Ceramic Pro

[9uns]

The key to my statement is "If you love to wax". The high ph levels of the auto carwashes will have fun with your work, and you'll have to keep waxing and waxing and waxing. Not to mention the dirty water filled with contaminants that many have, like our local ECO wash that uses recycled water. Water spots, some etching after awhile, it's a hot mess. In the winter, my only real choice is to grin and bear it, or get some foam shampoo and use only the hp wand . We have one locally that is cheap, and lots of pressure. I avoid those that greet you with brushes right at the entrance, or those spinning foam mechanical cleaners that are filled with the previous 1,000 cars dirt.

Daily driver without a garage, choices are somewhat limited.

My friend used to take his to a self car wash and rinse his car off with the soap and pw and just drive back home to actually clean it with onr in his parking spot. Options are very limited for sure.

 

[Maiden69]

Daily driver without a garage, choices are somewhat limited.

Many of my customers were in your position. Use a carwash with pressure washers to rinse off the dirt and do a rinseless wash like ONR. either using the red sponge they sell, or a bucket full of small microfiber towels. Dry the car with a drying aid. Optimum Car Wax, Opti-Seal or Hyper Seal, AMMO Hydrate or anything similar. That is what I did when I was living in Germany, as I was living in an "apartment" complex and you are not allowed to wash the car unless you are collecting the used water for processing.

Once you are coated, use a coating specific drying aid. Polishangel Cosmic Spritz is a good one, Kamikaze Over Coat, Hyper Seal...

 

[SteveRedGTI]

Many of my customers were in your position. Use a carwash with pressure washers to rinse off the dirt and do a rinseless wash like ONR. either using the red sponge they sell, or a bucket full of small microfiber towels. Dry the car with a drying aid. Optimum Car Wax, Opti-Seal or Hyper Seal, AMMO Hydrate or anything similar. That is what I did when I was living in Germany, as I was living in an "apartment" complex and you are not allowed to wash the car unless you are collecting the used water for processing.

Once you are coated, use a coating specific drying aid. Polishangel Cosmic Spritz is a good one, Kamikaze Over Coat, Hyper Seal...

Kinda what I was thinking. Just as long as I don't have to take off my gloves, my hands are forever cold in winter. We have a car wash nearby that has huge water pressure, very cheap as well. I've tried their spot free rinse and it's not bad.

I'm lining up my list for polishing and coating, likely sometime end of August or so.

 

[Maiden69]

Try to ask what they use in their spot free rinse. Some places add chemicals to the water to make it slip out of the car paint. Most of the decent places use di-ionizing filters which is the same thing I have in my garage for spot free. You can use the ONR in warm water in the winter if you decide to wash the car then.

 

[9uns]

Try to ask what they use in their spot free rinse. Some places add chemicals to the water to make it slip out of the car paint. Most of the decent places use di-ionizing filters which is the same thing I have in my garage for spot free. You can use the ONR in warm water in the winter if you decide to wash the car then.

Which dionizer system did you install? CR spotless?

 

[SteveRedGTI]

The best defense against water spots is a surface that sheets, not beads.

 

[Maiden69]

Which dionizer system did you install? CR spotless?

No, CR is overpriced, better build your own if you know anything about plumbing or mechanics. You can buy the canisters off Amazon or water/air filter websites online and build your own for less than 1/2 the price. I have a dual ppm meter that I bought out on Amazon, same as the one they sell, but I can have a reading before the filters and after. I am buying their resin, as it is the cheapest I have found without having to buy a 1 cuF bag.

 

[9uns]

Wife's tm3 has csl, exo v4 and a layer of c2 v3. my mk7 has powerlock+, 845 and a layer of raindance. Both bead well and have slick/soft feeling paint. Obviously my mk7 will need more layers of wax before the csl gets reapplied on the model 3 in a few years.

 

[ChristopherNeil]

I know this is an old thread, but during the early phase of shutdown, I had some work done at Ceramic Pro in San Diego.

A new neighbor of mine decided to spray paint some furniture outside on a breezy day, covering pretty much my entire car, less the driver's side doors/fender. (Don't get me started). I had CP decontaminate, clay, then "2 step" polish my car, and followed up with the 2 year bronze package.

Honestly, it was only just 'ok' at it's best. I pointed out polish residue on black plastics which they took care of at the time of pickup (but disappointed it would be presented unfinished) and noticed a few small barely-visible scratches on the rear quarter panel that should've easily been correctable if it was a proper 2 stage correction (hence the quotation marks earlier). They had my car for three days so I just wanted my car back.

In the subsequent weeks I noticed a considerable amount of baby blue overspray still on rubber trims, moonroof glass, and on the rear wing. Disappointing considering the $1400+ cash I'd handed them while simultaneously being limited at my opportunity to make income.

Now I was in between a rock and a hard place. Do I correct it all myself and compromise the coating and warranty? Or do I bring it back and trust the people that couldn't get it right the first time?

The long-short of it, I declined my $190 "annual inspection," found a local (Carlsbad) detailer who crushed it, and for $400 did full interior detail as well. The sheeting/beading behavior of their chosen products (OP) is night and day better than what I had from Ceramic Pro, for significantly less.

CP coating behavior changed notable after a few months, and my car is garaged, driven maybe 100 miles/week, so I can't recommend that company/brand specifically.

 

[Daily Driver]

I know this is an old thread, but during the early phase of shutdown, I had some work done at Ceramic Pro in San Diego.

A new neighbor of mine decided to spray paint some furniture outside on a breezy day, covering pretty much my entire car, less the driver's side doors/fender. (Don't get me started). I had CP decontaminate, clay, then "2 step" polish my car, and followed up with the 2 year bronze package.

Honestly, it was only just 'ok' at it's best. I pointed out polish residue on black plastics which they took care of at the time of pickup (but disappointed it would be presented unfinished) and noticed a few small barely-visible scratches on the rear quarter panel that should've easily been correctable if it was a proper 2 stage correction (hence the quotation marks earlier). They had my car for three days so I just wanted my car back.

In the subsequent weeks I noticed a considerable amount of baby blue overspray still on rubber trims, moonroof glass, and on the rear wing. Disappointing considering the $1400+ cash I'd handed them while simultaneously being limited at my opportunity to make income.

Now I was in between a rock and a hard place. Do I correct it all myself and compromise the coating and warranty? Or do I bring it back and trust the people that couldn't get it right the first time?

The long-short of it, I declined my $190 "annual inspection," found a local (Carlsbad) detailer who crushed it, and for $400 did full interior detail as well. The sheeting/beading behavior of their chosen products (OP) is night and day better than what I had from Ceramic Pro, for significantly less.

CP coating behavior changed notable after a few months, and my car is garaged, driven maybe 100 miles/week, so I can't recommend that company/brand specifically.

I know this is an old thread, but during the early phase of shutdown, I had some work done at Ceramic Pro in San Diego.

A new neighbor of mine decided to spray paint some furniture outside on a breezy day, covering pretty much my entire car, less the driver's side doors/fender. (Don't get me started). I had CP decontaminate, clay, then "2 step" polish my car, and followed up with the 2 year bronze package.

Honestly, it was only just 'ok' at it's best. I pointed out polish residue on black plastics which they took care of at the time of pickup (but disappointed it would be presented unfinished) and noticed a few small barely-visible scratches on the rear quarter panel that should've easily been correctable if it was a proper 2 stage correction (hence the quotation marks earlier). They had my car for three days so I just wanted my car back.

In the subsequent weeks I noticed a considerable amount of baby blue overspray still on rubber trims, moonroof glass, and on the rear wing. Disappointing considering the $1400+ cash I'd handed them while simultaneously being limited at my opportunity to make income.

Now I was in between a rock and a hard place. Do I correct it all myself and compromise the coating and warranty? Or do I bring it back and trust the people that couldn't get it right the first time?

The long-short of it, I declined my $190 "annual inspection," found a local (Carlsbad) detailer who crushed it, and for $400 did full interior detail as well. The sheeting/beading behavior of their chosen products (OP) is night and day better than what I had from Ceramic Pro, for significantly less.

CP coating behavior changed notable after a few months, and my car is garaged, driven maybe 100 miles/week, so I can't recommend that company/brand specifically.

Ceramic Pro is a Terrible Company. I went to a Ceramic Pro certified dealer which the coating didn't seem right it was as if I had no coating but they said i need to wash the car to see the properties of the coating. I said it never had it to begin with, it feels and reacts just like my none coated cars. They claim it was applied and correctly, they don't know why it's reacting this way. I requested a refund, shop denied it. so I contacted ceramic Pro and asked for there help. They said it's not the coatings fault it's the installer. I said the installer was certified by your company you don't guarantee the work of the people you certify? They said it's an Install error not the coating. I said how would we know if you haven't even investigated, I asked them to have my cars coating checked at another Ceramic Pro shop. Which they denied. And and stop responding.

I ended up going with another company for my coating and it was night and day difference. The crazy part is the original company who messed up the coating has over 100 5 star reviews on Google. I feel alot of people are getting scammed they are getting a clean car, but not a coated car.

I follow Apex Detail on YouTube for detailing and coating advice. I use his products as toppers its amazing.

 

[Maiden69]

I know this is an old thread, but during the early phase of shutdown, I had some work done at Ceramic Pro in San Diego.

A new neighbor of mine decided to spray paint some furniture outside on a breezy day, covering pretty much my entire car, less the driver's side doors/fender. (Don't get me started). I had CP decontaminate, clay, then "2 step" polish my car, and followed up with the 2 year bronze package.

Honestly, it was only just 'ok' at it's best. I pointed out polish residue on black plastics which they took care of at the time of pickup (but disappointed it would be presented unfinished) and noticed a few small barely-visible scratches on the rear quarter panel that should've easily been correctable if it was a proper 2 stage correction (hence the quotation marks earlier). They had my car for three days so I just wanted my car back.

In the subsequent weeks I noticed a considerable amount of baby blue overspray still on rubber trims, moonroof glass, and on the rear wing. Disappointing considering the $1400+ cash I'd handed them while simultaneously being limited at my opportunity to make income.

Now I was in between a rock and a hard place. Do I correct it all myself and compromise the coating and warranty? Or do I bring it back and trust the people that couldn't get it right the first time?

The long-short of it, I declined my $190 "annual inspection," found a local (Carlsbad) detailer who crushed it, and for $400 did full interior detail as well. The sheeting/beading behavior of their chosen products (OP) is night and day better than what I had from Ceramic Pro, for significantly less.

CP coating behavior changed notable after a few months, and my car is garaged, driven maybe 100 miles/week, so I can't recommend that company/brand specifically.

By OP you mean Owners Pride or Optimum Polymers? Their President of Business Development was my regional manager at OptiCoat. I talked to him right after he left OptiCoat about the OP line of coatings... pretty good stuff.

Now a little on CP. I didn't provided their coatings because I didn't believe in the yearly inspections to be able to keep your warranty. Optimum offered 3,5 and 7 yr limited warranty on their professional coatings without yearly "toppings." The biggest difference was that OptiCoat Pro is a SiC coating vs SiO2 for the then available CP. SiC bites into the paint creating a permanent coating, while SiO2 just sits on top of the paint and requires "refreshing" basically put more coating on top to maintain the protection.

Seeing that you are in San Diego, $1400 sound cheap for a two step with a coating. My prices were $999 for OptiCoat Pro and $1399 for Pro+ with a single step correction. This were $100 over MRP, OptiCoat can not be offered under MRP per contract with OPT.

On to the scratches. You will not find a reputable shop that will take 100% of the scratches out. This is because of how thin clear coats are, and if they are offering a coating with a warranty, this will compromise the clear coat opening the door for a potential warranty claim. This is something that Jim White (White Details in UK) talks about on a lot of his videos... he is one of the guys I would call the "Golden Standard" of the top of the line detailing.

Did this new detailer sold you complete detail including coating (OP) for $400?

 

[ChristopherNeil]

By OP you mean Owners Pride or Optimum Polymers? Their President of Business Development was my regional manager at OptiCoat. I talked to him right after he left OptiCoat about the OP line of coatings... pretty good stuff.

Now a little on CP. I didn't provided their coatings because I didn't believe in the yearly inspections to be able to keep your warranty. Optimum offered 3,5 and 7 yr limited warranty on their professional coatings without yearly "toppings." The biggest difference was that OptiCoat Pro is a SiC coating vs SiO2 for the then available CP. SiC bites into the paint creating a permanent coating, while SiO2 just sits on top of the paint and requires "refreshing" basically put more coating on top to maintain the protection.

Seeing that you are in San Diego, $1400 sound cheap for a two step with a coating. My prices were $999 for OptiCoat Pro and $1399 for Pro+ with a single step correction. This were $100 over MRP, OptiCoat can not be offered under MRP per contract with OPT.

On to the scratches. You will not find a reputable shop that will take 100% of the scratches out. This is because of how thin clear coats are, and if they are offering a coating with a warranty, this will compromise the clear coat opening the door for a potential warranty claim. This is something that Jim White (White Details in UK) talks about on a lot of his videos... he is one of the guys I would call the "Golden Standard" of the top of the line detailing.

Did this new detailer sold you complete detail including coating (OP) for $400?

Owners Pride.

My most recent detail wasn't for a true ceramic finish, just a 6-month spray AND full interior decon/protec. (which worked phenomenally). I chose this route knowing that I'll eventually correct come defects, then I'll invest in proper coating. They just quoted my dad's girlfriend $1500 for 7 year ceramic on her new bmw, which if I remember correctly, would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $2200 at Ceramic Pro.

I watch every video of Jim (and a couple detailers), it's been a long time hobby of mine.

The whole reason I sent my car out instead of doing it myself is because three weeks prior I spent 4 days doing it myself; I wasn't mentally in the right place to do it myself because I'd just invested a ton of time, and my neighbors were apologetic while simultaneously thinking I was overreacting on the amount of work required to undo their mess. They offered $175 toward ~700 fix.

 

[Maiden69]

The whole reason I sent my car out instead of doing it myself is because three weeks prior I spent 4 days doing it myself; I wasn't mentally in the right place to do it myself because I'd just invested a ton of time, and my neighbors were apologetic while simultaneously thinking I was overreacting on the amount of work required to undo their mess. They offered $175 toward ~700 fix.

For pro coatings I used to take 1 car at the time, small shop running out of my house. I took 5 days to complete with a two step, 3 days with one. I have a small suitcase full of Pro coatings, and I recently bought Adams "advanced" graphene to try out and I can't make myself work on the car right now knowing the amount of work needed, having a regular full time job and hauling my daughter from school to volleyball camp/club/games/practices... maybe once the season is over and she just do the summer camp (free afternoons after work.

The issue with overreacting comes from now knowing what needs to be done or not caring about it. My wife always asked why I took so much time polishing a car until she sat next to me while I was watching one of Jim's videos. Then she was like "well that's a lot of work"... duh.

 

[ChristopherNeil]

The issue with overreacting comes from now knowing what needs to be done or not caring about it. My wife always asked why I took so much time polishing a car until she sat next to me while I was watching one of Jim's videos. Then she was like "well that's a lot of work"... duh.

Yeah, they thought I was bullshitting them, which was a real test for me. Having to explain to two sophomores in college that just because it's visually not obvious (even though you could see it on all the piano black trim, rubber, and glass) it's still covering 80% of my car and a car wash wasn't going to fix it.

A couple months later they asked to use our wifi because their peloton wouldn't connect to theirs. Talk about inability to read a room.

 

[sherbet]

Once you are coated, use a coating specific drying aid. Polishangel Cosmic Spritz is a good one, Kamikaze Over Coat, Hyper Seal...

+1 for a fellow professional that knows a thing or two regarding maintenance.

Coatings are great when the prep work is done well and the expectation of the customer is set correctly. Maintenance is key. Most people want a set and forget option, and unfortunately if you drive your car like a regular human, this isn’t realistic. Even complete body PPF coverage will encounter its own set of issues down the line and the cost is typically prohibitive to most. Even the cost of Cosmic Spritz or Overcoat is prohibitive to most. Unfortunately there is no real amazing off the shelf coating maintenance products available, even Overcoat is not ideal outside of Japan, where it was designed with humid working conditions in mind. There are ways to work around this and I have the fortune of having one of the developers of the older Kamikaze Collection products as my business associate, but still- even for us, maintenance on a coated car is not cheap, and requires effort. That goes for any coating, regardless of origin.

Just out of curiosity, what is your shops name, Maiden69?