Ceramic Wax/Treatment/??? Please give me the scoop

We recently got my wife a rather nice 2003 525i.

We'd like it to stay nice. I imagine the 22-year-old paint will eventually show its age without due care. I have the impression that ceramic coatings/treatments are good for keeping cars clean, easing the re-cleaning process, and protecting what's there.

BUT!

I don't know the varieties, considerations, what to expect, how much to expect it to cost... I gather The Good Stuff is professionally applied.

What do I need to know to choose the right stuff and the right people to apply it?

I mean, it's pretty sharp, right? I'd love to keep it looking this good.

Mmmmmmm

E39

It's not super simple or clear on what to use and how to do it when you're first looking at it. I prefer US Car Pro C quick 3.0 as my ceramic coating. It needs a perfectly clean and product free service and for that I use Chemical Guys clean slate and the multiple washes. I also polished the surface to remove any surface imperfections prior to ceramic coating. Followed Again by another wash with clean slate. Two coats of ceramic coating. I top it with whatever wax I'm a fan of at the time to extend the life of the ceramic coating. Auto geek has a forum that is amazing for this kind of stuff and will give you more information than you will know what to do with. It's the Grassroots Motorsports forum for detailing

Adam's Graphene Ceramic.

Wash the car, clay bar the car, polish and do paint correction. This is the only hard part.

Clean it with the prep spray (like an alcohol or something).

Apply the ceramic to the applicator and wipe it on.

Wait a minute or so.

Wipe it off.

Allow to cure for like 24 hours.

It's easier than waxing. It can and should go on literally every surface (including the glass). The results are instantaneous, and it really does enhance the gloss of the paint. All the stuff you hear about the stuff is true.

I've had it on my Model Y since October 2023 (when new) nearly 60,000 miles ago. I almost never wash the car anymore (yeah, it's dirty), but I can see that the coating is still there, and when I do wash it, it looks great! (I can see that it's still there because I did the first part of the application on the side of the hood, and I might have wiped it a little too soon, so the gloss level is slightly lower. You can correct this by simply applying a second coat, but I chose to leave it like that so I could gauge how long it lasts.) 

I put it on my race car over the summer and I noticed right away that the rubber schmoo that somehow gets smeared onto the paint was as easy to wipe off as a little smudge versus what it took to get the stuff off earlier in the year (I had to clay bar the stuff off).

I had my BRZ done professionally with like 30 mile on the clock. As has been mentioned, paint correction. My guy did two coats of Carpro/CQuartz. And then but PPF on the bumper and headlights. 

He also ceramic coated my Advan wheels when they came in as well. 

I don't remember the exact cost because the wheels were separate, and when he did the car, he also took it down the street and another shop do ceramic tint all the way around the car as well. 

Second for Adam’s Graphene Advanced and their Graphene ceramic spray advanced follow-up every month does a GREAT job.

In my opinion Ceramic wax are over rated. Collinite 845 or the original fusso soft99 are way better than anything with the word ceramic in front of it.

The truck and Exploder both have Gyeon Mohs Evo. Exploder has had it for almost two years, and it still looks and beads really well. Now, I do hit it with maintenance coats of TEC582 spray detailer about once a month in the summer, so that's probably boosting some, but TEC582 doesn't last that long.

As always, the prep is key. On both vehicles I did a full paint correction, clay bar, washed with a stripping soap and even hit the Exploder with some isopropyl alcohol just to make sure since it had a fairly recent coat of Ultra Lock Plus on it at the time.

That Project Farm video is a bit misleading, because he's comparing a true ceramic coating (Adams Graphene) to a bunch of spray detailers.

As mentioned, wash, claybar, paint correction then ceramic. I used to use Avalon King and really liked it, wifes old jeep was parked outside and coating lasted 18 months, after watching the project farm test I started using the cheap griots stuff from the parts house. I dont have any longevity testing yet cause I just switched but am still quite happy after a few months. If i can get away with a reapply every year Ill stick with it, if it only lasts 6 months Ill probably go back to avalon king. I think her new jeep is at 4 months and the camaro is about the same.

Here’s my detail regimen, complete with products used for quick detail, clay bar, polish and, yes, ceramic wax: How to easily, quickly detail your paint.

And a PS to my own comment: I also use that Griot’s three-in-one ceramic wax on my wife’s Civic Si. That car lives outside, and it’s still looking good. 

Thanks, everyone, for the info so far!

I confess after reading these, watching the Project Farm video, and visiting the Auto Geek forum, I don't feel much clearer about the distinction (if there is one) between a coating and a wax, and whether there are tiers wherein one thing is relatively permanent (I mean, compared to wax or whatever they spritz on at a car wash). Sure wish there was a "start here" with a flow chart... that forum seems to have a thread for every aspect of every product.

Is it bonkers to hope that for a DD that a protective coat could be put on every... (insert optimistic time frame)... and just drive through a car wash when it's dirty betweentimes? (I feel like I can hear the cringe from folks who know what they're doing...)

Jesse Ransom said:

Thanks, everyone, for the info so far!

I confess after reading these, watching the Project Farm video, and visiting the Auto Geek forum, I don't feel much clearer about the distinction (if there is one) between a coating and a wax, and whether there are tiers wherein one thing is relatively permanent (I mean, compared to wax or whatever they spritz on at a car wash). Sure wish there was a "start here" with a flow chart... that forum seems to have a thread for every aspect of every product.

Is it bonkers to hope that for a DD that a protective coat could be put on every... (insert optimistic time frame)... and just drive through a car wash when it's dirty betweentimes? (I feel like I can hear the cringe from folks who know what they're doing...)

Yeah, it's really easy to get confused. The detailing market is absolutely rife with marketing doublespeak and outright bullE36 M3. So many things get labeled as "ceramic" because they contain a trace amount of SiO2.

If you want to do it "right" with a true ceramic coating, do the paint correction steps listed in the above responses, then pick your poison of coatings. As mentioned, I used Gyeon Mohs Evo. Others have reported great results with Adams Graphene and Cquartz 3.0. Those seem to be the three that get mentioned the most on the forums and Reddit. I sincerely believe you can't go wrong with any of them.

But, if you don't want to do all that work and you just want to give the paint a little extra protection, the newer spray "ceramics" (I put that in quotes because they are not true ceramic coatings like the ones I mentioned above) will do a really good job and are dead easy to use. Literally just spray and wipe. And many of them can be used as "drying aids" which is how I usually do it. Basically, that means that after you wash the car while it's still wet, you spray each panel before you dry it off. That way the spray gets mixed in with the water and wiped all over the panel. It works great, and it's barely one more step than washing. For spray coatings, as mentioned I like TEC582 because it's super easy to use, doesn't streak, and is pretty cheap when you buy it by the gallon. It only lasts a few months, but that's OK in the summer when I'm washing pretty often anyhow. For longer lasting protection (though not as long as the real coatings), the top rated products in all the testing and videos seem to be either Griots 3 in 1 or Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic. Again, pick your poison, you can't really go wrong. I switch between different products all the time.

As for drive through car washes, that's almost a religious thing in the detailing community. Most "serious" detailers will cast your soul into hell for using one. I'm not one of those. I live in Michigan, my garage is not heated, and I'm old. I'm not manually washing my cars in the winter here. So yeah, I do use them, though somewhat sparingly. They can cause scratches, and the chemicals they use can strip coatings. So, make use of them, but don't buy one of those subscriptions and go every week like some folks do, and you'll be fine. You might have to do a minor correction every year if you do get some damage, but they aren't the end of the world.

How critical is the clay bar? 

chiquito1228 said:

In my opinion Ceramic wax are over rated. Collinite 845 or the original fusso soft99 are way better than anything with the word ceramic in front of it.

Not doubting you, but have you used both? I've been using Collinite for years, and I like it a lot, but I've seen elsewhere that ceramic pretty much beats it easily, for durability, but I don't love detailing and my cars live outside, so gaining a longer application interval would be good. 

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

How critical is the clay bar? 

The clay bar does more to clean the car than washing it does. Ever wash a car and run your hand over it and feel all the little bits of grit stuck in the paint? The clay bar removes those. It's very easy to do, too. You can do it while the car is soapy if you want (you don't have to use the quick detailer method and do it while the paint is dry)--just be sure that you do a wash first, then reapply soap if you want to do it this way, so that the car is as clean as it can be made before using the clay.