Destriero

So I recently had my truck coated with Gtechniq and I am pretty much sold on the protection benefits of a ceramic coating. The truck is a dark gray color, and call me crazy but adding the coating made the color appear slightly lighter, which I didn't mind on the truck.

I just took delivery of a new Admiral Blue C7Z and after my experience with the truck I am leaning towards doing a coating myself, but don't want the admiral blue to look lighter.

Currently leaning towards the Pinnacle or Cquartz kits, has anyone noticed that same affect or know if certain coatings are better than others regarding this? Thanks!

BudgetPlan1

Have auditioned over 15 coatings in the last year, including Gtechniq and Cquartz. For ease of use, self cleaning characteristics, nice look that may darken the paint just a shade, try this:

Good stuff...

Grzldvt1

I am the same as BudgetPlan1 and also second the Kamaikaze Pro kit. I have 3 products on one car and the Kamikaze is by far the best shine and the best self cleaning of the 3.
Plus it is incredibly user friendly, and very difficult to make a mistake.

BudgetPlan1

The self cleaning when maintained with Overcoat is stellar if you live in an area where the car will get rained on. The beading is kinda tight and if rained on in the morning, the beads just seem to slowly shrink up and evaporate without a trace when the sun comes out in the afternoon.

Beads:


Sheeting is very nice as well:

It's neat stuff.

In the last year I've used (and am still watching, see most of these vehicles every day) a number of coatings:

Wolfgang Uber Ceramic
Gyeon CanCoat
Gyeon Prime
Gyeon Mohs ( + Gyeon Booster on 2 installs)
Gyeon Syncro
Gloss Shop Ceramic V1
Gloss Shop Ceramic V2
IGL Quartz (vehicle hood only)
CarPro CQuartz 'Classic'
Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light
Pearl Nano
Feynlab Ceramic
22ple HPC
McKees Paint Coating V1
McKees Paint Coating V2
Kamikaze Miyabi
Kamikaze ISM

Have Gyeon One, Gyeon Pure, Kisho and Nanolex Si3d waiting to be used in next month or so.

The 'boosters' I have used to maintain:
Kamikaze Overcoat
TAC Systems Moonlight
22ple Finitura
22ple VS1 Final Coat
Gtechniq Liquid Crystal C2V3
Gyeon Cure
IGL Premier
Nanolex SiFinish
HydroSilex Recharge
Polish Angel High Gloss

And after all that time and expense, stuck with the Kamikaze for our personal cars. Here in NE Ohio my wife's winter car (the blue Honda) goes about 10k miles a year and sits outside 8 months outta the year...thing just always looks clean (well, aside from winter sometimes). Our black Corvette with Kami Miyabi + ISM looks a mile deep.

It appears as if the Admiral Blue is a metallic paint? If so, the Kamikaze Miyabi + ISM combo really accentuates metallic, kinda polarizing and seems to really bring it out and make it 'float'. Saw what I think was a new Admiral Blue metallic in person on a sunny day last year at Esoteric Open House; was done in Kamikaze and it just looked brilliant from every angle.

Curious as to which Gtechniq coating you used on your truck? When I used their Crystal Serum Light it darkened the paint I was using it on a bit.

Anyway, even though there were really no bad products in the coatings I used, they did have subtle differences that could sway you one way or another.

What I want out of a coating:
1. Great Self Cleaning Abilities: Our cars see rain and often get rained on in the morning and then sit outside in the sun in the afternoon; don’t like waterspots. I like clean cars but don’t like cleaning cars.

2. Durability and resistance to environmental contamination like water spots and bird bombs. Don’t wanna have to worry about running home and immediately dealing with removing things that would otherwise etch bare paint. Like hard water spots did to our Corvette during the Zaino years. Also has to last cuz I don’t wanna be hauling out compounds and polishes every Spring, given reasonable maintenance.

3. Appearance: Well, stuff has to look good. Has to accentuate body lines, curves and hard edges. It needs to make me stop and admire it when walking towards it, walking away from it or catching a glance in the garage when I take out the garbage.

Among all I tried, Kamikaze fit those criteria best...no regrets. Not the cheapest game in town but worth it to me. And, if ya ever get bored and want to wax your car 'just for old times sake' you can plop the hybrid carnauba/glass coating Kamikaze Infinity Wax on top of the coatings w/ no worries about compatibility. Adds a very subtle 'relaxed high gloss' look to the surface.

Whatever you choos I'm sure will look amazing...I just love the blue metallics...

Destriero

Thanks guys! After this great info and talking with the guy at Esoteric I think I am going to coat the car with the Kamikaze ISM, going to do the plastics and the wheels with their wheel coating too and looking forward to the process! Will post up some pictures when done

BudgetPlan1

I think youll be pleased; looking forward to the pics.

Destriero

Well, got the coating done with the Kamikaze ISM Coat and so far very happy with it. Its a little more high maintenance a process than waxing but definitely worth it. First, I let the coating sit too long on the hood (it was the first panel I did) and had to go back and polish it and recoat it but overall was very impressed with the ease of use of the coating. Did the wheels and calipers with Stance Rim Coat as well. The guys at Esoteric were very helpful with the sale and advice. The coating definitely adds protection and the bugs wipe right off! LOTS of gloss.

BudgetPlan1

Glad to see it went well. Will be watching for updates as time goes forward. Sometimes I think coating my wheels and tires is a bigger time saver than the paint.

Fun stuff, nice car...great color. If i can ever kick my addiction to black, dark blue it would be.

ronkh57

WOW !!!

Great job!

Grzldvt1

Curious as to how long you let it sit on the hood, as I have discovered you have up to 24 hours to clean it up with a wet towel followed by a dry towel.

Destriero

Well, basically what happened was the hood was the very first panel I did, and having never used a coating before, at that point I wasn't sure really what I was doing, LOL. So after I got the hang of it and had finished the rest of the car, I went ahead and did the hood again. The first coating had at least 2 hours on it at that point. I didn't notice it then, but 24 hours later when I had it outside you could see streaks, kind of in the application pattern I had done. I called up esoteric to see what they recommended and he said he thought it had just sat too long, and all it took was a simple quick polish of the hood, and then applied the coating again and all is good now Pretty easy stuff to work with, and correct thankfully!

Grzldvt1

Awesome!!! You did the right thing, car looks great, Two suggestions, I noticed on the cars have done in my shop, two coats of Miyabe and one coat of ISM, topped off with Overcoat is incredible.
Glad you chose Kamikaze

WIC7Diver

Looks awesome. It might have been high maintenance getting it on, but you’re going to love how it cleans up from here on out. Wash > Dry > drive!

tractman

Your C7 looks awesome.....well done.