Well I finally got the time to go through a major detailing effort so I wanted to report back. I’m just going to throw out some bullet points

To PPF/Ceramic or not:

1. If you plan to keep your vehicle for any length of time - I totally recommend getting PPF - at least covering all the front end bits to prevent road rash over time.
2. If you get PPF - ceramic coat it either while it’s in the shop or do it yourself once you get it home - why?
   1. I was lucky enough to buy my vehicle used with PPF everywhere - I mean there isn’t a a glossy surface on this car that isn’t covered. The previous owner spent a lot of money for this kind of coverage. What they didn’t do is get good protection on the PPF because it was very stained and water spotted.

Now on to my DIY effort to do my first ceramic coating:

1. To be clear I spent over 10 hours over 2 days (2 hours on day 2 for a second coating of the ceramic) and I didn’t do anything special to the wheels or lower plastic body cladding.
2. I did the normal foam cannon pre-wash, followed by wash, followed by iron removal, followed by wash, blow dry, finish with a drying towel.
3. Next I polished - If you have PPF that hasn’t been coated and you want to give it a good cleaning and help it shine up as best as it can, then pick up a bottle of Gyeon - Q2M PPF Renew. This stuff did a great job of pulling out stains and dirt that washing didn’t. It also helped diminish some of the water spotting. I used a dual action polisher with a bit firmer pad because I wanted some extra cutting because it was so stained and spotted.
4. Next I used various products to help completely remove water spots. None of them worked on the PPF. I simply could not get all the water spots out of the PPF. So I don’t have any wonder products to recommend here. What I can recommend is CarPro CeriGlass. That stuff is amazing at polishing out water spots on glass - check out my before and after pics. Again I used a dual action polisher with a CarPro Rayon Glass polishing pad.
5. Finally I put down a single coat of CarPro FlyBy30 glass coating and I put down 2 layers of CarPro CQuartz Skin.

Now I had a great time doing this. I’ve never done my own ceramic coating and as _Allegedly and I discuss above they have clearly gotten easier for the DIYer. We’ll see how well this lasts. It says 1-2 years. So depending on how much you like doing this stuff and how much your time is worth maybe doing it yourself is the better way to go. If that isn’t your style then take it to a pro. My wife’s new Bronco Sport went from the dealer, to the pro for PPF and ceramic (Gtechnique). It has a 10 year warranty on both and they also took 2 days. Ignoring the water spots on my car I still think her car looks mildly better. It just has a bit more depth and gloss. It also seems to resist dirt and dust a bit more. I’m still quite happy with how mine came out though. Here are some pics. I did diminish the water spots enough and the coating also helped a ton to cover them up that I simply couldn’t get a pic that shows them still there but here are some before and after. You can see a nice comparison on the moon roof as I worked on it.











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Looks great! Well done and totally love the color scheme down to the wheels.

 

That's a lot of work but the next couple years should be super easy. Time well spent. Nice work. Did you by chance try any vinegar on those water spots? I had some on my glass and it took them off but I do also have them on some ppf on another car and I just haven't gotten to it yet.

I'm also really interested to know how that Flyby30 works. I've tried a few glass coatings (not that one) and nothing has been really great.