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New car - ceramic vs wax

6K views 23 replies 18 participants last post by  RS3 
#1 ·
Moved from general chat >
I’ll make it short and sweet - new car (brand new, to be clear), red metallic (Skoda Velvet red metallic) and from my limited experience a good wax brought out the red on my Audi S4 just *chefs kiss* so.

What’s everyone’s opinion- will I get that gloss, slickness, vibrancy and sparkle from a coating?
 
#2 ·
Most of the pro's would say most of the looks will come from machine polishing. Some even say there's not much difference in looks. Lot of this stuff is subjective.

I'm a coating guy personally. If i had a garage maybe i would play around with waxes. Most just don't last very long.
 
#5 ·
Honestly? Laziness.
This will be the first ever *new* car I've purchased and I want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible. I also have a project car with vintage paint that will need it's own paint maintenance regime to figure out so to not worry about the daily for 18m would be a godsend to my sanity!
 
#9 · (Edited)
There are plenty coatings out there which will easily last 18 months plus, which you can apply yourself as long as you do the correct prep first.
Even with a brand new car, be prepared for the fact that there will be defects, so be prepared to do some polishing before your chosen LSP.
Kamikaze Coatings do give a good gloss, a candy like gloss. You can buy Myabi Coat and ISM Coat and apply yourself, but Zipang Coat is professional only.
The likes of Myabi Coat, Gtechniq CSL, Carpro Cquartz 3.0 UK etc are fairly easy to use and will give around 2 years protection provided they are properly maintained.
For a very easy coating, have a look at Pyramid Car Care.
An average price for a detailer to carry out a new car detail with ceramic coating would be up to £1000, depending on how much polishing is required, and which products are used for LSP.
I imagine that price would go up a bit if you went for something like Crystal Serum Ultra, which is a 9 year coating I believe.
 
#10 ·
Most of the coatings have a topper or interim work needed, the notion that you can put any costing on the just leave it is a misconception.

For longevity ceramic will win, yet the facet of waxing is that you just apply another layers or replaced the original when the beading or sheeting is reduced, be that 4weeks 3months ect. Many seal type waxes get through the winter, even on all my well prepped black cars.

Perhaps one, is have the time or desire to keep replacing the wax on a constant basis,some have others do not.

As said the look differs where the results are subjective where wax may look darker yet warmer. A ceramic cars look glowing initially perhaps depending on care in how long you can keep that look active..

Perhaps just two methods of a similar process, side by side it may be hard to determine which is which.

Does a ceramic car require less attention, depends on the individual, a quality presentation in any format takes time, sometimes a lot of time..

I am still a wax guy, perhaps it is the process I like or just the tradition of old school in following that method.

Perhaps I feel it makes a difference if I am attending to the need of the paint on a constant basis, for me it is relaxing plus enjoyable, I can enjoy those 5 min of a clean black car before that whole process and quest starts again....lol

John Tht
 
#11 ·
Moved from general chat >
I'll make it short and sweet - new car (brand new, to be clear), red metallic (Skoda Velvet red metallic) and from my limited experience a good wax brought out the red on my Audi S4 just *chefs kiss* so.

What's everyone's opinion- will I get that gloss, slickness, vibrancy and sparkle from a coating?
Funnily enough I had a Velvet red Seat Ateca as my last car,
I Machine polished it and applied Migliore Forte graphene coating, I was thrilled with the finish until I gave it its first wash, this left me a bit disappointed as it appeared as if there was no protection on the paint.
No beading, no sheeting.
So I reverted back to my old reliable, Sonax Polymer net shield, with an occasional topping of Sonax BSD,
I now have a Nevada white ( metallic again ) and am going to use PNS again, but this time use their new ceramic QD as a topper.
I would strongly advise this.
 
#15 ·
The ceramic is much more durable and is more protective but the trouble is, once its applied that's it for the long term, no more polishing etc so if your not happy there's nothing you can do except m/c it off and start again.
I'm really impressed with the ceramic I had fitted to my garage queen nearly 5 years ago which is still going strong. Always very glossy looking and I haven't managed to induce any love marks on it at all whereas the car that I wax regularly is showing some of that love and now needs a polish but I wont be applying ceramic as I need a car to wax because I love applying different waxes and enjoy the different colours and styles of water behaviour they bring.
Wax for keen detailers, Ceramic for the rest IMO.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Its not that hard to remove a coating. I used 3D one and the rupes yellow foam to remove 5 day old, 2 layers of c.quartz. It will gum up pads fast though, (i could see it coming off) IME.

That was back in may, after i polished it off my trunk lid due to terrible high spots, i applied just 1 coat with reload after a hour. It still beads like the crazy. No wax or sealant can do that IME not in my situation. I don't maintain the car that well either since i work away for home up to 4 weeks at a time.

Define "keen". I think you have to be considerably more keen to apply a high solid coating then a wax. :D

If you want robust and long lasting protection for a daily driver coatings have no equal.
 
#17 ·
Most Coatings most problem they have - is waterspotting. There not many, which resist this problem and this where problems begin….

Try detail kingdom S2 or maxprotect unc-r coatings.

If you want good look dark red -then gyeon new wax, shine supply signature, warm look Bilt Hambet finish wax.

Best wetness is come scholl concepts w6 and their spray high shine wax. Nothing beat to wetness, which come these two combo.

But if you polish paint perfect, then most lsp’s wont give better shine (many drop down) they just change glow, sharpness, clear or haze.
 
#18 ·
I like to (lightly) polish the car annually to keep the paint fresh so have not bothered with coatings and stick with waxes in summer and sealants in winter, just my preference here by the way. If i didn't want to do that level of work then coating start to look more and more attractive as they provide better surface protection for arguably less effort in the upkeep side.
 
#19 ·
95% of the gloss will come from the prep - decon, polishing, refining. If you've done those steps right, the remaining 5% (even that's optimistic) is in your protection product and if you pick the right coating it can offer as much visually as a wax or any other form of protection.

The main benefit of the coating re. gloss, is locking in that gloss for a MUCH longer period - with a wax or sealant, the gloss will generally fall away within weeks. Of course you can top this with a QD or re-applying entirely, but again there is no substitute for protecting a freshly polished surface.

Coatings have other benefits in terms of self cleaning, minor wash marring resistance etc, but they are generally more expensive and require more thorough prep.
 
#22 ·
Very good example of newbie wanting a quick reply and panacea for all dropping it in chat.
If you read the welcome to a newbie Mack The Tank there is a good reason when joining they ask you to introduce yourself, read the rules and tips posting. Best tip is get familiar with search facility, it's the best tip on this forum for me.
As you have seen, so many have spent their time to reply (I didn't at the time, kind of gave up on these one time posts) and supplied really good points and suggestions. All those would be found with search ... who said "Lazy"?
Seriously, everyone wants to help on here, but show willing and do your bit.
A new car is a big deal and investment, this is the best place to answer your questions, concerns and options. Just buy in and do ya bit is all most want and you will get bundles of help and guidance, We're all in the same boat on that :thumb:

:wave::wave:A belated welcome to the forum Mack:wave::wave:
 
#24 ·
Out of interest which Skoda is it and are you sure you are getting it when you hoped?.

I've just been reading all the complaints from Kodiaq and Enyaq buyers who have received letters from Skoda putting back delivery times by 3 to 6 months mainly due to the chip shortage.
 
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