Ceramic coating worth it?
 

Has anyone applied a ceramic coating to their C43? What were your results? Is it worth it, or am I better off just washing and waxing a lot?

yes, I ceramic coat all my cars. totally worth it but then again I do it myself so I'm only paying $80 for the product cost and not labor.

Assuming your keeping the car a long time, highly recommend the ceramic coating. My 12 year old Vette's paint looks just as it did when I drove it from the dealer. Coating is, however, expensive. On the order of approximately $1,000.

i am a fan of the jescar power lock plus and collonite 845. 3 months and my coating is still going strong. i can practically just power wash the dirt off and blow it dry. very happy. also really cant beat the price, probably costs about $15 in material per application.

I had my current car ceramic coated and its amazing. I got the Ceramic Pro Gold Package and couldn't be happier with it. Its expensive, but worth it in my opinion. What's most important is the paint correction done PRIOR to the coating. Having a good installer is key. Second most important thing is that it has cure and cannot get wet for a bare minimum of 24 hours. The longer you keep it garaged the better. I let my mine sit for 5 days after the job was done, but I have another car to drive so it wasn't a problem. Then every 6 months or so, a refresh needs to be applied and you're good to go. If you get a proper job done, its like having a sheet of glass over the car. Hope this helps...

Wait what? I thought these things lasted for 1-2 years without maintenance let alone a re-coat in half a year at the cost of hundreds to a thousand? Are you sure you are talking about ceramic coatings and not a paint sealant?

Obsessed garage fan right here 👌

U can always use carpro reload to boost protection and extend life of coating

No, he's correct. All the high-end detailers push the refresh services in order to keep up with the warranty. It's probably cheaper to apply the refresh, than spend the time to correct an area that's gotten so bad a legit "warranty" claim could be made against the ceramic product brand and/or detailer. The refreshes aren't terribly expensive from what I've seen from the places local to me. I've looked in to how to source the Ceramic Pro or CQuartz brands and they seem to have a pretty stringent vetting process on who they allow to peddle their stuff. Considering the balls to the wall treatments are thousands and being applied to $100k cars on the daily, how often are some of those cars actually getting driven enough to require regular washes that would mar the surface? If you're not washing, you're not doing any damage and no need for a refresh. If they are washing, what's a couple hundred to keep the paint pristine?

Yes I'm sure kind sir. You are correct that paint sealants don't last. Ceramic Pro 9H lasts for the life of the car depending on which package you buy. Gold, Silver or Bronze. Few installers will do a Diamond Package. Gold Package has a lifetime warranty IF an annual inspection is done, during which a coat of Ceramic Pro Light is applied at a cost of $100-$150.00. Think of it as washing and waxing your car, and you're done. Silver Package has a 5-year warranty. The lowest and cheapest Package is for the Ceramic Pro Light. That's the thing you're thinking of which is only good for a year. Longevity beyond that will be dictated by where you live and the elements your car is in. I consider that to be pointless to do. Might as well just wash and wax the car yourself in that case. I hope that makes sense.

If memory serves,
Gold Package: minimum 4 coats of Ceramic Pro 9H over entire car; 1-2 coats on the rims and windows
Silver Package: 2 coats Ceramic Pro 9H over entire car; 1 coat on rims and windows
Bronze: 1 coat Ceramic Pro 9H over entire car; 1 coat over rims and windows
Basic: 1 coat Cermaic Pro Light. (I wouldn't bother with this)

Gold: $1200-$1400
Silver: $800-$1000
Bronze: $500-ish

Those prices are about what it costs for a sedan, depending on your area. And keep in mind that includes the ever-important paint correction. That's where all the cost is. If your car isn't too bad, you can haggle a bit. If the paint is in really bad shape, forget about haggling. The reason the paint correction is so critical is because once that 9H goes on, it's on. And the only way to get it off is to wet sand the car. Sorry for being so long-winded!

Interesting thread, I share the same question/concern.
As of now, once my car arrives, I will be taking it from the dealer straight to the Ceramic Pro detailer who is also going to be doing the tints. Would love to hear about additional experiences with Ceramic Pro coating that you all may have. My current daily driver is black and has swirl marks everywhere even though it is only hand washed... very annoying.

No it absolutely will NOT protect against rock chips picked up on the highway. However, if you really want to go crazy with it, some people will get the XPEL paint protection film, which does help with rock chips (but is ridiculously expensive) and then put the ceramic coating on top of that. It's the ultimate protection, but together, costs thousands of dollars. Personally, I don't think it's worth it because when you go to resell the car, you won't get much added value for it, especially on a Dealer trade in; they just don't care about it. To each his own, but I can't justify spending several thousand dollars on that. $1,200-yes. $7,500-$9,000-no

You can always do it yourself just like this. Although I've always been able to keep 10yr + paint looking like new with routine clay bar, sealant and polish. The thing about paying $1k up front is you'll never get it back if your car is totaled.

This^^ When I bought my car I did a full detail of it myself. Washed and dried, clay barred the whole car, did minor paint correction, glazed it, sealed it and then waxed it. Car looks brand new and just need to maintain by washing and then using a synthetic spray wax.

No need for all that other ****.

I never understood why people would be willing to spend so much money to protect an average paint job. MB paint just isn't that good on their mass produced cars. For $7500-9000 you can get a custom paint job that easily outclasses the factory paint.

Not sure where $7500-$9000 is coming from for XPEL and ceramic coating. I had my GLC43 XPEL'd (full front bumper, full hood and side mirrors) and ceramic coated (GTechnic brand, full prep, 3 coats on vehicle, glass and wheels) for around $3200. 43 is black.

That said, I fully believe in the XPEL for the full front and maybe rockers/front of roof/front side panels, especially if you do a lot of highway driving, but not really sold on the ceramic coating. It seems to do an ok job and water def beads up, but for the cost, I probably wouldn't do again. Next vehicle will probably skip the ceramic and just have my detailer do full paint prep and use high quality wax. Yes, it has to be done 1-2 times a year, but much more effective and less costly, especially if you like to do yourself, IMO.

Either way, get multiple quotes and more importantly, find a reputable and highly recommended installer. It's all in the prep and application. Good luck!

100% worth it. Ceramic Coating leaves a wet look finish, makes it a breeze to clean (waterless cleaning) NO swirls on dark/black colored paint, and most importantly, it truly protects form bird sh*t. I had a bird poop on my SL, baked under the sun for almost half a day and left crap etching. I cleaned it off and didn't come off, BUT next day, its gone. Ceramic coating SELF HEALS!

$7,500-$9,000 was the local price to cover the entire car with Xpel and ceramic coat, not just sections. Hope that makes sense.

Man ain't that the truth. That's why I said I wouldn't spend that kind of money either. None of the automakers do a good paint job these days...on mass-produced cars anyway.. It's one of the places they save money. Then the Dealerships get their hands on them and make it worse. I NEVER let them wash my cars when I go in for service. Especially not after watching how they do it. No thanks.

That makes sense, but not sure why you'd get both on a vehicle. The XPEL "condom" would do the job by itself. That seems like overkill to me, and I'm pretty OCD, but to each his own. :y

hey man

I have a detailing business that I operate on the weekends from home as I used to do it as a professional many moons ago.

https://www.facebook.com/glasseffectdetailing/

You will find with ceramic coating its easier to clean the car and wheels if you coat them. There are plenty of great "consumer" grade products you can use yourself. I.E Gyeon MOHS and Gyeon Syncro.

This is my car after a full 3 stage paint correction


Paint correction is more important than the actual coating. My advice to you is that if you have never used a DA machine polisher or have little interest in detailing pay a professional to do it. If you go out buy everything you need you will save a minimal amount of money and will not get the same outcome as a pro.

As mentioned above all ceramic coatings need to be maintained correctly using PH neutral car wash via 2 bucket method. Ceramic coating will not stop stone chips or objects hitting the car with force. It will help to prevent swirl marks and wash marring, but you still have to wash and dry it correctly and carefully (i use a high powered hand pet blower) most marring/swirls comes from drying the car. Mercedes use Cerami-clear which is a hard clear coat and has a higher hardness rating than standard japanese paints. This makes it harder to correct if swirled but harder to also get damaged.

Machine polishing and ceramic coating is not rocket science but takes a long time and patience. The good thing about learning how to do it your self is that you can fix any future minor imperfections and recoat that panel, instead of going back to the shop who did your coating. Lets face it unless the car is in a bubble in a garage its going to get some swirls and chips etc.

All in all its worth it but needs to be washed properly and maintained or its not worth the $$$ to do it. Using a Wax sealant or ceramic coating is personal preference they all have their pros and cons. The misconception about ceramic coating is that people believe they can get their car coated and its bullet proof go out and wash it with a broom do zero maintenance and think its faulty.

Thanks