The coating market in the USA is newer than in South Korea and Japan. In the USA, coatings have been growing in popularity since 2010. In Asia, auto paint coatings have been a thing for over 15 years.

Great advancements have been made in automotive paint protection in the last 5 years. Just think about how "good" a "good" clear bra installation looked in 2010. It was what we would now call hack-work. The technology and the expectations are far greater than ever before.

 

Thank you and Vantage for the added info.

You are spot on with the reference to older clear bra's. I look at my 2011 M3 now and it does look like hack-work (older pre-cut kits with exposed edges)

 

Assuming you mean between a coated car and a waxed car, maybe not if the person doing the waxing is doing an awesome job. But the difference is, the coated car is way easier to wash and then doesn't need anything after that to make it look awesome. All the time I spent over the years, claying and polishing and waxing... good riddance. Quick wash, blow it dry, and it looks like it just rolled out of the detailer. Every time. And on my black car, dust just doesn't stick. Pollen covers the car at work; hit the expressway and it just blows off. I just spent three days driving my car in the rain and right now it looks like I just washed it. While my wife's Audi next to it looks like crap. These coatings are worth every freaking penny IMO, whichever one you choose.

Here's my Cayman S after three solid days of driving in the rain.

 

Coatings are great. But I am a purist too. Some part of me wants era-specific technology on cars. Yesterday, a gentleman stopped by and we talked about his 1989 Turbo. He asked me about coating his newly refurbished fuchs and the paint after correction and my response was that if it were mine I would put some Swissvax on it.

The car has seen 400 miles over 3 years and he said that taking care of the car was therapeutic for him....he enjoyed working on it. Wax is the obvious answer to me. I don't care what anyone says(not that anyone is saying it here), but coatings are not the best fit for everyone and every car. In this gentleman's case, the answer is getting the car to a baseline he feels comfortable maintaining and then cutting him loose with what he needs to do it and nothing more.

 

Totally agree and I used to love detailing my cars. Before multiple knee surgeries, back surgery, hip surgery, two broken legs, etc...

 

My therapeutic wax is spray sealants / QD. That's all I use on my other car than only sees a few thousand miles per year.

Funny how threads about wax and bucket seats always seem to be popular.

 

Any thoughts on the Q2 products? We're doing correction, film on some areas and then 2 coats of MOHS+ followed by Phobic and Cure. My car is regular black.

 

I asked in a previous thread, but will try here also. Anyone have experience with permaguard?

http://www.permagard.com

 

You guys are the real deal. I am glad you all are sponsors here.

 

Doing some more research, it seems going with Cquartz finest would be the best price/performance option.

Modesta is crazy expensive. Already spending so much on the Xpel Ultimate wrap. Hard to justify an additional $2k for coating.

Jimmy, since we're in the same area, can you PM me your detailers info? I've found one that does pretty good work nearby but I want to explore my options.

 

What kind of coating did you use?

 

My thought is using a sealant vs. coating (i guess?). Take for example sonax net shield. I use it and apply it once every couple of months. Its hydrophobic and my car would look the same as yours after a wash. This vs. something 50times more expensive with Opti coat which will last a year or more.

 

A Sonax net shield user here as well because I had to draw a line on the extras spent on the car.

A friend of mine will be getting Opticoat done on his car next week so I'll try to do an amateur comparison between the two on look and feel.

 

Find the right coating specialist and they will take care of you.

Not a fan.

Sonax Polymer Netshield is a fine OTC product for those inclined to DIY. It is hydrophobic but that is not an indication of how chemically resistant or how thick the sacrificial layer is. Coatings can be many many times thicker and they are the king of chemical resistance.

Hydrophobicity is a perk for the last step protection, not an indication of how well it protects. Some coatings are not hydrophobic, but they can greatly outperform other hydrophobic coatings and sealants. These hydrophilic coatings just shed water differently and for many people, a hydrophilic coating is a better long term solution than a hydrophobic one.

There are times that we will place Sonax Polymer Netshield or a carnauba wax on top of a cured coating just to be opulent. I appreciate many protection solutions used in many ways.

 

That car only has the Opti Gloss Coat on it, which is supposedly only good for 1-2 years before reapplication. It's been on the car a year so far (5k miles) and it still looks and works great. Water beads right off it still. The paint on this car had too many issues and my detailer wasn't comfortable doing the full seal on that car. I have OptCoat Pro on my Carrera and Pro Plus on my Spyder.