I have a 2021 F350 and was wondering about this whole ceramic coating thing and what all it does. The wife just bought a new SUV and they did a ceramic coating and it looks very nice. I have only hand washed my truck once since buying it. I usually run up and wash it off at the power wash station once in a while. Not long ago we had a nice cloudy day and I grabbed a sponge and a bucket some dawn and hand washed the truck. I didn’t realize just how dirty it was still even after running it through the power wash. Where my wife bought her new ride the lady who is in charge of this ceramic coating said she would clay bar and do a ceramic coating on my truck free of charge just to get the word out they were doing this. Something about diamond dust etc.

is this a good thing because I am ignorant of all this new soaps and such. I use to wax and polish my rides in the 90’s but life happens and work so it fell down the priority list. Now trying to get the truck cleaned up more often and such.

 

Well, it's just a paint sealant.... with a little bit different of an application process that is in essence, faster, easier, etc. as it goes on as a clear liquid, very thin wipe on type and wipe off excess and you're done. The thing to remember is "Chemistry" has not changed in the past 100 years and it's not likely to change in the next century..... Everyone uses the same substances to formulate their products, what is different is the purity/concentration & price.....typical retail names are much more expensive per ounce than commercial lines. The next difference is the application method......

Personally, I'm not a big fan of claybar.... if you have to do it, ok, but only when there is a real need for it and then you have to ask yourself why I allowed the pant to become so contaminated. Claybar is in essence "wet sanding" the paint. It comes in a variety of rated grits (yes) from 3500 to 7000. To put this in perspective, a new custom type paint "job", the painter will apply 4-6 coats of clear, wet sanding the paint typically 1-3 times starting with as coarse as 800 grit and finishing with as fine as 2500-3000 grit....they are removing imperfections as well.

OEM paints are especially thin, and if the clear thickness is reduced to 3.5 mil or less, the paint is gone......and paint in it's lifetime naturally "thins" as well. The new generations of paint produced in the past decade are designed with a life expectancy of 7 years (although with exceptional care you can make them last a lot longer) so they are very, very thin to start with. The primary focus again IMHO is to keep the clear coat as thick as possible for as long as possible - meaning do everything possible to remove contaminants via chemistry versus mechanical/friction-based removal- which also removes a small amount of paint (clear coat) each time. There are specific chemicals available at auto body paint supply stores that will easily, effectively remove any contaminant without removing any paint from the vehicle.

A 50/50 mix of alcohol (denatured preferred because it has had all the oils extracted out of it) and distilled water is an excellent cleaning agent for the most common environmental contaminants.

The other issue with claybar is it only removes the contaminants that it physically touches. Paint has pores in it and residual contamination does, can and will rest below where the claybar "touches" and does not by some miracle lift and remove these particles without ever touching them. This is a leading cause for long term paint damage as it is now damaging the paint from the bottom up. Again, the alcohol/water solution will dissolve/remove/neutralize most all of the common environmental related substances. For iron and other related substance's, there are specific products which will dissolve and neutralize any residue.

IMHO, too many detailers are just following the PR documents and training programs marketing the specific manufacturers products- for sales purposes and simply unaware or ignoring basic chemistry solutions which are less $, more effective and easier to use.

I live within 5 miles or so of an international airport, meaning our vehicles are exposed to just about some of the worst contaminants, one of which is parked outside. To date, i have never used claybar on any of our vehicles.... and this includes a gloss black, metallic wine red and midnight metallic blue colors that range in age from 15 to 30 years old.... the level of fade is undetectable to the untrained eye, to the trained eye it is minimal.

Personally, I have used use BAF/Pro Car Care Beauty Products for 30 years on all my vehicles. Specifically I use their "Satin Cream" (for dark colors), is a paint sealant but it has 30% German imported carnauba and has a 6 months warranty before another application is required. For light colored cars I use Profection Paint Sealant (P-73-Q)…it is the same product as “Satin Crème” but without the carnauba….it brings up a much higher shine which on light colored cars looks better IMHO (although it has less depth of shine that carnauba gives) and it has a much higher level of polish in it.….I also use this on all my chrome, stainless, headlights, etc…it not only shines it up like new but it is sealed from the elements as well.

Hope this helps.............

 

wow thanks. So it is sorta like the old clear coating from years ago. I guess before I let them do this I need to learn a bit more for sure.

 

Please do research on clay bars. I don't want to start an argument, but that is almost completely wrong. 1st clay bars pull contaminants off of paint, they don't sand it.
Ceramic coatings properly applied by trained professionals will last 3-5 years with minimal care. They look great also. The problem is ceramic coating has become a marketing term. Many dealers sell it with your new car. They poorly apply a cheap product that looks decent for a week or 2. There are do it yourself ceramic waxes that outlast traditional wax, but results vary.
Most important, don't use dish soap on a car! Dish soap pulls oils from paint and strip wax. You are much better off with inexpensive car wash soap.

 

If you would like, here is one over 100+ pages published by Ford paint engineers and GE/SW (Ford specific paint mfg's), etc. on this .... this one particular page is very self-demonstrative of the chemistry and science.

Clar Bar 1997

 

That is blurry and hard to read, but doesn't appear to be about clay bars. This is what I have used https://www.griotsgarage.com/how-to/prep/. I don't use them often but they pull contaminates off of the finish. Clay doesn't remove any paint, it will probably remove most wax. A clay bar wont remove etching. Your wax or whatever coating is applied should be protecting from that.

 

It is specifically addressing paint contamination- proper removal, neutralization of residue (environmental & industrial product related)....... it specifically describes the limitations of clay bars, just as I stated. It is one of "many" docs from manufacturers (including Porsche, Mercedes, GM, etc.) that was provided to us during an ICAR specialty course (formal training for paint repair by the paint mfg industry). Almost any compound liquid or otherwise removes paint, from microscopic to mil's- and with claybar, until you get to 4000+ grit at which point, yes, you're just floating over the paint.... and that is why ALL clay bars have grit ratings just like all polishes have mfg specific grit or other ratings for each product, even though not all mfg's readily provide the documentation....such as the one I have attached for BAF (aka "Abrasives Index").

I'm not saying that one should not use claybar, but like any product it is important to understand its limitations and best practices that has been established by the paint manufacturer engineers....and claybar in general is one of the most overused, improperly applied application correction specific products on the planet (IMHO). If you are going to use it, understand what your specific needs are and select accordingly. Whether it's a chemical or other product, pick the right product for the right purpose. In most cases, the retailer (IMHO) does not have this information and is merely running off of PR docs- not a good thing.

Let me just say that I personally live within 5 miles of LAX and of course we deal with all airborne related industrial contaminants........ I have yet to use a claybar on any of my vehicles (have I used it on others, yes, because of the level of contamination required it, but I then also in most cases neutralized the residue afterwards which 90% of detailers do not do). The 3 vehicles I will use as an example is...

my 2006 Lincoln Mark LT (which is parked outside, my wifes 1997 Mercury Cougar (black, daily driver also- CC/BC oem paint with the excepion of the left front fender - accident repair from idiot who back into it and the top back of the decklid with was scratched and I color matched/and repaired), my 1965 Mustang with is painted midnight metallic blue (from 1987) with Single stage PPG Ditzler Murathane- ie PPG Urethane and my dad's "Coupe' which was painted purple based blue acrylic lacquer....again single stage.

Cougar front

Lincoln Mark LT

mustang

 

I am not in disagreement that a clay bar has some abrasive, but so does the towel that you apply the alcohol with. Clay bars are supposed to be lubricated also. I have detailed more cars than I can remember, I started in 1980. Different people look for different things, most used cars get shiny stuff on the tires and people think it's clean. Some people look for complete paint correction. The OP has a 4 year old truck that has been through car washes and washed with dish soap. My guess if you use no mechanical paint correction and shine it up with any wax, it would never look good to trained person. Scratches, swirls and any etching would show up.
We have completely moved away from any meaningful help to The OP. So I will end any further discussion on my part and let you explain it as you like.