is a ceramic coat worth it.

bigmike20vt

bigmike20vt

bigmike20vt

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Joined
23 May 2006
Posts
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Hi
having just put a deposit on an ipace I am going through the bumpf the sales team have sent me to try to empty my wallet even more.
the ceramic coat has tickled my fancy
it's £400 and apparently once done it lasts the life of the car and means a waxed showroom finish after a simple water wash.

1) what are peoples thoughts
2) is there a way to tell if already done (no need to pay twice) I imagine a lot of cars costing £70k+ when new may have had it done already.
thanks for thoughts.
 
bigmike20vt said:
Hi
having just put a deposit on an ipace I am going through the bumpf the sales team have sent me to try to empty my wallet even more.
the ceramic coat has tickled my fancy
it's £400 and apparently once done it lasts the life of the car and means a waxed showroom finish after a simple water wash.

1) what are peoples thoughts
2) is there a way to tell if already done (no need to pay twice) I imagine a lot of cars costing £70k+ when new may have had it done already.
thanks for thoughts.
Click to expand...

Does NOT last forever that's ***

watch this :

 
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Side by side I've not been able to see the difference on a used car TBH.

Whatever you put on it, there is no avoiding swirls and micro scratches from use and washing.

It might make dirt fall of easier, but so do a lot of regular waxes. £400 buys a lot of wax and polish.
 
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1. If it’s £400 it either: isn’t a ceramic coating or; it isn’t done properly.
2. You might be able to with a good LED light. Not all ceramic coatings are smooth (in fact most aren’t in my experience). If it hasn’t been done perfectly, you might see some slight hazing if the product has flashed before being buffed properly.


Most dealerships use either a “ceramic” wax or “ceramic” sealant. Neither of these products are a ceramic coating in the traditional sense - they won’t cure/bond to the paint work. They’ll sit on top as a coating which will quickly degrade over a 3-12 month period depending on how regularly you wash/which products you use.


Furthermore, they usually won’t prepare the paintwork sufficiently for a ceramic coat



A good detailing shop will charge ~£800-£1200 for an IPace with paint correction and panel preparation.
 
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A good ceramic coat is great.

It won't 'already be done' on a factory order car.

You're probably best off getting it done by a decent detailing company, not the dealership, who will probably just be applying a crap £25 'LifeShine' type product, not a proper cured ceramic.

Even on a new car, you might want to get the paint properly polished first if you're going to chuck money at ceramic.
 
I would say that the dealer is the last place you'd want it done if you feel that its worth doing. Personally I do think they are good and the coating does seem to last but not 5 years, maybe 2 tops.
 
bigmike20vt said:
thanks for your thoughts.
this is what is being offered.

www.autoprotect.co.uk

Williams branded Ceramic Coat

AutoProtect and the Williams Formula One team bring you an
www.autoprotect.co.uk www.autoprotect.co.uk
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I would be HIGHLY sceptical of a product developed by a company who specialise in mechanical parts, not paint protection.


It sounds more like Williams have sold their brand name in order to make a bit of extra cash.



Are they offering the interior and glass coatings too?


Not a chance I’d do all of that work for £400 - it would take me 2-3 days to do that properly.



You’d need to do:

Decontamination inside and out, including iron/tar, clay bar, leather clean & degrease, carpet shampoo & hoover, full machine polish of the bodywork and glass, panel degrease for ceramic prep, 2-3 ceramic coats outside and a couple of coatings on the leather.
 
Waste of money. They won't correct the paint before applying the ceramic so all it will do is enhance the paint imperfections.

Save your money and take the car to an actual detailer who will correct the paint and then can either wax or ceramic coat it.

Where are you based? I'm sure some members can personally recommend a detailer to use nearby.
 
Same when I bought a vehicle recently, they were pushing Scotchgard treatment ( https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/670968O/scotchgard-application-chart.pdf ) for £250 and in the end "threw it in for free" as a gesture as I'm a regular customer - but I think they'd already costed it into the vehicle prices looking at the invoice. It lasts about a month for the interior protection, not sure on the exterior but I doubt it lasts long.
 
As said it depends who is doing it, using what products and how much effort they put in. I would not get any dealer to work on paintwork on any car. That is not their area of expertise and for most it's a high margin at best average cost product that is ok but you can do better. If you want a proper job with pain correction etc (even on a new car) then seek out a quality detailer.
 
the marketing makes it sound way better than it is, i used to be on detailing forums and people were doing tests with multiple different ceramic products all the time and found they did not live up to the bold claims in longevity and did wear off over time.

they were looking for the best product that lasted the best and i think it was a Japanese brand KAMAKAZE
 
I've had it done in the past by a professional detailer. To be honest, it's a waste of money. The prep is probably the best part, swirl removal, decontamination etc etc but that comes back over time.

Either have full on PPF, or don't bother imho
 
bigmike20vt said:
ipace
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I picked mine up on Monday. You'll love it. :D

There is a highly regarded detailer local to me who use Gtechniq ceramic coating. I don't think he's as expensive as above but also not cheap either.

I think I'm going to pass on it myself. I tend to do most cleaning stuff on my JDM cars myself so will add the Jag to the list.
 
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