Review - Sonax CC36 Ceramic Coating

[The Guz]

Disclaimer: Meghan sent me this product to review. Thank you Meghan for sending it out to me.

Product: Sonax CC36 Ceramic Coating

Price: $79.99

Product description:

SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating is not a wax or paint sealant. In fact, it's much different. This two-stage coating blankets your vehicle's paintwork in a flexible shell of extremely glossy protection that lasts years, not months. Compared to a conventional wax or paint sealant, SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating provides superior gloss and better resistance to environmental impacts such as bird droppings, water spots, car wash scratches, and more. SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating is for the person that wants the best protection for their vehicle!

SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating is the most advanced surface care enhancement product to ever come from Germany. Here's what SONAX CC36 provides: incredible gloss, sheeting that is out of this world, superior longevity to any wax or sealant, and ease of application. SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating will redefine how you detail your vehicle.

SONAX CC36 does more than sit on your paint. A special bond is created between product and surface, protecting against hostile environmental hazards and providing a lasting, glass-like finish.

SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating is an all inclusive kit that requires no special training or equipment needed to apply. Even if you are not a professional detailer, you can certainly achieve professional results with SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating.

With protection that lasts up to one year, SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating gives you peace of mind. Rather than having wax your car every 2-3 months, simply take care of the existing coating and you're surface is glossy and protected!

Don't leave your vehicle unprotected simply because you think you're not ready for a coating. SONAX CC36 provides durable protection, and insanely gloss finish, and can be applied without special equipment. Extend the life of both your paint AND its shine with SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating.

Directions for use:

• Using your preferred method, thoroughly clean the paint and polish with a machine to a high-gloss finish with no swirls or holograms. The surface needs to be absolutely clean before SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating is applied.
• Using the enclosed applicator labeled 1, apply SONAX BaseCoat (1) in a thin layer. For sensitive paint surfaces, the enclosed Microfiber Cloth can be used wrapped around the applicator.
• Treat a small surface area using a criss-cross sequence. Allow to dry for approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute at the most, then wipe the treated surface with a clean microfiber towel to a streak free shine.
• Repeat this process until the entire vehicle is treated and allow to cure for at least 1 hour - make sure the surfaces are not touched and do not get wet during this curing process.
• After the prescribed curing time, apply the SONAX GlossCoat (2) to achieve a superior smoothness and deep shine. Spray the product directly onto white side of the applicator labeled 2 and spread over the surface.
• You can treat areas of a half bonnet in size, which then need to be wiped over with a microfiber towels to remove excess product (drying is not necessary).

SONAX Pro Tips:

• Do not apply SONAX CC36 Ceramic Coating onto hot surfaces.
• To ensure a perfectly smooth and even application, working in a well-lit garage is recommended.
• Within an hour of applying SONAX BaseCoat, missed areas or streaks can be dissolved and removed by applying the product again.
• The sealed vehicle should not be washed within the first three days after being treated, and when it is washed, do not use a high alkaline cleaner. Do not polish the vehicle after treatment.

I held off on the review for this one to get more time to share my experience over a longer period of time. That way I could give a better overall view of the coatings performance.

Again after having my car repainted a year ago, it was time to correct and coat it. I corrected it back in June of 2017.

One thing I should mention is that with the new paint job, there is a lot of paint on the car to work with. The reason for the paint was that the paint under the clear coat had begun to fade. It was on the front fenders, some of the front doors and the lower rocker panels. The front and rear bumpers had clear coat failure. The original paint was 17 years old.

But the roof developed rust. It snuck up on me. The windshield was replaced long ago so it must not have been a good job. This was not a pretty sight.

I posted some photos here of some of the defects that were on the car. I also posted the Sonax polishes I used in this same thread. For those that don’t want to click on the link the polishes were Sonax Cut & Finish used with various cutting pads and Sonax EX 04-06 Finishing Polish on various polishing/finishing pads.

Review - SONAX Paint Polishing Foam Pads

Here is one more that I found in broad daylight on the trunk. Rotary holograms and swirls courtesy of the body shop.

At the end of the day these are the pads I was testing the polishes on. All these pads worked well with the Sonax polishes.

The paint was washed, decontaminated (mechanically and chemically) using the Aggressive Wash Method. It was polished and prepped prior to applying the coating.

The Aggressive Approach to Washing a Car

I am going to leverage off of the how to write up from Mike Phillips as well as post my thoughts on the use of it. I will also be posting some long term updates on having this on my car.

See the following How To Article by Mike

How to use the SONAX CC36 Ceramic Paint Coating

The packaging is nice and directions are pretty straight forward.

Sonax CC36 Ceramic Coating is a two part aerosol system. It comes with Step 1 which is the Base Coat and Step 2 which is the Gloss Coat. The kit also includes a pair of gloves, marked applicators and a suede microfiber. The aerosol cans and applicators are clearly marked. The applicator pads are also sized differently.

Each can comes with 2 oz’s of product. That is enough to do one small car and up to a mid size car. Two kits would need to be purchased for anything larger than that.

The kit does not come with any prep solution. The European kit comes with the prep spray. The reason we don’t get the Sonax prep solution is that it is not VOC compliant. I used some CarPro Eraser to remove any polishing oils. I was not too concerned if everything did not come off considering the product synergy.

The difference between Mike’s How To is that I used the included marked applicator. Applicator 1 (used with the base coat) wrapped with the suede applicator.

From listening to the Sonax reps at the demoing of the coating, they mentioned that the suede applicator is meant for softer paints. They also mentioned that for darker colored paints to help with the leveling of the coating to avoid high spots which are easily seen on dark paints.

There is only one suede applicator. Which is to be used with applicator 1 for applying the base coat. Applicator 2 for the gloss coat is to be used as is.

I used the applicator wrapped with the suede. The reason being I didn’t like the foam applicators dragging on the paint. They squeaked way too much for my liking and dried out much quicker compared to the suede applicator. The suede stays primed longer.

These are the conditions that I was applying in.

The higher humidity caused the base coat to flash quick. For those in higher temps the coating will flash faster and that is normal. The Base Coat is the only part that needs to flash. The Gloss Coat does not need to flash. Essentially wipe on wipe off.

It is recommended to allow 1 hour between the Base Coat and Gloss Coat. Only one coat of each is needed. There is not much Gloss Coat so that one goes by fast. One could get away with a second coat of Base Coat but that is not really needed.

This is an example of the Base Coat flashing and ready to be leveled out.

Photo of me wrapping up for the night.

Finished photos a few days later.

A few weeks later in the full sun.

A couple more random shots

 

[The Guz]

My original intent was going to be using Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer after every wash. But I changed my mind. I have since decided to use it every now and then but still leave one area untopped (driver side of the hood) to see how the coating does over 1 year. The other times I am using McKee’s N914 (waterless wash mixture) as my detail spray after every wash.

Final thoughts:

I have to give a thumbs up to this coating at the 3 month mark. It is holding up very well.

Bird droppings are easily removed from the painted surface. I can literally blast a bird dropping off the paint with a few pulls of a trigger from a bottle full of McKee’s N914 (waterless wash).

There has been no water spotting. It did rain a couple times during the summer monsoon weather. But no water spotting.

It has kept the paint looking clean and has maintained the gloss from the polishing job I did on it. The gloss on the silver paint looks great even if the paint is dirty.

It makes washing effortless and saves me time.

It is not a slick coating. It is a bit grabby. Not many coatings are slick to begin with but in comparison to those that I have used this one is by far the most grabby. Does not really bother me but it may bother others.

Application is straight forward. Spray onto the applicator, apply to the paint and level out.

The con I have with this is the price for a 1 year coating. This is offset by any sale.

Another con is the amount of coating included. I have a little base coat left but I did not have enough gloss coat to finish off my car. I had to use another coating for the front bumper for this reason. The Sonax reps did say that one kit is good for a small car and up to a mid size sedan. Anything larger and 2 kits would be needed.

I also did not like the foam applicators. They tend to drag and squeak on the paint as the coating is spread out. They did not allow the product to spread out in a larger area. This could have been due to the humidity. I preferred the wrapped applicator with the suede.

As I wrap this write up up I should mention that Sonax intended this coating for the professional and thus the 1 year claim. They feel that the professional can schedule their customer to come back in a 1 year for a re-polish and re-coat to get more money in the detailer’s pocket. Rather than offering a multi year coating where the customer may not return.

They also mentioned that if someone wants to get 3 years out of this coating, then they recommend applying Sonax Polymer Net Shield every 4-6months. Apparently PNS and CC36 share similar chemistry. Some may be turned off by this. I will not be doing this as I will be letting the coating run it’s course for 1 year.

I also asked about chemically decontaminating the coating. The rep I spoke to said to not use an iron remover on it as it could degrade the coating. I can not comment on that. Perhaps I will test that after 1 year. The rep did say their Multi Star APC would be ok.

After all this I would recommend giving this a try for someone looking to get into a coating. I can’t comment on longevity yet but I will report on that at the 1 year mark to evaluate the coating.

But at 3 months it gets a thumbs up.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for an update at the 6 month mark.

I took this video a two weeks after the coating cured. The coating has a very aggressive water behavior.

I have had the coating on the paint for 3 months. I took a video of that as well. At 3 months it is holding up very well. Water behavior is still aggressive.

 

[atgonzales]

Nicely done

 

[Angus]

Great review, as always, Guz!

CC36 isn’t talked about a whole lot on the forums - Meghan certainly knew the right guy to do a comprehensive review on it

 

[Justin at Final Inspection]

Nice review bud! Car looks awesome. Wouldn't mind getting mine repainted.

I have some of the same paint issues on my 2000 Grand Prix GT. Unfortunately I think it's head gasket time. Going to the shop today. Have already replaced all the usual suspects of coolant issues. Upper and lower intake gaskets, metal coolant elbows, water pump, radiator and a whole new upper manifold.

 

[EWtheDETAILER]

Nice write up Guz! I have the kit, but haven't applied it yet... sounds like I may need to purchase a second one before tackling my Toyota Tundra...I love the sonax quality, but for $160.00 for a large vehicle, for a one year coating, I'm thinking this is becoming less appealing....

 

[RippyD]

Nice review. Will be curious to see how it holds up over time.

 

[Desertnate]

Great write up. I appreciate the objectivity. It provides anyone looking to buy plenty to think about.

 

[Marc08EX]

Nice review Mike. Looks like it's holding up well.

 

[The Guz]

Nicely done

Great review, as always, Guz!

CC36 isn’t talked about a whole lot on the forums - Meghan certainly knew the right guy to do a comprehensive review on it

Nice review Mike. Looks like it's holding up well.

Thanks guys.

Nice review bud! Car looks awesome. Wouldn't mind getting mine repainted.

I have some of the same paint issues on my 2000 Grand Prix GT. Unfortunately I think it's head gasket time. Going to the shop today. Have already replaced all the usual suspects of coolant issues. Upper and lower intake gaskets, metal coolant elbows, water pump, radiator and a whole new upper manifold.

Thanks. I always joke that the repaint costs more than the car is worth lol. But I am planning to keep it a little while longer.

The head gasket going bad is usually rare for these engines but it does happen.

Nice write up Guz! I have the kit, but haven't applied it yet... sounds like I may need to purchase a second one before tackling my Toyota Tundra...I love the sonax quality, but for $160.00 for a large vehicle, for a one year coating, I'm thinking this is becoming less appealing....

Thanks. I'd be curious if one kit is enough for your tundra. It may be enough considering the the bed is open compared to an SUV which is all enclosed. I think you will have enough base coat but the gloss coat tends to go a bit faster. I think it is because it is more of a foam looking consistency.

Nice review. Will be curious to see how it holds up over time.

Thanks. Same here.

Great write up. I appreciate the objectivity. It provides anyone looking to buy plenty to think about.

Thanks. I agree. It is costly for someone with a larger vehicle.

 

[Loach]

Really good work on the review and follow up videos Mike! Love that hyper aggressive beading on the first rinse, mesmerizing. CC36 after using the Gloss Coat has some of the tightest beading I've seen. Thanks for posting your results!

 

[The Guz]

Really good work on the review and follow up videos Mike! Love that hyper aggressive beading on the first rinse, mesmerizing. CC36 after using the Gloss Coat has some of the tightest beading I've seen. Thanks for posting your results!

Thanks. I agree with you on Sonax having some of the tightest water beading even more so than Gloss Coat. I also think CC36 looks a little better.

 

[Klasse Act]

Great write up, fair and square but that's to be expected with you Guz! When I was deciding on a coating it was between this and WGU and I chose the later because it was available at the time, Sonax wasn't. I'm looking forward to seeing how this does but with the high spots that "decloaked" with WGU when it got cool outside makes me not wanna use it again. I mean I did apply a 2nd coat about 5-6 hrs later but that shouldn't have been an issue and I did a complete prep before applying the coating.

BTW the car looks awesome as always!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[The Guz]

Great write up, fair and square but that's to be expected with you Guz! When I was deciding on a coating it was between this and WGU and I chose the later because it was available at the time, Sonax wasn't. I'm looking forward to seeing how this does but with the high spots that "decloaked" with WGU when it got cool outside makes me not wanna use it again. I mean I did apply a 2nd coat about 5-6 hrs later but that shouldn't have been an issue and I did a complete prep before applying the coating.

BTW the car looks awesome as always!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Thanks.

Sonax is doing great at the moment. Gave my car a two bucket wash after not 2 weeks of not washing it. Fantastic water behavior. Sheet rinsing left no water on it and I was able to dry the remaining water with the McKee's turbo car dryer and no towels. So far this has proven to be a better performer over Gloss Coat and PBL V2.

 

[The Guz]

Bumping up this thread only to mention that it is currently on sale for a good price.

https://www.autogeek.net/sonax-cc36-ceramic-coating.html

Along with a nice kit.

https://www.autogeek.net/sonax-12-deal-kit2.html

 

[The Guz]

At 6 months the coating seems to be holding up well. As I have mentioned in other videos, I have left the driver side hood untouched and left it as bare coating. The rest of the car has been maintained with Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer here and there.

My car sits outside 24/7 and is exposed to the Southern California elements. Seemed to do well during the two days last week when it rained. I noticed that Sonax CC36 does indeed repel better than the side that has BSD on it. It also attracts less dust side by side.

What I did notice a couple weeks ago during a bucket wash is that the coating appeared to be contaminated with road grime from another sporadic rain storm that passed. Also the city workers working on the street near by. After washing it with Reset this weekend, it appears the coating is doing well. Beading and sheeting is still good. Not as good as it was when first applied.

At this 6 month mark, Sonax recommends to use Polymer Net Shield to extend the life of the coating as they share similar chemistry. I am primarily only using BSD to see if that is good enough

I am confident that it will make the claimed 1 year mark easily here in So Cal. It would be hard to say in harsher environments. At the 1 year mark I will do a decon wash to see if that either degrades the coating or leaves it ok as the Sonax representative never gave me good answer on whether or not and iron remover would damage the coating.

The beading at 6 months still looks good.

I ran out of daylight so I did not capture any sheeting videos. Just a quick wash with Reset.

On to 9 months and I will report back.

 

[The Guz]

Quick update based on a little something I have noticed in the water behavior. As of late there has been some rain here in sunny So Cal.

This is a direct comparison on the hood that has the driver side just with the coating an topper and the passenger side that was topped in January with Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer. Since then I have not used BSD on the paint. What I noticed is that when I get on the highway the side of the hood that is coating only with no toppers sheets water off faster at lower speed compared to the side that has BSD as the topper. The surface tension is definitely altered at this point. Not necessarily a bad thing but just something to keep in mind if someone decides to use BSD or PNS.

As of this point forward there will be no toppers used as I approach the 1 year mark and give my final evaluation.

This is not as noticeable when washing and rinsing the vehicle.

 

[SWETM]

Thanks for the update! That's something that is not done often and is very helpfull for those that wants to know about the real world experience. I'm a little confused about cc36 as in the EU it's claims a longevity up to 36 months. But that seems to be with the PNS application every 6th month during that time. And that's not something that are mentioned in the description of the product. Don't think it's a different product here than you have either. Looking forward to your final thoughts about it.

 

[osiapstndp]

Quick update based on a little something I have noticed in the water behavior. As of late there has been some rain here in sunny So Cal.

This is a direct comparison on the hood that has the driver side just with the coating an topper and the passenger side that was topped in January with Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer. Since then I have not used BSD on the paint. What I noticed is that when I get on the highway the side of the hood that is coating only with no toppers sheets water off faster at lower speed compared to the side that has BSD as the topper. The surface tension is definitely altered at this point. Not necessarily a bad thing but just something to keep in mind if someone decides to use BSD or PNS.

As of this point forward there will be no toppers used as I approach the 1 year mark and give my final evaluation.

This is not as noticeable when washing and rinsing the vehicle.

Sorry, I clicked on the "like" button and somehow it did a "dislike." That was not intended. I'm not sure why "dislike" is even an option.

Thank you for the update. It's great to see that the side that hasn't had a topper is still doing well after all this time.

 

[The Guz]

Thanks for the update! That's something that is not done often and is very helpfull for those that wants to know about the real world experience. I'm a little confused about cc36 as in the EU it's claims a longevity up to 36 months. But that seems to be with the PNS application every 6th month during that time. And that's not something that are mentioned in the description of the product. Don't think it's a different product here than you have either. Looking forward to your final thoughts about it.

From what Dimi Habermeier (Sonax rep from Europe/South America) mentioned to me, the products are the same other than the paint prep not included for the US market because it can not meet regulations. I recall it being mentioned by the Sonax US reps on a video stating the same thing. That in order to achieve the 36 months they recommend PNS every 6 months.

I am in an area where there is no exposure to snow or harsh chemicals. Living by the coast has it's perks . So I can not comment on how it would react to that environment. But this may be a case where PNS before the winter could be a good thing to act as a sacrificial layer.

Sorry, I clicked on the "like" button and somehow it did a "dislike." That was not intended. I'm not sure why "dislike" is even an option.

Thank you for the update. It's great to see that the side that hasn't had a topper is still doing well after all this time.

No worries. It happens.