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My First Ceramic coating. The total experience

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FineToothDetailing
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Joined: August 6th, 2021, 10:54 pm

My First Ceramic coating. The total experience

Postby FineToothDetailing » September 7th, 2021, 10:18 am

Hey guys did my first ceramic coating this weekend. As much as I knew the process it's nothing compared to actually doing the work. The job itself took roughly 11 hours. So here's a breakdown of how it went.

1. The wash.
First things first the car exterior has to be clean! As clean as possible for two reasons. You can't work with dirt on the vehicle as it will complicate the process and you need to see what's going on with the paint! Dirt hides alot of imperfections that even a trained eye can miss!!

2. Inspection!
So after the car was washed it's time to inspect. Some of the things you would see while washing the vehicle ( keep your eyes close to the vehicle, but not so close that washing is uncomfortable. ) others you will see when the car is dry.
The usual wash marks were there ( very fine scratches ) however paint specs were all over the left side!!! Some calcium buildup at the lip of the back spoiler as well as the grill was fading from the sun.

3. Time to clay.....but?!?!
I decided well ok I'll clay the vehicle to remove the paint specs but one problem quickly made itself clear. The clay I have is very fine, more for fumes and microscopic contamination. Not for paint specs this size! So while claying the clay passed smoothly over everything. Which tells.me that the paint specs are the only thing on the car. So.... What next?

4. Sandpaper!!!!
Yip!!! Had to sand the paint off! Ideally 2000 - 3000 grit is ideal for this type of work. Please note you need to buff the scratches back out! I contacted the owner of the car to inform them about the paint. They advised i use my discretion and they are ok with whatever is not removed. So the route I took was removing all the clearly visible paint in all the areas that people would normally view a car. But leave the paint that only people who are looking for defects can notice. I sanded spec by spec and not entire areas ( I have to consider how much clear coat Im removing as being excessive is not good for the car. Clear coat protects the color coat from the sun, so the more you have the more protection the color coat has.

5. Buffing.

Now that the paint was removed it was time to buff the vehicle! Starting with the areas that I sanded. Good time to mention I'm using a DA polisher. Not a rotary buffer. A rotary is faster and more powerful so buffing out scratches is faster on rotary but you have the risk of burning the paint or creating more work for yourself depending on your technique and compound. DAs are safer but they take more time to remove scratches.

*Another thing to keep in mind is that paint can look perfect in one direction but you see defects in another direction!!! Best practice is to walk around the area and look from angles. The way of thinking should be " looking for defects" not " it good enough."

6. Polishing.

The point of a polish is to refine the paint, enhancing gloss. Some polishes have fillers in them that give the illusion of perfect paint. Which is good only if it's your own car and you don't have time to get the real results. It's bad because it won't survive a wash. Also it will affect anything else your try to put on the vehicle. Wax, sealant or ceramic coatings.

7. Strip wash!

Very important step! Remember we just buffed and polished the car. Although it looks perfect and clean and shiny there is still residue on the paint. Ontop of that there will be dust in areas of the vehicle as well as wax from the soap. All of that needs to be removed. Dish soap can work, but a recommend soap is preferred. You can also use an isopropyl alcohol mix but keep in mind you will have to remove all the dust manually after applying the coating ( you can't take residue from an area to accidentally put it on the paint. ) Also you don't want to touch the car. So soap is ideally the better option.

The process is simple. Wet the car, spray on the soap, blast off the soap with a power washer. Also blasting areas that dust would've accumulated. Dry with a clean microfiber ( all corners of the cloth should be held in your fingers to avoid scratching the paint..... Which will infuriate you! )

8. Binding polish!!!!!

Almost there guys! The point of this polish is to create a layer that the coating will better bond to than the clear coat. Giving you better results in the end. This process does not provide much enhancement visually but you can't argue with the end result.

9. Coating time!!!!!

Finally!!! It's time! Read your instructions! Have a plan! No room for mistakes! Application is easy! Mostly due to all that prep work, however you have to look for how the product flashes! Some give a hazy look and others give a rainbow look. In this case it was the rainbow look. You are operating panel by panel! How I went about it was wiping with 1 microfiber to remove and dust that landed on the vehicle, applying the coating then buffing off with another microfiber. The product instructions said 2 coats are recommend but wait one hour before applying the 2nd coat. I used that hour to vacuum the interior and clean up any areas I missed out during the process. Then applied the second coating.


10. Inspection!!!!
Yay we are not done yet! Time to look at the results! It's hard to ignore the shiny paint, as the point is to look for any areas where the coating is uneven. Or areas you misses out. In my case I had to do around the door handles again as the coating was thicker there ( looked like the rainbow haze .)


And that's it!!!! I repaired my phone so pictures are too big to post here. But I have video! Will upload to YouTube and share here. Thanks so much for the read and I wish you all a great week!

User avatar
FineToothDetailing
3NE 2NR for life
Posts: 100
Joined: August 6th, 2021, 10:54 pm

Re: My First Ceramic coating. The total experience

Postby FineToothDetailing » September 7th, 2021, 11:39 am


User avatar
FineToothDetailing
3NE 2NR for life
Posts: 100
Joined: August 6th, 2021, 10:54 pm

Re: My First Ceramic coating. The total experience

Postby FineToothDetailing » September 7th, 2021, 11:39 am

Got the pic to work
PXL_20210904_144550146~2.jpg

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