DIY Ceramic coating
 

Decided to try some Ceramic coating, I've never used it, don't know anyone that has. Bought some from Avalon King & applied it today. Took me about 2 hours, did everything but the roof, I'll tackle that part tomorrow.
it was easier than I thought to apply & wipe off. Buffed out really nice with the supplied towel. Looks awesome! Only time will tell how good it is & how long it lasts. So far I really like it. Not the greatest pics, but it got dark on me outside.
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Looks good! Had my truck detailed a month ago and talked to them about doing a paint correction and ceramic coat. I was quoted $2300, which doesnt seem horrible but its definitely a tough one to swallow. Maybe come springtime lol.

Thanks! Decided to do it myself, luckily I had no paint issues being a relatively new truck. Cost me $100. Plus it stays in garage most of winter so that helps!

Just for reference, I had my Explorer ST ceramic coated (two coats, don't ever want to do just one as it won't last).

$200 for a polish first (not a wax), then it was $450 for a full ceramic coat and an additional $200 for a 2nd coat. So it was $850 for the whole vehicle. $2,300 is ridiculous. Now granted it's a full size truck but the bed sides are a lot easier then working the full roofline of a SUV and full size tailgate. Any additional coat would be another $200 but he recommended just doing two coats and then having an additional coat added for $200 every 2-3 years.

Also, paint correction would have been $550 BUT, then I wouldn't have done the polish so it would have been $350 more ($1,200).

The ST is absolutely stunning after the polish and 2 coats of ceramic.

I'll be having my 15 done by the same guy this Spring.

Anyways, a little off topic but wanted to give you a little pricing perspective.

I have used topcoat on my F150 before, Ruby Red too, and it looked good. THe more coats you put on, the better it gets. Also applies easier and dirt comes off easy. Plan on doing it to my 250 as well in spring... I believe meguiars is making one now that is readily available at auto parts stores...

Granted the price i was quoted was for IGL Kenzo which is apparently regarded as the best or one of the best with top tier hardness rating and comes with a 4 year warranty. Includes glass, wheels, all plastics, interior all coated. He does offer lower grades of ceramic coatings as well. He said alot of the price came from my truck being black which is very hard to get right, but we'll see. I want to keep this truck for a very long time, i may bite the bullet.

I’m curious as to what is included in and meant by “paint correction”?

When I had a quote done, he said paint correction would involve some wet sanding in spots and a lot of buffing. Granted my truck is black and he said it would be an all day or 2 day process to get the paint as perfect as possible before laying down the ceramic coating and sealing the paint in. Any scratch, swirl, hard water mark in the paint that is left and ceramic coated over is stuck there until the coating wears off in years or the coating is physically removed.

Makes sense. Thanks!

As Absoluteblack stated,it is a ton of buffing. No wax ever!! He has lights setup on tripods and blasts the vehicle with them to see any type of imperfection in the clear and removes them. Between polishing, ceramic and the clear bra put on the front end,it was a 3 day job.

My ST is magnetic and it hides a lot.. he could barely see any imperfections and could not speak positively enough about the color which is why I decided to just do a polish first.

The depth of the paint with ceramic is amazing. Also, if you do it (professionally or personally), make sure you always use a PH neutral soap when washing it.

I am going to have my Bronze Fire F350 done this spring. It definitely has a ton of swirl marks in the clearly now. Excited for Spring!

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I tried some f11 ceramic coating.

wasnt wowed by the shine. Looked cheap

when back to my 14 dollar spray and wipe detail wax which always leaves a deep luster .

The pictures here of the ruby SD and magnetic ST are stunning. I have a considerable number of hours running a buffer on fiberglass (annual polish/wax on a 40’ boat, about 50 hours a season). Not much experience on sheet metal. I washed my new 2019 F350 for the first time today (blue jeans with magnetic accent). The paint is in good condition. There are some water spots on the roof (predominately a glass surface) and hood but other than that and a superficial scratch under one of the front quarter panel vents I didn’t see any other paint blemishes other than the typical factory-paint orange peel. The truck should buff out nicely with a quality polish. Think I’ll research DIY ceramic products for a quality kit and give it a whirl.


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This is the stuff my Xpel dealer uses. He gave me a little to touch up an area that had to be stripped off on the hood due to forgetting to put the "Explorer" letters back on. Once on, I redid around them with a couple coats.


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Fingers crossed the OP did a full decon wash and paint correction before just applying a ceramic coating :-rip

I did my truck back in October
Took a total of approx. 20 hrs.

Day 1 Strip wash, IronX (iron remover) Clay
Day 2 Polish
Day 3 Ceramic Coat (1 layer of GTechniq CSL, 2 layers of GTechniq Exo V4)

I have Magnetic Gray, paint was in really good shape so the jeweling of the polish made it look very good. Coating made it pop even more and for added protection, durability of the coating, depth and gloss I use Beadmaker after every wash.