Dealer applied ceramic?
 

Looks like March is the month for my ZR1 build & museum pickup oh boy!
Local GM dealer ( not who I purchased the car from ) tells me they will ceramic coat it for $600, two day process.
Seems worthwhile but there are other options for this application locally but unsure how best to decide.
Cheers

Only problem with letting the dealer do it is you don't know how much experience the guy doing it has. If it is not done right you could have problems later. My buddy let his dealer do it and it looked horrible. He ended up taking it to get redone at a shop that actually knew what they were doing. You'll pay a few hundred dollars more but in the end you will be glad you did. Congrats on the new ZR1 man!!

Many thanks but I would have the same issue I think w/the other couple places locally that advertise doing ceramic coatings.

Try calling shops that do Xpel .. Most of the time they do ceramic coating also.

My local Ziebart shop does Xpel and ceramic but I have no idea if they are as good or better than the GM dealer...

I'd highly recommend contacting a specialized detail shop. They will explain the various ceramic coating options and suggest the one that best suites your needs. They will also want to do at least a one step correction first.

I wouldnt let a dealer touch it, they sell that out anyway im sure. Probably some mobile guy they make money off of.

OP, you never know how experienced ANY shop is.

First, I would ask them if this includes paint correction FIRST.

Second, ask about their shop's experience doing this. You don't want to be their first ceramic coat job!

Third, I would ask for references and pictures of other cars they've done before.



The paint correction part is critical. You don't want them sealing (with ceramic coating) marred paint. So if they say to you, "why would we paint correct a brand new car?", walk the hell away....

Like many of my fellow ZR1 Brothers & Sisters I have been planning to have my Ceramic Matrix Grey #1354 fully wrapped with paint protection film to protect the surface from flying debris and oil & chemicals from the road/track that I might encounter. I had my Black 16 CTS-V partially wrapped with Xpel (Full front end, Mirrors, door cups, Rockers, rear fenders and trunk lip) and it saved me on more that one occasion. Because of this...I passed on any protection packages from the Dealer (even if they offered PPF & Ceramic I was going to my guy do the job no matter what).

In the last few of years, all of the detail shops that offer PPF are now fully into nano coatings...just like the dealers were really pushing polymer coatings for the last 25 years. To me the whole coating business is like swimming with sharks...it feels like a profit grab for the detailers to charge $1000 to correct your paint + $2000 to ceramic coat your car (with a 10 year warranty) and then require you come back every year for $500+ maintenance. It is only natural for the New Car Dealers to catch this revenue before you leave with your car and to get the recurring revenue (like with polymer coatings). I just don't think a New Car Dealership will have the same attention to detail as a true detail shop, as their staff are more about detailing the 10 cars they received in inventory today and also the 10 they just sold.

Since I was only planning on Xpel ppf...I was very hesitant to "jump at the $7000 my guy wanted to charge me for Full Xpel + Ceramic Pro Gold ( 5 layers of application vs 2 layers with Silver) after paint correction. Since we are still experiencing winter here in the Pacific NW, my ZR1 is sitting in my garage under a soft cover with 4 miles on it after picking it up on Dec 28th. I think this topic is educating yourself about what benefits Ceramic Coatings offer and then who you can trust to sell/apply the best product for your ZR1. Some of you might consider applying the coating yourself, in my case, I can't see myself cutting my ZR1 to remove the Orange Peel in the GM Paint, then applying 5 coats of nano coating with UV curing between coats, this is of course after having the ppf installed, as there is no way I could apply the ppf to my ZR1, I can barely wrap the screen of my iPhone without bubbles. My advice is talk to a detail shop that has an actual address about what the benefits and processes are so you can make educated decisions. Anyone can claim it is a waste of money...but not everyone expects the benefits of the treatments until they experience the disappointment of chipped paint and poor luster over time (and will trash the quality of the GM paint). Most of the cost of ppf installs and nano-treatments from a detail shop is labor as it takes time to do an entire car (especially if the PPF is installed and trimmed from a roll so that all of the edges are rolled under as opposed to cad cut from a pattern and exposed edges).

After my research and talking to several detail shops, I have found there are shops that are true craftsmen that represent products that protect their reputation and limit their exposure to having to "fix" issues that substandard products would create for them (you will hear stories of using a 'brand" and then removing and reapplying a better "brand" for free from these shops). In the end I need to trust the shop as I am not going to have whatever treatment done multiple time to get the best product/result, and if I am willing to pay $7000 + as my shop knows the expectation that comes with the expense. Trust me, when you find the right detail shop, they are going to be very busy treating cars that have a much higher cost of admittance than our ZR1's. Hard to believe that hand built cars need paint correction...we all swim in the same ocean.

In the end I did not use my guy, as my research led me to more of a craftsman type shop that installs Stek film and Modesta Nano Coatings plus a larger actual shop so I know my ZR1 will not be sitting out in the parking lot in the 35 degree rain we are getting. I am trailering my ZR1 to them on 3/17. My ZTK wing, CF Splitter and CF Rockers are not installed on my ZR1 as I purposely left them off so the car & CF parts could be wrapped separately, and then installed to insure no seams where the parts meet. This was easy to do since 3 of the items in my ZTK kit were damaged during shipment (Rockers & Wing had clear coat chips), so I took my ZR1 home while the kit was replaced by Chevrolet.

I am looking forward to an improved luster, easier detailing for me (especially the wheels), and protection from all of the debris that is hurled at my ZR1 (much of it from the Cup 2's)!! My car will never be a daily driver, but after my session at Spring Mountain at the Ron Fellows ZR1 Owners School, I definitely will be attending numerous track days, which I never thought I would do when I bought it. Once you understand what your ZR1 can do, you will realize it is not engineered for the interstate!!

Jeff

I wouldn't even let a dealer wash my car let alone treat the paint. The less hands that touch your car at the dealer the better.

One time I took my C6 Z06 to the dealer for an oil change. They asked me if I wanted it washed. "Sure," I said. About 5 minutes later they bring it around still soaking wet. Didn't even bother to dry it. Used the wipers so I could see through the windshield. Their idea of a wash was to just hose it down and deliver it that way to the customer. Outraged but I couldn't stop laughing.

My nightmare would be a guy that just came the week before from flipping burgers. The guys that usually change oil or wash cars are entry level employees. Not the guys I want touching my car!

While I wouldn't jump to being harsh on a dealer without cause, very likely, yeah, they prob shouldn't be straight out trusted on ceramic coating before any vetting. If they are well recommended for their ceramic coating then ok but I'd assume they aren't. Definitely make sure paint correction is included if you go forward with it but I would always recommend using either a dedicated detailer for this that is highly recommended, or if you don't mind putting the time into it going the DIY route. My philosophy is that no one can put in the love and care that I would into my own car.