been with this product?

 

No personal experience, but I hear that Opti-Coat Pro and C Quartz are the two leading contenders.

 

I've had 2 cars done totally in cquartz. It's an amazing product! You won't be disappointed. The depth of clear coat shine is just phenomenal!

 

There was not a detailer in my area that offered C Quartz so I went with Ceramic Pro and I am very pleased with it. During the first rain we had after it was applied, the water rolled off in sheets while the remainder beaded and then just disappeared. Not one spot. You could not even tell it had rained. The true test will come in May when we are inundated by thousands of Love Bugs that stick to the front of the car like glue.

 

Dealer is trying to sell me the X-Pack interior and exterior treatment from MotorOne X-PACK - Protection in Xtreme Situations » MotorOne

I've always been highly skeptical about protection products sold by dealers. Does anyone have any thoughts on this product, or protection products in general?

 

Oz, I'm with you and always been a skeptic. I hand-wash frequently, use clean micro-fiber towels, and wax often enough to keep water beading up. My cars have always retained that new car look many years later without using them. However, the majority of active participants here swear by them.

 

Foosh, I fully agree that careful washing and waxing can maintain the original shine for years. My 13 year old MINI is proof (except for the high speed paint chips on the hood). However, quartz coatings add an incredible depth to the paint, giving it a candy apple appearance. I will be giving it a try when my beast arrives.

 

I actually do high-end paint correction & detailing, so I speak from a bit of experience here...

When it comes to protecting the paint finish on your vehicle, you essentially have three options:
Wax, sealant or coating.

What most people don't realize is - the shine/reflection that you see is achieved from the prep (washing, claying, polishing, etc.) prior to applying the LSP (last step product)

90% of the shine comes from the prep, while the other 10% is LSP

Waxes
Generally defined as any product that contains a natural or synthetic waxy ingredients that are intended to protect the paint and/or add beauty to the paint. These types traditional waxes will wear off under normal wear-n-tear, repeated washings and exposure to the environment.


Paint Sealants
Generally defined as any protection product that contains man-made or synthetic ingredients that are intended to protect the paint and/or add beauty to the paint. These traditional sealants will wear off under normal wear-n-tear, repeated washing and exposure to the environment.


Coatings
Generally defined as any paint protection product that contains man-made or synthetic protection ingredients that are intended to permanently bond to the paint to both provide a barrier-coating of protection as well as create a clear, high gloss finish. The products available in this category are considered permanent coatings because like your car's paint, they cannot be removed unless you purposefully remove them or you purposefully neglect them.

For those that enjoy washing and waxing, a coating makes no sense - If you don't wash often, and never want to wax/seal, a coating makes sense.

I personally don't care for coatings.

 

Someone is applying sand to your car? Confused...

 

I agree 100%

It is all in the prep.

I too do detailing and I prefer for a LSP is to use Menzerna Power Lock

2 coats, 3 hour cure in between coats. should last 3-6 months depending on what you use to wash your car.

If you hand wash and use the cheap car wash soap from the major brands. This will strip the sealant. If you use a good quality car wash shampoo that is gentle you should get 6 months minimum.

 

+1 on the Menzerna line of products.

I'm a big fan of Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant, which I believe is very similar to Power Lock.

 

Some of The Wolfgang product is made by Menzerna , I think they actually say so on their web site.

 

yup, they are.

 

Does the coatings not help in preventing paint chips.??

 

No, no coating can prevent rock chips, however it MAY protect the paint from road rash caused by tiny sand fragments at high speed.

 

Sorry thats what I realy meant ( road rash ). not actual rock chips.

 

The average thickness of a layer of coating is between 0.7 µm ~1.5 µm. That obviously doesn't provide much protection against road rash/debris. The main purpose of the coating is to provide protection against bird droppings, insects, acid rain, etc.

Keep in mind, the coating will suffer the cosmetic damage of these things, and hopefully leave the clear-coat underneath it unscathed.

You will still get swirls, scratches and imperfections - they would have to be buffed out and the coating re-applied.

...hope that makes sense

 

 

My 2 cents: in 40 years of new cars, washing, clay barring and waxing, I've never seen that kind of shine until these new coatings arrived. I'm going to give one of them at least one try at it.

 

At 1:15 and 1:34, they refer to "the holograms" - what do they mean? At 1:34, it say "holograms removed". Huh?