Ceramic Coating

I am considering getting my 996 clay-barred, waxed and buffed and then ceramic coated. I would appreciate the views of others who have tried ceramic coating, particularly with respect to whether they did their own prep work (or had someone other than the coaster do it), what it cost, and whether they think that it was worth it.

I had my paint corrected and ceramic coated(Kenzo) for $600. Also they cleaned and coated my wheels. Well worth the money.

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geez, I sure like your car

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I do it for a living and I've done it on my own car. I would honestly say that if your car sits a significant amount of time it a toss-up on whether its worth it. A car that sits inside is relatively easy to clean so you will see diminishing returns on that. On the other hand with the ceramic coating, it should take you less than an hour to clean the entire outside of your car and that is if you are moving SLOW. I can do my cab, wheels, and all in about 30 minutes. Probably less if I just power washed the wheels instead of using brushes. Another big benefit is it will stay glossy for the length of the coatings life, so no need to put anything else on. You still can put a top coat on if you would like, I generally apply one once a year to my 911 and twice a year to my S3 because that sits outside 24/7. The reason I do this personally is that IMO the more sacrificial layers the better. You can invest a few hundred bucks in supplies and learn to do it yourself, the prep is the worst part. Expect to pay anywhere from $500-$2000 for most pro coatings and packages. If you are doing your own prep work then you might as well do the rest, I personally wouldn't coat a car I did not prep.

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Thank you, I really appreciate your saying that!

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Do you think ceramic coating can protect the paint at track events from sand and little stones?

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PPF is your best bet for that. The coating will help with minor marring from washing and getting the dust off, make burnt rubber easy to remove. A lot of people will PPF the front end then coat the entire car.

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I have Xpel hood/fender/bumper/mirror PPF and Kenzo on the rest of my car. You�ll want PPF for best protection.

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I just heard that if a stone hits the ppf and makes a hole, then the air and dust will get there and make a bubble etc and you will have to re-apply it? And how does it work for you on the track? Is Xpel a brand name? What price should I expect for same kind of coverage you did? also, do you leave headlights unprotected?

I’ve hit stuff twice with my car while commuting. Here’s a video of one time where the PPF did it’s job. You Tube No damage to the paint, but there is a cut in the PPF. It’s been over a year since this happened and the PPF hasn’t bubbled. Xpel is a brand name, and one of the best in the business.

I paid about 2k for the coating. But that includes a paint correction. I can't say the coating is "magic" but I'm still glad I did it. Once a year touch-ups are required by the shop, about $250. But again, that includes detailing and recoating.

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That is the point. If your PPF takes damage that is better than your paint, PPF can be removed and reapplied when it gets bad enough and everything underneath is fine. It's just another sacrificial layer.

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Some PPF�s can self-heal simply with an application of heat from direct sunlight or a blow dryer (assuming the damage to the PPF isn�t too extreme).

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Yes, there is some self-healing films but that is for more minor marring. If you get a rock that comes up and splits the PPF its not going to heal but it should protect the paint underneath.

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Absolutely NOT! If you are concerned about track damage, which happens, do yourself a favor and simply get a PPF for your car. Ceramic coatings are nice but they will simply NOT protect you paint from the issues at the track. If you are concerned about protecting your paint for a track day...accept the damage the comes from rock chips on your paint OR put a PPF on the front/intakes/mirrors/A-Pillars etc There is simply no way around track damage depending on how YOU use your car. YOU can mitigate things like taping your car up but TBH....a "Painter's tape" on the headlights might not work. Yes , it will help for sand and some minor things but it won't prevent some of the things you might encounter. Bottom line...don't think coatings of any sort will prevent "Track Damage"...it just wont happen. Any coating will not help you.

What does paint correction mean?

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Removing defects in paint, restoring gloss. Might call it buffing, polishing, compounding.

^ "many hours of hard work" but worth it in the end.

I just met with a high end paint correction guy. He will be doing interior leather cleaning and oiling, and then on the exterior, he'll do paint tough ups and paint correction, and then a ceramic coating on the body and glass. it's going to run four figures, but not more than $2k. I don't think my 21-yr-old car has had paint correction ever in its life. He talked me out of a PPF because he said that it's just as easy and costs about the same to fix rock chips with touch ups and correction than to have to re-apply the PPF. Yes, PPF can protect some of the impacts, but not the big ones, he said.

Here is what an 82k mile, 11 year old 4s can look like after pro detailing, paint correction, ceramic coat, and PPF. No prior protection applied. Expensive but worth it in my opinion.

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I'd be super hesitant on no PPF if you currently have minimal chipping. Preservation of the original paint can mean a lot in the used-Porsche market. A resprayed front clip will never look the same, especially if it's a metallic paint. Ceramic will make the car glossy for a few years and easier to clean, but it'll do very little for impact protection. I'd say you need to shop around. IMHO

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99% of cars never see paint correction. Just not something most people do.

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Right. And it seems PPF is good for high end cars, or cars where someone wants to protect the paint as much as possible. My car already has been re-sprayed on the hood and front bumper. Wondering if PPF is just overkill for my car.

I had my 997.1 turbo Paint corrected and ceramic coated. Wheels also were protected. Makes washing it very easy and it always looks waxed. Worth it for me. It sure makes the car look pretty. I would definitely consider it especially if you have a dark colored car. It wont protect from rock chips from track days but it does add a layer of protection and makes the car look great. Porsches look very nice when clean and polished. Mine is GT silver and it made the color pop. I get compliments on it all the time. Instagram Instagram Instagram

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I would probably lean more towards putting that money away for something else then.

What kind of defects will a paint correction restore? My front bumper / hood / fenders have some decent sized rock chips that I'd like to have fixed without having to do a complete re-spray if possible.

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Correction will only fix swirls and light scratches in the clear coat. Chips and such that have penetrated the pigmented (color) layer of paint can only be fixed via some type of touch up or respray.

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Think of paint correction like sanding, you are sanding fine layers of clear coat off to make it even and in the process removing marring in the paint. When you get a deep scratch or rock chip, the clear coat and paint are gone and you are left with bare panel so there is nothing to sand, you need to touch it up or repaint it.

That's kind of what I was thinking, guess I'll stop by the dealership this weekend to see if they have a preferred body shop that can quote a re-spray. Appreciate the input!

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Google it, lots of videos you can watch.

I just rolled over 146K miles. I have a few stone chips here and there. I'm not going to do anything about it because I consider it patina. The car has seen some miles, with plenty more to go.

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If it�s just a few large chips, touch ups can work. They are often free or no-cost by a shop that is your shop of choice. Rock chips only bother me when the base primer or paint layer is a wildly different color than the other paint color, which makes them stand out from any distance. My rock chips look white on a black car, So a touch up on that is desperately needed. Many paint guys can touch up a heck of a lot better than I could. It�s not perfect, but it sometimes looks almost perfect. For me, I don�t expect a perfect car on a 21-yr-old 996 that�s a daily driver. If I had a lower mileage, more rare/special car, I�d do a PPF.

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It's just a few here and there, the front lower bumper definitely needs some TLC however. I don't drive it often (once a week ~40 miles to keep components / fluids moving) and want to get rid of the light imperfections and keep it that way. Overall the paint is in great shape, I just can't help but notice the small things everyone else looks past.

You Tube

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I've been watching his testing w/ great interest (kinda a coating-junkie here), very intriguing. While I certainly admire the time, effort and expense that went into this oft-cited test, it's my opinion that unless they strap that hood to a car and drive it around, it only tells part of the story with regards to a coatings (or any LSP's) performance, a good starting point if you will. In my climate, merely sitting outside (maintained or not) has very little effect on coating longevity when dealing with quality products. Driving, especially on freeways in the winter, is an absolute LSP killer. To wit: We have 2 daily driver cars with considerably different usage patterns; both protected with same set of products/coatings: 1. At 3 years, 17k miles, Car 1 was still performing (w/ regards to coating) at about 85% 'as applied' 2. At 2 years, 42k miles, Car 2 was in need of re-polishing and re-coating. 1. Car 1 is about 5500 miles a year, no freeway, sits outside from April thru November but only really driven daily November thru April, short trips, no freeway. 2. Car 2 is year round daily driver, generally garaged 50% of the time, 25k miles a year, 95% freeway. Both are in NE Ohio. Same protection, varying usage far different likely outcomes. Freeway use, especially during winter, is very, very hard on a vehicles finish. Road salt, brine, chemical de-icers, road grime ain't good for anything regarding a cars finish. Merely sitting outside in the elements has little effect on (this particular coating) coating degradation. Point being for me, no claims listed on a box or static test can capture the totality of a quality coating w/ regards to its performance over the long-haul. Longevity (with solid performance) is the ultimate YMMV scenario. And in NE Ohio, longevity based merely on the passage of time is a poor barometer of coating performance. Heck, I can take a 6-month 'coating-lite' product like Gyeon CanCoat, plop it on a car that only goes out in nice weather 3 months of the year and it'll last for years. Perhaps it's different in a nuclear climate like Phoenix, AZ which apparently just kills paint on horizontal surfaces like hoods and roofs. In that situation, perhaps merely sitting static is *the* killer of LSP's. I guess at the end of the day, there is no single barometer that will determine a 'best' coating/wax/sealant aside from giving it a try in your climate, on your car with your maintenance (or is often the case for me, lack of maintenance) and your vehicle usage patterns. Fascinating stuff...

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I still think its a good test though, gives you a rough idea of what to expect. There are a lot of variables that are hard to replicate on just one hood. I've had 2 years coatings last close to 3 years but also fail under 2 because they weren't properly maintained. Surfaces will still need to be decontaminated, its not like a coating just magically prevents any and all dirt from sticking. I see guys that wash there car once a month, bring it to me and its great and then people that show up two years later never having washed their car and it looks like nothings on it.

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It's a great test, no denying that. I've got blown-up images so my old eyeballs can see the marking when looking at it on my phone :lol: I wonder how much climate plays a role in LSP degradation? While merely sitting out in the weather here in NE Ohio seems to have little effect on a coating, a coating aficionado in Arizona mentioned he often sees quite the opposite...his cars that sit stationary for the most part degrade quicker than cars that they drive a lot. I'm all for any kinda testing like this that I can read about...the only thing I really know about coatings is that there's a lot more that I DON'T know that that which I do. And that's half the fun.

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I think climate plays a roll in it. My S3 has Cquartz, it gets driven about 6000 miles a year on average but it lives outside, under trees and our property holds a lot of moisture, even with the coating it stills needs a little extra work not nearly the same amount if it was uncoated. My 911 has Opti-Coat Pro+ on it but lives inside and every wash is just a panel spritz with Optimum No Rinse and a damp towel. I know the creator of Opti-Coat worked on creating modern day clear coats and those last differently based on climate, stored inside or outside. Apparently they actually have a half life, after a certain amount of years they lose X amount of their UV blocking abilities. Moral of the story, coated, uncoated you should still maintain them properly, coating will just make it easier to do so.