[XtRaSlo]

It has been a while. But since we’re inline with the topic of ceramic coat. I did the corolla as well. There is not much to document but here are some shots of the corolla. I cut the orange peel off the paint before the coating. Water doesn’t want to be on the car at all!
Edit: forgot to mention that I coated everything even the windows. Almost all the vertical panels are spotless, no water hangs around like theses flat panels. I did polish all of the windows too with CeriGlass from CarPro before.

I have another carbonated series coming soon… will post when it’s done. Waiting for some parts to come in. It’s going to have a unique type of carbon with leather.


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How's the application process?

 

[Esso]

How's the application process?

The process is easy but time consuming. The final product really depends on how well the surface is prepped before the coating.

First step is to do your paint correction. Remove any grit or imperfections in the paint before you apply the product. This usually involves cleaning, clay bar, compound, polish. Then, a IPA wipe down.

When you apply the ceramic coat it’s just like a wax in a liquid form. It takes very little of that stuff to cover a 2x2 surface. About 4 drops on a saturated applicator. When you apply the ceramic it will have a slight rainbow look to it. It will evaporate and create a bubbling effect that are in a line formation on top of the surface. This process takes a couple minutes so you have to let it sit until you see micro bubbles. The way you apply it is in a cross hatch pattern. I find that doing 4 cross hatched in one 2x2 section is enough to fully embed the ceramic.

Next, The hard part is buffing it off. You need one microfiber towel to remove the bulk of the excess. Then, switch to a second “final wipe” microfiber. You need to use the first towel ALWAYS to get the excess. This is because the ceramic will absolutely saturate the first microfiber and it will leave behind the excess. It will show if you don’t buff it all off. If in doubt, grab a brand new microfiber to wipe it down again. It doesn’t hurt to go over it a third time with a new towel. So, towel 1 will always grab the excess. Towel 2 for final wipe. Towel 3 for OCD.

You will spend at least 1-2 hours each coat of ceramic. My Gtechniq ceramic is two stage or two layers. Layer 1 is Crystal Serum Light which is a ceramic primer. Layer 2 is EXO which is a extra hydrophobic layer. The second layer is the same application but it is a lot more forgiving. The first layer is the most intensive part as it is the backbone of the whole ceramic deal. When this stuff dries, it’s going to be so slick you would have to identify the vehicle being a modern stealth bomber plane. There goes your insurance rates. But at least you will no longer need to take all that time to clean the car because the water just takes the dirt away.

Some keen advice is: throw away the towels you used to do the ceramic coat. When the ceramic dries on the towels it will turn into sandpaper on a microscopic level. No point in keeping it to scratch up your cars.
Lastly, you have to forget how to wash a normal car. A ceramic coated car is not the same. When I wash, I use ceramic type soap on my soap cannon. Then, two bucket wash with a plush mitt. Power wash everything off. Blow dry the car. The least amount of physical contact to the surface of the car the better! Drying towels will be deleted from your car wash kit, I guarantee it. Your first ceramic wash will immediately show you there is something different about a ceramic coated car. Water will literally jump off the surface while taking dust, debris, and soap with it. I still need to get a leaf blower but I borrowed my friends and I literally don’t have to use a drying towel. It’s faster and more efficient than a damn drying towel. Plus, less chances of scratches.

As for the amount of mL you need. The corolla can be done less than 30mL each coat if your experienced and can conserve product. I’ve done my corolla as the 4th vehicle I’ve done and I did it with 20mL even all the windows. So Crystal Serum Light 30mL and EXO 30mL. If you want to do the Supra, they sell the 50mL kits as well and that should be enough for both. I did my Lexus RX with about 33-35mL and that girl took forever, she thic(+did them 20” shoes as well).

Since your ceramic coating, always consider polishing up the windows, polishing the wheels, fixing any headlight haze before you do it. Even the brake calipers. The ceramic is a great protection layer. The ceramic bottle does have some time limits before it starts to crystallize in the bottle so make it worth it. Ive tried to used old ceramic successfully but I don’t yet know the limitations or any drawbacks yet. It ended up working just fine after filtering the crystals but I don’t have a definitive answer to this yet.

Let me know if you run into anything. Preparation is key for this sweet slick coat.


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