wicks

Getting that marketing email from RL about Armor Shield ceramic coating, I'm wondering if I might try that rather than the usual Mothers wax routine. Do people support the ceramic notion here? Are we sure it does no long term damage to the original paint?

Brian4lev

I have done ceramic on my prior 991.2 C2S in Mexico Blue and my current 991.2 Targa4s in Viper Green. Typically they do a 3M bra over the nose and hood and then ceramic the entire car and the wheels. I have high gloss black wheels. My cars are lightly driven, however, its night and day IMO to the waxed cars that I often see at cars and coffee etc.

BudgetPlan1

Coatings can do a lot of nice things, definitely not a silver bullet of protection by any means but IMO, short of PPF, the best form of current protection.

A coating will make maintenance easier, give you some solid protection against environmental contamination...stuff like that. Will also help keep the car cleaner with less attention. You'll still need to wash/maintain but likely far less frequently to maintain 'acceptable cleanliness'...depending on what exactly that means to you.

Won't protect from chipping, scratching, abrasions and all but the lightest swirling but short of PPF, nothing really will. That said...

First thing you should do is decide what YOU want out of a coating; things to consider:

1. Durability, longevity

2. What kind of appearance? i.e. hard, candy-like gloss or deeper, warmer wax-like glow

3. Ease of application important?

4. Climate; what might work nice in Arizona (dry) might not be so nice in New Jersey (rain/snow)

5. Do you like beading or sheeting?

6. Are self-cleaning characteristics important to you or are you gonna wash your car weekly regardless?

7. How much do you wanna spend?

8. Daily driver or hobby car?

While quartz/glass/ceramic coatings are all in the same general category with respect to LSP’s, there are subtle differences in them and you may as well go with one that is strong in your primary areas of concern.

And FWIW, claims of hardness, scratch resistance and such are, IMO, way over-marketed with coatings. While they may provide some minor resistance to light marring, it's a harsh world out there and many things (jewelry banging paint around door handles, boxes hitting trunk areas while loading, leaning on hood of vehicle with grimy sweatshirts, etc) *will* leave a mark. Problem with coatings is the only way to remedy those marks/marring is to re-polish (removing coating) and re-coating that area, generally an entire panel as many coatings don't lend themselves well to spot fixes. If you're horribly OCD-ish about having a totally defect free car for 2 years, a coating may not be the best way to go...

Longevity is likewise impossible to truly predict due to variations in climate, vehicle usage and maintenance habits. Claims listed on packages/advertisements are generally somewhat, uh...optimistic. Not always, but usually...

I live in NE Ohio so all ny findings/thoughts are based on that climate. The characteristics of a coating that matter most to me are:

1. Great Self Cleaning Abilities: Our cars see rain and often get rained on in the morning and then sit outside in the sun in the afternoon; don’t like waterspots. I like clean cars but don’t like cleaning cars.

2. Durability and resistance to environmental contamination like water spots and bird bombs. Don’t wanna have to worry about running home and immediately dealing with removing things that would otherwise etch bare paint. Like hard water spots did to our Corvette during the Zaino years. Also has to last cuz I don’t wanna be hauling out compounds and polishes every Spring, given reasonable maintenance.

3. Appearance: Well, stuff has to look good. Has to accentuate body lines, curves and hard edges. It needs to make me stop and admire it when walking towards it, walking away from it or catching a glance in the garage when I take out the garbage.

Have tried more than a few different coatings, watched 'em over the course of 20k-40k miles in NE Ohio, variety of vehicle usage and maintenance patterns.

To be honest, of all the coatings I've tried, there were really no bad products but some did particular things a little better/different than others so I went with the one (s) that excelled in areas I found important.

Igooz

Wicks,
I switched to CQuartz about 7 years ago on all my cars and I have never looked back. I used to be religious with the Normal was, etc.
It makes it so much easier to maintain IMHO, both on DD cars and cars that I rarely drive.
hopefully you can find someone near you that can nicely prep and apply to paint.

Robert Linton

For a car that is driven dailey, in all types of weather and other conditions, PPF and some form of coating have their advantages though taking them off if you change your mind, particularly the coating, is time consuming and, if not done by a skilled person, could damage the paint. If, however, you want the nicest finish showing the truest color, very hard to beat a first rate wax that is properly applied and reapplied at appropriate intervals.

bweSteve

There is a big difference between applying Ceramic to a single stage solvent based paint with no clear coat, like our early 1990's (non-metallic) paint,... verses applying to a clear coat over paint. I have had CeramicPro's 9H on my Guards Red 3.3 for 4 years now & still absolutely love what it did for my paint. I was VERY tired of the entire wax on / wax off process repeatedly every year. I have not had to do a thing to my 3.3 in 4 years. I also have XPEL Ultimate film on the front clip too (cuz we still do a lot of spirit drives with it).

Wicks, your paint is a non-metallic white, correct? ... if so, then no clear coat,... which when ceramic is applied, it will definitely soak in. Mine has 4 coats in total (flash time inbetween, with heat applied to bake), and it was crazy to see the first 2 coats soaked in like it did. 3rd & 4th coats finally laid up on top, giving it the glossy sheen I was looking for. Some will say that I've ruined the original patina,... but I was losing paint every year with all the polishing, and IMO I have now "preserved" and locked in the original paint.

YMMV.
=Steve

wicks

Thanks for all the thoughtful feedback!

I never polish, don't want to remove any paint (or metal from a watch case), and just into preservation - don't really want super shiny paint surface (I just like however it looked when it was made), so not sure the ceramic (or quartz) will be right. Will do some more reading on ceramic alternatives though...maybe there's one that doesn't really "show", just protects longer than wax. I rarely put anything under water - I more often use the hose just to remove brake dust from wheels than actually going up on the car with it - and none of my good stuff gets used in rain. I use mother's detail spray to keep things clean and they all sit under covers in garage.