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wax or ceramic coating???

6appeal

Well-known member
Joined
2 Jan 2016
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690
I've always used wax... new trend seems to be ceramic... what have people experienced with ceramic coatings??
 
GTECH products are good providing very good protection. Depending on the color of the car I think the Carlac sealants take some beating.
 
Coatings are superb. Great durability and chemical resistance and the big selling point is resistance against wash marring and swirl marks (although they do not make your car scratch-proof contrary to popular belief).

Dirt, tar, bird sh#t, tree sap etc won't stick to your paint and IMO coatings also really bring out the flake in metallics due to their clarity. Much better for metallics than wax in this respect IMO.

On the downside, they are fairly tricky to apply. I would say that you really need to be a fairly keen and experienced amateur detailer to do it yourself otherwise pay for a professional detailer to do it for you, which can then make it quite costly.

The other main consideration is that your paint should be in VERY good condition before applying a coating. No swirls or scratches because a coating will highlight them and effectively 'lock them in' due it's semi-permanent nature. Another reason for perhaps going down the pro route unless you're handy with a machine polisher yourself.

I had Gyeon MOHS on my last car and it still looked fantastic 3.5 years after I applied it - only very light swirling starting to show. I'm thinking about getting Gtechniq Crystal Serum this time but haven't made my mind up yet as this is pro only application.

So to summarise, coatings are fantastic products but they aren't a quick Sunday afternoon job. If you really hate swirl marks they could be perfect for you but if you're not really fussed about swirls in your paint then you might think that coatings probably aren't worth the time/expense required.
 
G Techniq - Crystal serum. Lasts for a long time, need a professional to get it on. You can get a coating of Exo on top if you wish to have extra gloss and hydrophobicity.

Modesta: very expensive, not many approved guys to do it.

suggest G Techniq 👍
 
Cheers gents... Two questions:

Does it maintain the beading of water on the car when its rained?

Any issues with age and wear? does it simply wear away? Any issues with re-coating in the future or if you decide to wax?
 
6appeal said:
Cheers gents... Two questions:

Does it maintain the beading of water on the car when its rained?

Any issues with age and wear? does it simply wear away? Any issues with re-coating in the future or if you decide to wax?

Have had Gtechniq C1 and EXO on my 991.1 since Day 1. It was professionally applied and the car is now 28 months old. Beading is as good today as it was at the start. Have kept topped throughout the period with Gtechniq C2.

When I asked my detailer about the rules for re-application, he reckons this system is good for 5 years minimum. If something else is to replace the C1 and EXO, he says that the coating will have to be machine polished off.

A possibly even better alternative to the C1 and EXO appears to be Gtechniq Crystal Serum, but have no direct experience of it.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm going down this route once my car has had the new roof panel fitted. I had a quote from Swissvax for paint correction, Gtech coating applied and front PPF and it was approx 2.500 GBP
 
6appeal said:
Cheers gents... Two questions:

Does it maintain the beading of water on the car when its rained?

Any issues with age and wear? does it simply wear away? Any issues with re-coating in the future or if you decide to wax?

Crystal serum is a hard coating, it can be machine polished a few times if minor marring etc happens due to washing etc. If applied incorrectly , will need sanding. Best get it done by a good professional detailer. My previous Golf R was messed up by a detailer in the Southwest trying to get the serum on ( claimed to be accredited). Exclusive car care ( Justin) is well recommended if you are in the southwest area.

Exo as an extra coat lasts about 12 to 18 months if careful. My car was silver, did not have Exo on.. Not much you can get out from a silver car in terms of gloss. You can reapply it if it wears off.

For more beading, go for Exo as a top coat

G Techniq claims more than 5 years longetivity for serum. They have crystal light, available freely to buy, looks like the little brother. No experience with that. Slightly cheaper than the serum proper.
 
I ve been using Zymol waxes on my cars since 2001.
99% of my cars are finished using Vintage wax, the odd, Range Rover, BMW that i sell to my old customers i normally have done with Carbon wax merely as it takes so long to apply the vintage wax by hand to a BMW estate for example.

My detailers are g tech approved so i can offer the facility.

I have tried G tech on some cars, my opinion is

the tech, will last longer and protect the car for longer ,
BUT
the finish is very varnishey, theres not as much depth to the shine as there is with Zymol. g tech have had to modify some of the serums as i found , which they denied for 12 months, which is the main reason i haven't gone down that route, in areas where the atmosphere of has a high salt content, they suffered from water marks that wouldn't go away, as i'm less than half a mile from the sea, i found i had 2 cars tech'd and a fortnight later the water marks wouldn't go away, so the cars were redone and the marks came back again. and then were zymoled.


the water beading properties come from the EXO liquid which is applied last which I'm told should last for about 9 months.

the company to deal with i find are slightly hard sell in their approach, when i tried to buy some they launch into upselling you can charge customers so much, its all about upselling and profit, whereas i'm more i'm looking to buy the product to make my cars look better than everyone elses, they denied all knowledge of the water marks till 18 months later when they sent some samples to my guys and admitted the salt area problem, never mind the £500 id wasted having 2 cars redetailed


so in a nutshell

the finish on with Zymol is deeper, but is harder to maintain as it is a wax and will wash off over time,

the Gtech will last longer, is more expensive, but very varnishy/ wet look and gives a false sort of gloss

Plus is a professional only type of application and some of the prices they try and charge are quite ridiculous

as an alternative to GTech, i have tried some sealants from Maxprotect in kings langley, north west london, small company, a detailer who also sells the product, very helpful and friendly co, who i think details all of JZM's cars
http://max-protect.co.uk

I ve tried it on a midnight Blue 997 and it lasted really well and the shine was deeper and less false than the Gtech,
Plus as the owner is a detailer who also sells the product, he's easier to speak to
 
You'll find that the beading is different from a wax. The beads are much smaller because the water just won't adhere to the surface like with a wax. It's quite entertaining to watch the water streaming off when your car is parked out in the rain. (I know, small things please small minds :lol: ) You don't need Exo for beading - they will all bead but Exo is an optional 'topper' that will provide a bit more gloss and slickness.

The coatings will wear off over time, but should last at least a couple of years. The amount of time will vary depending on which coating you have and how much abuse it gets from washing, chemicals, daily driving, being parked outside, etc. Obviously the coating on a garage queen will last much longer than on a car that lives a more normal life. You won't see the coating coming off in flakes like a clear coat sometimes does on old cars, there will just be a drop off in performance then you know it's time to re-apply.

You can wax over the top of a coating but it always baffles me when people do this. They've just applied a high tec, high functioning product to their P&J and then they smother it in that outdated gooey stuff that will cause dirt and grime to stick to their paint. Old habits die hard for some I guess.

I'd recommend having glass and wheels done too. These are much easier as a DIY job than the paintwork is. Brake dust virtually slides off of coated wheels.
 
some really interesting thoughts there... :thumbs:

I've had a price of a professional detailer that I have known for years and have used before for a prep and ceramic coating of the car at £450. I used to pay £350 for a detail/wax.
 
That sounds like a very good price 6appeal. :thumb: Out of interest do you know which coating he would use?


The good thing about doing a new car is that the prep should be relatively minimal, although not always the case (see video below :eek: ). It's usually a good idea to get your detailer on the case as soon as you pick the car up and tell the supplying dealer not to prep the car as they can often do damage to your paint in the process.



 
Jeez, thats a shocker. My 4 yr old could do better than that was prepped.

Yes, have had Tony prepare my cars at dealer before collection. He's ex-swissvax, but set up on his own about 10 years ago. He mainly teaches new detailers now it seems, he runs a week long course for new start-ups and is pretty booked up.

He uses his own home-brew ceramic coating, if you want ceramic in lieu of a wax, that needless to say I assume is a re-brand of a main players product and saves paying a licence fee of no value in reality. He's done a couple of my cars, and has always done an immaculate job, whether new or a refresh.
 
6appeal, which Tony? Where is he based? Can he come to London?
My car is arriving very soon. bw,
DK
 
thedarkknight said:
6appeal, which Tony? Where is he based? Can he come to London?
My car is arriving very soon. bw,
DK

I think the OP is referring to Tony Spears who based near Pontefract in West Yorks.

Top bloke who does a top job, just done a paint correction/ceramic coating on my GTS, fabulous finish, recommended! Not sure if he will travel darn sarf to sort your car, give him a buzz. If you go for the full monty, he will require your car for five days!

http://www.autoshinespecialistvaleting.co.uk/apps/location/
 

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