Kamauxx

Booty!

Bigpoppaco

Hi All- Does it make any sense to pay for ceramic coating if it's a leased car? It looks so good in all of these pics so was wondering how that works. Thanks!

Nikon1

Depends on how long your lease is; are you a person who hates a dirty car; how much are you willing to spend to have your car ceramic coated or the product if you do it yourself? There’s no “added value” to your residual on the car, it’s a purely personal choice.

Your answers will determine if it’s worth it to YOU.

— John

synergize

Consider putting a ceramic coating on yourself:

What condition is the paint in, any swirls that need to be buffed out? Run your finger tips on the clean paint, do you feel in tiny bumps, that means it need to be clayed. If you can wash a car you can clay one too, it's simple. Probably also needs an iron remover to get the brake dust and other microscopic iron particles (if you live close to an active railroad you will have iron in the air). This is all very easy to do with the exception of buffing, but that is not that difficult either with an orbital machine. This can save you a boatload of money. Look at the new Graphene Coatings, excellent "do-it-yourself" coatings that are a breeze to use on prepped paint. A good buffer and pads and compound will be about $350, Graphene $30 to $50, iron remover (Adams is really good) $14, clay and lube $40, but you can save money and make your own lube for claying. A pro will charge $1500 or more to do it all for you. Best of all, this is fun to do, and not even close to rocket science.

Nikon1

Not to argue with Synergize, but there are a number of reputable shops that will do the complete paint prep and ceramic for much less than $1,500 but you need to do your research as to finding a reputable detailer who is using good products and will stand behind their work.

When I had my car ceramic coated, brand new just off the ship, my detailer charged me less than half of the price quoted above for a complete job with a 5 year product.

As always, YMMV. Only advice is to ask friends, family if they can recommend a good detailer who is not looking to send his first born through college on your job.

— John

synergize

That was a very good deal for a ceramic detail, not sure why paint correction in my area is so expensive, it might be because not many places do it. The most expensive I ever heard of is Esoteric in New Albany, near Columbus, Ohio, it's amazing what they charge.

For fun see this 100 hour detail & PPF on a Porsche 911 GT3 RS:

mhoran89

If you enjoy that kind of stuff, check out AMMO NYC's channel on youtube. He does some crazy stuff and even gets a lot of cars up on a lift to clean the underside...

https://www.youtube.com/c/AMMONYCdot...rt=p&flow=grid

mhoran89

I just watched some of that. They did a dry sand, wet sand, and then a 4 stage paint correction. Absolutely insane. That is a $10K + job easy. They also removed door handles, trim, etc. to make it all hidden in regards to the PPF which is not cheap nor easy. My local shop brings in a body shop to remove bumpers, door handles, headlights, etc. to do this kind of thing.

synergize

I wonder how they sand down the orange peel without eliminating the clear coat, never seen a detail done to that level? Like you said, that was easily a $10k detail or more!

mhoran89

Pretty industry standard with a concours level paint job. Since clear is thinner than color which is generally thinner than primer... the clear used on cars runs more. A different "nozzle" tip is used in the spray gun to compensate but my understanding is it's near impossible to get a multi-stage paint job (modern standard with clear on top) without any orange peel.

When cars are painted quick and dirty at body shops sometimes the clear is wet sanded with high grit paper (2500+ or higher), then a car is compounded and then polished.
I have not seen a car get "dry sanded" like that Porsche before... but either machine wet sanding, block hand wet sanding, or a combination of both is pretty standard if you're looking for a flawless paint finish. Most body shops do this, and it is kind of hidden from the customer's eyes.... but very specialized detailing shops will take this type of project on... whether it is straight from a showroom floor, custom paint job, or after a body shop has performed a repair on a car...

Let's be honest though... most people will never even realize the difference or even know what to look for... a $600 detail with multi-step paint correction is about all most of us on here would ever ask for...