22 F350 Atlas Blue. What is the preferred paint protection wax, ect that everyone's using?

 

shine supply "shine soap", dry with their "wet detailer" spray on wax, weekly wash. paint sealant i use their "daddy-0" sealer, every couple months.. to really make it pop like crazy and look like the paint was just sprayed on the truck, top it with clutch silica spray.

almost any brand gives you great results, it's more about the proper methods. I like shine supply and the way the stuff smells lol.

 

CQuartz UK 3.0 ceramic after a full polish and correction. I did my 2019 last year around end of August, and have not washed it until today. Man does that truck bead up. I didn't do the bed, just the cab and the difference is very apparent when rinsed off. Other than an occasional wipe down with Reload which is a spray on ceramic enhancer to maintain the level of ceramic on the paint, don't have to do anything but an occasional wash.

No matter what you apply to the paint, you really need to do a correction and polish to bring out the best in the clear coat before applying anything. In a cool garage out of the sunlight, it is very easy to apply, just have to make sure you wipe it off thoroughly to avoid streaks. There are also some newer spray on coatings that work, not quite as well, and will need to be removed after a year or so to stay fresh, that are easier to apply. They just don't last as long. Maybe even some Graphene coatings now, but Ceramic is the best at long lasting glow and shine and water repellent. There is even the lazy mans stuff, Armor all Ceramic wash. Apply with a foam cannon, rinse, wash, and foam a second time and blast it off and you have a ceramic coat that is good for 6 months but you MUST wipe it all dry or it WILL streak.

 

How did you do your paint correction? My truck is antimatter blue and from one angle it can looks spotless but then in direct light you can see waves and all the orange peel.

 

www.XPEL.com had my entire F350 covered. It’s very expensive but it’s the best PPF in my experience. Find an installer that has years of experience. It’s all about the install. There is no wax that will protect your paint like PPF.

 

Agreed. I had Xpel installed on my truck a couple of days after I drove it off the lot. But not to the extent you did. I have basically all forward facing surfaces covered, plus the upper and lower 6" of the tailgate and the rocker panels. I have a few edges of the film that show dirt underneath. I don't know if that's my fault or the installer didn't get the edge secured well enough.

For the rest of the painted areas, I apply Adam's Polishes Synthetic Paint Sealant with a Porter-Cable 7424 6" Random Orbit Polisher using pads from Adam's also. I put that on after a good wash, followed by a round of Griot's Garage Polish #4 (least aggressive) applied with the same machine polisher. I did that yesterday and the truck looks fantastic. My only complaint about the paint sealant is that you have to be careful to not get it on plastic as it turns the surface a bit white (but it looks GREAT on the plastic for a couple weeks).

 

What would be the typical cost to have a truck fully coated with ceramic or PPF?

 

I can tell you that in Las Vegas I paid nearly 7K to have a complete ceramic including wheel faces and then Xpel on the headlights, hood, front fenders (essentially full front clip) and Xpel on the leading edges of the DRW hips. I also had full top of the line tint on the windows including windshield. It was expensive but the money I saved by buying the truck under invoice essentially paid for it. So if only doing the ceramic it is probably half of that. 2022 Star White F350 CC DRW.

bob

 

any ding dong can apply ceramic coating. just make sure they properly correct the paint first. thats where da money is

 

These are two totally different products and not even remotely comparable. What kind of protection do you want?

A full ceramic coating is gonna run you between 2k-3k depending on the level of paint correction prior to the coating, which is the real key to a good finish. Its going to protect against sunlight and bird droppings and help to keep things from etching the paint and makes it easier to keep clean. Ceramic won't protect against rock chips. I had my truck paint corrected and ceramic coated for $2500 in the Nashville area and that covered the truck, all glass, wheels inside and out, bed cover, and all trim.

A full PPF will run between 5k-and 8k. I was quoted 8k in the Nashville area for full Stealth Xpel. PPF will protect against rock chips and is self healing if you get any rock impacts or light scratches. It's a film that is applied like vinyl wrap vs a liquid.

 

7K may be the highest I've heard for a ceramic coating. I paid $2500 for the whole entire truck, glass, wheels inside and out and it has a 9 year warranty. It's Gtechniq and the whole truck was paint corrected.

 

I guess you missed the rest. I could pull out the invoices but I am lazy. I had ceramic on whole truck, Xpel on front fenders, hood, headlights, DRW hips and ceramic window tint on all windows including full windshield. If I had to guess the ceramic was probably 2 to 2.5 K of that.

bob

 

To get rid of orange peel you practically have to take half or more of the clear off to level it. Factory clear is too thin to accomplish this without potential damage. I wet sanded scratches, filled chips (it was used when I got it) then used a DA buffer with several grades adn pads from Chemical Brothers to get the shine I was looking for, then applied the Ceramic.

Back in 2018 a quote for ceramic and front clip PPF Xpel on and F-150 that came to a little over $2K. Today? probably double that. Either Cermic or PPF requires pull paint correction because it locks in what is in the clear. Unless you are VERY patient and have a clean draft free garage, I don't recommend doing your own PPF, it is very easy to get marks under it, or over stretch it and make it look like a womans belly after giving birth, Especially on dark colors! Ceramic is a DIY project depending on the product. Pro products, stay away from if you can even find someone to sell it to you. They are meant for the pros to put on because they know exactly how long and what to watch for to clean the surface of residue. If you wait too long, or don't completely buff it out, it shows!

The Carpro stuff is pretty good and long lasting, My 2018 looked as good as the day I did it when I traded it in last August which was just about a full 4 years with only some washes and using Reload occasionally as a wipe down after washing. I liked it so much that I did my 2019 that replaced it, cab only though, didn't get around to the bed due to a bit more work needed in prep work, but I have not washed it since the day I coated it, and just last Saturday I finally got around to washing it. Still smooth and silky and beading like crazy, then you see the bed sides and they held a sheet of water, clearly can see NO protection on it. Now that the weather is warming I can get back to correcting the bed and coating it. Needs to be at least 70* to work with the stuff, any cooler and it can streak, and above 80, can flash too fast and leave streaks.

FYI I paid $400 for Xpel PPF and applied it myself to the F-450 hood and fenders. I got two kits, one for hood, one for bumper, the bumper I have to remove and repaint first, and will be loads easier to PPF with it off the truck. Bumpers are the WORST to PPF, THE WORST!

 

I applied PPF to my '07 Titan from a kit that had all the pieces pre-cut. That cured me of ever doing that again. Relatively flat areas, no problem. Curved, complex areas, I gave up.

My PPF guy is a wizard.

 

LOL yeah, it takes a special kind of patience to be able to do this stuff. I thought about doing the grill on my 19, but then remembered how difficult the grill on the 18 F-150 was and said, Nope, I'm good, hood and bumper only. I am not looking forward to the bumper though, but off the truck should be a lot easier since I wont be on my knees or hunched over on a stool to do it. That was WITH the truck on a lift too!