DIY ceramic coating

[catsandtrees]

Hi guys, had my car 10 days now and thinking whether to save up and pay for Ceramic Coating/detailing or to try it myself.

I understand it will need to be snowed, clayed, etc first if I do it myself.

Just wanted to get your opinions on DIY. Have any of you done the entire process yourselves? If so, what products did you use? How long did it take?

My car was mopped just prior to collection but I have just put 1k miles on it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gasgas]

What have you got to loose other than a few hours, with the trade off of knowing you did it. No brainer, have ago and post a nice picture of the finished article,

Clay bar can be tricky, try using a white sprit to get tar spots off.

 

[catsandtrees]

What have you got to loose other than a few hours, with the trade off of knowing you did it. No brainer, have ago and post a nice picture of the finished article,

Clay bar can be tricky, try using a white sprit to get tar spots off.

 

[Cluck]

If you want a simple ceramic coat, that's easy to put on, then the Autoglym stuff is worth a punt. As with all decoration though, preparation is the key. Snow foam, 2 bucket wash with wax-free shampoo, clean tar spots off (clay is not the best tool for that, use a liquid tar dissolver, as mentioned already by gasgas), then clay if you feel the surface is rough (use plenty of lubricant for this step) and then you're basically set to start with the Autoglym stuff - that comes with a cleaning liquid to remove as much old wax etc as possible, and then the ceramic coating itself.

One thing you need to make sure of though is that you have access to somewhere dry AND clean. All ceramic coatings take time to dry and you don't want dust and other contaminants bonding in with it as it dries.

Don't forget to do your wheels and glass too. GTechniq have some fantastic stuff for both - the windscreen treatment is still going strong on mine after a year (albeit with not a huge amount of mileage). The wheel treatment will make cleaning them MUCH easier.

You can spend an awful lot of time if you want to do it right (and do far more than the simplified steps above), but the end result can be well worth it. If all else fails, pay to have it done for you, with a full correction job on the paint to get it looking better than new!

 

[Lunar]

I did mine recently, pretty much as above.
Tried it first on the wife’s new i10
Mine was mopped before purchase too, as it had a few swirl marks, so I just gave it a light stage 2 polish (same with the i10) with Meguirs and used Wipe Out before applying the ceramic coating.
I did it over 2 weekends (boot, rear bumper, haunches, winglets and screen surround first, then bonnet, nose cone, doors and sills later) as it’s not something you can rush with all the prep work.
As said, if doing outdoors you really do need to plan for a warm overcast day with no rain in 24 hrs - also beware dust, pollen, blossom, bird target practice etc. My prep started in cool mornings, with application once decently past 10 C and staying up for the next 4 hours minimum, with no o/night frost / dew. So yeah, much less stress if done indoors with good lighting!

 

[gasgas]

just keep it polished every now and then