It's a beautiful Florida morning and I'm washed and almost ready for ceramic. This one's for the people out there who think there's some sort of dark magic involved and that they have to spend $1200 for a good coating. It's easy and it's almost a little fun.

My truck is about 4 months old. There are some minor swirl marks and couple of minor spots from bugs. Nothing that can't be polished out pretty easily. No major paint correction involved.



​​​​​​Just starting now so I'll post as I go but I do have a bunch of other stuff to do today so it might seem like it takes more time than I'm actually dedicating.

 

First, I'm not s pro at this. I've done it on 3 cars and have had excellent results. Don't come at me if you f up your paint (you won't).

Ceramic coatings repel water and dirt. The paint will stay cleaner and be very easy to wash. Ceramics do not protect from rock chips or scratches. PPF protects from chips but doesn't repel dirt or water. PPF can get a ceramic top-coat but ceramic is wasted under PPF.

For prep, I washed, used an iron remover spray (spray on, rinse off), and I hit a couple of front panels with a soft clay bar (spray clay lube on the car and rub the clay over the surface). My paint was pretty smooth to begin with and there was nothing coming off the paint so I didn't clay the whole truck.

I'm using CQ.UK 3.0 (2 coats) and a top coat of CQ SiC. The second product is not necessary but I really want it to pop and it's a quick application.



Next step: Find and remove the scratches.







A little polish and a finishing pad.

 

Same plastic. Better than new.

 

This is why I waited 4 months to do this. The paint is incredibly soft. This is under the plastic vent.



Going to polish the rest of the truck. Back in a while.

 

After a winter of ski trips and road salt I just made an appointment to have my Defender detailed and ceramic coated. Want to get it applied ahead of bug season. My Defender is black so I decided I would pay the $900 and leave this to a professional.

 

Last panel to polish except the roof.





Pretty grimy in there and I never park outside. Will blow it out and rinse every couple months to keep the rust away.

 

My Defender wants to find a lawyer so it can be emancipated and name @_Allegedly as its owner…

 

Here's my black paint (window trim). Sorry you can't actually see the paint because, you know, it's so damn shiny 😃



$900 isn't bad as long as the work is tight. I'm actually enjoying it though.

 

Just had mine coated for the first time on any of my cars. Interested to see how it works!

 

I'm down, bring it by!

I'll make it look good. Just wiped it down with a 50% isopropyl spray. Ready for ceramic.