Agreed you need a professional polish or cut/buff before ceramic for best results. My guy that does all my cars charges only $600 for the ceramic on a small car like the 911. He completely details and polishes the whole car first then actually sprays on the ceramic with HVLP vs hand application. He uses System X products. I’ve paid upwards for $2500 before for this from other companies but this guy does it better and it’s lasted longer than any other use on prior cars. Point being you may be able to find someone to do it for not much more than the time / effort / cost of the product itself.

 

Ha, I wish, but no chance here in the DMV. Going rate starts at @ $1500 and goes up. Thanks.

 

Yeah that’s pretty standard. Admittedly I got lucky finding this guy that’s certified installer but does it as a side gig. Let us know how it turns out.

 

I'm in MD. If you want to get your hands dirty (irony) LMK. I have a DA polisher you can have at it.

 

@Shogunade many thanks but I think I'm going to go ahead and take the plunge and buy one.

 

https://gyeonusa.com/products/q-syncro-evo

Highly rated by detailing review sites. Easy to use. Two coat system. I’ve done two cars with one set. Still looks and beads like the first day going on 3 years.

 

To be honest, I have both of my car, ceramic coated. I think the easiest thing to do is to use GEYON wet coat as a topper to anything. If you use it once a month, you might not even have to get the car coated.

IMHO

22 911 S
23 Macan GTS

 

I'm a little late here, but here is my take on it if it helps anyone.

The DIY Detail coatings are the best I've found so far. The 8 year followed by the 3 year after 2 to 8 hours will be one of the best coatings for the consumer. This process actually stacks the coatings (combines them into a new coating that has the positive attributes of both coatings) so it's not the same as layering the same coating. The closer to the 2 hour mark the more effective it is but don't do it before 2 hours. After 8 hours and it's layering the coating and will be nowhere near as effective. The 8, 5 and 3 year coatings are excellent by themselves as well! They all contain SiO2, SiC, Polysilazane and Si3N4. The 3 year also contains graphene oxide. These coatings bind themselves to the clear coat and positively affect it for 2 to 3 microns deep. The coating thickness is around 1 to 1.5 microns on top of the clear coat. It is my understanding that it's the SiC that makes it bind and penetrate the clear coat like that. Most SiO2 coatings are SiO2 particles that are actually suspended in a resin and it's the resin that bonds to the outside of the clear coat but doesn't actually penetrate it.

The next best coating I've used is NV Nova. Really good durability, hydrophobicity and gloss. 1 layer coating but a bit more tricky with flash times then the DIY Detail coatings.

Feynlab makes some great coatings, CarPro UK 3.0 is a good midgrade consumer coating. I've installed UK 3.0 on 4 different vehicles. Nowhere near as hydrophobic and isn't as self cleaning as the others I've mentioned as it's "stickier" or not as slick. It seems to benefit from 2 layers timed correctly for the temp and humidity but even 2 layers is not as good as 1 layer of the other coatings I've mentioned. It has good gloss though!

Avalon King armorshield IX is by far the worst coating I've used. Easy to apply but not very hydrophobic and the durability is horrible. I've applied it on 3 vehicles with both single and double layer. Well maintained and can barely get a year out of it. Full decontamination does not revive this coating. I'd stay away from it.

Cerakote Professional Paint Coating looks promising but no idea on actual use. I purchased 4 bottles of it to try in the spring on two of my brother's vehicles and my work trailer. The price point is amazing on them currently with 40% off. I have some weights with the cerakote ceramic paint that is typically used on knives and fire arms and it's extremely tough so I thought I'd give it a try. I still think the DIY Detail coatings will be superior though. Yvan LaCroix (Part owner of DIY Detail) is crazy knowledgeable with anything detailing and has lots of experience with Opti-Coat pro plus (SiC coating) and Roar coatings that are more geared towards agriculture equipment but can be applied to automotive vehicles too and I've heard nothing but great things about them as well. I've never tried Kamikaze coatings but the ISM 3.0 looks promising as well.

System X appears to be some snake oil. Lol. Looking at their TDS it says their max coating is a 0.9 mil thickness coating. 25.4 microns in 1 mil so 22.86 mil thickness is what is claimed. Most coatings take 10ml to 15ml of coating to cover a small to mid size car. They say 180 sq. ft for 100ml is the coverage so 15 ml would cover 27 sq. ft which is about on par with every other coating at 1 to 1.5 micron thickness. That means you would need 342.9 ml of product to get that thickness on a small car assuming no losses to evaporation, user error, runs, etc. You'd probably need half a quart or even a full quart to achieve that even if it was possible. It's a complete joke and just a marketing scam. I will never try one of their coatings.

Go right ahead and coat your windshield. I'd actually advise you do. If your wipers judder, it's because they aren't 90° to your windshield. If that's the case you just simply twist your wiper arm a little bit at a time to get it back to 90° and no more judder.

The DIY Detail gold standard polish with a lake country 4000 pad washer is the best system I've ever used. I love the DIY Detail pads as well as the Lake County CCS pads. A random orbital sander is a great budget DA with around a 5mm orbit. I like my shine mate EX620 15mm 5" for cutting and good finishing with a wool pad/blue LC pad or gold standard pad/orange LC pad. The rotary polisher with the red jeweling pad/black LC pad is the best finishing you can get though for max gloss. I like the NV Finesse and Precision polish and compound as well but having a damp pad and a spray polish (DIY Detail gold standard) is so much faster and no taping off trims. You can actually polish your trims with it. It's just so efficient.

Using a DIY Detail perforated synthetic decontamination towel or the rag company clay towel doesn't marr your paint. Clay bars will. Use DIY Detail iron remover for the lubricant with the towel and it's just so quick and get 2 steps out of 1. Watch some of their YouTube videos if you get a chance. I don't agree with absolutely everything they do but 95% of what they say is excellent advise from my experience. If I didn't cover anything just let me know. Make sure to use panel prep no matter what right before a coating and use two towels and don't let it dry on the surface before drying it off with your second towel.

Edit: please don't try to spray a ceramic coating (HVLP) unless the coating is designed for it AND you have the proper PPE which includes full body suit with supplied air and down draft paint booth. Not something you want to mess around with IMHO. A simple respirator is not enough and if any skin is exposed it absorbs more than your lungs do as it's the largest organ in your body.