Ceramic Coating - professional or diy

[Coley88]

I’ve recently ordered a new car and am considering having it protected in the form of a ceramic coating.

The detailed I used before charges £550 assuming it doesn’t need any pre paint protection work done. That’ll be another £200, at which point it starts getting very pricy imo and to the point where I probably won’t bother.

I was in Halfords today (I know), and came across this product which is a diy ceramic kit for £100.

https://shop.autofinesse.co.uk/caramics/caramics-c...

From a quick google search it appears to be relatively recently released with not much info about.

As ever, I appreciate that you get what you pay for etc. but assuming it’s not complete crap, it could be a happy middle ground.

Does anyone have any comments that may help.

Edited by Coley88 on Sunday 9th September 20:15

[sonnenschein3000]

I've never used the product you mention so I can't comment on it.

However, if it were me, I'd stick to getting the detailer to do it.

[Sy1441]

You really need to be at least a moderately skilled amateur to take on a ceramic coating.

If you use less than 2 buckets to wash your car then get a professional in.

[Ashtray83]

Sign yourself up over on detailing world for better advice... beware its addictive and gets very expensive very quickly
I would probably pay for a pro the in the first instance if you get the dealer to skip the preparation on your car it shouldn’t need much work

[lord trumpton]

There are ceramic coatings for the layman like the Halfords stuff but the majority of high end ceramic coatings used by detailers need extremely methodical application and require curing by infra red lighting to offer the protection associated with ceramics.

https://www.offyourmarks.com/protection+detail-2.h...

[Coley88]

I understand that the detailer will do a far superior job & use much better products, I`m just not sure I can stomach the potential cost of £750.

Thanks for the comments guys

[Summit_Detailing]

The Autofinesse kit is brand new on the market so you won't find anyone who's had first hand experience of using the product.

What car is it you are picking up?...if it's from a mainstream, volume brand and you ask your sales contact at the dealer that you don't want them to prepare it in any way & thus the detailer who's quoted you won't be adding the £200 on to your invoice.

If the £550 is for a Gtechniq or Gyeon coating these will outlast the Autofinesse product you've linked to in terms of durability so as a cost per year it'd work out less.

cheers

Chris

[Podie]

Not cheap, but Gtechniq do a course which includes a ceramic coating... https://gtechniq.com/customer-service/training/

[finlo]

Mr fix 9h and have a nice holiday with what you've just saved.

[FWIW]

lord trumpton said:

There are ceramic coatings for the layman like the Halfords stuff but the majority of high end ceramic coatings used by detailers need extremely methodical application and require curing by infra red lighting to offer the protection associated with ceramics.

https://www.offyourmarks.com/protection+detail-2.h...

I used this guy years ago, I think he’d just started up. He is very thorough indeed, highly recommended.

[Coley88]

finlo said:

Mr fix 9h and have a nice holiday with what you've just saved.

At that sort of money, that`s about the size of it!