What's your go to for ceramic clear coats?

KS_Detailing

KS_Detailing

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Just finished correcting a black MB with a ceramic clear. Hard clear coat, heavily swirled. M101 & MF did the job but took a lot of time. Seeing if there are any other combos to try out. Maybe just change pads, surburf, purple wool, xtra cut MF? Thanks
 
04Golf said:
Just finished correcting a black MB with a ceramic clear. Hard clear coat, heavily swirled. M101 & MF did the job but took a lot of time. Seeing if there are any other combos to try out. Maybe just change pads, surburf, purple wool, xtra cut MF? Thanks
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Bet Wolfgang Uber Compound and Total Swirl Remover would be two good products to try if you never have.

Uber all on its own finishes down really nice. I was surprised first time I used it. Was getting some heavier RIDS too that the TSR didn't get.
 
I have worked on a few MB's, however, have not run into any of them with Ceramiclear. I have had great success with Menzerna FG400 and SF4500 (some prefer SF4000). You might want to try that combo.
 
i have a ceramiclear benz, very low mileage. it has seen one full light correction by someone else and several spot/panel corrections.

i have done scratch removal, light marring and also chip repair. i have used the hyper polish and old compound (now called intensive polish), B&S pads and GG6 - corrected wonderfully in a reasonable amount of time. my car is palladium silver so it took multiple light sources to confirm correction. black will be a lot more telling, as you experienced.

as mentioned, the actual ceramic component is VERY thin, as cited by Mike per Dr. Ghodoussi of Optimum (been told by a pro that Dr. G doesn't know paint, now that's funny). if you are going to coat with a real ceramic coating, it's not as crucial to worry about wearing away the c-code inherent ceramic component layer imo. otherwise, it's best to leave the deeper stuff, esp. on a car that isn't a garage queen.
 
For really hard clears I go to the Meguiar's Microfiber System.

Cutting pads along with their Correction Compound.
I then follow up using a white Lake Country with Meguiar's 205
 
In addition to what others have listed:
Scholl concepts s3 gold xxl on MF or scholl white spider pads. Great cut and finish on Benz black (paint code starting with C).

I have shine supply Flat TOP on the way based on the strong word by Corey and seeing some work of detail shops that entirely run on shine supply.

Vega has spoken highly of 3D AAT on wool for hard paints.

On another thread, several detailers were raving about GG fast correcting cream.


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I've done a few cars with ceramic clear coats and quite a few Mercs that don't have the ceramic clear, and have always had much success with Menzerna polishes, which, as far as I know, were designed specifically with Merc's ceramic paint in mind.

Without conducting a test spot to determine which is the least aggressive combination of pad/polish you can use to achieve your desired outcome, nobody can say use x pad with x polish.

You may have 2 identical cars (same paint code, same year etc etc) but the DEPTH of the damage in car A may be a lot less than car B. If someone corrects car A and has success using (for example) a medium cut polish, you cannot just assume that the same medium cut polish will remove all the damage on car B as it may run deeper than car A.

We all know we should be using the least aggressive method to get the job done in any event, but I think this holds even more true with the ceramic based clears where you really don't want to compromise that [thin] upper ceramic portion of the clear.
 
One thing I noticed while correcting a black 2013 Mercedes while it was very hard to cut, but once it was done and I was at a cleansing state with DP coating prep (which is powdery when dry), I noticed that the paint was very easy to scratch. I saw a couple of dried specs of coating prep and when I tried to remove it, that left a visible scratch.
So, do these ceramic coats tend to get soft upon correction and cure back again ?


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I haven't noticed the ceramic clear getting soft and then re-curing, but wouldn't think that is how it works anyway.... if anything, breaking through the top layer of of the ceramiclear would expose the softer 'normal' clear paint underneath - not something you want to happen.

Remember though that modern clear coats are scratch sensitive so they do tend to scratch easily.... maybe you just noticed how easily after you had perfected the paint so that any defect was no 'obvious'? :dunno: Perhaps someone with more experience on this specific paint can chime in - I have only worked on 1 black Mercedes (Obsidian black) http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/93822-obsidian-black-mercedes-c200-detailed-lawrence.html
 
sealthedeal said:
One thing I noticed while correcting a black 2013 Mercedes while it was very hard to cut, but once it was done and I was at a cleansing state with DP coating prep (which is powdery when dry), I noticed that the paint was very easy to scratch. I saw a couple of dried specs of coating prep and when I tried to remove it, that left a visible scratch.
So, do these ceramic coats tend to get soft upon correction and cure back again ?


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If the paint was easy to scratch after you completed the correction activities, you probably broke through the Ceramiclear layer. :buffing:

Once you have the coating applied the protection layer will be back so no worries there. Just be careful next time to use the right product to address Ceramiclear finishes. Because without the right product your technique will need to make up the difference - which is to apply more force or spend too much time on a given area.
 
mwoolfso said:
If the paint was easy to scratch after you completed the correction activities, you probably broke through the Ceramiclear layer. :buffing:

Once you have the coating applied the protection layer will be back so no worries there. Just be careful next time to use the right product to address Ceramiclear finishes. Because without the right product your technique will need to make up the difference - which is to apply more force or spend too much time on a given area.
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There was no paint transfer to the pads in anyway, so I highly doubt I had cut through. I had done only a 1 compound and 1 finish set in that panel where as the hood needed 2 compound and 1 finish and no paint transfer. I understand the thickness can vary and that car had seen an earlier rotary session months back but I assume paint transfer would be the criteria for cutting through ?


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sealthedeal said:
There was no paint transfer to the pads in anyway, so I highly doubt I had cut through. I had done only a 1 compound and 1 finish set in that panel where as the hood needed 2 compound and 1 finish and no paint transfer. I understand the thickness can vary and that car had seen an earlier rotary session months back but I assume paint transfer would be the criteria for cutting through ?


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Click to expand...

There won't be paint (base color) transfer if you break through the top ceramic portion of the clear, as you are still working on the clear coat, just not the super hard top portion of it.

In other words, the clear coat itself is made up of 2 'layers' - the harder top ceramic portion and a softer clear under that. I think it is during the curing process of the paint that the ceramic particles migrate to the upper portion of the clear coat creating the harder more scratch resistant outer 'shell'....

Do you own a Paint Thickness Gauge at all?

Also, I am not sure what products were used in the previous rotary session, but if aggressive, and subsequently followed with this round of compounding (M101) then it is quite possible that you have broken through the hard upper ceramic layer, but not through the whole clear itself....?
 
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