Ceramic Coating

[Joe///540i]

I’m agonizing over doing it or not. I would go with the 5 year Ceramic Pro 9H which includes multiple coats and includes a wheel off ceramic treatment. They basically start with a paint correction to remove swirls and then apply the ceramic. From what I understand it looks like glass when done right and waxing is not necessary for 5 years. It’s $1500 and dirt and brake dust will just wash away.

I’m a clean freak with my cars. I spend about $300 a year on a good old fashioned wax detail. So the math works in terms of savings.

Is it that good? Anyone do this or know someone? Worth it?

[Schnamel]

Did you end up getting the ceramic coating?

[crazy4trains]

I’m agonizing over doing it or not. I would go with the 5 year Ceramic Pro 9H which includes multiple coats and includes a wheel off ceramic treatment. They basically start with a paint correction to remove swirls and then apply the ceramic. From what I understand it looks like glass when done right and waxing is not necessary for 5 years. It’s $1500 and dirt and brake dust will just wash away.

I’m a clean freak with my cars. I spend about $300 a year on a good old fashioned wax detail. So the math works in terms of savings.

Is it that good? Anyone do this or know someone? Worth it?

I'm sure the ceramic products work very well. I use Menzerna/Jescar PowerLock. Not saying it's the best, but it works very well.

Note that "dirt and brake dust just wash away" with what I use too. Typically any reasonably well maintained paint will allow the dirt etc. to wash away. All of that for 30 bux and what is likely a lifetime supply. You could always go the DIY route.

[bmw42ofus]

First, beautiful ride my friend......just awesome looking. By the thread not sure if the 1500 dollars is a spend I would do, however, I heard great things about it. Nonetheless, I am a surf city garage product kind of guy and from a cost savings perspective, their products are well worth the money. I recently used "Clayzilla" and then sealed my paint with their ceramic products.......it has been 2 months and nothing but glass. Good luck and let us know if you went that route.....be interested to hear.

[Joe///540i]

Hey guys, sorry for the late update. In the end, I ended up going for the full service ceramic service which included a multistep paint correction and multiple coats of ceramic pro. Also included a wheels off treatment of the wheels and calipers. It came out great and I have no regrets. The paint looks wet all the time, has no swirls and cleans like butter, including the wheels.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200420/4adaf4ff292ccccded8eb324e5c8283f.plist
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200420/e7e477899bf6d039a245fb4048ff410b.plist

[540i"A"Canuck]

Hi Joe:
Beautiful looking 540i, my fellow 540i Owner!! From the pics, the Car looks amazing...like you have about 20 coats/layers of "Clear coat"!! I have a Silver 2000 BMW 540i E39. If my Car didn't have so many scratches, paint/rock chips, rust areas...etc and I just wanted to get that high gloss/new paint job look; I would do a Ceramic Coating application (probably more DIY). Hey, just a side question: why do you have pics of a Black "Maserati" in your Post, on this site; especially that you listed your main Ride as your 2003 BMW 540i??

[Joe///540i]

Hi Joe:
Beautiful looking 540i, my fellow 540i Owner!! From the pics, the Car looks amazing...like you have about 20 coats/layers of "Clear coat"!! I have a Silver 2000 BMW 540i E39. If my Car didn't have so many scratches, paint/rock chips, rust areas...etc and I just wanted to get that high gloss/new paint job look; I would do a Ceramic Coating application (probably more DIY). Hey, just a side question: why do you have pics of a Black "Maserati" in your Post, on this site; especially that you listed your main Ride as your 2003 BMW 540i??

I actually created this thread to solicit input on the ceramic process for the Maserati not the E39. I had a paint correction done on the e39 a few years ago and it was so worth it. Sorry for the confusion. Posted the Maserati so you can see the results.

[bmw42ofus]

SOLID!!! Thanks for the update!

[ko1989]

it looks great, did you do it yourself? I am thinking of doing it myself for my car. Does anyone use the products here?

https://www.bestautoproducts.com/post/3-best-carnauba-spray-wax


Hey guys, sorry for the late update. In the end, I ended up going for the full service ceramic service which included a multistep paint correction and multiple coats of ceramic pro. Also included a wheels off treatment of the wheels and calipers. It came out great and I have no regrets. The paint looks wet all the time, has no swirls and cleans like butter, including the wheels.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200420/4adaf4ff292ccccded8eb324e5c8283f.plist
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200420/e7e477899bf6d039a245fb4048ff410b.plist

[Joe///540i]

it looks great, did you do it yourself? I am thinking of doing it myself for my car. Does anyone use the products here?

https://www.bestautoproducts.com/post/3-best-carnauba-spray-wax

No, I paid someone to do it professionally. It wasn’t cheap but is the best money I have spent in a while.

To do it right, it has to be applied and cured with IR lights after each application. Unless you have the light assembly on wheels, the DIY products are merely a glorified wax job. Not to mention the multi step paint correction needed to get the paint perfect
before sealing. Then there is the wheels off application and coating the calipers.

[Boostedtincan]

I detail cars for a long time, decided to ceramic coat my m3 my self I used the CQ.UK 3.0 ceramic. It was n experience for sure, to be honest its way more work to do the paint corections, the ceramic part is just bit tedious. Its been a year later, I still use the recommended shampoo to wash the car. Dirt and tree sap that used to stick to the car still does not, wel see how long it lasts, I applied 3 coats

[Joe///540i]

I detail cars for a long time, decided to ceramic coat my m3 my self I used the CQ.UK 3.0 ceramic. It was n experience for sure, to be honest its way more work to do the paint corections, the ceramic part is just bit tedious. Its been a year later, I still use the recommended shampoo to wash the car. Dirt and tree sap that used to stick to the car still does not, wel see how long it lasts, I applied 3 coats

Damn, looks nice and wet! Good work. Yup,
Although I didn’t do the work, the paint correction is the elbow grease part and most important. Gotta get the swirls and scratches out before sealing.

[Boostedtincan]

Damn, looks nice and wet! Good work. Yup,
Although I didn’t do the work, the paint correction is the elbow grease part and most important. Gotta get the swirls and scratches out before sealing.


yes the paint corection is crucial, need that paint as perfect as you can swirl free, then you need to clean it super carefully with alcohol before sealing, thats a chalange also not to create last minute swirls. White car easy, black or anything dark is way more work

[Joe///540i]

yes the paint corection is crucial, need that paint as perfect as you can swirl free, then you need to clean it super carefully with alcohol before sealing, thats a chalange also not to create last minute swirls.

Makes me appreciate the expertise I paid for. Did you cure it with UV lights?

[Boostedtincan]

Makes me appreciate the expertise I paid for. Did you cure it with UV lights?

I have not, It was summer time , I thought about the lights but thought Id benefit in cooler weather only from them, it would take much longer too, doing a panel at a time and curing, after paint corection I just wanted it done , did not want dust to acumulate, its a very tedious process and I do not blame people charging 1500-2k for this kind of service

[ototuan]

i think it not worth as the advertisement

[David Victor]

Thanks for your valuable information.