Hot to apply Ceramic coating?

F

fastfed

New member
I`ve watched so many videos and see most are somewhat similar except a few things, which I hope you guys could clarify for me.

My procedure is the following..

Using M105 with an orange pad after washing the car to prep the paint.
wash the car again, to remove any oils from the compound.
use an IPA wipe down on all panels.

Now comes the ceramic.

Being I live in FL it will be hot so after wiping the ceramic in a cross hatch pattern I`ll wait about 1 minute then buff with MF towel, this is where I read conflicting instructions, some say to wipe with a damp towel, others say use a dry, which is it?
Then I`ll wait about an hour after applying the ceramic coating and use Reload from carpro to finalize the job.

Am I missing anything? should I do anything else?

Thanks
 
A few things...

M105 may not finish down very well on your paint and I would suggest following it with a less aggressive polish. Which coating are you using? not all coatings flash at the same rate and some may not play well with a damp MF towel. I would wait 24hrs to use Reload.
 
I was thinking about that too, regarding the m105, I have some m205 I could finish with a blue pad, does that sound good?

I`m using the cheap ebay ceramic coating, I`ve read many good things about it and being this will be my first time I won`t feel too bad if it doesn`t work out great
 
Do a test section to see how it finishes first. What`s the vehicle your applying the coating too?

Unfortunately I can`t help you with the coating application as I`ve not used that product. I would probably avoid using damp MF towels though as I`ve never had a coating that`s required the need for it.
 
Does the coating come with any instructions? Or did you buy some white label stuff? If you don’t know how to apply it I’d find anything else to do a test on to see how it flashes before trying it on your car. You’ve got 2 adequate products for polishing but I don’t have a clue as to the pads. Just remember if a defect is left before you coat, it’ll be worse after.
 
Thanks!! i`m doing my dads PT cruiser 2006 with 45k miles on it color is blue. paint is not in bad shape but needs some correction first. Then I plan on doing my new Frontier color Silver a few weeks from now, the PT Cruiser I`m doing this weekend. for my frontier I`m going to use just M205 and a blue pad to prep.
 
I already have 3, they were only 10 bucks each.

That said I`ve seen a bunch of videos showing the longevity test on a hood, this product lasted a long time, not as long as say quartz or some others but it wasn`t crap, not even close.
 
fastfed said:
Thanks!! i`m doing my dads PT cruiser 2006 with 45k miles on it color is blue. paint is not in bad shape but needs some correction first. Then I plan on doing my new Frontier color Silver a few weeks from now, the PT Cruiser I`m doing this weekend. for my frontier I`m going to use just M205 and a blue pad to prep.
Click to expand...

When you talk about using 1 pad, I hope you really have at least 5-6 of each pad, pad cleaner, and a lot of microfiber towels and the appropriate microfiber cleaner..
What machine/s do you have ?
What size backing plate/s do you have ?
How many pads do you have ?
What applicator media will you use to apply the coating ?
Not being nosey, just wanting to help.. :)
Dan F
 
I have a porter cable, I have many pads but usually i can get a car done with just a couple, the car in question this weekend is a PT cruiser a convertible too, it barely has 6 panels let alone need 6 pads lol. I usually blow out the pads with my compressor and clean in water/soap .


I`m using a 6" and 3" for tighter spots, tons of MF towels. So I don`t have M205 although I can get it, I have Mequires Mirror Glaze 9 , swirl remover 2.0 . I thought I read M205 and this are very close in properties
 
Rasky. YoUr back !

Awesome.

RaskyR1 said:
A few things...

M105 may not finish down very well on your paint and I would suggest following it with a less aggressive polish. Which coating are you using? not all coatings flash at the same rate and some may not play well with a damp MF towel. I would wait 24hrs to use Reload.
Click to expand...
 
I found using CQuartzUK that the cross-hatch pattern didn`t work very well for me. Neither did letting it "flash."

Probably the temperature but for me it is a literal wipe-on-wipe-off affair. I can`t do too large a section or it gets very grabby and just looks terrible.

I know some other coatings have different flash times so I guess it all depends on the coating. I would agree with others 205 is a better bet for you, 105 won`t finish down very well and is probably too aggressive for you unless you really need a correction on your paint.
 
fastfed said:
Now comes the ceramic.

Being I live in FL it will be hot so after wiping the ceramic in a cross hatch pattern I`ll wait about 1 minute then buff with MF towel, this is where I read conflicting instructions, some say to wipe with a damp towel, others say use a dry, which is it?
Then I`ll wait about an hour after applying the ceramic coating and use Reload from carpro to finalize the job.

Am I missing anything? should I do anything else?
Click to expand...

Every product can be a little different but in the end, don`t over-think it and make it seem daunting. It`s not difficult. At the end of the day the key is to make sure you get it all off when you remove the excess so there are no high spots. Gyeon Mohs has great carrier solvents that make application super easy. Apparantly the updated CQUK 3.0 has upgraded theirs too. Second layers are even easier to apply too.
 
pdqgp said:
Every product can be a little different but in the end, don`t over-think it and make it seem daunting. It`s not difficult. At the end of the day the key is to make sure you get it all off when you remove the excess so there are no high spots. Gyeon Mohs has great carrier solvents that make application super easy. Apparantly the updated CQUK 3.0 has upgraded theirs too. Second layers are even easier to apply too.
Click to expand...

Second coat on ceramic? I can see that but when do you add the second coat? how long after? Remember I`m also adding reload to it 24 hours after.
 
fastfed said:
I have a porter cable, I have many pads but usually i can get a car done with just a couple, the car in question this weekend is a PT cruiser a convertible too, it barely has 6 panels let alone need 6 pads lol. I usually blow out the pads with my compressor and clean in water/soap .


I`m using a 6" and 3" for tighter spots, tons of MF towels. So I don`t have M205 although I can get it, I have Mequires Mirror Glaze 9 , swirl remover 2.0 . I thought I read M205 and this are very close in properties
Click to expand...

fastfed --
Thanks for your reply..

I don`t know how it is possible to paint correct, polish, do anything to an entire vehicle, with 2 pads.. :)

If you are paint correcting, the pads pick up all the dirt, a little clear coat, etc., from the paint, and even if you wipe them down between passes, eventually, the pad gets too soaked with dirt stuck in the foam pores, and needs to be changed out with a new one.. I use a Rotary and always end up using at least 6 - 5-1/4" pads to paint correct any normal size vehicle..

For any Random Orbital like your Porter Cable, you need pad rotation to get the best results from whatever pad you use with whatever product..
5-1/4" pads on a 5" backing plate are much more rotation efficient for that machine than 6" products..

Good luck with your project !
Dan F
 
Stokdgs said:
fastfed --
Thanks for your reply..

I don`t know how it is possible to paint correct, polish, do anything to an entire vehicle, with 2 pads.. :)

If you are paint correcting, the pads pick up all the dirt, a little clear coat, etc., from the paint, and even if you wipe them down between passes, eventually, the pad gets too soaked with dirt stuck in the foam pores, and needs to be changed out with a new one.. I use a Rotary and always end up using at least 6 - 5-1/4" pads to paint correct any normal size vehicle..

For any Random Orbital like your Porter Cable, you need pad rotation to get the best results from whatever pad you use with whatever product..
5-1/4" pads on a 5" backing plate are much more rotation efficient for that machine than 6" products..

Good luck with your project !
Dan F
Click to expand...

Yup, this. Less pads also means you will start getting worse results with your cutting/ polishing as the pad gets saturated and loaded with product and residue. At minimum you want 5-6 cutting pads and 4 polishing pads. If you are talking about the blue LC pads, I think those are a finishing pad with no mechanical cut but you would get the cut from the abrasives in m205 which may be enough. As Rasky mentioned do small test spots of your entire system (cutting compound with cutting pad and polish with polishing/ finished pad) first to see what the results look like. If you are happy with the results then use that system around the entire car.

I am going to agree the ebay coatings are definitely hit or miss. They are not horrible for the price though as you mentioned but I bought one for fun and ended up using it on wheels since it was so cheap.

You will want to do 2 coats of the coating to make sure even coverage and yes even if you are putting on reload 24 hours after you can still put on 2 coats of the coating. This is dependent on manufacturer. Some want you to put on the 2nd coat 1 to 2 hours after the first coat but your coatings should come with some instruction or as mentioned do some trials on something other than the car. Worst case you will have to compound/ polish that area if it doesn`t out.

Also coating maintenance is going to be key to ensuring your coating will behave as its supposed to. Whether its a $10 coating or a $500 coating.
 
So finished, most of it at least. After using the 105 I wasn`t seeing a lot of marring or haze it came out really well, still I went down to the 205 and the car just looked beautiful. After that I had so much dust I washed it again using a little dawn only. Then I did a full IPA wipe down and waiting a few minutes. The application for the ceramic is very odd, it seemed to want to flash/dry almost right away, I did a few test spots , one waiting 30 seconds to buff the other 2-3 minutes and regardless I was able to knock down the product streak free so i wasn`t worried that much about dry times.

What is shocking, is how sticky the stuff is, or how its the complete opposite of a normal sealant or wax, instead of it being nice and smooth, butter like when coming off, it was if there was super glue under there. Needless to say the car looks brand new again, I took some ````ty pictures real quick of the closeups on the hood, reflection bling only lol

Tomorrow after 24 hours I`ll add the reload which I hope will give it some slickness.

Thanks all!

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my camera skills are ... well, they`re terrible.

but the car looks brand spankin new, actually I wouldn`t be surprised if its better then new.

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now I need to see if I can fix those horrible rims. It`s my parents weekend toy, convertible so they aren`t that anal about it, but it`s dipped chrome rims and one spray with my pressure washer most of the chrome came right off :(
 
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