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Ceramic Coating


Payco

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Had mine done at the beginning of the show season. Absolutely fantastic and even now after around 50 washes/polishes, the water beads up and runs straight off it. Its to the point where even if the car is filthy after thousands of miles between washes I can literally just run a quick jetwash over it and simply rinse the dirt off and the shine comes back vivid as ever and looks like its been freshly detailed.

 

Now as for the cost. I had my bodyshop do this at the same time as he did a custom paint job on my wheels and also loads of other bits and pieces and Ive put a lot of work his way so he gave me a discount. It cost me £150 in total for just a single stage machine polish finished with ceramic coating.

 

Before the start of the next show season I will be getting it done again but I think I will go for a 2 or 3 stage MOP followed by the ceramic coating again. Thumbs up from me

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Although my ideal treatment and possibly in time for next show season is to have a 3 stage MOP followed by full PPF and then ceramic coating on top of that. Not going to be cheap especially as my guy doesnt do PPF so no discount on that but will be totally worth it afterwards.

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Thanks mate,very interesting.Strongly considering getting my Nismo 370z ceramic coated in the new year..Appreciate your lengthy reply.Any before and after photos ?.

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I'm about to coat a Gallardo tomorrow. Did a Superb a while back for a mate, still holding up but then you'd expect it to.

 

I use Siramik SC15 (there's better stuff out there, but you need to be accredited to get your hands on most of it). Process is easy, wipe on then wipe off, but you need to be pretty quick and thorough else you end up in a situation where you have to machine the stuff off to fix it. It's not rocket science to get right, but at the same time you can't take liberties with it like you can with... Well, with everything else! It's also not a one-time product that you never ever have to look after: Some people think it is, and then get irritated when it stops working. You do still have to clean your car properly once in a while!

 

What I will say is that don't bother with it unless you've had the paint machined first, and don't scrimp on that bit. Coatings are pretty permanent, and if it's ugly before it goes on then it's ugly afterwards. Travelling to someone who knows what they're doing is going to pay dividends in the long run, unless you're comfortable machining yourself. Well not machining yourself, cos that would hurt.

 

4 hours ago, Erni902 said:

Now as for the cost. I had my bodyshop do this at the same time as he did a custom paint job on my wheels and also loads of other bits and pieces and Ive put a lot of work his way so he gave me a discount. It cost me £150 in total for just a single stage machine polish finished with ceramic coating.

That's an excellent price, but IMHO it's a bit misleading on cost. The basic materials are around £60-£80, then you're looking at 2 hours (ish, includes the 1hr cure time) to apply the coating in full, plus whatever correction work the car needs before that. You can do the whole thing in a long day. IIRC I charged about £350 last time, but that was mate's rates (I know, now I'm misleading :lol: ) and a two day detail.

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As Dan says, the prep work is worth more than the coating. Subsequently that's going to be the expensive bit and it will depend on the state of the paint going in as to how much work that will require.

 

As for a coating, it depends entirely on what coating you're going for. You can go for something like Gyeon CanCoat for £30 with enough to do the car several times over, or you can pay £150+ just for materials for an accredited detailer to do something much better for you. And that's just one brand. Without polishing first, you're looking at a good 3-6 hour's labour + materials.

 

I've used a few coatings myself but never paid anyone else to apply one for me, but then I'm quite confident to do these things myself. If you're less confident, it's definitely worth getting someone who knows what they're doing to do it for you but if you fancy having a go yourself it's really not that difficult - just understand the instructions, stick to them and work methodically.... and spend hundreds of pounds on new microfibre cloths instead. :lol: Oh, and you'll need somewhere indoors to work too!

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3 hours ago, Payco said:

Thanks mate,very interesting.Strongly considering getting my Nismo 370z ceramic coated in the new year..Appreciate your lengthy reply.Any before and after photos ?.

No worries mate, unfortunately I didn't get any before and after photos, not from close up anyway. Tbh my paintwork wasnt in too bad a shape seen as the colour change was only done around 6 years ago hence only a 1 stage polish. I would love to get some decent shots to do it justice but I'm crap with a camera. If the cost is misleading, as Dan suggests, then I apologise but this is simply my experience. I spent around £1200 with this guy on this particular occasion and as said spent thousands with him before and after so I do get extremely good prices. I also have no idea what products he used so he could've used the cheapest of the cheap. All I know is I've never had a car coated before and was extremely impressed with the result. I do generally believe you get what you pay for so I can only imagine how impressed I would be if I paid top dollar for somebody accredited. (I didnt know you had to be accredited to get hold of certain products).

 

Ill PM you a couple of pics later if I can find them but they are distance shots and cant really tell the fine scratches etc before.

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Thanks buddy.My Nismo is only a year old with excellent paint work.I will source someone to do it in the Spring but in the meantime will keep researching so Thankyou for your info and help.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Need to sort my daily out at some point, its getting trashed atm. I only get time to wash it once every few weeks and so its getting ruined in this winter weather. I washed it yesterday and noticed some weird stuck little specks all over it. Bit like tree sap but really hard. Managed to get some off with a bit of scrubbing but think it will take a good day to get them all off unless I get it machine polished.

 

May have to book it in somewhere soon. Either that or just wrap it...... hmmm.

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