About 28 years ago I was selling cars for a living (Not for long. Once I realized what it was all about I couldn't get out fast enough). The dealership I worked at had a complete system of selling a car then on selling accessories and finance. It was a very slick operation. They had two ladies who were rather attractive selling "accessories" and those gals made lots of money. After a while I started to feel sorry for the customers because I knew what they were in for... Anyway Ceramic Coating back then cost about $650 and it came with a 5 year warranty which was rock solid. To keep that part of the aftermarket business going they always made a point of honoring the warranty regardless of how the car was cared for in that 5 years.

So yea if it isn't too expensive to DIY a ceramic coating then go for it but IME it doesn't replace regular cleaning and proper storage.

FWIW I would never consider buying a house unless it came with adequate storage for my cars and tools. That may change as I get older.

It's definitely not a replacement for proper cleaning. My Rav will still get a rinse, then foam cannon, then two bucket wash with buckets that have a grit separator in them. But part of the point of ceramic is that it protects the paint if you don't have a garage to park the vehicle in. The ceramic is the "sacrificial lamb" when out in the elements. It takes the brunt of the sun, rain, road grime etc so that your clear coat is protected.

I have the chemical guys stuff on my Gladiator. It lives outside and it gets a maintenance wash every two weeks, I am very happy with the looks and the scratch resistance ( I off road a lot) did my 928 with avalon king a couple of years ago, it is not durable as chemical guys stuff. cure time is important as is residue removal after it flashes. if left on for too long you will have oily looking spots.

Here is a tutorial and many more tips on our channel.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2bb63SWOoTA

I have applied ceramic coatings to all of our vehicles. Prep is the key, wash, alcohol clean, clay bar, polish and then applied coating. One car took around 6 hours. The coating is the easiest part of the process, wipe on wipe off. Amazing stuff, claimed to last 1 - 2 years, we will see.

An FYI make sure you don't eat any. It's not a food. :cool:

rjp

Thanks for the vid. I'll have to tell my son to watch the video as well. He's the one wanting to get into detailing and ceramic coating application.

It's not lube, so be careful down there IP.

Anytime 😊

See! This is what makes the forum truly great! If these warnings aren't on the products, I might have made some terrible mistakes. "hmmm smells good.... must taste good" and "Hmmm if it'll make my hand glide across my car, where else might it make my hand glide?"

Disaster averted due to Pelican Off Topic.

I've been considering applying 303 Graphene spray as a final coat after polishing.

But this gets confusing...where is the line between ceramic and graphene? On the one hand, I see the promos stating that graphene is "better than" ceramic coatings...but then I see that "graphene" and "ceramic" are sometimes parsed together like these are combined into one product, or perhaps they are the same product?

At any rate, I'd love to hear comments from anyone who has used 303 Graphene (spray), and/or to gain further enlightenment on the similarities and/or differences between graphene products and ceramic products.

UV light, can't you just park it in the sun?

I have used the Sonax kits with good success. But not worth my time. We have our inhouse detailer do it for our personal cars. He has his own products now, but also started out with Sonax and had great success also.

Cheers