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I purchased a 13 month old 2023 red mist coupe last month. The original owner of the car paid good money to have the front and rocker panels wrapped in what he believed would be Xpel Ultimate PPF and to have it ceramic coated. Having several of the edges of the PPF begin to lift, I took the car back to the installer of the PPF. He told me that it was from somebody using too strong of a power washer. He also told me that the warranty was non transferable. He obviously had no intent on making things right. He also informed me that he did NOT use Xpel Ultra and that he never agreed that he would. (Even though the receipt he provided say Xpel Ultra) The guy is obviously a crook. My question is that he also charged the original owner $1,000 to install Gtechniq Ceramic Coating w/ 9-year warranty. Now knowing the crook that he is, how can I tell if it was ever done. I have no trust in what this guy says or what the receipt shows. I want the car protected but really looking to spend another $1,000 unnecessarily. Any way to tell?
I did this at home with a $15 product in less than one hour. Why spend more. It only looks like this for an hour. After a drive, rain, pollen, they all look the same. Save your money.
Previous owners problem, you should move on. Reset, don't bother with this guy, do a nice paint correction and a hand finish yourself. The difference between high end ceramics and the new do it yourself products is minimal. It's a good thing to learn.
I did this at home with a $15 product in less than one hour. Why spend more. It only looks like this for an hour. After a drive, rain, pollen, they all look the same. Save your money.
Looks fantastic but does it have the protection ceramic has?
I fully understand the desire take care of cars and is none of my business to be critical of those who spend large amounts of money on their cars, to each their own. We are paying big bucks for our dream cars.
I enjoy taking care of my cars and they always look great, my recipe is simple and does not include ceramic protection, I have felt I don't need it. Instead, there are frequent car washes with quality products, clean every accessible inch, cars are garaged, never driven on dirt or gravel roads, and if I am not driving on open roads my following distance is always more than recommended. My oldest car is 5 years old and it did suffer a 1/32" rock chip on the paint a couple of years back which was corrected with touch up paint and only a magnifying glass could possibly determine its location.
I am not part of the rich and famous, don't like to spend on what I don't need to, and most important, I don't want anyone working on my cars specially if it is something I can do myself unless it is absolutely necessary. I am only stating my methods, perhaps there are other fellow members here who take care of their cars in a similar manner as I do.
First of all, sorry you’re going through this. That is incredibly frustrating and I can understand the annoyance with it all.
as usual, you ask a question and will get 200 people giving their opinions on why they polish their garage queen that has 300 miles and has never seen a rain drop looks great without ceramic.
to answer your question - yes you can tell a difference when the car is wet. A ceramic coated car will have a bajillion little dots of water/little puddles while a non ceramic coated car will have more like larger sheets. It will only work though if the car hasn’t been detailed/polished in awhile and has been exposed to the elements so that any spray on ceramic/wax has worn off. This is what you’re looking for.
you can also put a few water drops on your roof or another flat area and blow on the drops. If the water slidessss across the flat surface without shrinking in size/leaving a trail of water/streak - then it’s ceramic coated (again, assuming the car hasn’t been detailed recently)
Does water pour off or bead up? Thats the test. There's plenty of detail products you can spray to make it glossy & slick, and protect. If you want to spend the money since you aren't sure, get a Stage I paint correction, and then ceramic coating from a reputable shop you know will do it right.
Example, I took mine to Blast Brothers in Warminster PA (about 2 hrs from you). They sent me a detailed video of the paint flaws BEFORE correction. They then sent me a detailed music video of my car IN progress of PPF, ceramic coating and afterwards. This is this is the type of shop you want to go to, not a run of the mill volume place. My car took 4 days
As was said, I would move on. If it was my car, I would just pull off the PPF, clean the car until it was spotless and then Ceramic Coat it myself.
I use P&S Detail Products (they have a couple products like the Inspiration). I used it on the Vette and I use it on my Boat. Fantastic Product. Vette has been coated for almost 2 years and the water still beads off with a leaf blower.
It’s pretty easy to do, I did leave a bit on too long on a small square-inch section under the spoiler, but other than that it’s hard to mess up and fortunately you can’t see that unless you are cleaning it, or looking for it.
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If the PPF is lifting, might as well just have it removed. If you want the added protection, then go to a trusted shop and have them reinstall.
Then if you want the car ceramic coated, watch a few of the available videos to see if it is something you feel comfortable doing - if not, find a good shop to do the coating for you.
Ceramic is not brain surgery. It applies like wax- how difficult is that? Save money and do it yourself.
I get that but if it was in fact done like it was suppose to have been, I hate to destroy the professional $1,000 install. I would just like a way to find out if it has it or not. IF not, I 100% agree and would either do it myself or just always have a good wax protecting it.
I did this at home with a $15 product in less than one hour. Why spend more. It only looks like this for an hour. After a drive, rain, pollen, they all look the same. Save your money.
First the guarantee for the Gtechniq states it is non-transferrable so maybe not much good to you.
Second the guarantee covers "will not stain or become discolored" That's it no guaranty it actually does anything and it is not hydrophobic to begin with.
Third, in order to keep the guarantee active " you must visit the Gtechniq Accredited Detailer who applied your original coatings every 12 months during the period of you guarantee" and that is the killer. Who wants to waste time every year and guess what? You are not a priority to the installer who does not really want to do this so wants your car for the day.
XPEL also requires an annual inspection for the product to be guaranteed.
In almost all "coatings" the product may have a guarantee, but the installation does not so its critical to check out the installer.
I would suggest taking the car to another PPF/coatings installer and seeing what can be done.
I bought my ELB 2022 HTC from a PO with 1000 miles on it. He had paid $8k for PPF entire car and the another $1500 on Ceramic. He did not get a dime of that back when I bought the car from him. The Xpel was done extremely well but I just never really liked it.
I just bought my 70th Anniversary ZO6 from a PO with only 5 miles on it. He had the car Ceramic coated, which for me is perfect.
I will not do any PPF. Was as a Cars and Coffee last weekend and a highly recommended installer came by and quoted me $4000 for the “front end package”. No thanks.
Have not done any of my Vettes for the last 25 years and have never regretted it.
I'm from a different school especially since the move down south. Our roads here contains plenty of sand. Maybe because we are surrounded on both sides of with salt water and beaches. Someone told me that they construct roads here using local soil for filler which explain the sand. Not sure if true. But I also enjoy riding my Harleys and I do "feel" getting pelted with the fine sand especially when I get behind a p/u or something with large wheels. Excuse the long missive leading to my point. I have used XPEL Ultimate for the past dozen of so cars and trucks. If properly installed and "maintained" it last. Plus protects the car/truck. Of course unless a meteor hits. Then all beats are off.
Putting on the ceramic coating is the easy part, the paint correction is the time consuming and the part of the process where more harm than good can be done to the finish.
Ceramic Coating really done?
