Ceramic Coating Fail?

[mocaSi]

So I took my civic to a highly recommended detail shop that has perfect reviews, I'm talking 5 out of 5 stars on just about every review(~100+) . When I got the car back I was told to let it cure for 5 days, and as my luck goes it rained all 5 days but they assured me it was okay to get rained on just not to wash it. Upon washing it for the first time the coating was no longer sleek and didn't feel silky smooth anymore. It was just the opposite, felt as if it didn't have any paint correction or coating done. I also noticed several high spots all around the car including the taillights being one huge rough high spot. I took it back in a day later and they marked all the problem areas with tape and proceeded to correcting the issues. I got the car back that same day and it appeared to be much better and was back to being sleek and smooth to the touch. Waited 5 days, this time no rain and washed it on day 6. The car isn't rough like before but there are more high spots than ever, some are horrendous and stand out like a sore thumb and also noticing that they didn't even complete the paint correction properly as there are some small tar spots that were on the car prior to ceramic coating that are now ceramic coated themselves! Not to mention that there is ceramic coating on the sunroof that was done by accident so it looks like one huge awful greasy smear. This may be a dumb question but is this normal with "professionally" done coatings? Everywhere I look tells me that the answer is no and over a dozen high spots and half ass paint correction isn't right for a 3 year coating that cost $600. Everything I've read says that if the coating has cured already, to remove high spots you basically have to strip it down in that area and re-coat the whole panel. In this case my whole car needs to be re-coated because they are everywhere. Im quite fed up already because I drive an hour one way to get to this place so it's not the most convenient thing to keep going back and forth and not only that but it's costing me money to drive 2 cars back and forth. At this point I wish I would've never had it done and want the coating stripped back to stock and my money back. I doubt they'd go for that. Help me out guys, what's y'alls opinions? Thanks

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[Caestus]

Do you have Pictures or Videos?

 

[mocaSi]

Do you have Pictures or Videos?

I took some pictures with my tablet but it doesn't come through in the image.

 

[Caestus]

I took some pictures with my tablet but it doesn't come through in the image.

Got you.


It should be level and smooth, now if there were paint imperfections before it will only raise them. In any rate.... It sounds like they are working with you

 

[mocaSi]

Got you.


It should be level and smooth, now if there were paint imperfections before it will only raise them. In any rate.... It sounds like they are working with you

that's what I thought. Here is a pic to illustrate( different car, not mine) what most spots look like, one goes the entire length of the trunk and my taillights look ruined they are so bad. (Which they assured they remedied but didnt, same with the trunk) yeah they are working with me but they don't seem to want to fix the problems properly and that's why I'm trying to make sure I'm not just losing my mind and it's supposed to look this bad lol

 

[Caestus]

that's what I thought. Here is a pic to illustrate( different car, not mine) what most spots look like, one goes the entire length of the trunk and my taillights look ruined they are so bad. (Which they assured they remedied but didnt, same with the trunk) yeah they are working with me but they don't seem to want to fix the problems properly and that's why I'm trying to make sure I'm not just losing my mind and it's supposed to look this bad lol

oof.... yeah that's a bad job

 

[NeoDragons]

that's what I thought. Here is a pic to illustrate( different car, not mine) what most spots look like, one goes the entire length of the trunk and my taillights look ruined they are so bad. (Which they assured they remedied but didnt, same with the trunk) yeah they are working with me but they don't seem to want to fix the problems properly and that's why I'm trying to make sure I'm not just losing my mind and it's supposed to look this bad lol

holy hell, that is unacceptable, especially if it is suppose to be done by a professional shop. looks like they let the coating sit too long before they were able to buff it level.

 

[ebatr24]

A couple things, first a $600 ceramic coating that includes decon, paint correction/polish is a cheap ceramic coating. Second the detailer should have kept the car indoors for about 24-48 hours for the ceramic coating to cure. This can be shortened when they have some heat/uv lamps. The rain should not have affected it by the time you took it home, you would have just waited 2 weeks to wash it. I can't address some of your other concerns without actually seeing them, rough spots could be your paint itself, or poor job of polishing. As to what you should do, it all depends on you and the kind of person you are. If you are persistent and demand that you be satisfied, then contact the shop and give them the opportunity to make it right. If they don't, then hit em with a poor review and consider it a lesson learned. If you do give them a chance to make it right, ask them what their process is? Find out if they are using an iron remover, clay barring the car, and what kind of polish/compound they use. Knowing the process could prepare you on the quality of results to expect.

 

[mocaSi]

holy hell, that is unacceptable, especially if it is suppose to be done by a professional shop. looks like they let the coating sit too long before they were able to buff it level.

Yeah that pic is an example of what all the spots on my car look like. Here a couple pics of the marks with yellow tape to show there location. Camera won't pick up on the spots

 

[mocaSi]

A couple things, first a $600 ceramic coating that includes decon, paint correction/polish is a cheap ceramic coating. Second the detailer should have kept the car indoors for about 24-48 hours for the ceramic coating to cure. This can be shortened when they have some heat/uv lamps. The rain should not have affected it by the time you took it home, you would have just waited 2 weeks to wash it. I can't address some of your other concerns without actually seeing them, rough spots could be your paint itself, or poor job of polishing. As to what you should do, it all depends on you and the kind of person you are. If you are persistent and demand that you be satisfied, then contact the shop and give them the opportunity to make it right. If they don't, then hit em with a poor review and consider it a lesson learned. If you do give them a chance to make it right, ask them what their process is? Find out if they are using an iron remover, clay barring the car, and what kind of polish/compound they use. Knowing the process could prepare you on the quality of results to expect.

Yeah the great price is because of knowing someone that has been using them for a long time and brings a lot of business. So I got a very significant discount. Yeah they're so busy and don't have a whole lot of space that when a car is done, out it goes. I'm hearing from most everyone that 2 weeks before wash but they told me numerous times just wait 5 days....Yeah my paint is pretty pristine, so not sure what happened there. I take it back on July 13th and they're going to strip the coating off and do the job over again and I'll definitely ask about their process. They have so many repeat customers and do high dollar cars on the regular with amazing reviews. That's why I'm kind of leaning towards them letting someone new to ceramic coating do my car. Like they chose my car as a training tool. They re very reasonable people and not shady at all. I really get along well with them but if my third visit to get it fixed doesn't turn out I am getting my money back and going elsewhere to have it fixed.

 

[ebatr24]

The thing is ceramic coating itself is not very difficult by any means. It takes a lot of negligence to mess it up. I've done quite a few cars and it is always the prep work where most the work goes into.
Hard to explain what might have happened, hopefully the results when they redo it meet your expectations.

 

[Caestus]

Yeah the great price is because of knowing someone that has been using them for a long time and brings a lot of business. So I got a very significant discount. Yeah they're so busy and don't have a whole lot of space that when a car is done, out it goes. I'm hearing from most everyone that 2 weeks before wash but they told me numerous times just wait 5 days....Yeah my paint is pretty pristine, so not sure what happened there. I take it back on July 13th and they're going to strip the coating off and do the job over again and I'll definitely ask about their process. They have so many repeat customers and do high dollar cars on the regular with amazing reviews. That's why I'm kind of leaning towards them letting someone new to ceramic coating do my car. Like they chose my car as a training tool. They re very reasonable people and not shady at all. I really get along well with them but if my third visit to get it fixed doesn't turn out I am getting my money back and going elsewhere to have it fixed.

Everyone has to learn, (if your car was a learning tool) at least they are making it right for you by stripping it off and doing it over. Many of the spots you outlined I couldn't tell anything by the pictures, however, I for sure saw a few of your concerns.

Here's to hoping the second time around will be perfect!

It's been raining a ton and I have not washed my car yet since I was ceramic coated, They heat lamp baked it for 24 hours but it's been so rainy in South Florida recently and my car is not garage kept I will need to wash it to see how the job went. I already know I need a few spots addressed for the PPF I had installed.

 

[mocaSi]

The thing is ceramic coating itself is not very difficult by any means. It takes a lot of negligence to mess it up. I've done quite a few cars and it is always the prep work where most the work goes into.
Hard to explain what might have happened, hopefully the results when they redo it meet your expectations.

Yeah exactly, I would have done it myself in a heartbeat if I had a garage or access to someone's garage. I wish I could have done it instead of dealing with this mess. Thanks man I appreciate it. I will have updated in a month after its been redone.

 

[mocaSi]

Everyone has to learn, (if your car was a learning tool) at least they are making it right for you by stripping it off and doing it over. Many of the spots you outlined I couldn't tell anything by the pictures, however, I for sure saw a few of your concerns.

Here's to hoping the second time around will be perfect!

It's been raining a ton and I have not washed my car yet since I was ceramic coated, They heat lamp baked it for 24 hours but it's been so rainy in South Florida recently and my car is not garage kept I will need to wash it to see how the job went. I already know I need a few spots addressed for the PPF I had installed.

You're exactly right about that, nobody would be anywhere in life without a chance to learn. Yeah most of the bad spots wouldn't pick up with my old school iPhone camera. All the spots marked are rough to the touch and rainbow streaks in the correct lighting and right angle. Each wheel is just as bad or worse than the one pictured and that's only about half of the total bad spots. I had to abort mission because of the rain that day and haven't finished.

Thanks man!

That's cool, I wish they'd bake mine for 24 hours. I may ask if it's a possibility. I know how Florida gets, I lived in Jacksonville for my whole life (27 years) before escaping to western NC. Lol I hope yours turns out! Hmm is the film bubbled or hazy in spots?

 

[Caestus]

You're exactly right about that, nobody would be anywhere in life without a chance to learn. Yeah most of the bad spots wouldn't pick up with my old school iPhone camera. All the spots marked are rough to the touch and rainbow streaks in the correct lighting and right angle. Each wheel is just as bad or worse than the one pictured and that's only about half of the total bad spots. I had to abort mission because of the rain that day and haven't finished.

Thanks man!

That's cool, I wish they'd bake mine for 24 hours. I may ask if it's a possibility. I know how Florida gets, I lived in Jacksonville for my whole life (27 years) before escaping to western NC. Lol I hope yours turns out! Hmm is the film bubbled or hazy in spots?

Honestly, no, everything looks perfect. There are just a few edges where the PPF wraps over that need to be trimmed due to a bit of excess material. Other than that everything looked perfect. The Ceramic Pro looks great too. I should post a few pics here lol...

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