scratch resistance that wouldn't require me to be exclusive to a brand and that would allow me to keep the same price point. Does anyone have any recommendations? I've tried to find some info on Micro Detailer coatings and there isn't a whole lot of reviews. That's the only thing I've seen that advertises 9h hardness and says they have testing to prove it. I'm just not to sure about the brand though.
Right now we offer Cquartz in two or 3 coats. Our 3 coat package is selling at $950 for a truck/suv and $825 for a car. Any imput on this would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!
Click to expand...

I do not recommend selling a ceramic coating as "scratch resistance", if anyone says that they are BSing. I am carpro authorized installer, I sell the coatings as easier maintenance, along with the different properties such as resistance to contamination etc. coatings will scratch and if they do and the customer comes back to you they'll ask you why are there scratches in the coating? We stress proper aftercare, if they don't want to maintain it with us then it's kind of out of our control the way the coating is cared for. If you maintain a coating properly, yeah it can stay swirl free. If you don't it will swirl, simple. We also don't sell everyone a coating, you have to be the right candidate. Am I gonna put a coating on a minivan that goes through a car wash once every 3 months, no? I'll sell that person a sealant.

Also 4 hours of paint correction before applying a coating? It takes 20-30+ hrs for us to properly prep paint before applying a coating. Remember it's 90% prep and 10% coating.

And the lighter test that CP does is really unrealistic btw


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KS_Detailing said:
Also 4 hours of paint correction before applying a coating? It takes 20-30+ hrs for us to properly prep paint before applying a coating. Remember it's 90% prep and 10% coating.



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We start with 4 hours of paint correction. That's what is included in our base price. The majority of our customers have new vehicles. I'd say 5 out of 10 have less then 300 miles when we do them. If you spend 20-30 hours I'm sure you get great results. If we can get the same results by getting the right customers then it's more efficient. We spend a lot of time working with dealers. They have someone that wants a new vehicle, they don't wash it or send it to their detail shop at all. They refer them straight to us. Happy customer and a dealership that doesn't have to waste time washing a new car. Win/win for everyone.
 
Onthegeauxauto said:
I have been thinking about becoming an installer for ceramic pro because I have a ton of people asking about coatings with scratch resistance.
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Ceramic Pro does not offer any significant scratch resistance beyond what CQuartz and other ceramic coatings offer. The entire "9H" story is a complete gimmick. The hardness of the coating has very little to do with actual scratch and mar resistance. You can do the "lighter test" with Meg's D156 Spray Wax or CarPro Reload and get the same results Ceramic Pro shows in their videos. Scratch and mar resistance is primarily a function of the slickness of a surface. This is why polishing a vehicle to the highest standards is the most important factor to provide an enjoyable ownership experience for clients opting for a ceramic coating. Highly polished paint that has been treated with some sort of wax, sealant, or ceramic coating will offer significantly better scratch and mar resistance compared to an un-polished, unprotected vehicle.
 
rodneypierce said:
Have you not had personal experience with it? If so, how do you know it is the "best"?

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I do have personal experiance with it. It has the longest durability, scratch resistance and gloss.

I did however just find out Modesta no longer sells to the public and only though authorized installers.
 
Ceramic pro is the only coating out with a lifetime guarantee (with 5 Or more coats). It can be applied with a microfiber applicator or can be sprayed using an air brush setup. I personally have my vehicle coated with 7 layers, it's the best product out there. Can only be removed by sanding. So IF it does get a scratch on the coating, you have waaaaaaaay more room for a little wet sanding/cut/buff than on a regular clear coat. You have to go to a training to be able to buy the product. I personally do a lot more wheels and brake calipers than paint because everyone already has their entire vehicle clear bra wrapped.
 
I've had the CP applied for a year now (Lifetime warranty package) and had some questions:

1. looks like my car has a scratch due to some one walking by and perhaps their purse or zipper marred the coating: typically on a car without CP, I'd be able to polish this type of scratch off using a DA etc - now, having the CP, should I just use touch up paint over this area?

2. the car is due for an annual CP inspection with the CP installer, what should I be looking for etc as part of the lifetime warranty so I can let the installer know if any panels need to be fixed/re-CP'd? (My car is a Diamond White Mercedes color, so pearl white like color and it's hard to tell when looking for defects)


I also do want to point out for anyone thinking of having Cerapic Pro applied that the CP coating is not as durable and "hard" or scratch repellent like they make it look like during that simulation where they strike the prepped and unprepped panel, where the CP applied area remains unscratched.. this and the entire 9H Hardness story is a gimmick
 
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