CanadaCivic
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2017
- Threads
- 8
- Messages
- 184
- Reaction score
- 163
- Location
- Canada
- Vehicle(s)
- 2020 Honda Civic Type R (CW)
I think one thing that might be getting overlooked is the maintenance side of a ceramic coating. If you pay for a fancy expensive coating, it will only perform like you are expecting (and as advertised) if you take extremely good care of it- that means decontaminating it regularly and boosting it so it retains it's thickness and hydrophobicity. If you are going to that much effort already, it is the same effort to simply re-apply a coating, defeating the purpose of the super expensive coatings claiming to last multiple years in "simulated" conditions (none of these coatings have actually been tested for multiple years).
I am of the opinion that it's much easier for people to just not worry about any of the expensive coatings and do it yourself, refreshing it every time you wash the car with almost zero extra effort. After the initial application, you simply use a spray-on ceramic or graphene product that is designed to be used as a drying aid, so as you're drying the car, just spray each panel a couple times, and viola - you have just refreshed the coating on your car for another few months. Assuming people wash their cars more frequently than every few months, you will always have a fresh, strong, coating on the car that will perform much better than a year or two into a "7 year coating" that requires the same if not more effort just to maintain. That is far better and far easier than getting a $2,000 coating and trying to maintain it flawlessly with zero mistakes, otherwise you wasted that money. A $15-20 bottle will last you 6-12 months of washes easily and you'll end up with a fresh coating with fresh UV protection every time you wash your car.
The only scenario I would suggest paying someone is if you need more than a stage 1 polish, and after that I would still suggest people apply the coatings themselves. It's not like it was a few years ago where all the good products were only sold to detailing shops for professional application only. You can now get high quality 1+ year coatings for $15-20 that you can apply in 10-15 minutes and if you just refresh them every time you dry your car, you will always have the best possible protection and shine.
The best cheap graphene coating is Turtle Wax Graphene FlexWax - they use real graphene and not graphene oxide. You can use it as the base coating as well as a drying aid.
I am of the opinion that it's much easier for people to just not worry about any of the expensive coatings and do it yourself, refreshing it every time you wash the car with almost zero extra effort. After the initial application, you simply use a spray-on ceramic or graphene product that is designed to be used as a drying aid, so as you're drying the car, just spray each panel a couple times, and viola - you have just refreshed the coating on your car for another few months. Assuming people wash their cars more frequently than every few months, you will always have a fresh, strong, coating on the car that will perform much better than a year or two into a "7 year coating" that requires the same if not more effort just to maintain. That is far better and far easier than getting a $2,000 coating and trying to maintain it flawlessly with zero mistakes, otherwise you wasted that money. A $15-20 bottle will last you 6-12 months of washes easily and you'll end up with a fresh coating with fresh UV protection every time you wash your car.
The only scenario I would suggest paying someone is if you need more than a stage 1 polish, and after that I would still suggest people apply the coatings themselves. It's not like it was a few years ago where all the good products were only sold to detailing shops for professional application only. You can now get high quality 1+ year coatings for $15-20 that you can apply in 10-15 minutes and if you just refresh them every time you dry your car, you will always have the best possible protection and shine.
The best cheap graphene coating is Turtle Wax Graphene FlexWax - they use real graphene and not graphene oxide. You can use it as the base coating as well as a drying aid.
Sponsored
Last edited: