I am getting my car detailed next week. Is it worth getting the ceramic coating? The detailer uses Avalon King. Anybody have any experience with the coatings?
I am getting my car detailed next week. Is it worth getting the ceramic coating? The detailer uses Avalon King. Anybody have any experience with the coatings?
#RESIST
Following. We're getting my wife's 4Runner detailed and have the same question.
Ceramic makes it much easier to keep clean, PPF is much better for protection, it all depends what you want.
I was considering the same thing.Originally Posted by Poconnor
I have always been a devotee of the Liquid Glass product. My detailer suggested I try the ceramic. It was, in a word, meh. The LG lasted longer and seemed to shed dirt better. LG is now made by another company and called Finish First. It is cheaper, looks better, and lasts longer than ceramic (using shine and ability to repel water and dirt as the metric).
https://www.amazon.com/Liqui-Tech-Fi.../dp/B00AX9E3OC
"Knowledge is good." Emil Faber, date unknown.
I had it done and it makes my car much easier to wash. Garaged vehicle even two years later.
No experience with LG, but it sounds like the ceramic coating used was just one of the shitty spray on shelf products and other low-end DIY ceramic finishes that have flooded the market that don't do anything useful. How much did he charge to apply?
OP,
A useful ceramic job is a lot of money...around a grand or more, anything significantly less than that and you're probably getting duped. It's more for paint protection from uv rays, bird poo, and other contaminants than looks, IMO. They just don't give the same gloss and pop that a wax (carnauba or synthetic) gives. It's common for enthusiasts to get a professional ceramic as a "base coat" of protection and then wax regularly just as before on top of that for a consistently fresh gloss.
Ceramic will not protect your car from scratches by kids, your dog jumping on the side, sandstorms or even bad car washing practices. If you regularly take care of your paint, then it will help preserve your paint better...it is not a paint care replacement. If you take your car through automatic car washes, clean bird poo off your paint using windex, or don't otherwise routinely care for your paint, it's just wasted money as what you're doing is trashing the paint more than the ceramic will protect against anyway.
Similarly, if you're looking at doing it to a garaged and exceptionally well maintained hobby/weekend car, then it's likely wasted money as well, in my opinion, as it's not being exposed to UV rays on a constant basis, isn't getting shit on by birds, isn't being driven when a wax coating/synthetic sealant would be nearing the end of its usefulness before you knew it, etc.....sort of like putting 93 octane in most cars when the car is meant to take 87 and the 'puter won't even adjust for higher octanes anyway.
Last edited by TGS; 09-07-2021 at 03:47 PM.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
This was a hand applied $300 job.
"Knowledge is good." Emil Faber, date unknown.
Sorry, I'm not much of an SME on this stuff.
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