Car protection

[Chris355]

Do I wax or ceramic coat my car? I have always used a top quality wax (generally zymol) and get an amazing finish. However I have seen a lot of people using ceramic coatings and I'm tempted!

The car is not my daily and does not go out in the rain and rarely gets dirty, so does not suffer like most cars.

What do you all do? Pros and cons, especially from those have tried both, would be really helpful.

[Porsche911R]

Depends on colour IMO

There are many other sealants as well as ceramic also.

Zymol is a great product, if you think your cars looks amazing with it why even think about a change ?

[Chris355]

The car is black. In respect of finish I doubt it will look any better with ceramic coating.

It's more for the protection side of things. It is suggested that ceramic provides protection against scratches/swirls and is anti static which I assume will help with dust?

[TheBMWDriver]

I have had the ceramic coat done on many of my cars.

More recently I had it done on my cars by this company
https://www.minutiadetailing.com

Honestly I have never had such good work done. Im so so pleased with the result.

[kitesurfer2]

I have done it myself quite a few times using Gtechniq, and done well is better than wax in finish and much more durable.
Works particularly well on Black.

[Porsche911R]

Chris355 said:

The car is black. In respect of finish I doubt it will look any better with ceramic coating.

It's more for the protection side of things. It is suggested that ceramic provides protection against scratches/swirls and is anti static which I assume will help with dust?

I don't think it offers any more protection, some say it does, but I find that hard to believe myself.

Zymol on Black looks great.

[finestjammy]

I had a multilayer glasscoat applied using these products, including Diamas.

http://proglasscoat.com

I live just around the corner from the head quarters, Reflectology, but he licenses out the products to accredited detailers. Looks like there are a couple in your area (Colchester and Chafford Hundred).

I really rate the finish and protection. The main reason I had it done is that I hate spending hours polishing/waxing but I still wanted the car to look good. I just use a PH neutral snow foam, rinse off and then dry and I'm good to go. Always looks great with very little effort. A few pics:

https://flickr.com/photos/127106037@N07/sets/72157...

Found a video of mine too, forgot this was done All of this might be overkill for yours, but mine is a daily so I thought it was worth it.

https://youtu.be/xZXLjSXRNIM

Edited by finestjammy on Monday 16th May 15:03

[stevepen]

Protection from what? As you said your car doesn't go out in the rain and rarely gets dirty. Don't think there will be any advantage in your situation.

[TheAnimal]

Kamikaze nothing else.

http://www.divinedetail.co.uk/

[paddy328]

The main thing that a ceramic/glass coat sealant offers that a wax doesnt, is protection against putting swirls and marring back into the paintwork. A wax will help keep the car clean and won't suffer from any water spotting like some sealants might, but it won't last nearly as long.

I used to be swissvax authorised, but now I'm Gtechniq authorised. I still use wax when asked (swissvax utopia), but most people go for a sealant now. Normally crystal serum. The downside for detailers is a car that has a wax applied will often get quarterly or half yearly top ups, but there is no need to do that for at least a couple of years with a high end sealant.

You have to think what will be best for your car and also how often it will be used and if it will be out in all weathers etc.

At the end of the day, any wax or sealant will give a small overall improvement to the look of the car, but its the machine polishing to remove the defects and swirl marks that will give the real improvement.