Paint polish options that are safe on ceramic coating

HAMBO

HAMBO

New member
Joined
Jan 19, 2017
Messages
126
Reaction score
0
Hello gang,

Other than Essence Plus, are these any other non abrasive polishes that are safe to use on ceramic coatings? I have some Essence Plus left and it seems to work alright, but wondering whether any better alternatives have emerged give how popular ceramic coatings seem to have become.

Thanks for any suggestions!

HAMBO
 
To correct you basically have to remove the coating. I would try a spray coating topper or a Si02 wash that may help fill. Remember the coating is basically just a sacrificial barrier for your clear coat.
 
You have IGL Renew which is similar to Essence Plus as it being non-abrasive.

Reload will fill as well and does a decent job of that.
 
I've used the following nonabrasives with a soft pad on the DA on top of healthy coatings and noticed significant and permanent reduced performance:

McKee's 37 Coating Prep Polish (nonabrasive cleanser)
S100 Shine Enhancing Polish (nonabrasive cleanser)
CG Glossworkz Glaze
Meguiar's M07 Show Car Glaze

The mechanical scrubbing still does a number on the coating, even though they're not abrasives. Not as bad with Essence Plus, but it's a bit harder to gauge because there's protection built into it. With CQUK applied to the whole hood, and Essence Plus applied on top of half the hood, the CQUK + Essence Plus dropped in performance much faster. IGL Renew F4 is one I'll be testing that The Guz noted, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this performs.
 
If it's a good quality ceramic coating then you might have to wet sand it to remove. We recently had a wet sanding training session and needed to use that technique to remove Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra from the painted surface.
 
carcarecoaches said:
If it's a good quality ceramic coating then you might have to wet sand it to remove. We recently had a wet sanding training session and needed to use that technique to remove Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra from the painted surface.
Click to expand...

I guess every coating AG sells is a bad ceramic coating then....
 
I've always wondered what the traditional non abrasive polishes would do to a coating. They wouldn't take it off obviously but would they make it look better temporarily? Idk
 
carcarecoaches said:
If it's a good quality ceramic coating then you might have to wet sand it to remove. We recently had a wet sanding training session and needed to use that technique to remove Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra from the painted surface.
Click to expand...

Come on really? How do you know if it's gone or not?
 
carcarecoaches said:
If it's a good quality ceramic coating then you might have to wet sand it to remove. We recently had a wet sanding training session and needed to use that technique to remove Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra from the painted surface.
Click to expand...

Well CSU is a professional/authorized intaller only coating so many of here won't have to worry about it. It has been known that it needs to be wet sanded off which is why it is not sold to the unauthorized installer. But most coatings available to the general public can be removed with a polish. That does not take away from it being a quality product.
 
Wet sanding to remove it imo doesn't make it a better coating.
 
fightnews said:
Come on really? How do you know if it's gone or not?
Click to expand...

It's shows almost like when you go through the clearcoat but less visible than that.

Then how easy a consumer coating is to polishing off depends on how long after the application was done. You have a window from application to a couple of days up to a week when it's usually pretty simple to polishing it off. After a week or so when the coating is fully cured. You might need to be stepping up to a compound. And with some pro coatings even wet sanding but it's not so much of a low grit needed. It can depends on how it shows when you are through the coating on which you go with.

To polishing a coating I would stay away from as you polishing off the hydrophobic top layer of the coating very easy. So something needs to be replacing this layer. Hence the Carpro Essence Plus and IGL Renew F4 is the choice to go with. Or if you accept that you need to be applying a top coating like of product to get the high performance that you had before. Then some non abrasive polishes/paint cleaners on a very soft finishing pad can do the trick. But to be honest if you have marring and scratches that like Carpro Reload is not able to be filling. I think that you are already through the ceramic coating and to fix it would be polishing it off and reapply it to the whole panel. You could try something like Reload and apply a new coat of it every week. So it's builds up the filling as much as possible. And see if that's enough for you. But any polishing will degrade the ceramic coating even if it's Essence Plus. Have seen some use a more aggressive pad than the recommended Carpro Glosspads. And it did more correction but also degraded the longevity of the coating.
 
carcarecoaches said:
If it's a good quality ceramic coating then you might have to wet sand it to remove. We recently had a wet sanding training session and needed to use that technique to remove Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra from the painted surface.
Click to expand...

If you run into that scenario again- try MEK (MethylEthylKeytone) it will reverse the chemical binders/bond of the coating and allow you to wipe it off. We ran into this years ago at the collision shop I was working as a painter/prepper at back when coatings first started coming out- the coating would chew up our sandpaper! The MEK saved the day!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top