New to Me Car - Considering a DIY Ceramic Coating

[757CA]

Folks,

I just purchased a new to me, 2019 Audi A7 with 22K miles on it. The color is Firmament Blue. I got a few estimates for ceramic coatings but kinda would like to do the work myself. My concern is that I have zero experience working with coatings or doing any sort of paint correction. I've never worked with a machine buffer, either. While the car is in excellent condition, there are swirls, paint chips, etc, as to be expected on a 4-year-old car. My worry is ruining the appearance and paint of my car due to lack of experience, but the DIYer in me wants to tackle this project.

I've narrowed down the coatings to a possible 2- Adam's or Gyeon, but certainly open to others if they are easier to work with.

Can a novice with zero paint correction and ceramic experience pull this off? Do I need heaters and a zero-dust environment to make this work? Can it be done in the typical home garage without any issues?

I appreciate any advice!

 

[Forty]

You don’t need to do pain correction to apply a coating. You do need to thoroughly clean the surface. You will need to use a clay bar to rid the surface of bonded contaminants. If the surface has a rough or gritty feel, you need to use clay bar. If you are happy with the condition of the paint, just clean and apply coating. I have used both Gyeon Mohs and Gyeon Pure. Both are very easy to apply and remove.
With Pure, you can apply to a full panel or two before removing. With Mohs, you apply, wait for coating to”sweat or bead” then remove. This process only takes 30-60 seconds. Good luck.

 

[dlc95]

I use a lot of Optimum Gloss Coat. I use it because it holds up well and is easy to use. It also looks great on the paint!

But I've been really impressed with the Meguiar's Hybrid Paint Coating. Holds up great, easy to apply and remove, and in one ongoing test repels dirt better than Cquartz UK 3.0 / Gliss combo.

That being said, I also really like the CarPro Cquartz UK 3.0, Gliss, and Lite. I just done care for actually using them.

Where I work I have to apply glass bottle coatings and I absolutely hate it. I'd rather clean toilets

 

[The Guz]

Folks,

I just purchased a new to me, 2019 Audi A7 with 22K miles on it. The color is Firmament Blue. I got a few estimates for ceramic coatings but kinda would like to do the work myself. My concern is that I have zero experience working with coatings or doing any sort of paint correction. I've never worked with a machine buffer, either. While the car is in excellent condition, there are swirls, paint chips, etc, as to be expected on a 4-year-old car. My worry is ruining the appearance and paint of my car due to lack of experience, but the DIYer in me wants to tackle this project.

I've narrowed down the coatings to a possible 2- Adam's or Gyeon, but certainly open to others if they are easier to work with.

Congrats on the new purchase. Polishing is not hard. Tedious but not hard.

Which Adams coating and which Gyeon coating? There are a couple options for each brand.

Can a novice with zero paint correction and ceramic experience pull this off?

Yes.

Do I need heaters and a zero-dust environment to make this work?

No

Can it be done in the typical home garage without any issues?

Yes

 

[Markymapo1]

Do you have a friend with a junk car that you can try buffing using compound and polish ? What buffer will you use?

 

[757CA]

Thanks for the replies!

For Adam's I was considering the Graphene Ceramic Coating Advanced. For Gyeon I'm thinking the Q2 Pure Evo.

 

[757CA]

Do you have a friend with a junk car that you can try buffing using compound and polish ? What buffer will you use?

Thanks. Unfortunately, I don't have a car I could test out with. Maybe I could sneak a try with my wife's Subaru Outback! I also have figured out which buffer to buy.

 

[CleanIT]

Thanks for the replies!

For Adam's I was considering the Graphene Ceramic Coating Advanced. For Gyeon I'm thinking the Q2 Pure Evo.

Good choices but I'd also highly recommend Can Coat Evo. Doesn't get much easier and holds up well.

Megs hybrid paint coating and Optimum Gloss Coat are also very user friendly.

 

[757CA]

Good choices but I'd also highly recommend Can Coat Evo. Doesn't get much easier and holds up well.

Megs hybrid paint coating and Optimum Gloss Coat are also very user friendly.

Thanks. Can Coat looks pretty good too.

 

[2black1s]

I'm not a coating guy but I did recently use Meguiar's Hybrid Paint Coating and I can't imagine anything being easier to apply. For a first-timer, I would definitely recommend you give it some consideration. The results looked great, the finish was as slick (or better) than anything I've ever used, and after about three months it is holding up well with great self-cleaning properties.

View attachment 76361

 

[The Guz]

Thanks for the replies!

For Adam's I was considering the Graphene Ceramic Coating Advanced. For Gyeon I'm thinking the Q2 Pure Evo.

Pure is the easier of the two. Adams is more hydrophobic and slicker.

 

[757CA]

Pure is the easier of the two. Adams is more hydrophobic and slicker.

Thanks, appreciate the advice!

 

[DUBL0WS6]

If this is your first time with a ceramic coating, I'd suggest the Wolfgang Spray Ceramic Coating. It's easy to use. I got 6 months on a vehicle that sits outside 24/7.

 

[theTown]

Where I work I have to apply glass bottle coatings and I absolutely hate it. I'd rather clean toilets

Can you elaborate on why you hate applying the glass bottle coatings some more?




+1 Megs Hybrid Paint coating. No chance of leaving high spots or messing this up and offers 12 months of protection.

Since I'll likely do an annual decon / paint enhancement anyway, the 2+ year long lasting DIY ceramic products didn't seem worth the extra hassle on a car that lives outside and will likely need attention in a year anyway.

Also, I think the leftover product would go bad by the time its time to re-coat in a year (I had emailed carpro about this). The megs paint coating comes in a can and I think has a longer shelf life.



I'd love to hear some counterpoints in favor of a more real "ceramic" coating. I have another vehicle that is always garage kept that will be next and need to decide between the "glass bottle" products, or just using more of my Megs H. Coating that I have left over.



To the OP - I recently tackled my first polishing project. The car was black and the paint was soft so I had to go back to the drawing board a couple times to refine my technique. Its definitely possible to achieve amazing results DIY. My biggest take away from it was that the pads and polish you use are a function of your vehicles paint condition and clear coat hardness. Until you know those things, its hard to know what combination of products to use. For this reason, I ended up ordering an array of different pads and polishes to determine the least aggressive recipe to achieve the results I was after.