I didn't ask about cost but my guy did mention when the time comes they do a "freshen" up of the coat. Not a total re-application. Im not sure why the prices are so high in Austin. It's like $75 worth of material. The money is in how long it takes for paint correction, cleaning, and application. My truck was only at the shop for 7 hours. I was at work so I have no idea how many hours they actually worked on it. They also paid for $5 worth of Uber's to get me back and forth to work! lol

 

When my coworker bought his package they were doing 30% off so he grabbed the $500 ceramic coat and a $200 interior detail for $490 total. His truck goes in early July.

 

7 hours to have the coating applied?

Mine was in the shop for 4 days but I recall my price being what it was due to minimal paint correction, right around 8 hours because it was new and had never been to a commercial car wash. Also I had every piece of plastic coated on the exterior, all the glass was coated and the wheels were removed and coated including the barrels. And I forget the breakdown but there was a specified amount of time between coatings, and it sat overnight after the last layer before he would release it and then I couldn't wash it for two weeks after I go it back. Definitely a process, I remember his shop being full of cars wrapped in bags and others under some type of lights baking. I was hesitant about the whole process at first but when saw that my truck was the least expensive vehicle in the entire shop I figured that this guy at least knew his stuff or was one heck of a salesman.

 

Im not sure what type of ceramic coat you got. Once the car is clean and paint correction complete....it shouldn't take more than 1-2 hours to apply 2 coats to the truck. Even less time if there are multiple people doing the job. The CQuartz they used on my truck takes only 24 hours to fully cure. Obviously rain needs to be avoided.I really wonder what brand of coating you had applied that gets baked on and takes 4 days. Any info you have on it would be interesting for those debating this option. Thx
https://www.detailedimage.com/CarPro...P923/30-ml-S1/

There is a cool little experiment going on in Tyler TX at a detail shop.

 

The coating I had applied is Ceramic Pro.

 

I'm looking at ceramic coat myself. My buddy's detailer called me and they want $300 for the 'light coat', and the next prices are $700, $1k, and $1.5k. They use Feynlab coatings.

Is the cheaper light-coat any good? My trucks only 4 weeks old so I can't imagine it needs any paint correction yet. How hard is it to put on the ceramic coat yourself; is it just like waxing it?

 

All new vehicles will need some type of paint correction before any ceramic coating and at the very least, a full detail. Most shops that do this type of work and if they`re also honest, they will tell you how much paint correction should or has to be done to make your vehicle look it`s best but in the end, it`s the customers choice on the level of paint correction.

Many people do apply it themselves and there are many videos on YouTube showing how it`s done.

 

 

 

Wow I've never heard of burned paint spot but suppose its possible. Thanks for the pix!

 

So I've watched many videos on the application of ceramic coating. It's nearly identical to clay bar, polish and waxing a vehicle. If I can get all that done for $250 then how could ceramic coating vehicle possibly cost $1500? Looks like I'm doing it myself.

 

There are a few other factors that play into the cost. Again paint correction is a few dollars and takes some time on big vehicles not to mention the prep time alone, I'm pretty sure my guy had almost a day of paint correction on my truck (8) hours. My truck is also black and black shows every little imperfection. Also, you and I can't buy Ceramic Pro it's only sold to professionals not to mention that the base coat (9H) has to be removed with abrasives so I wasn't going to take a chance and possibly mess that up and have to have a shop professionally remove the coating. I even notified my insurance company of the coating and sent them the certificate just in case i was ever in an accident or there was damage to the truck because the repair bill will be higher to remove the coating in that area to fix any damage and to have it reapplied after any possible body work and paint. The only place I may have tried to apply the coating myself would have been the wheels but the cost was minimal and I figured why take the chance. Just giving my two cents, I already spent a lot on the truck I wasn't gonna cut corners at this point.

Not the best pic but I found a picture about 4 months after the coating was applied. This is how my truck looks after just a wash.

 

Most of the cost is labor for a complete paint correction, polish, and applying the ceramic coating or several layers of the ceramic coating which can take several days for some shops.

 

I just got a quote for Ceramic Pro and it broke down like this:
Sport - 6 month protection : $400
Bronze - 2 yr protection : $1200
Silver - 5 yr protection : $1600
Gold - Lifetime protection : $2300

All packages include a 1-2 step paint correction to remove swirls and surface scratches. Includes coating the face of the wheels and all exterior windows.

Sounded awful steep to me, but it is a large vehicle...

 

Interesting price breakdown.
Any idea which of those packages include a two step paint correction and how many layers of Ceramic Pro in each package?

The only way I can see the Lifetime Package working is that after 5 years, you can come back in and they`ll do the 5 year coating again for free but you might have to pay for paint problems to be corrected or even a full exterior detail before it`s applied.

If it were me, i`d skip the lifetime package and go for the 2 or 5 year package.