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Ceramic coating or not/


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Have just finished nut & bolt rebuild of my 4A. Not concours but nice club car that will be driven 3-5000 miles in a normal year.

Had a complete respray in 2 pack about 10 weeks ago. 

Question now is what to polish it with? Have considered having a full professional ceramic coating job at around £500 but would prefer to polish. both meguiars & Autoglym do both ceramic & non-ceramic polishes.

Any recommendations?

thanks,

Allan

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Hi Allan,

I imagine that your question will attract various answers, as polishing a classic car is surely a matter of individual prefence.

My classics are kept smart and driven regularly, so I can relate to your approach of keeping a car to a nice standard but not necessarily concours condition. My TR6 and Scimitar are finished in two pack, like your 4A. I've always been happy with Autoglym Super Resin polish, applied twice each year. No doubt a professional ceramic finish at £500 would last longer but I would still find the cost hard to justify. I enjoy the biannual process of washing and polishing, and it also gives a good opportunity to spot any developing paintwork problems early.

Merely my point of view of course.

Nigel

Nigel

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Used Bilt Hammer wax a couple of times/year on my cars and before this Autoglym Super Resin and been happy with either.

I've never been able to justify the cost of ceramic polish despite the claims and even after having bought a few second hand cars in the past where this was applied from new I can't say it made a difference to the appearance with regard to water beading off the car long term so they got polished anyway!

Save the money and buy some decent applicators/microfibre cloths and have a lazy Sunday twice a year giving her a nice bath and polish, sit back admire the results with a beer!

Andy

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1 hour ago, Allan Westbury said:

Have just finished nut & bolt rebuild of my 4A. Not concours but nice club car that will be driven 3-5000 miles in a normal year.

Had a complete respray in 2 pack about 10 weeks ago. 

Question now is what to polish it with? Have considered having a full professional ceramic coating job at around £500 but would prefer to polish. both meguiars & Autoglym do both ceramic & non-ceramic polishes.

Any recommendations?

thanks,

Allan

Allan

I would ask your paint shop as all paints are not the same 

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Why not buy a Diamondbrite kit off Ebay and do it yourself? I got a full dealer kit for £30 which includes the two treatment bottles as well as top up polish, glass cleaner, tar remover, leather treatment and Scotchbrite type fabric spray. There's even an LCD panel spray. ( Ha-ha! TR4A.)  Your car with it's fresh paint shouldn't need any prior polishing. You won't get the warranty by doing it yourself but you won't get a bill for £500 either. I've done a few and it's not difficult.  

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Alan

would not go for the ceramic , and as Stuart says leave it a while and a few good washes with a good car shampoo, , then apply a quality wax with a damp sponge away from direct sunlight , let it dry then buff off with a proper cloth , repeat again  after a few days ensuring car is dust free.

graham

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Hi Allen

I have had ceramic coatings on my last 2 euro boxes, , it makes the car easier to clean and the water beading is truly phenominal Stunning effect and also gives little stone chip protection.

To be honest I would go little further if I had the 6 repainted, I would also go with a PPF (paint protection Film)

no more stone chips :D.

again don't do this straight away after painting . leave it to cure properly.;)

Edited by Clarkey
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Is it really a ceramic coating or a polish/coating that contains ceramic particles.

My suspicion is that it’s the latter as ceramics usually need high heat.

In which case is it better than many of the high durability polishes?  It seems ceramic is the buzz word but the reality is that it’s not the same as a ceramic coating applied to exhausts and fired. 

I will stand up and say it is overwhelming likely they are trying to flog a premium grade polish and not a true ceramic coating.

Car salesmen for all the dealers are getting in on the act flogging polishing your car. The margins on new car sales are small these days and their margins rely on selling finance, polish and other extras. 2 or 3 hours of someone on minimum wage is a good profit on £500. The independents have seen a gap in the market and the current special product is ceramic coating.

There are a number of these products available including Autoglym who have updated their “Perfection” polish to contain ceramics. The reality is that many of these are quality, durable polishes that last for years. The key thing is the prep - clean paint, a polish/buff to give a clean smooth shiny surface to apply the product to. 

If you want to pay a snake oil salesmen to polish the car for you and apply a similar product at a gargantuanly inflated mark up that’s fine but I would buy a quality product and do the job myself and spend the rest on petrol, wine and hotels when we get to play in our cars again.

As has been said already, let the paint cure for long enough for the volatile compounds to escape and the paint harden fully.

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One thing you also might like to bear in mind is once you have applied this sort of polish/coating if you ever need to have any paint work done subsequently its going to add to the price as its a bugger to get off to prep for repaint.

Stuart.

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13 minutes ago, stuart said:

One thing you also might like to bear in mind is once you have applied this sort of polish/coating if you ever need to have any paint work done subsequently its going to add to the price as its a bugger to get off to prep for repaint.

Stuart.

My bodyshop owning chum has said the same. He says that treated paintwork is noticeably "harder". It's not just a polish. The first time he came across a Diamonbrite'd car he contacted the company who sent out a full kit for re-application, FOC. He has, since then, treated a number of cars and I have helped him. The hardest bit is the high speed polishing necessary on old paint. On new paint it's no more finicky to apply than any other good polish. 

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Thanks All,

Just shampoo for now then probably a good quality wax polish. It is a pain twice a year but the satisfaction at the end of it makes it all worthwhile.

I would probably use the ceramic on the eurobox ( indeed I paid BMW a fortune for this on the last car) but as the classic is now worth more than the BMW it will be waxed with care!

Allan

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