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Today we are giving Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light a go, and we are excited to see how it will perform on all the testing we usually do. Stay tuned to see how we go about the application process for the Gtechniq Ceramic Coating. We will look at how this product performs. We'll give it a grade and discuss our overall thoughts on this product compared to its competition. Just to clarify - we are not sponsored by Gtechniq or any other manufacturer of Paint Protection products, and we will test and review the product as it is in real-world conditions. We will follow the manufacturer's instructions during the application process, and we will prepare the surface to ensure the best finish and best adhesion possible. We are leaving an affiliate link to all our review products. Still, in case the product turns out to be of low quality or not as all as advertised, we leave a warning to all our readers, and the quality of the product will always be reflected in the grade we assign to it at the end of every review. So if you do not want to sit through all of this text, you can scroll down to the Average Grade and read our Final Thoughts to get a general idea of what the product is all about. Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light Get your Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3bBaP7L Ok, so let's see what this Ceramic Coating is all about: best swirl mark resistance best chemical resistance extreme levels of gloss considered the thickest, most durable ceramic coating lasts up to 5 years We have seen similar claims on other Ceramic Coating products before, so nothing too crazy. But it does claim to be the thickest and most durable Ceramic Coating in the industry, and you would be able to remove it only using 1500-grit sandpaper or something more aggressive. We can test that with our standard scratch test. The 5 years test is realistic since we know that some Ceramic Coatings, with proper maintenance and care, can surely achieve such longevity. The first thing to do before applying any type of paint protection is to wash the car properly and prepare the surface so that the coating has the best chance to bond with the clearcoat and ensure the best results. To learn how to prepare the paint of your car for ceramic coating, click the link. Once the car is ready to be Ceramic Coated, we will read the instructions that came with the product to familiarize us with the details. While most Ceramic Coatings will have a similar application process, it is imperative to read the instructions and inform yourself before using the product because even the slightest deviation might result in unfavorable results. Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light Ceramic Coating application process When Ceramic Coating your care, you need to be aware of where you are performing the procedure, what the temperature is, and if you are doing it in a garage or outside. Always ensure you are not using the product in direct sunlight, no matter what the manufacturer claims the product can or cannot do. The reason for that is that in direct sunlight, you will have a much higher car surface temperature, and the Ceramic Coatings flashing point will be reached more quickly. Also, the curing procedure might not be finished correctly due to UV radiation. If you are coating your car outside, then we recommend you do it in the shade. Again, if under a tree, also keep in mind that you do not want foreign objects to fall onto the paint or coating before it has hardened after the initial 24 hours after it has been applied. Take the Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light and a microfiber applicator pad. Shake the bottle, open it, and get a few drops of the ceramic solution onto the applicator and start working on one panel, covering the whole panel using a criss-cross pattern to ensure full coverage. You want to make sure you have covered everything at this point because it can be a bother to have to reapply Ceramic Coatings after you have realized a mistake has been made. Better to do it right the first time. So we suggest applying the coating one panel at a time until the whole car has been coated. Once you coat a panel, it is advised to wait about one minute so the solution can settle on the worked area. After that, you want to buff the whole area to a glossy shine. You do not want to let the coating sit for too long because it might be increasingly difficult the more you wait. If you buff an area too late or forget to buff it, you will likely have to compound or polish the defective area, degrease it, and coat it again for safe measure instead of potentially leaving an ugly, noticeable spot on an otherwise great-looking vehicle. When finished, you want the car to look amazing because the way it will look then will be how it will likely look for the next five years, if that is indeed the lifetime of this Ceramic Coating. Once we have coated the entire car, we let it overnight inside the garage so it can have its first 24 hours to harden. Since the coating will cure for the next 1 week, we will wait until that period has passed to get real-world results. We are eager to find us as much as you are! Ok, so after a week, we are ready to start doing some testing. So for the next 2 weeks, we will drive the vehicle daily with a bit of dirt driving every day to get those stone chips, dust, and dirt going. At the time of testing, it was sunny but pretty cold outside, without rain. So we will simulate rain droplets with a pressure washer extension ( you can also use a water hose extension as well ). We will wash the car at the end of almost every day up to a maximum of 10 washes using regular, non-pH-neutral car shampoo. So the common shampoo anyone is probably using at home or in those self-service car washes since they usually go by what is the cheapest and most effective way. So sometimes you will have them use even hydrofluoric acid as one of the ingredients. Effective but dangerous and damaging for both you and your car. Especially the Ceramic Coating, since that is the only layer of sacrificial protection that is keeping your car's paint from starting to decay. How did Gtechniq CSL Ceramic Coating perform? Before the first wash, you could clearly see that the coating was handling the dirt really well. There was barely any there. We washed the car first and rinsed the shampoo with water using the pressure washer. Then we dried it to get the best results. We simulated rain using an extension on the water hose that gave multiple modes of water distribution and were pleased to see the water sheeting really well and fast and leaving an almost dry surface with only very few water beads here and there. We blew those away with a leafblower and only after a couple of minutes had the car in the same condition as it was after it was initially coated. Really impressive! We inspected the coating further using a flashlight to check for those hard-to-see swirl marks, especially in the bottom parts of the car where most of the dirt and grime would hit the paint. The surface was scratch-free and slick, as expected. We then performed a scratch test using the abrasive part of a dishwashing sponge and light pressure. We've rinsed the area with water, dried it, inspected it under a flashlight, and - surprisingly, it seemed intact. Very good results so far! Here you can check out our comprehensive how-to guide on how we at CCE test ceramic coating products! After 2 weeks of driving, washing, and checking, we found Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light Ceramic Coating didn't lose any effectiveness after those ten washes with a bit rougher car shampoo, if you may. It was still sheeting almost at the same rate regarding speed and effectiveness and leaving only a very small amount of water beads on the surface, definitely indicating that it hasn't lost almost any of its hydrophobic properties and, most importantly, slickness. The slickness is very important, so it doesn't leave the full vehicle covered in water beads because if those are not removed soon after contact and are left to evaporate on the car's paint, they will leave all those minerals that the water droplets contained, embedded into the coating or worse. Our verdict on this product: product life time when applied: A resistance to elements: A resistance to damage: B resistance to chemicals: A application difficulty: C hydrophobic properties: A gloss / shine: C Average grade: B Cost: 65.06$ / 1 fl oz 2.20$ / 1 ml Our final thoughts on Gtechniq Ceramic Coating? Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light Ceramic Coating has certainly proven itself as a very good Ceramic Coating product and bumped up Gtechniq as a company in our eyes. Among so many new products coming from all over the globe, it is certainly challenging to know which product you can trust because all of them are promoting themselves as the best, the most durable, the product with the best longevity, etc. Well, Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light has held up really well in this industry, thanks to its own marketing. But their production of a great product has also been super helpful! We wouldn't say it has an extreme effect on the paint - enhancing, deepening, or gloss specifically. But it did have a visible effect which, most importantly, held for the duration of the torture test. Also, we didn't find it the most durable or hardest Ceramic Coating among those we have used so far, but it is up there with the best. Unlike most Ceramic Coatings, even those with amazing hydrophobic properties, this one has amazing sheeting properties when getting rid of water. That is an amazing property to have on your paint protection because if you are not there to get rid of all the water beads, it will certainly help keep your car water spot-free, and that is a very good feature to have, and one that you will not find in many high-end Ceramic Coatings. Certainly, a recommendation and Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light Ceramic Coating handles itself really well among the top brands on the market. Get your Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light, on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3bBaP7L

When it comes to Ceramic Coating Sprays, it is usually safe to say that the product will not have the same strength as a standard Ceramic Coating. That is not because they are fake products or because they are cheaper but instead because they were specifically created to be applied extremely quickly and easily with little to no preparation or training. All you really need is a clean car, and we would suggest decontaminating the car's surface by claying, compounding it, and finishing with a polish. We are excited to see how Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray Coating, in their Hybrid Solutions line, will perform. Even though Ceramic Spray Coating might not last for 2-5 years as their traditional counterparts or big brothers, so to say, they will still usually last a decent amount of time. Sometimes even a year if maintained properly. For a quick and easy application and considering the cost of the product - that is not bad at all! A Spray Ceramic Coating will most likely outperform a Car Wax or a Polymer Sealant of the same quality, and it has a similar application method to them. Contents: Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating Specifications How to apply Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating? Final thoughts on Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating? Just to clarify - we are not sponsored by Turtle Wax or any other manufacturer of Paint Protection products, and we will test and review the product as it is in real-world conditions. We will follow the manufacturer's instructions during the application process, and we will prepare the surface to ensure the best finish and best adhesion possible. We are leaving an affiliate link to all our review products, but in case the product turns out to be of low quality or not as all as advertised, we leave a warning to all our readers, and the quality of the product will always be reflected in the grade we assign to it at the end of every review. So if you do not want to sit through all of this text, you can scroll down to the Average Grade and read our Final Thoughts to get a general idea of what the product is all about. Today we have Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating up for a review. Get your Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray Coating on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3uMGhY6 Turtle Wax has been around for what seems like forever, and its Hybrid Solutions product line has proven to be very impressive. By buying this product, you will get a 16-ounce spray bottle to your door containing what we believe is one of the best Ceramic Spray Coatings we have tested to date. Now let's drop down some specifications: you can apply it even in direct sunlight you can use it on metal, plastic, glass, and painted surfaces increases the depth of color, gloss, and shine promises a superhydrophobic surface the coating is resistant to chemicals and protects your cars paint from chemicals effective up to 12 months made in the USA Now let's go through them to see what they offer and our experiences with the results. They claim that you can apply the coating in direct sunlight. Meaning the car's surface will be hotter than what is usually recommended when working with Ceramic Coating. The reason is that Ceramic Coatings, especially liquid ones, will start evaporating when applied to the surface of a car. If the car's surface is too hot at that time, the evaporation might happen too quickly and prevent a good bond with the car's paint, leaving an uneven finish when done. So it is generally not recommended that you work with Ceramic Coatings when the vehicle is in direct sunlight, but instead park it in some shade or in a garage. With that out of the way, we tested that claim on a testing panel, but we used Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray Coating in controlled conditions as we would with any other Ceramic Coating when we applied it to the car. When cured, the testing panel performed the same as the car did, but we didn't test out the longevity of the coating when applied that way, so we have no evidence to back up the claim that the coating is unaffected in the long run. So we suggest you still stick to controlling the car's surface temperature when working with this coating. But if you decide to work in the sun directly, it would seem that you will still get amazing results. All Ceramic Coatings are designed to be applied onto the surface of your car's paint - usually the clear coat - where it will cure and form a strong bond with the paint of your car during the coating's lifetime. Most aren't made to be used on different surfaces, such as glass, plastic, or metal, as they might give weaker or no results or might leave a hazy finish that you cannot clean off but instead will have to remove the coating instead to get rid off. This coating promises to perform the same on all the surfaces of your car, meaning you can cover your whole car with one product. We have tested that! The results are amazing. Working with it was the same on all surfaces, really. Just be careful when buffing the coating of plastic trims on the car as they are often textured, and if not buffed off correctly, it will be left hazy. All the surfaces became hydrophobic. The plastic surfaces darkened a little bit, and they got a slight shine as if new making them look fresh. The glass surfaces were clear and looked squeaky clean. You wouldn't know if it was on until it rained. Of all the metal surfaces, we really only tried it on the end of the exhaust pipe and wheels. It gave them a slick shine as if new. We avoided getting the coating on the tire rubber for safety reasons. We suggest you avoid that as well. You don't want a slick surface of the material that should be providing grip with the surface you are driving on - the ground! The spray coating gave the color a bit more intensified glossy shine, but an untrained person might not see a huge difference. The hydrophobic properties of Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray Coating are where it shines! Water would sheet off it very quickly, leaving little to no beads. Even those would fall off by the slightest wind. All Water beads would fall off when driving. Ceramic Coatings in spray form are notorious when it comes to chemical resistance. Not Turtle Wax Ceramic Coating Spray! Out of all Ceramic Spray Coatings, it kept going even after numerous washes with dish soap or other stronger chemicals. It did weaken and lose some coverage and hydrophobic properties after a dozen washes, but if you maintain the coating correctly, you will be a very happy customer. We were really impressed with this property! Now it promises its effects for up to 12 months. Of course, that is highly dependent on the way you maintain the vehicle and the climate of the area you live in. If you want to learn more about how to properly maintain the Ceramic Coating on your car you can click the link below and learn that and more in our Frequently Asked Questions section. How to apply Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating? First, as always - read the instructions! When using it, you want your car clean and rid of contaminants that might be embedded in the paint's clear coat. If you have no idea what we are talking about, you can click here to learn how to properly prepare the paint of your car for ceramic coating and other forms of paint protection. Once the car's surface has been prepared and degreased of all grease, oils, or polishing residue, all you really need to do is pick a panel on your car, mentally divide it into sections, and you are ready to start. Shake the bottle and spray once per working area ( e.g., 2-3 sprays per the hood of a regular-sized vehicle should be enough ) and work the liquid into the paint with a clean microfiber towel. Let it sit for a minute, and buff it off with another microfiber towel. Make sure both towels are dry and clean. Use one for application and the other to buff the coating off when ready. If the buffer towel becomes damp, get another dry and clean one. Buff it off to a glossy shine. No streaking should be visible. If there is any streaking, then use the applicator towel to dampen the area ( or even spray the area again ) and repeat the process. That should get rid of all streaking. And that is really it. Work the surface of the whole car in the same manner. And keep in mind to take extra precautions when buffing off the coating prom textured plastic panels. If you get haziness or streaking there, just use the same trick mentioned above to fix it. You can learn a bit more about what to do to prevent and fix streaking or high spots on a ceramic coated surface. Our verdict on this product: product life time when applied: C resistance to elements: E resistance to damage: E resistance to chemicals: C application difficulty: A hydrophobic properties: B gloss / shine: C Average grade: C Cost: 0.94$ / 1 fl oz 0.03$ / 1 ml Final thoughts on Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating? Honestly, this one surprised us. We have used Turtle Wax products before, some were amazing, and others weren't as amazing. But this one, wow! This one is a gem. And we definitely stand behind this particular product. Considering spray Ceramic Coatings perform worse on usually all fronts except their application difficulty rating, Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray Coating nailed it. We haven't tested all the other products in their Hybrid Solutions line, so we cannot speak about them, but this one is - Amazing. It is inexpensive, considering how many times you can use it for how much you pay for it. And not only that, it is cheaper than some ceramic spray coating products the competition offers, and they are worse, at least in the testing we have performed. So we will not throw names around not to piss anybody off. Out of all the Spray On Ceramic Coatings we have tested, this one is the best. It will not perform as well as a standard Ceramic Coating, but considering how easy it is to apply, how much it costs, how much time you need to cover the whole vehicle and that you need no prior training or experience to work with it. There is not much else to say than - "Just go for it!". If you want a stronger and more long-term solution, read our reviews or check our top lists section to find a standard Ceramic Coating that meets your requirements and expectations. But, if that is not the case, then this one is what you are looking for. Get your Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray Coating on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3uMGhY6

You have finally coated your car with Ceramic Coating. It looks shiny, it looks perfect, and it is protected for the next 2-5 years, depending on what ceramic coating product you have used. Everything is nice, and everyone is happy. Great! But what now? How to maintain Ceramic Coating? Do you have to wash your car ever again? Is your car now bulletproof? Will it be able to travel through time? All these important questions, and more, will be answered in this article! How to maintain Ceramic Coating? To maintain ceramic coating, wash your vehicle with a pH-neutral car shampoo, use a soft wash mitt, dry it carefully, and avoid harsh chemicals or abrasive cleaners. Regular inspection is recommended. The purpose of Ceramic Coating is to prolong the life of your car's paintwork and the life and quality of the materials coated since some Ceramic Coatings are designed to be applied to any surface or material on a car. Ceramic Coatings will create a hard, slick, hydrophobic surface that will help you deal with everyday problems that your car will suffer from - water, water spots, dirt accumulation, light scratches, and swirl marks, protect the paint once it has been polished to perfection and to preserve it as it was at that point for the lifetime of the coating of your choosing. The main focus is on the word 'help', meaning you still will have to wash your car occasionally, even though it will get dirty much less and much harder while being much easier to wash. But if you do not wash it, grime and dirt, or even acid in tree pollen or bird droppings or squashed bugs, will eventually eat through the coating if left on the paint untreated. So it is very important to wash your car at regular intervals. We suggest once every 2 weeks or at least once per month. If it is winter and you live in an area with lots of snow, you can expect lots of salt on the road. And that salt, while driving, will find its way to stick to the body and paint of the vehicle. During those times, we recommend you wash the car as often as possible since salt is much more acidic than the hazards mentioned above. The most important thing to consider from the get-go is that you shouldn't wash the car for the first week until the coating has fully cured. The best even is to leave it in the garage if there might be rain. Learn more about ceramic coating curing times here. Also, it is important to not go for any heavy driving or highway driving, perhaps. The reason for that is that all the properties the Ceramic Coating gives in the form of protection are not fully utilized until the coating has cured. The cure time for Ceramic Coatings varies from product to product, but they all usually revolve around the 1-week mark. It is safe to drive the vehicle after the initial 24 hours from when the coating has been applied, but it is important to keep in mind the above. Once the curing process has been completed successfully, you are good to go. You can wash the car at regular intervals, as we've discussed earlier. Now the questions you might be asking yourself could be, 'Should I have my Ceramic Coated car washed only by a professional, or could I do it myself?, or 'If I am washing the Ceramic Coated car myself, what technique or products should I be using to do the wash successfully?'. Well, if you have the option and it won't hurt the bank, we suggest that you get the car washed by a professional that has a proven record. Do invest some research in all the local places where you could have your car washed. Look for reviews of other customers, perhaps call and check what type of products they are using ( you will have a better idea of what questions to ask once you have read this article in full ), or even ask friends or relatives that live in your vicinity for their experiences. It is important to know where you are leaving your car because, let's be honest - you won't know what products or techniques have been used for the washing process - so trust is key. Which products should I be using when washing a Ceramic Coated car? snow foam canon / gun pressure washer pH-neutral car shampoo microfiber towels ( have a few ) microfiber glove / mitt ( one is enough ) 2 buckets + 1 grit guard ( for the two-bucket technique ) air compressor water absorbing microfiber towels ( to collect water / dry car ) brake dust remover scratch-proof wheel brush Not everyone can afford to buy all this, or perhaps your living conditions wouldn't allow some of these products. For instance, you might be living in an apartment complex with no garage. You won't be able to utilize a pressure washer or a snow cannon or gun in that case. So, first of all, you need to see where you can wash your vehicle. And then check to see what type of products you will be able to use. When cleaning the wheels of a car, we suggest doing that before cleaning the rest of the car or after, not at the same time, because all the particles that might be stuck on the wheels might be transferred onto your washing mitt via the bucket or by accident resulting in possible scratching. You can check this article if you are debating whether to install a ceramic coating on the wheels of your car. If you are using a microfiber mitten glove on rims as well, we suggest you have 2, ideally in different colors, so you know which one to use for which job. If you aren't able to get the full cavalry of tools and products to clean your car for whatever reason, then we suggest getting this at least: 2 buckets ( +1 grit guard ) microfiber washing glove 3-5 microfiber towels 1 water-absorbing microfiber heavy towel pH-neutral automotive shampoo scratch-proof wheel brush ( for the wheels ) These shouldn't cost you much, and they will get the job done. Perhaps a little bit slower and perhaps a little bit less effective, but they'll get the job done nonetheless. What is the Two-Bucket Washing technique? One of the best ways to clean your car safely and properly while not spending much on it. The idea is to fill two buckets with water and put a grit guard in one of them. Inside the other, you want some pH-neutral car shampoo. As you wash your vehicle with the microfiber glove, you want to regularly rinse it off to remove debris and small particles that might be stuck in the mitten using the 'rinsing bucket' and then get some fresh, clean water shampoo to continue the process. This way, you won't risk scratching the paint by having your washing mitt turn into sandpaper. It is an easy-to-master technique that any car enthusiast should have mastered under their belt. Why should I use pH-neutral Car Shampoo? While pH-neutral Automotive Shampoos will be more expensive than regular alkaline or acidic ones, they will help break up all the grit, dirt, and grease off the vehicle while not damaging the clear coat. Remember that the Clear Coat is a protective layer that sits on top of the paintwork of your car. It is still prone to decay and damage. Those more expensive Car Shampoos will not 'eat' or damage the protective layer of the car. This way, you can ensure to get the maximum duration of the clear coats' lifetime and effectiveness. Learn more about why you should use pH-Neutral Car Shampoos. Why do I need to dry the vehicle? Isn't it hydrophobic? Yes, if it is Ceramic Coated, then it most likely is hydrophobic, but that doesn't mean that water cannot touch it. It only means that water tries to escape the surface as soon as it can because there is little to no attraction between the coating and water. That only means that water beading will be introduced unless you have a high-quality Ceramic Coating that sheets more than it beads. All those water beads that are trapped on the car, if they are not removed before they evaporate, will leave all the minerals that have been trapped in the water leaving nasty water spots that can be a headache to remove. If you are using distilled water, then you won't encounter these problems, but when washing cars, you are usually working with non-distilled water. You can click here to learn how to remove water spots from your ceramic-coated car. You could also drive your car for a bit. The wind resistance and gravity will ensure the water droplets slip off the surface. Or you can use an air compressor, a leaf blower, or even a hair drier. That way, you are definitely making the best non-touch approach for maximum protection, and with an air compressor, you can actually be done quicker than with a towel if you know what you are doing. An air compressor also allows you to get the water stuck between panels, which might be more difficult to remove with other methods. Why do I have to be careful when removing dust from my car? Well, think of dust as very small rocks. So the same type of damage rocks might do to your paint, dust will as well, just on a much smaller scale. Over time though, it might add up. So the best way to remove any type of dirt is using lubrication - water and car shampoo. Final thoughts on Ceramic Coating Maintenance It is always important to keep your car clean. A Ceramic Coated car will get dirty less often and will be more easily washed as well. If you are using the correct techniques to wash your car and care for it, then the Ceramic Coating will have a much longer protection duration than it would if you did none of these things. That only means that by maintaining the appearance of your car while coated, you are saving money long-term, in which you do not have to repolish and recoat the car in the near future. If the Ceramic Coating you have used on your car comes with a 'Maintenance Solution Product', then it is recommended you use it on your vehicle after every wash. Those products are there to prologue the lifetime of the Ceramic Coating and refresh the coating to new and ensure there is no drop in its performance.

Hi there! If you are here, chances are you might have been wondering about questions like 'What is Ceramic Coating?', How much does Ceramic Coating cost?' or 'How long does Ceramic Coating last?' or then again, you just wanted to know what the best way is to protect the paint on your metallic friend over there! Contents: But ultimately - Is Ceramic Coating worth it? First and foremost - What is Ceramic Coating? What does 9H mean? How strong is 9H? What is Car Paint? What is Paint Protection? There are a lot of questions that are circulating around ceramic coatings. And they are all important and need to be addressed. That is why we're here! But ultimately - Is Ceramic Coating worth it? We are here to answer all those questions and more. But before that, we will tell you what ceramic coating is and why it has become so popular. We are here to educate you on why you should choose Ceramic Coating over other forms of paint protection. We also will go into all the basics, such as what paint protection is, and even a level deeper into what car paint is at its core and why we need to protect it. We shall provide you with the free service of teaching you how to choose the best Ceramic Coating for you, and we will go into great detail when explaining the best techniques on how to use Ceramic Coating in a DIY fashion in your own garage and how to use it effectively to bring out the best results Ceramic Coatings offer. But let us not go too wide here because, especially if you are new to exterior automotive detailing, all this information might be a tad bit overwhelming and might come out a little confusing. We know all of this was a bit confusing for us when we were getting into all of this all those years ago. We will take baby steps here and try to paint a clear picture so that at the end of the day, you know everything you need about the Ceramic Coating industry and will come out of this with more answers than questions. Let us dive into the basics... First and foremost - What is Ceramic Coating? Short answer - it is a long-term form of paint protection that will likely outperform any wax or sealant out there. It is a chemical solution based on Silicon Dioxide that bonds onto the clear coat of your car's paint, hardens to a glass-like finish with usually a 9H toughness rating, and serves as a sacrificial layer that protects your car's paint from the elements, offers resistance to mild damage such as scratches and in some cases, even rock chips. They have superior hydrophobic qualities and can be applied with minor training, even in a DIY fashion. And on top of all that, if treated as per instructions, it can last you several years. What does 9H mean? 9H is a toughness rating based on graphite pencil hardness. Toughness is resistance to scratches and cutting, while hardness is resistance to stress and indentations. It is a measurement technique to determine if the surface will suffer scratching damage before the pencil suffers chipping damage. The pencil hardness test scale goes from 10B ( softest ) all the way to 10H ( hardest ) pencil strength. It is being measured by attempting to scratch the Ceramic Coated surface by dragging a graphite pencil under a 45-degree angle. If the coated surface suffers no damage, it will get the rating of the pencil used. Some Ceramic Coatings claim to have a 10H toughness rating. You can read about 9H in more detail here. How strong is 9H? It is strong enough to give the paint an impressive scratch resistance depending on the hardness rating of the material cutting the surface. But usually, if the Ceramic Coating does have a 9H or 10H rating, the protective layer will prevent scratches or swirl marks that the paint would normally suffer without the Ceramic Coating. Long answer - oh boy! Where do we start? First and foremost, read the 'short answer' first because this will expand on that. Now let us explain a few basic things about car paint and different forms of paint protection so we have an easier time in the future, and you might learn a thing or two. If you find yourself knowing all there is to know about car paint, you can skip this section. But if you don't, you might even be able to expand our lecture with new information that we might have missed! The idea of this blog is to educate, and educate, we will! What is Car Paint? To put it into simple terms, car paint is this as follows - you have the bare metal that gives the car its structure. But now you have to protect that metal somehow from corrosion, outside elements, scratches, and more. To protect the metal, a primer coat is sprayed onto the metal, which will serve as the bonding agent between the metal and the color. Primer is usually light grey in color, but it can differ. You won't see it as it is below the next two layers being sprayed on top of it. After it has been picked and when the primer has dried, the color is sprayed on top of it. And to top the whole process off, a clear coat, the thickest layer of the three, is sprayed on top of the base color to protect the color from the elements such as water, UV radiation from sunlight, minor debris, wind, scratches, etc. So to summarize, from top to bottom, we have: clear coat (gloss transparent) base color (can be any color) primer bare metal Once it all has cured and bonded, you are left with a solid protective structure that will protect the vehicle's body and give it its distinctive appearance and shine. So when people use the term 'car paint', they are referring to those three layers above sitting on top of the metal or plastic body of the car. If someone is trying to point out the color and only the color, they will usually use the term 'base color' to avoid confusion. Just keep in mind that there are different types of car paint and finishes, but that topic is so large that we will leave it for another blog post where we will go into detail about all of it and how it interacts with Ceramic Coating. The car paint, as described above, will be present in 95% of cars out there and almost all cars coming out of the factory. If a different type of color differs from this specific 3-layer structure, it is usually an aftermarket option. After learning all this, you might ask yourself, "Hey, if this is so nice and works in perfect harmony, why would I ever want to mess with it?". Well, we are glad you asked! Like most things in nature, car paint will deteriorate over time due to oxidation, outside damage, the elements, etc. And it doesn't matter how nice your car looks when brand new. At one point, the paint will dull out, the clearcoat will start to flake off, and the damage could go all the way to the car's metal layer, causing it to oxidize and cause corrosion. Since most cars have panels made out of steel or iron sheet metals, the oxidation will cause corrosion in the form of iron oxide to form, also known as rust. Steel is an alloy, but it is just iron infused with some carbon ( about 99% iron, 1% carbon ) for extra strength. It will also rust as easily. If the car is made from Aluminum, corrosion will be found in the form of Aluminum Oxide, which is much less reactive than Iron Oxide. Fun fact: If a car is made out of aluminum, it cannot rust! That means it will form a thin layer of corrosion on top and stay that way - it will not spread further. Plastic will not cause corrosion, but it will dull out over time, getting that whiteish look to it, and will, after prolonged exposure to the sun, it will lose its elasticity and start forming cracks. We must open up the next topic of interest to find an answer to all these problems. What is Paint Protection? Paint protection, as the name implies, sits on top of a car's paint and has one job - protecting that paint from the environment. Now that you know how car paint is formed of layers, you can think of Paint Protection as another layer that will sit on top of the clear coat. That layer will be there to protect the layers below it from harm, but sometimes it also boosts the appearance of the car paint overall, so consider that as a bonus. There are different methods for forming that 4th layer on top of the clear coat. To answer that, we will dive a bit into what types of paint protection there are on the market, and after explaining the differences between those, you might have an easier time choosing the best one for you should you feel so. But we are here, already knowing the answer, to tell you how Ceramic Coating is the unmatched winner out of the bunch and will go to great lengths to explain why! See you in the next post, where we will rumble about all those paint protection methods available to us and which one to use. Cheers!

Before we dive into this topic, we need to address the big elephant in the room first - why are we talking about how someone can protect the paint on their vehicle? Well, the answer is actually quite simple... We are here to educate and to teach you how to use Ceramic Coating, what it is, what the advantages of Ceramic Coating are, and generally, answer the question - Should you even use Ceramic Coating on your car in the first place? To answer those questions truthfully, we must first tackle other ways of protecting your car's paint or its competition. That way, you can decide for yourself to see whether Ceramic Coating is even something that might interest you, or should you buy Ceramic Coating over some of the alternatives on the market? There are many questions and not many answers yet, so let us fix that! Here we will give you all the commercial methods you can use to protect your car's paint and list all the features and faults of those in an old-fashioned deathmatch type of fight. So all the ways to how can I protect the paint on my car: Car Wax / Carnauba Wax Car Sealant / Polymer Sealant Ceramic Coating Paint Protection Film / PPF Let's tackle each one in a separate article and list their properties, advantages, and disadvantages. What is Car Wax? Car Wax, or Carnauba Wax, is probably the oldest way to protect the paint on your car out of the bunch. You may find it under other names, such as Brazillian Wax and Palm Wax, and it has crept itself into a range of industries, from the Food Industry to the Beauty Industry. Today you can also find many forms of Synthetic Car Waxes out there. In the automotive industry or car detailing business, it is called 'Car Wax' or 'Automotive Car Wax', the most common and cheapest way to protect car paint. You use wax on your car to spread the way onto the surface of your vehicle with an applicator. You wait about 10 minutes, or whatever the manufacturer instructs you, and then buff it off with a microfiber towel. You usually know it is ready to be buffed off by running your finger on it. You are good to go if it leaves no greasy residue on the 'clean' surface. Otherwise, wait a bit more. It might seem a little bit like half-dried wax if it is ready. Once you buff it off your car, it gives the car a magnificent shine and saturates the car's color, enhancing it even more. It does this by forming a layer on top of your car's clear coat, filling small gaps or scratches, and leaving a flat and smooth surface behind. It will not 'hide' or fill deep scratches, so be aware. It will, however, protect the surface from rain, moisture, and water, in general, to prevent rust or mold from forming, so it might not be a bad idea to cover such parts of your car with a car paint protection product until you get them properly corrected. Car Wax, if properly treated, will last you about six to eight weeks and during that time will, with its hydrophobic properties, protect your car's paint from water, will protect your car's paint from UV radiation damage coming from sunlight and will give some protection from extreme temperatures. But be aware that in high heat, especially on black cars, the wax might vaporize from the car's paint. It will also be removed by most car shampoos, especially those that are not pH balanced. Car washes will probably remove them as well, and if you are using any degreaser, even isopropyl alcohol, to remove a stain or tree pollen, or bird droppings, keep in mind that the wax is most likely non-existent in the treated area. The do-it-yourself application process is straightforward and extremely simple for the average Joe. Wax is not expensive, at least it isn't supposed to be, so have your raised eyebrow prepared if you come across an extremely expensive one. Just browse a few to get a general idea of what it might cost. When working with Carnauba Wax, have a hand applicator to apply the wax onto your car's paint and a microfiber towel to buff it off the paint. If you do not have an applicator, use two different microfiber towels for proper results. Be sure to use microfiber towels and not some cloth you've got lying around the house or paper towels, as they both likely have a hard surface texture and will likely scratch the clearcoat of your car. Microfiber towels are designed to deal with such situations, and they, if clean, they will never scratch the paint on your car. If you drop it on the floor (which happens to everybody), clean it before working on your car again. For all products, we will give a short and clear summary listing all their features and grading them from F ( bad ) to A ( great ) compared to their competition. So to summarize, here are some notes about Carnauba Wax: will last you about 6-8 weeks ... E minor resistance to the elements ... D no resistance to damage ... F cheap cost ... A very simple to apply yourself ... A almost no resistance to chemicals & degreasers ... F Average grade: D Now that grade may seem low, but let's be realistic. If you aren't protecting your car's paint, go to the nearest store, buy yourself some car wax, and treat your car to some shine and protection. It is not easy, but it is simple. You'll get a good workout out of it unless you use a mechanical buffer. But it is not costly; in a way, you are protecting not only your car's paint but also your investment. If you decide to sell your car one day, the future buyer will appreciate a car that has been taken care of, and you'll probably get a better deal because of it. It might even be fun. You never know until you try. When you are passionate about something, preparation means very little, and words flow out of you like crazy! Since this came out to be much longer than we initially expected, we will cut it here and continue the list in Part 2, where we will cover Polymer Sealants, Ceramic Coatings, and Paint Protection Films and our final thoughts on the matter of 'How to protect your cars paint?'; - continue to Part 2 - Polymer Sealant -

Get your CQ.UK 3.0 Ceramic Coating Kit on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2ZXUgfF Just to clarify - we are not sponsored by CarPro or any other manufacturer of Paint Protection products, and we will test and review the product as it is in real-world conditions. We will follow the manufacturer's instructions during the application process, and we will prepare the surface to ensure the best finish and best adhesion possible. We are leaving an affiliate link to all our review products, but in case the product turns out to be of low quality or not as all as advertised, we leave a warning to all our readers, and the quality of the product will always be reflected in the grade we assign to it at the end of every review. So if you do not want to sit through all of this text, you can scroll down to the Average Grade and read our Final Thoughts to get a general idea of what the product is all about. If you haven't heard of the CarPro CQuartz products yet, you are in luck! In the automotive exterior detailing industry, Ceramic Coatings are in high demand and labeled as premium products, which they indeed are. And CarPro ceramic coating they deliver is one of the best out there on the market. Now, it is costly! But is CarPro Ceramic Coating worth it? Every cent! It, of course, depends on the product you buy since you could get a cheap knock-off on eBay, but that is why you have people like us. We do the research and the testing and find the best product offered and also the most affordable to get the most bang for your buck. The CarPro CQuartz UK 3.0 Kit /w Reload includes: 1x 50ml bottle of CQuartz UK 3.0 1x 100ml bottle of CarPro Reload Silica Spray 1x 16" Microfiber Suede Towel 1x CarPro Foam Applicator Block 4x 4" MF Suede applicators The 50ml bottle of CQuartz UK 3.0 will last you roughly 6 uses on average-sized cars. It is recommended, and we do as well, that you use 2 coats per car. After applying the first coat, wait an hour and then apply the second coat for the best results. Once properly applied, the coating should last up to 2 years. It all depends on the climate and weather conditions in the region where you live and the methods and products you use to wash the car. For more information, you can check the Education tab to learn how to treat your vehicle best before and after using Ceramic Coatings. The 100ml bottle of CarPro Reload Silica Spray included in the Kit is a step forward in the Ceramic Coating Technology as it was developed to prolong the quality of the Ceramic Coating applied and keep the toughness and all its hydrophobic qualities high for as long as possible. With it, you can much more easily reach those desired 2 years regardless if you live in an area with harsh weather conditions such as constant high-temperature sun, subzero temperatures with snow and lots of salt on the roads, etc. When to apply Ceramic Coating? Prepare the surface first! The ideal conditions to apply the coating would be in a closed garage heated between 60 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit ( or 15.6 and 37.8 degrees Celsius for our metric friends ). The area should be well-ventilated to avoid dust or small particles floating in the air that could stick to the prepared paint or the coating while curing. The whole car should be thoroughly washed to remove all large contaminants from the vehicle's body. Ideally, use car shampoo with a pH value as close to 7 after it has been mixed with water as per the manufacturer's instructions, as this is considered balanced and will not damage the car paint or the ceramic coating in future washes. If you would like to learn more about why the pH value of a car shampoo is important and what pH-neutral car shampoos are, you can read the linked article. Strong car shampoos, mainly cheap ones, are more acidic and will eat up the coating little by little. The effect can be balanced out by using the 100ml bottle of CarPro Reload Silica Spray to "heal it", so to speak. Cheap car shampoos usually use Hydrofluoric Acid as one of their components as it is very aggressive in removing dirt and is cheap. So even if you might fight pH-neutral car Shampoos as more expensive long-term, you will find them as a great and ultimately cheaper way to keep your car clean and protected for a long time. After you have washed your car, it is time to clay bar it! Why clay bar? Well, with time, through different ways, contaminants tend to lodge into your clearcoat, and just a simple wash will not get rid of them. Think of a thorn in your skin - you have to pluck it out. A wash will simply not do the job. A clay bar does just that. On how to use a clay bar effectively, visit the Education section and learn the best way to use the clay bar to minimize clay bar wear and avoid damaging your car paint while maximizing its effectiveness in clearing all those small to microparticles from the clear coat. After the clay bar has been used, it is a good idea to give the car another wash, and after it has been dried, you should degrease the car with isopropyl alcohol diluted with some distilled water in a 1:1 ratio. Distilled water is amazing here as it will leave no smudge marks or particles when dried. As for isopropyl alcohol, it evaporates quickly and also leaves no residue or marks on the car paint. Alcohol also decreases the area from any oils, waxes, and such that may have been left on the car. We are doing all this to prepare the car for paint correction, polishing, and finally, coating the car with the CarPro CQuartz Ceramic Coating product at hand. If you have any scratches or paint chips on your car, now is the time to correct them because the ceramic coating will 'eternalize' the car's condition as it is for the next year or two. If you have any damage and don't want to look at it, you will have to remove them now, as you will not be able to do so without removing the ceramic coat from the damaged area in the future. Also, after the paint correction has been done, you will want to compound the vehicle and polish it to a glass finish before coating it. Again, if you think that that will not be needed, skip coating it straight away. The result might not be as advertised if you skip those steps though so just keep that in mind. The Ceramic Coating, while it does give some gloss, is not a 'beauty product for cars. It is more of a waterproof, bulletproof vest that has extremely high hydrophobic properties, provides scratch resistance, and protects the car's pain from outside elements. Now if you ceramic coat a potato, you will have a protected potato. Still a potato, but protected. If you take a few extra steps to make that potato look like something, you will have a beautiful potato for the next year or two. Think of those few steps as a type of semi-permanent makeup that will not wash away under harsh weather conditions, outside elements, or by simply washing it. For a full, very comprehensive guide to how to prepare the surface of your car for Ceramic Coating, you can click here. Now that all that has been done, it's finally time to apply the Ceramic Coating. Note that this would also be the time to apply wax if you were to use that. But keep in mind that wax is a sealant, and it does protect the car's paint. The ceramic coating does it better, much longer, and will not wash out that easily. How to apply Car Pro Ceramic Coating the right way? Now that you have a fully prepared surface to work with, we can begin with the final act. Take the 50ml bottle of CQuartz UK 3.0 that came with the kit, the CarPro Foam Applicator Block, and one of the four 4" MF Suede applicators. Wrap the applicator around the block, tighten it, and hold the applicator with your middle finger, index finger on one side of the block, and thumb on the other side of the block. You should be holding the block on its longer side to ensure maximum coverage while working with it. Make sure the applicator is tight so you avoid uneven application. You might feel more confident about adding your ring finger alongside your index and middle fingers to get a firmer hold of the block. Whichever way makes you feel more secure, go for it. Once ready, you have your holding technique mastered, it should not take more than a minute, but hey, you never know. Open the 50ml bottle of CQuartz UK 3.0 and apply the liquid from one end to the other on the longer side of the applicator. It should require only a few to a dozen drops to ensure full-length coverage of the applicator. Now what you should do is pick a panel, or if the panel is huge just section it off into two or four parts and start there. Apply the coat in vertical lines on the full length of the panel you are currently working on, and then the same with horizontal lines. After the specified area has been covered in full, let that ceramic coat cure for about 5 minutes. Once it becomes, a bit oily looking is time to buff it out hard. You want to buff the whole area well to perfect shine using the 16" Microfiber Suede Towel that came with the kit or any dry and clean microfiber towel that you might have. Because if you don't and you let any residue crystalize and harden, you will need to polish that out potentially burning through the coat. Also, keep in mind that all the residue that you collect on the microfiber towel while buffing the ceramic coating will eventually harden and render that particular tower unusable. So keep that in mind before you start not to ruin any favorites you might have. And that was also the reason I mentioned microfiber towels, even though this kit provides ways to buff the coating off. If it takes you a long time to coat the vehicle or it is a particularly large car, you might go for those towels instead of potentially damaging your car's paint. You can also apply this coating on all plastic and glass surfaces of your car. I would tape off all rubber surfaces because the coating might come out looking like a white haze on them once cured. So let's avoid that. Once you have covered the whole exterior of the car, wait for about 1 hour and apply the second coat using the same technique. The applicator or applicators you've used for the 1st coat are now useless and should not be used for the second application. After you have successfully applied the second coat, it is time to wait for a full day for the coat to cure and bond with the car's paint fully. Please avoid using the vehicle during those crucial 24 hours as any debris, rain, bugs, really anything that comes in contact with the car might ruin the affected area. For more detailed information regarding what Ceramic Coating is and how Ceramic Coating affects your car's paint, click the link. That is it! Your car is now happy and protected! Enjoy your happy new vehicle, go splash it with mud, dirty water, and dust, and look in awe at how it falls off, or even if it sticks, how easy it is washed down with a hose and some water. Let us see how we have decided to grade this product: product lifetime when applied: A resistance to elements: A resistance to damage: B resistance to chemicals: A application difficulty: C hydrophobic properties: A gloss / shine: B Average grade: B Cost: 47.33$ / 1 fl oz 1.60$ / 1 ml So, what do we think about CarPro CQuartz UK 3.0? CQ.UK 3.0 Ceramic Coating is one of the best Ceramic Coatings we have ever used. We highly recommend it. The great thing about this kit is that you get the Reload along with it. While the Reload on its own had a mediocre performance, it is still a handy way to strengthen the CQ.UK 3.0 coating from time to time when the car has been washed because of its easy and quick application process. It will definitely refresh the main coating and prolong its maximum lifetime before it has to be reapplied. Great value for the price you pay. You can check our Top Lists section to see how it compares to other coatings in its category. Get your CQ.UK 3.0 Ceramic Coating Kit on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2ZXUgfF

- go back to Part 3 - Ceramic Coating - So we have finally reached the last part of this saga. Today we will cover PPF, or Paint Protection Film, and close this 4-part article with our final thoughts on everything we have learned about paint protection methods. For those that just arrived here - this is a 4 part article that covers all the ways to protect the paintwork on your car effectively. So far, we have talked about Carnauba Wax, also known as Car Wax. Then we covered Polymer Sealants, after which we learned all the essentials about Ceramic Coatings, and here we are, finally, with the last part. What is PPF? Paint Protection Film, also sometimes referred to as 'Clear Bra' or PPF, is a thermoplastic polyurethane in the form of a nylon wrap that you put on top of the paint of your car. Fancy words right there, but what it really means is that you are able to mold the shape of the nylon when the heat is applied to it directly via a heat gun, for example. And the 'polyurethane' part stands for a polymer made of organic units joined by carbamate links, also known as urethane links. Now if you want to know what carbamate or urethane is, then you'd have to go dive deep into the web or get a chemistry degree. We certainly don't and have no clue what it is, and thus we will not try preaching about it. We do, however, know what the material is used for, how you use it, and all its nice features and downsides. It is usually 4 or 8 millimeters thick, depending on the product price. It comes in various finishes. The most common is gloss, followed by satin or matte, should you choose to go for that. If you go for the gloss option, it is practically invisible. It is also important to note that Paint Protection Film is not the same as vinyl. The idea of film, its primary purpose is to cover your car and preserve it as it currently is for the foreseeable future. If you are using quality car wrap and take care of the car, you can expect the film to last the lifetime of the protected vehicle. That being said, you obviously want to prepare the surface of the car for the job beforehand because if you do decide to wrap it and you haven't corrected any defects on your car's paint - it will be visible. And after that, there won't be anything you can do about that except remove the wrap and retrace your steps, basically throwing away a huge sum of cash through the window. So make sure you do your research well before deciding to protect your vehicle with a car wrap. If you go for the satin or matte finish, the paint chips or swirls and scratches on your paint won't be visible that much, or at all, but since you are paying a lot to wrap your car already, you might as well go that extra step and do that first. How much does PPF cost? If you bought a brand new car and have an extra 5000$ to 10000$ lying around and want to preserve the car as it is now before it gets any damage to its paint, then we suggest you take it to your local professional to get your car wrapped. Now you might be saying something like, "But CCE, aren't you all for Ceramic Coatings and stuff? Why are you trying to promote an alternative to the product you are promoting?". Well, that is simple. If you want to be an expert in a certain area, then you have to know your competition. You have to know your strengths and your weaknesses. And simply put - Paint Protection Film is better at protecting your car's paint than Ceramic Coating is. That being said - we still suggest Ceramic Coating, and we will cover why in the final thoughts at the end of this article. PPF Installation You remember how we said that Ceramic Coating varies in cost depending on if you are doing the job yourself or you have a professional do it for you - and then we said that with some research, perhaps even some training and proper preparation, you can confidently coat your car with Ceramic? Well... When it comes to Paint Protection Film, forget that. We do not care who you are or how much research you have done on this topic - there is no way you can do a good job covering your car with car wrap alone or without proper training and experience. This is most certainly at least a two-man job, or even more, and all people involved have to be experienced, or you are accepting the risk of messing up the job at any point, potentially wasting hours of intense labor and ruining the wrap making it useless and having to use the new wrap to try and fix the mistake. If you want to use Paint Protection Film on your car, then research your area and go to the professional that has the best reputation. They will do the job properly, using top-quality materials, because they won't risk ruining their reputation by doing a terrible job. Some of them are cutting corners by using less expensive materials, doing the job with less manpower, or even solo ( we have seen some... ) or by jumping steps to make the job faster, ultimately doing a great job for the untrained eye, but potentially leaving you with visible wrap corners that will accumulate dust and dirt over time and will have a blackish line that will look horrible and will be visible from space or will start yellowing over time leaving your car in a dull, hazy cover that you paid thousands of dollars for. Or even it not being tucked inside all the panels and starting to peel off over time on the edges. We have seen it all. So be extremely careful who you pay and who trusts your car. With the negatives out of the way - if done correctly, the paint protection film is the best thing you can go for if you have unlimited funds. It will absorb the most damage, most scratches, and all the swirl marks you would get from bad car washes and will even protect your car, to some degree, from rock chips. Of course, if you are driving down the highway like a maniac and a rock hits your car, usually in the front part of the hood, there is very little you can do to stop that projectile from piercing that wrap or the paint on your car. PPF Self Healing Paint Protection Film usually has self-healing properties. Now that is not achieved by some wizardry and is not false propaganda to make you buy that product. It actually works. The way it functions is if the wrap gets damaged and you apply heat to the damaged area, the polymer structure will 'melt' into its original position. Kind of how you would stretch a wrinkled piece of nylon, and by applying heat to it, it would straighten up as if new. So by using a heat gun, a hairdryer, or sometimes even while standing in the sun, most damage that the wrap suffered will 'regenerate' so to speak. That usually only works if the wrap hasn't suffered serious damage, but we have seen products that recovered from even that. As long as the paint underneath wasn't damaged, if you are using quality PPF, you are covered from all the damage that we mentioned above. It is highly resistant to the elements and will last you a long, long time. Chemicals, bird droppings, tree pollen, and such, while highly resistant, will still get damaged if left untreated, the same as your car's paint would. So make sure you still wash your car regularly if it gets dirty. So, how should you treat your car if it was wrapped with PPF? Same as you would if it had none. You would just have that extra top sacrificial layer that will deal with those bullies that your car's paint normally couldn't. For all products, we will give a short and clear summary listing all their features and grading them from F ( bad ) to A ( great ) compared to their competition. So to summarize, here are some notes about Paint Protection Film: will last you about 5-10 years ... A major resistance to the elements ... A high resistance to damage ... B premium product, very expensive ... F not suited for DIY projects or solo endeavors... E high resistance to chemicals & degreasers ... A Average grade: C After all this praise and all those massive benefits it provides, it only got a mediocre grade of C. Now that would be due to two key components of the product - its price and its price. When you think of how much paint protection film installation costs at a professional shop, you might think that buying the product online and installing it yourself might seem like an attractive idea. Well, we have said that it is almost impossible for a novice to install car wrap on their own. You might say something like, 'Well, I'll just get one or two of my friends and have them help me." Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Otherwise, all those shops would quickly go out of business. You see, when you go and search online, you can even find sites where you would enter the make and the model of your car, and they would send you premade, precut Protection Film specifically for your car. They won't, of course, tell you how difficult it is actually to do it. Waxing, using Sealants, or even coating your car with Ceramics might be considered children's play compared to film installation. This one truly requires proper experience, finesse, stamina, precision, and a bunch of tools, that go along with the installation process that you have to buy separately. Even using those tools takes practice. How difficult is it to install Paint Protection Film onto your car? Well, take it like this - imagine an empty canvas in front of you. You've got your paintbrush and your acrylics on the side ready to paint. You see the perfect scenery in front of the empty white canvas. You see it clearly in your mind, and you bring the paintbrush closer to the canvas to transfer that thought onto the canvas, imprinting that clear picture from your mind. Well, usually, if you aren't skilled with a painting brush, you will end up with a grotesque 'modern art' depiction of whatever you've earlier imagined instead. That is how the PPF installation will probably go for you if you give it a go without experience and without being intimately familiar with the process. Only practice and time will change that. But if you are willing to go through all of that to cover such a distance, you might as well think of opening up a shop yourself instead. So if that thought made you chuckle inside, and you still want to go with the PPF, stick to the professionals. Our final thoughts on "How to protect the paint on your car?" Having covered all the ways we currently use to protect the paint on our vehicles. We still stand firm in the thought that Ceramic Coating is hands-down the best of the lot. Why? Because you get the best bang for your buck with it. You can check our comparison on Car Wax, Car Sealant, Ceramic Coating, and Paint Protection film to see the difference, what each one offers, and the drawbacks of each type of paint protection method. While Car Waxes and even better Polymer Sealants help protect your paint and are easy and even fun to do on a Sunday afternoon while cleaning your mechanical friend, no one said that Ceramic Coating would be any less fun or any less difficult. Just more intimidating for the reason that you will pay more for the Coating, and you will most likely be afraid more to mess up. Or even the thought that you would do a messy job and potentially ruin the paintwork of your car might cross your mind. You won't. In our experience, if you botch the job when working with Ceramic Coating, mistakes that usually happen are either bad coverage, where you would miss some parts of your vehicle, or even forgetting to coat as per instructions. Or perhaps you would get a flakey or hazy finish when buffing too little or buffing too late. Perhaps even buffing too early or applying too little coating could happen. All those things can be easily and inexpensively corrected. One 50ml bottle ( as they usually come in ) of the Ceramic Coating of your choosing will allow you coverage of a full, standard-size vehicle two times, as suggested. Meaning even if you mess up an area on the first go, you can still correct it on your second run. That way, the job will not be perfect, but you will have more experience once you go for another run at a later date. Working with Paint Protection Film, or PPF as they like to call it, will most likely not go as planned unless you have some serious previous experience installing it onto a car of a similar structure. As you might imagine, covering a Corvette Z1 or covering a Jeep Wrangler in Car Wrap would be two completely different jobs altogether. So your experience working with one might not transfer well when worthing with the other. And, realistically, you will end up having to pay a professional to install it onto your car and paying thousands of dollars for it. And again, realistically - not everyone can afford that or even want to pay such amounts for it, no matter the benefits. Because of all those reasons - we choose Ceramic Coating as it will give you so much for what you end up paying for it and will last you a very long time. And we definitely recommend you do the same! Go through the site and learn more about how to cover your car's paint with Ceramic Coating properly. You will also find many frequently asked questions or FAQs on Ceramic Coating, or you might even go through our Reviews on all the different brands of Ceramic Coatings that are lurking around on the market so you can choose the right one for yourself and your needs. Cheers!

- go back to Part 1 - Carnauba Wax - Continuing from where we left off. In Part 2, we will cover Polymer Sealants and what they are, we will later go into depth on how Ceramic Coating works and what Ceramic Coating really is, and we will finally cover Paint Protection Films, how they work, and why they are used on cars. If you just tuned in, in Part 1 of this topic, we covered the introduction to 'How to protect car paint?' the theme started by explaining why it is important to use exterior auto detailing products, specifically paint protection items, and we have covered what Carnauba Wax is, also known as Car Wax in the automotive industry. To see Part 1 of the topic, click here if you are interested in learning more about Car Wax things. Now, let's jump to car sealant! What is Car Sealant? Unlike Carnauba Wax, Polymer Sealant, also known as Car Sealant or Car Paint Sealant, usually has no natural elements in itself but is instead made out of various synthetic compounds and is composed of polymers, hence its name. It chemically bonds onto the painted surface, namely the clear coat layer of the car's paint. The bond is stronger, and the protective layer itself is stronger than what Car Wax would produce. Straight-up without much explanation needed, a Polymer Sealant is usually just a better Car Wax or Carnauba Wax, whichever term you prefer. That being said, we are using the word 'usually' quite often here. The intention is not to mislead you but to caution you instead. Namely, the exterior auto detailing market is saturated with all kinds of paint protection products and more are popping up left and right each and every day. They all have grandiose and, sometimes, straight-up, plain ridiculous claims, and it is hard for the average car enthusiast to know what product to pick confidently, and no one can blame you. That is how marketing works. Everyone wants a piece of this pie, and some will use dirty tactics to achieve their goals. At least there are people like us that will buy, test, and review those products, so you do not have to share our knowledge from working in the industry to help you close those gaps that you need to care for your vehicle in the most effective and safest way possible. A sealant's job, like its cousin Car Wax, is twofold - to protect the car's paint and to enhance its appearance. Sealants perform excellently in both areas, the protection part being done a tad bit better than wax. As for the appearance, people often say that using quality Car Wax will enhance the color more than using a Polymer Sealant. They claim that Wax will give a deeper glossy glow that a sealant simply cannot achieve. Well, the short answer is - maybe. We've seen both outperform each other depending on the manufacturer, but to be honest. It took a high-quality LED lamp, a keen eye, and the opinion of multiple people to come to such conclusions. The difference might not even be visible to the untrained eye, that is, if you do not know what to look for. We would personally say both do the same job regarding the appearance enhancement effect. The other reason we are using the word 'usually' is because today you will find all types of mixtures such as Ceramic Wax, Ceramic Sealant, Protective Polymer Wax, and similar terms as if someone took all those related words, shuffled them up, and whatever came out would be a new hot product. Well, some might be, but most of it is, in our opinion, marketing, so be cautioned. When working with any type of paint protection, you need two prerequisites - a clean, decontaminated vehicle ( at least on the outside ) and not working in direct sunlight or sometimes even outside, depending on what product you are using. For Car Waxes and Polymer Sealants, it is ok working outside because the application and curing process is reasonably fast, and things like wind, flying particles, leaves, and bird droppings will not ruin the procedure if you are in the middle of it. When working with Ceramic Coating or with Paint Protection Film, that is a different story. Some Polymer Sealant manufacturers claim that their product can be worked with even in sunlight, while the car's paint is relatively high. The boiling point of Polymer Sealant is much higher than that of Car Wax, but I would still advise looking for shade or doing the procedure in a garage. If you are unable to do that for any reason, Polymer Sealant is probably the product you should go for. Polymer Sealants are usually in liquid form while Carnauba Wax usually comes in the form of a paste. The application process, though, is pretty much the same as Car Wax. You can check it in Part 1 of this article for more details on the procedure. For all products, we will give a short and clear summary listing all their features and grading them from F ( bad ) to A ( great ) compared to their competition. So to summarize, here are some notes about Polymer Sealant: will last you about 6-8 months ... C medium resistance to the elements ... B no resistance to damage ... F relatively cheap cost ... B very simple to apply yourself ... A almost no resistance to chemicals & degreasers ... F Average grade: C The average grade is higher than that of Carnauba Wax due to rounding up, but it is very close. The main practical difference between Wax and a Sealant is that the Sealant resists high temperatures much better than wax does, and if properly applied, the Car Sealant will last several months, while Car Wax will last several weeks. The faults are pretty much the same as both of them will wash off easily with regular car shampoos. Sometimes even strong jets of water from a car washer can do the trick, and both Car Wax and Car Sealant offer virtually no resistance against scratching, swirl marks, and similar damage. The average grade, though, reflects the difference between Wax and Sealant. Science and numerous technological breakthroughs allowed us to create something that is cheap to manufacture yet gives better results. Nature has its own way of creating amazing things, but targeted manmade objects usually outrank those. The price is usually a small bit higher than the price of Car Wax, it is simple to work with, you won't need the training to get good results, and ultimately when it comes to your car's paint - there really are not many reasons why you should not use a Polymer Sealant, but there are many reasons why you should. This was a long one again! You would think that this blog post would be quite short since both Car Wax and Polymer Sealants are similar in performance. But hey, I guess there is always something to say about a topic when you are keen on teaching others something you thoroughly enjoy! We will cut it here and continue tomorrow in Part 3 of the article, where we will cover Ceramic Coatings finally, and we will see what its strengths are compared to Carnauba Wax and Polymer Sealants and how they are different. You can click here to go straight to Part 3. See you there! - continue to Part 3 - Ceramic Coating -

Woah! "BEST" is a pretty big word. Fortunately, we just might have an answer to the question - "What is the best way to protect car paint?". Let us presume you've just bought your new car. And the only thing, besides driving it and keeping it spotless and clean, that is constantly on your mind is - 'How can I keep the car protected?', 'How can I keep the car clean long-term?', 'How can I keep the car looking as new forever?'. Well, you know, if you have money flying out of your butt, you can do the following. Drive the car to a professional Car Detailing Shop and have them check if the paint needs any correction before the next step. Since sometimes, factory paint even can leave some nasty orange peel that you wouldn't want to look at for the next 10 years! So once that is done, do some research and find a shop in your local area that installs Pain Protection Film onto cars with the highest reputation. Take your car there. You can even have it delivered there to avoid driving it and having the paint contaminated in any way ( avoid highway driving for that one to minimize the risk). Have them install the highest quality PPF onto your whole car. We would recommend the gloss finish to bring out the original paint, but you also have the option of satin or matte at some shops. You can read more on how Wax, Car Sealant, Ceramic Coating, and Paint Protection Film differ and compare to each other, what each offers, and their disadvantages. Once that has been successfully completed, take it one step further and cover the car, which is now covered in Car Protection Wrap, with Ceramic Coating! Yes, you are reading this correctly. You can indeed put Ceramic Coating on top of PPF! And since you are mega-rich, have some professionals do that for you! Note that car shops performing PPF installation or Ceramic Coat will usually do detailing work. Most of the high cost comes from the preparation work that is being done to ensure a flawless finishing result. You can rely on them to do a perfect job, but we are talking a mega-rich scenario, and a detailing shop jump might do a bit better of a job at making your car's paint perfect before Paint Protection Film and Ceramic Coating installation. All this should cost you anywhere from 6000$ all the way up to 12000$ for the two-plus the cost of any paint correction or detailing that was perhaps performed beforehand. But who cares! Your car is now covered in a happy cocoon of happiness, and you won't have to worry about driving it anywhere or getting scratched or dirty. It is now, and will for the foreseeable future be - protected. It is now safe! So now you probably have an eight-millimeter-thick PPF on top of your car's paint. And on top of that sits a top-quality Ceramic Coat that shields the paint even further. And the question is, 'How does that work?'. Ceramic Coating and Paint Protection Film, are they compatible? Well, yes, they are. And they complement each other nicely. You see, PPF is much like the paint of your car. It has most of its strengths and most of its weaknesses. That is why you treat a car covered with PPF as if it wasn't covered with PPF. The Paint Protection Film will work as a shielding layer that will take the bullet instead of the car paint itself. But it will still get dirty, and you will always have to wash the car if you want to keep it looking nice. Now you can clean the car properly every time it gets dirty, or you can install a Ceramic Coating on top of the PPF to help you with the cleaning maintenance. The CC on top of the PPF will give the car its hydrophobic properties and slickness, thus repelling dirt and dust by letting it slip off the car's surface, and it will sometimes even further enhance that color and the deep, deep glossy shine. Of course, you will still have to clean the car occasionally. But a simple wash should do the trick instead of an hour or more of intensive labor, multiple buckets, pH-neutral shampoo, a foam cannon, tons of microfiber towels, and much more. The best thing about it is, even if you feel that the Ceramic Coat is starting to weaken in some areas over time, spray some Ceramic Coating on it using one of the spray-on - wipe off Ceramic Coating products, of which there are plenty on the market. Some enthusiasts might ask themselves if they can take it even a step further and put some Car Wax or a Polymer Sealant on top of the Ceramic Coating. Technically, you could, but that would be literally overkill and serve little to no purpose. You see, while Paint Protection Film and Ceramic Coating protect the car's paint in different ways, they end up fulfilling gaps where the other one fails, thus giving an even better result than what you previously had. Carnauba Wax and Polymer Sealants do almost the same thing Ceramic Coating does, just worse and for a shorter duration. So we recommend you avoid that 'extra' step some might suggest. But hey, it is your vehicle, and you are allowed to do whatever you want to it. Remember that. Can you do even more? You can always think about Ceramic Coating your windshield and the plastic trim of your car for even more protection. You can read both articles on our thoughts on those two matters if you want to go into more detail. And there you go! If you bought a new car, you have done everything mentioned above, and unless you wreck it, it will continue looking pristine or probably even better throughout its lifespan. If you are looking to preserve the value of a car - these are the things we recommend. It might seem silly at first, spending an amount of money with which you might buy a decent car. But hey, we all know that some out there can afford that the same way we could afford a trip to McDonald's and treating ourselves to a Happy Meal on a sunny Sunday. This is perhaps the ultimate way to preserve showroom cars, antiques, or any ridiculously expensive cars on Earth. If you find yourself having such a car, go and treat your car to an expensive makeover! You can read more about what Ceramic Coatings are, how they work, and how they rank among other methods of car paint protection. You can also read everything important there is to know about Paint Protection Film. Cheers!

We are all about Ceramic Coatings, but that doesn't mean we only review products that protect the paint on your car! Today we have a product that is used to restore faded plastic trims back to a like-new condition and appearance. And not only for a couple of weeks or until the next wash, as it is with most products that are created for the same purpose. Oh no, no, no. It will last up to 200 washes or about 2 years! Bold claims, but can Cerakote Ceramic Trim Coat Kit back them? We have bought it, and we have tested it! Contents: What is Cerakote Ceramic Trim Coat Plastic Trim Restorer? How to prepare the surface for CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat? How to use the CERAKOTE Coating? How did CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat Kit perform in the durability test? Final thoughts on CERAKOTE Ceramic Coating? Just to clarify - we are not sponsored by Cerakote or any other manufacturer of Paint Protection products, and we will test and review the product as it is in real-world conditions. We will follow the manufacturer's instructions during the application process, and we will prepare the surface to ensure the best finish and best adhesion possible. We are leaving an affiliate link to all our review products, but in case the product turns out to be of low quality or not as all as advertised, we leave a warning to all our readers, and the quality of the product will always be reflected in the grade we assign to it at the end of every review. So if you do not want to sit through all of this text, you can scroll down to the Average Grade and read our Final Thoughts to get a general idea of what the product is all about. Let us check CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat Kit - Quick Plastic Trim Restorer out! Get your CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat Kit on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3kGPblv What is Cerakote Ceramic Trim Coat Plastic Trim Restorer? Ok, now let us see what this product is all about. It is namely created to restore the plastic trim to its original condition using a ceramic-based solution. In this packaging, you will get 10 separately packaged white wipes that are soaked in the CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat. You also get a pair of disposable latex gloves. The whole idea is to put on the gloves because you do not want the solution sticking onto your fingers and use a wipe until it is used up, at which point you take another wipe and continue where you left off. There is also a Cerakote PRO packaging with 50 wipes instead of 10. Now, unless you have a detailing or paint protection shop or have like 5 cars lying around, you won't need the 50 wipes. But it is still good value nonetheless! How to prepare the surface for CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat? The surface needs to be cleaned of all dirt and contaminants. After that, it needs to be cleaned of all grease or oils. They suggest dish soap which is ok if you are using CERAKOTE as a DIY project. But if you have some, or if you are a professional, we would suggest using a dedicated automotive degreaser. It does the job just a little bit better and it is less harmful to the materials on your car. The idea is to remove all grease and or oils to get a completely clean surface to ensure a good bond. The product is not compatible with grease or water. Dirt will prevent it from coating those areas fully, so it should be removed. Read our article on how to prepare the surface of a car for ceramic coating. It doesn't matter how far gone the plastic you will be coating is. Actually, the worse it currently is, the more surprised you will be in the end with the result. Hint: We have already used it, so we would know! After the surface has been thoroughly cleaned, we also recommend you clean any excess water that might be trapped in or around the panels you will be working on. If you have an air compressor, that will do wonders for you. But if not, then just make sure that you get all the water with a microfiber towel. You do not want to introduce any water or moisture to the product until it has cured, and that will be around 1 hour after application. How to use the CERAKOTE Coating? So, to summarize the instructions: clean surface degrease surface dry surface use only on plastic surfaces avoid water or moisture until cured do not work in direct sunlight the plastic surface must be cool to the touch use provided gloves use a wipe until it is used up, then take another if needed only one coat is required; two coats if the plastic is in horrible condition We have used the product in a well-ventilated garage with a regulated temperature. But if you are working outside, just keep in mind what the weather will be like in the next hour. You might want to avoid wind as well, as it might damage the coating before it has cured, leaving an ugly finish. Make sure the plastic is cool to the touch before you use CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat Kit on it. That is also very important according to the manufacturer. Hint: While ceramic coatings are able to resist higher temperatures quite effectively, that refers to a coating that has fully cured on top of a surface. If you want the coating to bond with the surface and fully and properly cure, you'll have to ensure the surface is prepared and the application is made under the right conditions. This product is meant to be used on plastic surfaces only. If you touch the car's paint by accident or another type of material, then just wipe it off with a clean microfiber towel before you continue working. What you can also do is use masking tape to prevent overflow onto other panels. We are now ready to start! Put on the gloves they've provided in the kit and open one of the pouches containing the ceramic coating wipes. Pick one plastic panel to start with and start applying it in the same direction consistently to ensure the best coverage and an even streak-free finish. As you coat the plastic, it will immediately darken and get a nice shine, making it look new. Make sure you have covered all the plastic, even the hard-to-reach edges, because one coat is all you really need. So to avoid redoes or another touch-up job, we recommend doing it right on the first run. Once all the plastic has been coated with CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat, you do not need to buff it off, but instead, just leave it alone as it is for the next hour so it can cure and bond to the plastic. After one hour, that's it! The plastic is supposed to remain in the condition it currently is for the next 200 washes or up to 2 years on average. We will not test the 200 washes or the 2 years, obviously. But what we can do is a series of tests to see how it would perform compared to similar products that are meant to be used as plastic trim restorers. How did CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat Kit perform in the durability test? What we did was use dish soap, brake cleaner fluid, a degreaser, and regular car shampoo on the treated areas once at first, then after the run, we performed the test another time. We drove the vehicle on a dirt road to see how the rocks, dust and chips, and scratches would affect the refreshed plastic. And finally, we took the car and left it outside in the sun for a week and came back to see the results then. We gave it another go with a degreaser and regular car shampoo to get a final idea. Check out how we torture test and review car detailing products. And, oh boy, do we have some results! Even though we specialize in Ceramic Coating, plastic trim restorer products are no strangers to us. And how they usually perform, some better, some worse, is that you apply them, and after a wash or a few washes, they are gone, and the plastic is back to its dull old look. Not CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat Kit! After all the above, we wrote. The plastic still looked the same as when applied. No changes whatsoever. IT didn't lose any of its hydrophobic properties or shine or that deep revitalized pigment it gave the plastic once it was used. We are extremely impressed with this product! The price point is well above other plastic trim restorers, and the quantity you get for the price is much, much less than what you would get by buying a full bottle of another product that you would pay significantly less for. But that just doesn't matter. The time and effort, and labor you will invest with other products and having the trim be completely gone in a week or two or after a good wash is simply not worth the money. With the strong chemicals we have used on it, we basically gave it 50 times worth of washes. It did not budge. Now we do not know how long it will last. But based on how it performed so far, it looks like it just might do what it had promised. On top of all that, CERAKOTE is giving a no-questions-asked refund policy to its customers if the product doesn't work as advertised (provided you have been following the product instruction when working with it). Our verdict on this product: product life time when applied: A resistance to elements: A resistance to damage: B resistance to chemicals: A application difficulty: A hydrophobic properties: A gloss / shine: A Average grade: A Cost: 19.88$ / 1 vehicle kit This is the first product we have graded with such a high score! And it is well deserved. We were dumbfounded by how well it performed. But not only because it was so good. The main reason is that all the other products that are used for the same application would not come even close to this score. This one is lightyears ahead of its competition. If you have tested or used a plastic trim restorer that has performed similarly or better, please do leave a comment with your experiences because we are very intrigued! Final thoughts on CERAKOTE Ceramic Coating? If you have faded, old, or worn-out-looking plastic, we guarantee that this product will restore the plastic panels back to their original look. No matter what plastic you use it on, of course. But we are covering cars here, so let's focus on that. As per instructions, do not use the product on other types of materials, we haven't tested it on other materials so we do not know how it would perform, but on plastic - it is the best product that we know of for that purpose. Do you need to restore the plastic trim on your car? Buy CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat Kit - Quick Plastic Trim Restorer. Enjoy! Get your CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat Kit on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3kGPblv

Hi everyone! Today on the repertoire, we have SHINE ARMOR and their all-marketed Fortify Quick Coat! It seems to be popping out everywhere lately. Now before we dive into this, we would like to give a slight warning. We aren't sponsored by any company and buy all these products at our own expense. Meaning we can give you an unbiased, honest review of the product. This also means that we can tell you all about how Shine Armor Fortify Quick Coat performs in the real world. That is very important for you to know because some of these products will be amazing. Others, not so amazing. So be sure to read the full review of the product you are interested in, as we will break it down, so you know exactly what you will be getting when buying it. We will also, as with all our reviewed products, give it a grade based on multiple factors, so you have a general idea of how it compares to other similar products. Let us dive in! Just to clarify - we are not sponsored by SHINE ARMOR or any other manufacturer of Paint Protection products, and we will test and review the product as it is in real-world conditions. We will follow the manufacturer's instructions during the application process, and we will prepare the surface to ensure the best finish and best adhesion possible. We are leaving an affiliate link to all our review products, but in case the product turns out to be of low quality or not as all as advertised, we leave a warning to all our readers, and the quality of the product will always be reflected in the grade we assign to it at the end of every review. So if you do not want to sit through all of this text, you can scroll down to the Average Grade and read our Final Thoughts to get a general idea of what the product is all about. SHINE ARMOR Fortify Quick Coat - Should you choose to go for it after reading the review - Get your SHINE ARMOR Fortify Quick Coat on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3sMTn5X You have most likely heard of this product as it is heavily marketed and is a best-seller among other Ceramic Spray Coatings. If you aren't familiarized with how these Spray Ceramic Coatings that keep popping up everywhere differ from the standard Ceramic Coating that you can get, from our experience and understanding - they are weaker substitutes than their big brothers. Usually mixed with waxes or polymer sealants and applied in almost the same way as the two, we can confirm they usually perform similarly to them. Though some have surprised us, most are, as we said before, highly advertised and have a strong marketing strategy that might have perhaps stretched their abilities a bit. We do not speculate. We have bought a bottle of SHINE ARMOR Fortify Quick Coat and eagerly tested it ourselves. What does SHINE ARMOR Fortify Quick Coat promise: advanced 3 in 1 formula that provides a waterless wash, coat, and shine gentle and effective car polish cuts dirt, grime, and grease and gives a showcase look safe for all surfaces gives a clear shield of protection and a beautiful gloss best hydrophobic car spray available 8 Fl Oz of product A lot to live up to. Let us see how it performed when tested! First of all, before you use any paint protection on anything, you will need to prepare the surface first. To learn how to do it as a professional would then click here and find out. But basically, you would want to wash the car properly, clay it and do paint correction and polishing for the best final results. Now SHINE ARMOR Ceramic Coating Spray is marketed as a waterless wash product that can be used as an effective car polish - meaning it has fine abrasive materials that would polish the surface of the car. That helps bring out a better shine, and abrasives help in removing harder to get rid of dirt from the car's surface. We would never recommend using such a product for a waterless wash for two reasons - it is wasteful and could damage the paint. What do we mean by that? Well, if you would use the product only to give the whole vehicle a waterless shine, you would burn through it very quickly, and it would end up costing you much more than giving the car a proper wash before using the product for its protective purposes. We can only justify giving a waterless wash if you are in a tight spot and washing the car is not an option, and you just want to have a clean, shiny car at that time ( e. g. a wedding or a similar ceremony ). Even then, you run into the second problem - damaging the paint. While this product was designed for a waterless wash and it promotes cutting dirt, grime, and grease while giving the car a showcase look. It also has those fine abrasives in it for polishing purposes. That is all great! But let's be honest here and use logic for a second if there are hard contaminants or any harder minerals or particles in general. While it may remove them, keep in mind that you will tag all those minerals along on the microfiber towel during cleaning or application and they will act as abrasives as well - just not that fine or small abrasives. They will sooner or later create swirl marks or deeper scratching that you will have to correct. Not to mention that you will be burning not only through the product but also through microfiber towels to clean the whole car. It is highly inefficient, and while it will clean, we would never recommend you clean using this method. We have tested those claims so we wouldn't have to speculate, but actually, see it in action. It performed well where there were oils or grease, but we have seen scratch marks when cleaning rougher dirt or even dust. So we definitely recommend you NOT to use it for waterless washes for all the reasons stated above. Next, it claims it has polishing properties. Not even getting into it - if you want to polish your car, it is far less expensive to buy a dedicated polishing paste and use a microfiber cloth or an applicator to polish the desired surface. It will most likely perform better as well because it comes in different grades depending on the damage in the paint you will be working on. It claims that it cuts through dirt, grime, and grease. We have seen good results when using it for that purpose. Even though we had a few stubborn spots where we had to use some elbow grease as well as spray it a couple of times. At the end of the day, even if it works - using a degreaser for that job is, again, much, much cheaper. SHINE ARMOR Quick Coat is supposed to give your car a beautiful gloss along with a protective surface. It did enhance the car's paint but only a small bit. Probably the polishing abrasives are to thank for that, as it did make the surface more reflective by removing some swirl marks. But it really took some hard work for it to be effective. A polishing compound, in our opinion, performs much better, and you can also use those compounds with a polishing machine making the job easier and quicker. Probably also better in the end unless you are experienced. As for the protected surface, we will come back to that shortly. Now SHINE ARMOR Fortify Quick Coat claims it is the best hydrophobic car spray available. Well, we do not agree on that either. What it did, though, was make a super slick surface very quickly and easily. You literally sprayed, buffed off, and there you have it. Place the bottle on the area you just coated, and the bottle will slide right off if it has even the slightest angle. That looked promising, so we continued investigating! We used the product on the whole hood of the car, and we cleaned, clayed, and polished the surface beforehand. We shook the bottle properly, sprayed on the hood, worked the solution onto the paint, and used a clean and dry microfiber towel to buff off the product from the hood. Before you buff it, we recommend waiting until it hazes off after about 15-30 seconds when applied. While buffing, you could feel some serious resistance at first, and only after a few seconds, it became extremely slick and slippery. We were pleased. Just to see if there would be a difference, we covered half the hood with another coat. It is said that you can use water on the treated surface immediately, but we gave it 24 hours as we would with any Ceramic Coating product - spray or not. Next thing was to cover the surface with water to see how it performed. We wouldn't rank it number 1 in its hydrophobic properties, but that aside it performed really well in that area. Water was sheeting more than it was beading, even though it felt as slick as ice. But it left little to no water on the treated surface. The twice-coated part of the hood did seem to perform a little better, perhaps because that way, we ensured that 100% of the surface was covered with SHINE ARMOR Ceramic Spray Coating. The next thing to do was to wash the panel using shampoo. We have used pH-neutral car shampoo, as most professionals would, but classic car shampoo that is much more acidic because of the chemicals on it would be much more aggressive and possibly have very different results that do not go in this product's favor. Note that you will find regular car shampoos or sometimes even hydrofluoric acid in car washes, automatic or manual. If you want to protect the paint of your car or have the paint protection last - the best thing is to do it to use pH-balanced car shampoos. We used pH-neutral car shampoo for the job, used a microfiber glove to clean the surface using horizontal and then vertical motions, and worked the whole surface once. Then we rinsed the shampoo off with a pressure washer using water. The hydrophobic properties were already very weakened. Even on the double-coated part of the hood, even though that part performed visibly better. We performed the shampooing process 2 more times, 3 in total. The hood still had some weak, hydrophobic properties in some parts of the hood, while other parts performed as if they weren't coated at all. We used the product on a testing panel that lost most of its clearcoat due to UV radiation from sitting in the sun for too long. The paint was, as expected, dull and damaged with no shine whatsoever. We used SHINE ARMOR Fortify Quick Coat on it, giving it two coats. You could see that the worked area gained a slightly glossy texture, but it was still very dull. It was super slick, though, and the hydrophobic properties were weaker than what we got from the previous testing on the hood of a car that was in good condition beforehand. That is, we believe the bad condition of the paint and its many hills and valleys prevented the water to escape as easily. We didn't expect that the dull, oxidized paint would become shiny or glossy as it would if we've used Car Wax, but we didn't expect it to have little to no effect on the gloss department there. That just proves that most of its claimed gloss comes from the polishing effect when applying and buffing the product. What have we learned? Marketing is key when selling a product. That is for sure! When we compare it with similar products from other manufacturers, we find that it performs mediocre overall. It has nice packaging and color, and it has a nice grapey smell. That is certainly refreshing. But it definitely is not a long-term solution for protecting your car's paint. We would describe this product as something to use to clean slightly dirty surfaces of your car to give it a quick clean, slightly better look, and some immediate short-term hydrophobic surface and slickness. It is not a complete flop, but the hype is certainly real. Let us see how we have decided to grade the product: product life time when applied: E resistance to elements: E resistance to damage: D resistance to chemicals: E application difficulty: A hydrophobic properties: C gloss / shine: C Average grade: D Cost: 2.49$ / 1 fl oz 0.08$ / 1 ml Our thoughts on SHINE ARMOR Fotrify Coat? We do not recommend this product as we believe it is too expensive for what it offers and how it performs. It is a solid product to use in some last-minute scenarios where you have perhaps no water or cleaning supplies available. But even then, we would still not recommend it. There are products that perform colossally better in their category, and we cannot justify going for this one unless all the others aren't available in your area. That being said, you can check our Reviews section to see how other products compare to this one, and you can check our Top Lists to see how it would rank among its competitors that you would find out in the market. - Should you choose to go for it after reading the review - Get your SHINE ARMOR Fortify Quick Coat on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3sMTn5X

Today we are reviewing a big boy product! GYEON ceramic coating was suggested to us, and we were determined to have it tested out to see how it would compare to other Ceramic Coatings in the detailing industry. Just to clarify - we are not sponsored by Gyeon or any other manufacturer of Paint Protection products, and we will test and review the product as it is in real-world conditions. We will follow the manufacturer's instructions during the application process, and we will prepare the surface to ensure the best finish and best adhesion possible. We are leaving an affiliate link to all our review products. Still, in case the product turns out to be of low quality or not as all as advertised, we leave a warning to all our readers, and the quality of the product will always be reflected in the grade we assign to it at the end of every review. So if you do not want to sit through all of this text, you can scroll down to the Average Grade and read our Final Thoughts to get a general idea of what the product is all about. GYEON quartz MOHS Ceramic Coating Get your GYEON quartz MOHS on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2UJgLpy Gyeon is perhaps not as well known in the automotive detailing industry as some other brands, but it came to us recommended and is being held in high regard. We will put it to the test and see what it's all about! We were promised that this product would perform amazingly compared to other products. But naturally, we cannot review products just like that without having them tested and seeing the results with our own eyes beforehand. So let us see what this product offers: the hardest coating widely available extremely high gloss chemical protection UV protection at least 18 months 2 layers requirement easy application 'The hardest coating widely available' would be a tough one to beat. All the other claims sound very good except the duration - 18 months. That one seems low. But if it is 18 months of real-world usage, then that would be quality instead of a downside. We will test all of them. Ok, now, the first thing to do is - prepare the car's surface so that ceramic coating can be properly installed. To learn how to prepare the surface of your car for Ceramic Coating, you can click the link. Now that the car's paintwork and other areas are ready, we will read the product instructions to see what we need to do next. If you want to learn how to install ceramic coating on your car. The whole procedure from A to Z along with all the techniques we would use and tips & tricks, we suggest you follow the link to our article. How to apply GYEON Ceramic Coating properly? With the product comes an applicator block and a microfiber suede application towel that we are supposed to wrap around the applicator block. After that, you apply several drops to the length of the application towel and we are supposed to apply a thick layer in a criss-cross pattern to ensure full coverage and wipe off immediately after application. Be sure to use another clean and dry microfiber towel to buff off the solution to a glossy shine. After the 1st layer has been applied and buffed off, you are to wait 1 hour before applying the second layer using the same technique. So what you can do is check the time when you start applying the 1st layer onto the whole vehicle and then start applying the 2nd layer starting from the same spot as the 1st layer when the 1-hour mark is up. If you apply that thick layer, GYEON quartz MOHS can be a little bit tough to buff off at times. Because of that, we presume it is very important to buff the product as soon as possible and not work in extensive areas to avoid using too much elbow grease. Ok, the product has been curing in the garage for more than 24 hours, and it is ready to be tested. We will leave the car in direct sunlight for the next 2 weeks and will be using the vehicle during that time by driving it daily in town and a few miles doing some light offroading to accumulate a fair bit of dirt and dust. We will also wash the car 10 times during that period using a standard car shampoo that is not pH neutral but instead a common car shampoo that anyone would most likely use when washing their vehicle in a DIY fashion. How did GYEON MOHS Ceramic Coating perform? After the first day, the vehicle wasn't that dirty at all. And we think it might be due to the slick surface it has created once the coating has fully cured. Because in other tests, even in dry conditions, dust and or dirt seemed to stick a little bit more to the paint. That was already a good sign. We proceeded to wash the car with regular car shampoo using a microfiber wash glove and a bucket with a grit protector. We have rinsed the shampoo off the vehicle using a pressure washer. The water sheeted off more than it was, forming water beads. That is, again, very good news and would be easily explained by the slickness of the surface. It left an almost completely dry surface with a couple of beads of water standing here and there. We have also tried giving the paint a few scratches using the abrasive part on a dishwashing sponge. For the scratching experiment, we have chosen the right-hand side of the hood panel. We also focused on using circular motions when cleaning and applying light pressure since hard pressure would surely leave deeper swirl marks. There were no visible swirl marks at this point. We continued repeating the same process for the remainder of the 2 week testing period, and we saw some drop in performance even after a couple of washes, but the performance didn't decrease but slowed down the sheeting process from a few seconds to about 8-10 seconds per panel. The end result was still the same. We just had to wait longer. At the end of the 2 weeks, we started to see some swirl marks, as to be expected after so much scrubbing. But they were minor and visible only under direct light and at a slight angle. Our verdict on this product: product life time when applied: C resistance to elements: B resistance to damage: B resistance to chemicals: B application difficulty: D hydrophobic properties: A gloss / shine: A Average grade: B Cost: 45.98$ / 1 fl oz 2.59$ / 1 ml Final thoughts on GYEON quartz MOHS Ceramic Coating? GYEON quartz MOHS Ceramic Coating is one of the most expensive products we have bought so far. But was it worth the price? Well, actually, yes. The reason, we feel, was that most Ceramic Coatings have amazing hydrophobic properties, this one included. Still, hydrophobic surfaces tend to leave water beads that aren't heavy enough for gravity to do its thing. And if there is no wind and you don't wipe the car or drive it, it might result in water spots. Well, GYEON quartz MOHS Ceramic Coating has excellent water sheeting properties that are achieved due to its very slick surface once the Ceramic Coating has hardened. We have noticed a difference in how dirty the car was before each wash, also for the same reasons as above. That alone keeps the car cleaner and makes it even easier to clean. Standard Ceramic Coatings are harder to apply than Spray-On versions, but this product took that even a step further by requiring two layers making the application process among the most tedious ones we have worked with. Also, its duration isn't advertised as long as you would get from other Ceramic Coatings, but while it did show a drop in performance during and after the testing, it still performed really well. The product visibly deepened the car's paint, enhancing it and making the car stand out a bit more than it normally would. Considering the price of the product and the lifetime you get with it, we would place it among the most expensive, if not THE most expensive, Ceramic Coatings that we have worked with. But if you have money and you are looking for guaranteed results and the qualities it showed are the ones you are looking for, we say go for it! You will pay more, but at least you know what you got for your money. Get your GYEON quartz MOHS on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2UJgLpy