Readily Available DIY Ceramic Coating?

[DustinEarnhardt]

Are there any DIY ceramic coating products that are off the shelf from the auto parts store that are worth anything?

I'll have the wheels off of my 4BW this weekend and I was going to give them a thorough clean and then ceramic coat them to help make all this infuriating brake dust easier to clean off. I don't have time to get something online, so I was wondering if there's anything that I can go pick up quickly that works decent. I don't need "THE BEST" ceramic coating product, just what works well enough and I can put my hands on it right away.

 

[Deneed4spd]

I like griots water based spray ceramic wax. Easy to put on and it lasts longer than regular wax. It’s super easy to put on.

 

[rdollie]

Just came in from my garage applying Griots 3 in 1 Ceramic spray wax (previously just used their Ceramic Speed Shine or CMX on top of my professionally installed Ceramic and PPF.) From professional reviews I expect this Griots product to be stellar - will know more tomorrow after chemical bonding progresses. Will probably do a second coat after I take the wheels off to get them ready for the car show on Saturday.

The Griots product is readily available at AutoZone, Oreillys, etc..

Almost forgot to mention - prepped ceramic by doing a pass using Griots Correcting Creme with their G9 orbital.

I've also used a widely available Chemical Guys Ceramic product with OK results.

 

[Dirkbg]

Check this and Johnnywaffles above it

What did you do to your Blackwing today?

Changed my differential fluid, as suggested after 1500 miles and prior to track use. Im doing mine this weekend...just curious do I need to do this after every track day? sometimes ill run like 3 sessions and that's it. I probably punish the diff more on Sunday morning "spirited drives"...

www.cadillacvnet.com

 

[BlueBird]

I have great luck with Turtle Wax Ceramic Polish and Wax. On top of that I had been using Turtle Wax Spray Ceramic (once the first layer cured) but now I'm using 303 Ceramic Spray and Rinse on top, which works exceptionally well. As a drying aid I use Turtle Wax Wax & Dry. This is what works for me based on speed, ease of use, and availability after about 20 years and a million products later.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

I've tried (on cars other than my 4BW) almost all of the "over the counter" spray ceramic waxes including Meguiar's, Griot's, Turtle Wax, 303, McKee's and a few others I am forgetting. The one that stood out by far for ease of application and appearance was the Turtle Wax. This surprised me because I am a huge fan of other products by Meguiar's and Griot's. But the Turtle Wax was by far the easiest to apply, did not have temperature restrictions (it says on the boittle you can apply it in full sun) and was easy to remove. It seems to last a long time, though the Meguiar's ceramic spray did last a bit longer.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

Follow up to the above, having said that, I did get my Blackwing professionally ceramic coated, it seemd a no-brainer after getting the hood and front bumper PPF'd.

There is a conundrum I have encountered with the wheels, though. When you ceramic coat your wheels, it is easier to remove brake dust, but not "easy", it still takes agitation with a wheel brush. The problem is that you can't use traditional wheel cleaner because that will remove the ceramic. So you are stuck cleaning the wheels with car wash soap, which is not good. The end result is that lightly soiled wheels can be cleaned with just a power washer, but heavily soiled wheels (say a few hundred miles of brake dust) is more difficult because the car wash soap doesn't really cut the brake dust.

After having done this now for a few weeks, I am convinced that cleaning the wheels overall is easier with a good wheel cleaner than with ceramic cating+ car wash soap. So my recommendation is, don't bother spending much time ceramic coating your wheels. What I plan to do going forward is to use a good wheel cleaner (Meguiar's or Griot's Heavy Duty or Sonax Full Effect, they are all about the same) followed by a wet-spray-on ceramic like McKee's or Turtle Wax Wet that can be used while rinsing the wheels.

 

[rdollie]

Follow up to the above, having said that, I did get my Blackwing professionally ceramic coated, it seemd a no-brainer after getting the hood and front bumper PPF'd.

There is a conundrum I have encountered with the wheels, though. When you ceramic coat your wheels, it is easier to remove brake dust, but not "easy", it still takes agitation with a wheel brush. The problem is that you can't use traditional wheel cleaner because that will remove the ceramic. So you are stuck cleaning the wheels with car wash soap, which is not good. The end result is that lightly soiled wheels can be cleaned with just a power washer, but heavily soiled wheels (say a few hundred miles of brake dust) is more difficult because the car wash soap doesn't really cut the brake dust.

After having done this now for a few weeks, I am convinced that cleaning the wheels overall is easier with a good wheel cleaner than with ceramic cating+ car wash soap. So my recommendation is, don't bother spending much time ceramic coating your wheels. What I plan to do going forward is to use a good wheel cleaner (Meguiar's or Griot's Heavy Duty or Sonax Full Effect, they are all about the same) followed by a wet-spray-on ceramic like McKee's or Turtle Wax Wet that can be used while rinsing the wheels.

100% agree on the wheels. The Ceramic coating on mine is a waste as well since I still have to mechanically scrub them.

 

[Dirkbg]

I think a coating is probably useful, but I'm not treating it like the ceramic on the body. I've used a microfiber rag to wash the outer wheel, and I just bought a tire brush to get the inner part because I just got tired of trying to squeeze the rag inside the spokes. The worst is that the coating wears off sooner, but at least for the graphene in a spray bottle it's not that difficult or expensive to re-apply eventually. I think paying to have it done by the detailer is probably not the most economical choice.

 

[CBH]

Thanks for the tips. I still haven't washed it that many times, although it needs it again right now.

 

[Powerhungry]

Follow up to the above, having said that, I did get my Blackwing professionally ceramic coated, it seemd a no-brainer after getting the hood and front bumper PPF'd.

There is a conundrum I have encountered with the wheels, though. When you ceramic coat your wheels, it is easier to remove brake dust, but not "easy", it still takes agitation with a wheel brush. The problem is that you can't use traditional wheel cleaner because that will remove the ceramic. So you are stuck cleaning the wheels with car wash soap, which is not good. The end result is that lightly soiled wheels can be cleaned with just a power washer, but heavily soiled wheels (say a few hundred miles of brake dust) is more difficult because the car wash soap doesn't really cut the brake dust.

After having done this now for a few weeks, I am convinced that cleaning the wheels overall is easier with a good wheel cleaner than with ceramic cating+ car wash soap. So my recommendation is, don't bother spending much time ceramic coating your wheels. What I plan to do going forward is to use a good wheel cleaner (Meguiar's or Griot's Heavy Duty or Sonax Full Effect, they are all about the same) followed by a wet-spray-on ceramic like McKee's or Turtle Wax Wet that can be used while rinsing the wheels.

Oh no...wish I had known this earlier...just gave my car to have the wheels ceramic coated....

 

[John]

The auto parts stores do not carry real paint coatings. The ceramic or SiO2/Graphene containing spray products are not a real paint coating. They will not perform in the same manner as a real ceramic/quartz/graphene coating will.

I always coat our wheels and painted calipers and I use an electric pressure washer and find it does a very good job of cleaning the wheels without anything but water. My wife's last car was German with black wheels and just a quick blast with the pressure washer would get the wheels 95% clean. I only did a full wash with all my brushes and microfibers every several washes.

A paint coating is not a miracle product where you never need to wash your vehicle/wheels etc. They do help tremendously in making it easy to remove the dirt.

Wheel cleaners should not shorten the life span of a true coating but you also should not need to be using a wheel cleaner on coated wheels. Soap and water should be fine 99% of the time. A tar remover should be used as needed. Occasionally an iron remover to give a full decontamination is needed (2-4 times per year on a year round daily driver)

DO NOT USE wheel cleaners/Iron removers on carbon ceramics!

A true coating will make it easier to clean your wheels (even a spray version will help). The proper tools will help speed that up. I used a microfiber towel to clean the faces and behind the spokes where I can get my fingers. A boars hair 1" diameter brush to clean in the lug holes and the calipers. Several different wheel brushes to clean the barrels (I like the wheel woolies 3 pack and the autofiber barrel blade) I also have a boars hair wheel brush that I will use if I am doing a quick cleaning of just the faces.

 

[hawgs911]

Are there any DIY ceramic coating products that are off the shelf from the auto parts store that are worth anything?

I'll have the wheels off of my 4BW this weekend and I was going to give them a thorough clean and then ceramic coat them to help make all this infuriating brake dust easier to clean off. I don't have time to get something online, so I was wondering if there's anything that I can go pick up quickly that works decent.

Let me tell you about this website called Amazon. They have quite a few actual ceramic coatings with Same Day Delivery. (at least in my area)

I used Megs Hybrid Ceramic on top of my actual ceramic coat. Works really well as a topper but can be streaky if you apply too much like most Megs products.

I have heard a lot of good things about the Turtle wax one as well.