Waxes, Sealers, Glaze on Ceramic Coatings?

[Ralph III]

Hello All,
I have a question about Ceramic coatings, as I am considering applying a coat on our 2018 BMW 650i. My routine, for the last decade or so, has been to use a spray wax/sealant after every car wash. I'd then apply a liquid carnauba wax and/or some glaze every few months. I'm a former professional detailer (14 yrs) btw.

So, the questions are. Is there any benefit to continuing to use a wax or sealant on top of a ceramic coating? Is there any benefit to using a non abrasive glaze such as Meguiars M3 or M7? I use sealants for the durability but the waxes and glazes for the depth of shine. I realize I may lose some of the hydrophobicity of the ceramic coating, but will I still gain some visual appeal with the waxes/glazes and additional protection with the spray sealants?

God Bless,
Ralph

 

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Ralph,

I think I saw you send me a message via some App? If so, apologies for not getting back to you already. I'm super swamped prepping for MTE

Mobile Tech Expo - Mike Phillips Class Schedule for 2024


The general consensus is, the best way to maintain a ceramic coating is to use a quality pH balanced car wash that only offers cleaning. Not car wash products that add carnauba or other conventional glossing or protection agents.

The exception to the above rule would be to use a car wash that adds or re-introduces some type of ceramic protection - thus a synergistic chemical compatibility.

Applying a conventional wax or sealant gives you the benefits of the wax or the sealant, which kind of defeats the purpose and function of the ceramic coating.

It shouldn't hurt anything. Some would say by applying a wax or a sealant you will be adding a layer of protection OVER the ceramic coating thus protecting it.

Mike

 

[Ralph III]

Hey Mike,
I appreciate you getting back to me and no problem on timing. So, is there really any reason to apply a Ceramic Coating; If you wash your vehicle on a regular basis and use a liquid wax like Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba Plus otherwise an Si02 spray sealant every few months?

I mean does a quality Ceramic coating offer greater depth of shine versus traditional waxes and sealants or spray waxes/sealants with Si02 in it? Does it offer great UV protection?

Take care,
Ralph

 

[Mike Phillips]

Hey Mike,
I appreciate you getting back to me and no problem on timing.

So, is there really any reason to apply a Ceramic Coating; If you wash your vehicle on a regular basis and use a liquid wax like Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba Plus otherwise an Si02 spray sealant every few months?

Key words above are,

regular basis

Ceramic coatings are semi-permanent, they simply last longer on the surface than conventional waxes and sealants. BUT - if you're carefully washing your car and then maintaining in some way REGULARLY then your car's paint will look as good and for the most part be protected without using a ceramic coating.

The cool thing about ceramic coatings besides lasting so long, is they make regular washing faster and even safer. Water wants to escape the surface better than most waxes and ceramic coatings, so flushing off dirt, washing off dirt, (using a wash mitt), and then rinsing off the loosened dirt and traffic film, (if you live where it rains), will tend to be better.

For daily drivers, ceramic coatings in my opinion are the best option. They're a great option for Garage Queens too as far as gloss and shine go, but because Garage Queens don't see the type of exposure to the world and daily wear-n-tear, the longevity aspect is not as important.

I ceramic coat the majority of cars I detail, both daily drivers and Garage Queens.

Here's another option, using a quality AIO. An AIO or All-in-One, will remove swirls, scratches, oxidation, water spots AND traffic film in a single step. If you LOVE taking care of any particular car you own and it is also a daily driver, then instead of applying a ceramic coating, a wax or synthetic paint sealant, and then crossing your fingers and hoping all is going to be great for extended periods of time - instead, polish your car often using an AIO.

Back when I still had this old 2-door Chevy, if you look at the body panels, they are mostly large and flat and there's no stupid plastic trim, one of the reasons I love classic trucks. Due to the distance off the ground, I could EASILY BUZZ around the outside with any orbital polisher and apply an AIO. This would restore a show car finish in minutes, not hours. The paint always looked great. Instead of using the one-and-done or set-it-and-forget-it, approach, I REGULARLY re-polishing the paint.

For this reason, I'm a HUGE fan of AIO's.

I had previously polished the paint on this car using a multiple-step approach including starting with a wool pad on a rotary polisher and of course, finishing with a foam pad on an orbital and the ceramic coating. A few months ago, the customer brought the car back for me to prep for a car show, over the course of a year it had fine swirls here and there, mostly the hood, around the tops of the doors and the tops of the trunk lid. Because the first time I detailed it I removed all the DEEP defects, I was able to machine polish the paint using a ceramic AIO followed by topping with a spray-on ceramic sealant. The results look as good as if I had applied an actual ceramic coating only the process, I used was much faster and much easier.

The above is a Garage Queen, but it's driven a LOT. So it sees a lot of normal wear-n-tear. This is why I like a good AIO, it works great for REGULARLY maintaining a finish to show car standards quick, fast and easy.

I mean does a quality Ceramic coating offer greater depth of shine versus traditional waxes and sealants or spray waxes/sealants with Si02 in it? Does it offer great UV protection?

Take care,
Ralph

A quality ceramic coating does offer better protection overall due to the substance it is as compared to the substance that make up other products and because it lasts longer on the surface, it protects longer.

The true key to creating greater depth of shine, gloss, richness of color and clarity of finish starts with great abrasive technology and a proper polishing process. The LSP or Last Step Process simply is the icing on the cake.


Do you machine polish the paint on your car?

 

[Ralph III]

Hey Mike and thanks for all of the great details! Although, now you've given me something else to consider with modern AIO polishes.

Yes, if I am doing any sort of corrective work, no matter how minor, then I will use my Milwaukee rotary buffer. I'll use it to apply liquid waxes on occasion as well, as with jeweling. I used one professionally for 14 years and still enjoy working with it. We recently purchased a BMW 650i (dark blue) which needs some minor correction due to previous light swirl marks. They did a better job than the vast majority of detailers who work with volume as the swirl marks could only be seen in certain lighting/angles. Anyhow, I had some Meguiars M02 (Fine-Cut Cleaner) and M03 (Machine Glaze) on hand, so I went over the BMW with it as well as my black Escalade. You'll be familiar with both and recall the M02 has a similar cut to M205. I followed up with the M03 which has absolutely minimal cut similar to a cleaner wax. The paint on both vehicles came out beautiful with removal of all minor imperfections. I need to go over the BMW a little more in a few areas but I'm quite happy with this initial work.

So, are the AIO's similar to a cleaner wax and how often would you recommend applying them with a buffer? I've never worked with AIO's or cleaner waxes. I'd typically step it down from such as M101 to M205 to an LSP. Otherwise, my inclination is to reserve corrective work to once a year while maintaining the vehicle the rest of the year. Do you have no fear in doing corrective work with an AIO on a somewhat regular basis? I'm assuming you'd recommend one with Si02 or similar? Which do you prefer?

God Bless,
Ralph


P.S. I managed a detail business out of a Delear Only Auction over the 14 years I did so professionally. I performed corrective work on well over 10k cars during that period, most of them fleet lease vehicles, repo's, new car dealers (high volume). I'd step it up to meticulous when dealing with personal vehicles. We had a few trucks that performed on the spot cleaning also which at one time included most of the Casino's on the Ms. Gulf Coast. Long years ago now.

The images are of our 2007 BMW 530xi which we gave to our daughter for college and our 2013 Escalade. I had painted (PPG) the hood and roof on the Escalade as the clear coat was failing (we purchased used). I painted the hood, bumper and side mirrors on the BMW. I then buffed each vehicle. This is about 4 years ago and both still look great. The BMW has 260k miles on it now. You shared a few images, so I figured I'd do the same. Take care....