Ceramic coating noob questions

wemct

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Does the self healing work if you add a ceramic coating after the PPF, or does it not matter since the ceramic will deal with those micro abrasions and things?
On my Aston, I have the XPEL and ceramic coating on the entire car. The XPEL seal healing still works with the ceramic. Please keep in mind that ceramic needs annual maintenance. I brought mine in for a decontamination and booster application (price was cheap - $150)
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I understand that a power washer is a good way to do this mindful of the pressure.

Am I correct and any recommendations?
 

wemct

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I understand that a power washer is a good way to do this mindful of the pressure.

Am I correct and any recommendations?
I use a snow foam cannon attached to the power washer with a rinse with deionized water. You need to be careful if there are edges on the PPF that might lift if you hit it too hard with the pressure washer.
 

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My weekly maintenance, blast, slow foam, wheel clean, rinse, shampoo, rinse, all PH neutral. Simple 30 minutes ish.
 

Jon Steinmetz

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As I am in Minnesota washing myself in Winter is not possible. I am curious if a touch-less wash would be too rough on PPF. There is a manual car wash place nearby with a pressure washer as another alternative.
 


wemct

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As I am in Minnesota washing myself in Winter is not possible. I am curious if a touch-less wash would be too rough on PPF. There is a manual car wash place nearby with a pressure washer as another alternative.
In a pinch I have used the brushless car washes. Just let them know that it has PPF so that they don't manually scrub the hood and front end with the hand brushes at the beginning of the wash.
 

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When I lived in Denver, my prior car was in a parking garage (no access to water). I was skeptical to use a waterless car wash spray on - wipe off product. If you follow the instructions and don't have chunks of caked on debris, it works very well without leaving scratches. I keep a few bottles handy in case I can't wash the car with my regular equipment.
 
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As I am in Minnesota washing myself in Winter is not possible. I am curious if a touch-less wash would be too rough on PPF. There is a manual car wash place nearby with a pressure washer as another alternative.
Also from MN...I’ve had PPF on my BMWs (front only, not full wrap as I will do with my Taycan) and I’ve only run it through touchless washes. I’ve never had a problem with the touchless car washes.

The Porsche manual supports this option but also notes strongly to NOT use the wheel scrubbers (“Do not clean with the wheel-washing brushes in the car wash.”). This is great advice, but gets a bit challenging when you also want to wash the undercarriage as most of the undercarriage wash options also include the wheel scrub, and listening to the manual (“Wash the underside of the vehicle thoroughly at the end of the gritting season at the latest.”), well, we might need to go to the dealer wash on occasion. Good reason to go visit and poke around, not like we’ll be there for regular maintenance (no 12v batter jokes).
 


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Dlurker20

Dlurker20

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When I lived in Denver, my prior car was in a parking garage (no access to water). I was skeptical to use a waterless car wash spray on - wipe off product. If you follow the instructions and don't have chunks of caked on debris, it works very well without leaving scratches. I keep a few bottles handy in case I can't wash the car with my regular equipment.
We have about half the year as winter here, it’s hard to NOT have caked on ice / sand / salt with frequency. Standing in a sub-zero garage (well I guess we could plug in the PMCC and let it heat the garage!) to gently wipe down isn’t terribly likely...It’s mid-August, winter IS coming!
 

jimithing

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We have about half the year as winter here, it’s hard to NOT have caked on ice / sand / salt with frequency. Standing in a sub-zero garage (well I guess we could plug in the PMCC and let it heat the garage!) to gently wipe down isn’t terribly likely...It’s mid-August, winter IS coming!
This won't be popular with the detailing crowd, who are very particular, but on my Macan Turbo I got Gyeon ceramic coating and just run through the touchless car washes. My detailer gave me a maintenance spray but I mainly just used speed shine. Held up for about four years. If you're willing to do a yearly maintenance touch-up for a few hundred bucks, I wouldn't stress about where you get it washed. A good ceramic coating is a very hard shell on top of the paint.

Mega caveat: gloss black wheels scratch insanely easily so if you're getting the Mission E wheels in anything other than platinum satin, you shouldn't use any mechanical car wash without coating them. Scratched black rims look terrible.
 

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Hey all, complete noob when it comes to ceramic coating. I’ve done PPF on my last few BMWs but moving up to a Porsche (Taycan 4S on order...arriving in forever++) I see everybody saying ceramic is a “must”...plus PPF. I’ve watched a few videos on this from detailers, There’s zero chance I’m going to try this myself (my local dealer will do this prior to handing over). And I’ll also freely admit that being in the frozen north With 6 months of winter (aka Minnesota) I will not be hand washing my car but going through touchless car washes.

So...assuming all the articles and videos online are correct and this is highly valuable for the paint health of a car (that would be implied question number 1)...(The explicit #1) Am I even a decent customer for ceramic (admitting I will not be doing the hand washing), (2) How long does the ceramic REALLY last? (3) How much life does the touchless really take off of the ceramic? (4) It’s a bit varied & unclear on what to do to care for / maintain the coating until it’s time to reapply.

Any thoughts & guidance are greatly appreciated.
Did you end up doing ceramic as well or just PPF? I am debating the same thing as I live in Canada where we have 6 months of winter and snow and will be bringing the car to automatic touchless car washes as well so not sure if there is a point to doing ceramic too or just PPF
 

gnop1950

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If you are comfortable with doing your own detailing I can highly recommend the Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions line. My wife's car has PPF on the front and my son applied Ceramic Wax Spray Coating we are now using 3 in one detailer for maintenance. It has been a couple of years and the vehicle still looks great.

I recently bought a small truck to support my hobbies and did a paint correction using Wax and Polish then applied two coats of ceramic spray. Turned out very well. It does take about three days if you follow the recommended cure times, but it looks good and was very easy to apply.

If you are willing to do it yourself the above is very inexpensive and seems to work great. There are lots of YouTube videos on how to prep and apply the products.

I was going to have a professional shop do my Taycan, which has front PPF and should be delivered this week. The closest detailer I'd trust is about 70 miles away so now I think I'll do it myself since I don't mind the work and really am starting to enjoy the process.
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