Ceramic coating & PPF paint treatment - Types, and possible vendor reccommendations in NorCal?

[HueChak]

Hey Mudsters,
Fairly new member, proud owner of a '20 HE in Blizzard Pearl..... It's outside all the time, as to tall for the garage... Wondering if y'all have a favorite brand of ceramic coating /PPF brands? I'm in Norcal, Bay Area-based but have been roaming further north into the PNW....

Gets it share of dirt, but want to do what i can to preserve the paint quality... Any tips and or recommendations on where to look on this website, or even a shop or company somewhere somewhat regionally close to me that specialize in that. or best way to search for one?

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[gasman4u]

Welcome. Cool rig for sure.

Search “ppf” and you’ll find all sorts of anecdotes. I’ve got xpel ppf on my front end and gtechniq csl/halo on mine. There’s a lot of people who aren’t ppf fans (you’ll see). The way I look at it is a compromise on protecting the original paint. A lot of my miles have been highway and some weird s*** happens on the interstate ime. I’m glad to have had xpel applied to mine is what I will reinforce. For your paint and exterior, you can’t go wrong with any gtechniq stuff. Don’t buy anything from Amazon - too much fake stuff there. Detailed image is a good site and I’ve had great experience with sourcing products there. Consider posting in the state board for your ppf/ceramic coating installer recommendation request. With that said, the ppf companies have installer locators. That’s what I used to find my guy. You’re buying the installer vs the product (with rare exception) as the installation and prep is key for longevity.

 

[HueChak]

Welcome. Cool rig for sure.

Search “ppf” and you’ll find all sorts of anecdotes. I’ve got xpel ppf on my front end and gtechniq csl/halo on mine. There’s a lot of people who aren’t ppf fans (you’ll see). The way I look at it is a compromise on protecting the original paint. A lot of my miles have been highway and some weird s*** happens on the interstate ime. I’m glad to have had xpel applied to mine is what I will reinforce. For your paint and exterior, you can’t go wrong with any gtechniq stuff. Don’t buy anything from Amazon - too much fake stuff there. Detailed image is a good site and I’ve had great experience with sourcing products there. Consider posting in the state board for your ppf/ceramic coating installer recommendation request. With that said, the ppf companies have installer locators. That’s what I used to find my guy. You’re buying the installer vs the product (with rare exception) as the installation and prep is key for longevity.

Thx, Gasman, appreciate hearing your experiences. Did you do any ceramic coating treatment too, or just the PPF? What did you mean by state board? Is that just looking on the web or hear on Mud?

 

[gasman4u]

Thx, Gasman, appreciate hearing your experiences. Did you do any ceramic coating treatment too, or just the PPF? What did you mean by state board? Is that just looking on the web or hear on Mud?

XPEL comes pre treated with their ceramic coating. I coated it with Gtechniq HALO anyways. I treated the areas without PPF with gtechniq CSL ceramic coating.

State board = California state ih8mud message board. That's where you can get more targeted data and first hand knowledge from those who live in your area.

 

[prharper]

Gtechniq CSL is great ceramic coating. I've tried several brands and stick with CSL. They claim it last up to 3 years. I'm doing two vehicles this long weekend. It's the prep and polishing before coating application that is time consuming. Applying the coating is the fun part.

 

[dudemancool1904]

my ‘19 wasn’t perfect when I got it so I skipped PPF and opted for a paint correction and CarPro CQuartz when I bought it in ‘24. Two years of hard miles and being parked outside later, still works great. I wash the truck maybe once every six weeks. Easy to keep clean and clear coat still looks great. Don’t get me wrong I’ve picked up some deep pinstripes and trail scratches that would never buff out but I just consider that the price of playing outside.

Side note I would also recommend some sort of window tint with high IR rejection. Makes parking outside much easier.

 

[klausLX]

I have had good DIY success with Griots garage products, picked up at autozone .
headlight restorer, synthetic claybar kit and ceramic 3-1 wax

have not done a ppf

 

[coleAK]

I’m 12 years now with ceramic coating all
My cars. I would never pay a shop to do it, especially on a used car. The biggest reason I like the ceramic is I rarely wash my cars. With the LX likely only 1-2 times a year at most, the ceramic helps things not stick and dirt to fall off. Back in the day (before marriage/kids) when I regularly washed and waxed it probably would have been pointless.

We did ceramic pro gold through a shop when we got the Tesla new in 2018. I’ve done all my other cars since FIY with Adam’s ceramic off Amazon. For ~$350 I just did 3 cars outside and inside. My local detailer wants $5k+ for ceramic pro. And in my experience Ceramic Pro “lifetime” warranty sucks, as they would not fix my coating after 5 years.

I’m also one that was unimpressed with ppf, I hadn’t on my Model s and had it removed after 2 years. I just fix chips with touch up paint as they come, especially on a used car.

 

[vwynn]

I use wax ceramic spray after each wash. Will keep doing that u til I fi d time to detail it before actual ceramic