I want to make sure we are stating the proper terminology here. You don't "polish" off ceramic... Polish is used as a final step after you Compound (or cut). There is no need for acetone or any fancy chemicals. Ceramic coatings are a few microns thick so its not difficult to remove with the proper process.

1) You MUST use a DA Polisher - you will not remove ceramic doing it by hand. If you don't have a DA Polisher, you can get one at Harbor Freight for about $80 (don't let the price fool you, its an outstanding polisher).
2) You need to get a "cutting" pad. This combined with COMPOUND (not Polish) will "cut" or remove the layer of ceramic with no issues. I personally use Adam's Compound with the blue pad and then follow up with Adam's Polish with the white pad (but you can use Meguiars if you prefer).
3) All 4 dime size dots of compound on the cutting pad - rub the pad over the surface to spread out the compound (so it does splatter everywhere when you turn on the polisher)
4) Now at setting #3 (or whatever is 1/2 speed for your polisher) do cross-hatching patterns up and down (twice) and then back and forth (twice) - make sure you move slowly so it gives the pad and compound time to remove the ceramic
5) Buff away the compound and now test your work with some water. Spray some water on the area - if it doesn't bead water like it did when it was ceramic coated, then you are back down to raw clear coat. If not, repeat steps 3, 4 and 5.
6) You then need to polish that area because the cutting pad will leave some minor "micro-marring" that will be removed by polishing. This will also bring out the shine as well.
7) Clean that area really good with isopropyl alcohol and then reapply your ceramic coating. Again, I highly recommend Adam's Advanced Graphene Ceramic Coating - but use whatever you want.

 

Man after getting an education on ceramic..... All new to me....... I'd go to the man!!! Things like this scare me and I'm a big DIYER. Got a good education.

Just had my new car coated. First car I've ever had done. Dude wanted $400 to pull the wheels and I figured I could do that and did. But I did learn pretty quick that you need to know what you are doing and spread it just so. Fortunately it turned out great but I doubt I'd take on the car surface. My guy says he's had a number of DIYER disasters and it was a bear to fix, now I understand why.

 

Since the ceramic coating is so well adhered why remove it?

 

Because I need 3m tape to stick for my side skirts I'm going to install. Supposedly nothing you want will stick to ceramic coating.

 

Good stuff to know, I had no idea it was that hard to remove. I'll stick to old school wax and detail spray. What a pain in the 🫏

 

It's not hard. Any buffer w a cutting pad and swirl/scratch remover will remove it. But I'm with you, a good wax works good enough imo. If I want better protection I'd go with PPF.

 

I bought the Z06 type rear fender stripes for my C8 Stingray when they came out. The car already had a Ceramic Pro Gold lifetime coating. After a little research I decided to take the car to the Ceramic Pro installer and let him remove the ceramic, install the stripes, and apply new ceramic. Better safe than sorry, and the price was worth avoiding all that work myself.

 

I agree, it’s not hard to remove it at All, it may take a few passes, but it almost comes off as easy as it goes on , with the right tools and compound product.

 

Silly question, how does one know that it’s been removed?

 

There would be zero hydrophobic properties on the surface of that area...

 

correct, the water will bead differently between coat and no coat, or I should just say , it really doesn’t bead much at all with no ceramic

 

Wow! All that fretting about removing Ceramic coat and I find out the guy I had do it wasn't thorough. And he wanted a couple a benjamins to remove something he never applied. I guess you should make sure who you have doing your coating has a lift. What's funny is I'm glad he didn't grobble around on the ground doing the lowest part! The rocker extensions covered everything he didn't do. Kudos to who said to do a test with a little piece of 3M tape as it told all!