Long-term CERAMIC COATING MAINTENANCE: Everything you need to know! Podcast #73

Can you polish a coated car? What about just a scratch? Can I re coat a car that was once ceramic coated? If you've ever wondered these questions -- or, perhaps, you're just curious why the water isn't beading the way it used to -- this is the podcast for you!
This video demonstrates ceramic coating maintenance, if you're curious about how you would wash and thoroughly decontaminate a coated vehicle: • How to clean, decontam...
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Podcast:bit.ly/DIYDetailPodcast
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#autodetailing #diydetail #yvanlacroix #carwash #claytowel #detailing

[@edmondmartin9004]

Excellent video for us (enthusiast) wanting to properly maintain our ceramic protection....More videos like this (i.e. repairing a scratch on a ceramic protected vehicle) would be interesting. Thanks again...Edmond M.

[@diydetailofficial]

Stay tuned

[@stevejordan9567]

I just did my first machine polish and ceramic coating ever due to you and Pan”s videos. In total it took me about 12 hours on my black 4Runner. It looks stunning. Now I just have to maintain it appropriately. Thanks guys, you ROCK!!!!!

[@diydetailofficial]

so great to hear! thanks for sharing

[@kev008ify]

I can confirm, i painted vehicles for about 15 years, seeing the fleshy painted panels hydrophobic was just beautiful. Great video guys 👍

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you!

[@rahouston]

Great video watched it twice and very informative. Answered a couple questions I had too

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@davidruggles996]

Did the 8-3 coating stack on my wife's Wrangler. Stunning results ❤

[@diydetailofficial]

That is awesome! Please share in our facebook group bit.ly/DIYDetailFacebookGroup

[@aldaley3537]

I blow dry majority of the water and follow up with a drying aid over the entire exterior of the vehicle. All coated vehicles still performs like new. Occasional iron remover applied to all surfaces. It would be nice to see the before and electron microscope visual of the surface!!

[@bluegrasskid4835]

The fact that you are following up with a towel after the blow dry makes me think you have drastically reduced the risk of water minerals left on the paint that Yvan discusses.

[@diydetailofficial]

That’s a great way of doing it

[@josephdefreitas56]

Love you guys. You keep it always so very simple and informative. Great point on the leaf blower with hard water.

[@diydetailofficial]

thank you!

[@jeffreycarson6628]

Great video guys, great answers to serious questions

[@diydetailofficial]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@IntervalePC]

I wish for some DIY products in my stocking🧦🎄🍾

[@diydetailofficial]

Great idea!!

[@DMUSA536]

Very good information!

[@diydetailofficial]

Glad it was helpful!

[@user-ut3lb5fd5c]

Great topic!

[@diydetailofficial]

Thanks

[@waxmanvids5015]

I have PREACHED using a leaf blower for speed and less towel marring after washing to my new Coating customers (but still spot gentle pat towel drying to get all tapwater off). You guys have made me rethink the approach... hmmm . This would be another reason to utilize Rinseless washing!!

[@diydetailofficial]

Correct

[@bobbycakes]

this video is great! its like a Christmas cookie - sugar overload! Love it! every ? has been answered ! thanks!

[@diydetailofficial]

Thanks

[@chabaneouali1955]

Thank you for the video. Question : can I stack 5 year and 3 year (graphene) compare to the popular 8 and 3? Also light polish (before recoating) best with DA or Rotary? Many thanks 🙏🏻

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes, the 5/3 stack is great. Your Choice of machine.

[@kimnewling5728]

Good talk. Im in the flexographic printing industry and know what fish eyes are. First time ive heard the term outside the printing industry. Im going to have to try a water spot remover on bottom of my doors. Water doesn't bead well down there on my coating. Thank you.

[@diydetailofficial]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ronayotte3571]

I use microfiber drying towels (The Rag Company's Liquid8or and Gauntlet) to dry vehicles and use my Metrovac Sidekick to get the water out of the cracks and crevices, and pick that up with the drying towels.

[@diydetailofficial]

Good

[@garywickens7460]

Yvan, Nick firstly have a great Xmas , another really informative video, is it possible to apply the gold standard polish by hand for those of us not in possession of a polisher before applying a ceramic coating. Many thanks Gary

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes you can, but if you invest less than 50$ you can get a 5 inch random orbital sander and one of our pads to allow you to do a better job, with less effort. This is an older video, but you can see how we do it kzbin.info/www/bejne/raW0iGWHa9uXpLssi=sf9Z22snnswAv52m

[@jamesrandy5753]

Would a light polish using the red jeweling pad be sufficient abrasion to do a ceramic coat (if i have a cheap spray coating on currently)? Or should i step up to a medium cutting or wool pad?

[@diydetailofficial]

The red pad is enough

[@johnand]

By light polish before re-applying a coating, would using the gold standard with the red jeweling pad on a rotary be enough abrasion for coating application?

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes.

[@user-bv2ln1pt4g]

When light polishing on the first application of coating to apply a second coating, should the diy yellow pad or the red pad be used?

[@diydetailofficial]

Your choice, both will do what you need.

[@aleksandrkink4129]

If I remove the salt and the iron and all of that is the coating going to perform better afterwards?

[@diydetailofficial]

It will “snap back” in terms of water beading once you do that

[@RainKemperman]

Always helpful! Would questions on original 75 corvette finish be inappropriate ?🙏

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes!

[@e90steez]

I’m planning to install your 3 year graphene ceramic coating on my truck soon, I usually use quick beads and my ego blower to help dry off but since I am stripping off any old sealants from my truck and don’t want to apply any new protection before I decon and do a paint enhancement is it safe to use rinseless as a drying aid? I just want to make sure that there isn’t any layer of protection I am putting on before I start polishing. Thanks in advanced.

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes, at 256/1, or even easier just wash with DIY Detail Rinseless Wash and towel dry

[@e90steez]

@@diydetailofficial thanks for confirming, I’ll dry off with rinseless and a towel!

[@GeorgePap99]

Very insightful as always! Idk if you'd recommend this, but would you "towel" polish tough spots, such as the front grill with all those gaps and not machine "reachable" corners? If you think this is a valid question, i'd love to see how you'd deal with this in a video!

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes, absolutely

[@T-BoneTodd]

Hi guys, my question is , I have your 3 year coating on about 4 months now and is Awsome, just say after winter can I polish with jeweling pad to get more shine and gloss? Or is it once a ceramic coating is applied you cannot polish? 🤔 Kind of new at this, and didn’t want to harm the coating. Thanx

[@diydetailofficial]

You can polish, but to be safe I would re coat after. The jeweling pad isn’t very aggressive but abrasion from polishing can remove coatings.

[@T-BoneTodd]

@@diydetailofficial Thanks

[@josephdefreitas56]

Regarding mineral removers do you recommend using a diluted white vinegar in say a neutral soap or diluted wiped on after a proper washing?

[@diydetailofficial]

We have our own product called Water Spot Remover: bit.ly/WaterSpotRemoverDIY

[@jeffc6832]

​@@diydetailofficialwhat is the pH of your water spot remover?

[@stevenv9224]

Sooooo I have a question. I just saw the new Tesla cyber trunk which seem to be stainless steel. How would you polish,clean and coating with this vehicle. Would it be a challenge using chemical to work with stainless steel?

[@diydetailofficial]

It’s the perfect candidate for our Metal Ceramic Coating.

[@dmoore7691]

Glad you have been in the body shop business Yvan as this question will need that expertise. Car went to body shop for repaint and the color is a Black paint that has some metallic within it. With the old single stage paints it used to be said you don't want to fully wax it until after a "curing" period. But with today's much more advance 2 stage paints and in CA being more water based, would you recommend any "curing" time prior to decon/polish/prep and then coating with a stacked 8 yr/3 yr? If so, how long do you recommend and any additional tips along the way? By the way, also love the pod casts. Extremely helpful whether a pro or just a DIY'er on the weekends.

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you. If the paint was baked in the booth, as soon as it cools down you can start polishing and protecting.

[@70chevyrs]

Can you apply wax on top of coating? Or would wax be ineffective after the coating is applied?

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes you can, just make sure it’s free of abrasives

[@danielc924]

Huge fan, just bought my first diy products (Aussie) and I have a two part question. 1- how can I assess a car for what products I need to use on it? All clean vs rinse less/suds etc. I know you often say use the hammer before the sledge hammer but I don’t have the patience to go over and over an area making my way up the strength ladder of solutions. 2- do you have SOP’s to share ideally in a printable list? I would love a run sheet for the most popular types of cleaning shedules. Eg I have a work Ute that gets filthy fast and my partner has a ceramic coated SUV. I’d love a list on my maintenance washes (honestly a list for ceramic protection and quarterly deep cleans too) that have step by step (with formula ratios) so I don’t have to stop, dig up a favourited video of yours and find the clip where you say “all clean 30:1 inside 15:1 outside” etc etc. LOVED the university video you did recently. Thank you !!!!

[@diydetailofficial]

If you’re doing regular cleaning, there’s no need for anything more than Rinseless Wash. As for SOP’s we are working on those.

[@dirkgross1603]

I know you've recently covered ceramic coating matte finish. How would you apply a future ceramic coat when you can't polish? In my case, I have satin finish wheels that I originally used 303 graphene on the inner part. I'd like to use a longer lasting product but I'm concerned leaving the original applied coating will affect it. I guess it's just decontaminate but apply without polishing, right? Also, you used 3-year graphene and 9-year ceramic on matte in the other videos. Will either work just as well?

[@diydetailofficial]

In the case of your wheels I would simply use DIY Detail Quick Beads on them after washing. Because they can’t be polished, it could be an issue.

[@chabaneouali1955]

For stacking, do we light polish in between or just wait 2 hours for the first coat to cure ?

[@diydetailofficial]

Just wait 2-8 hours, no polishing.

[@brianjohnston7344]

Does the haze you are talking about appear to be on top of the coating or beneath the surface with the surface still shiny?

[@diydetailofficial]

On top of

[@brianjohnston7344]

Thank you@@diydetailofficial

[@Rich--J]

How does the yellow waffle pad hold up when you do the abrasion polishing? Seems like the coating would eat into the foam. As always, thanks guys!!!

[@diydetailofficial]

Holds up perfectly.

[@gnawty4662]

The video I needed! What a great episode. My only concern with this coating lifestyle is how many polishes will your clear coat survive?

[@diydetailofficial]

With a coating you should only need to use an abrasive polish once if you maintain it properly

[@ericwright1075]

You should try living right on the edge of the coast in Nova Scotia. The car lives outside and in a storm the suv gets covered in ocean salt spray ( a nightmare). I wash it a lot ,now in the winter not so much.🇨🇦👍👍 Nice podcast

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@larsenttif]

Comment: Always nice to hear you guys on a saturday morning. Question: Does a polish behave different when abrading a coating instead of clearcoat? Idea: A podcast which explain why ceramic products bond stronger to each other, than just to the paint. How a product like ceramic gloss rejuvanate a coating.

[@diydetailofficial]

No diffèrence. Good suggestions, thank you

[@jp358g]

In your videos that I have seen, you have used Quick Beads after using Incredible Suds and Ceramic gloss after using your Rinseless Wash. Can they be used in the reverse, that is Quick Beads after using Rinseless Wash and Ceramic Gloss after using Incredible Suds?

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes but the whole idea with Rinseless Wash is that you don’t rinse at the end. So it’s more logical to use Ceramic Gloss after Rinseless, since Quick Beads is a spray on rinse off product. With that said , you can use either Ceramic Gloss or Quick Beads after Incredible Suds-your choice!

[@KingRockets]

Can you stack the 5 year with the 3 year? Or the 8 year with the 5 year for maximum protection and gloss (since 5 is the glossiest)?

[@diydetailofficial]

5 and 3 or 8 and 3.

[@jeffc6832]

So when you say a "light polish" to abrade an old coating...what machine/pad do you recommend and how many passes?

[@diydetailofficial]

The machine choice is up to you, but our preference is a rotary. For the pad, if using a rotary use our red jeweling pad, for a DA use our gold standard waffle pad. 3 passes is enough ( e-w, n-s, e-w)

[@Andrew-cp7mc]

@@diydetailofficialcan the same abrasive light polishing be achieved with say a Uro-Fiber Microfibre pad with 3D-One polishing compound?

[@DMCnME]

I have some rock chips on the hood that I should have fixed before using your 5 year coating. I want to correct those now and I’m hearing that I need to recoat the whole hood afterward… which means I’ll have tons of coating leftover, that would likely go to waste. I guess the play there is to just compound and recoat the whole truck. That’s a bummer.

[@diydetailofficial]

No need to coat again when applying touch up paint.

[@jp358g]

Will your Ceramic Gloss or Quick Beads work well on a car that already has Turtle Wax Seal N Shine on it?

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes

[@rileychoi]

I am trying wash my car every week with rinseless during winter, does the rinseless take care of the road salt? Thankyou

[@bluegrasskid4835]

Rinsless does a pretty decent job but not as good of a job as DIY Spot Remover. To be safe, I always use DIY Spotless on salt, let it soak and dissolve the salt, and then spray the entire vehicle with Rinseless, let that dwell for a few minutes, and then pressurewash off. DIY Spotless is not expensive at all, so it is cheap insurance. It will be even cheaper insurance when it is sold by the gallon, hint, hint, Yvan, and Nick, lol.

[@diydetailofficial]

It does help control it

[@limoman4125]

My wife has the red rock creek pathfinder I'm about to stack it!! Cantbwait to see the finish product. The pics of ivan car looks like it does no justice

[@diydetailofficial]

Excellent, please share your results on our facebook group bit.ly/DIYDetailFacebookGroup

[@benpatana7664]

Interesting comment about leaf blowers. I'm guessing car dryers (which also heat the air) would also tend to leave minerals on the paint? So maybe the best bet is to use a towel to dry and restrict the dryers or leaf blowers to the crevices. Darn (I just invested $$$ in a car dryer)!!

[@rooboy99]

Been using a leaf blower on wifes daily driver for last 18 month's since a "12 month " coating , gyeon can coat evo, was applied. Still beads like a beast and very glossy. Don't panic

[@diydetailofficial]

It’s not a deal breaker, but once in a while do a towel drying.

[@veils1de350z]

As Yvan says, dont overthink it. I personally follow up my air drying with a topper which gets applied with a towel.

[@GoGreenBx]

If a opened coating bottle lasts about a year if properly stored. How do u know if it went bad? Color or smell change?

[@diydetailofficial]

It will be hard

[@GoGreenBx]

@@diydetailofficial Ty!

[@dannysuarez6923]

Hi, can the polish before coating be done by hand or the machine is absolutely necessary?

[@diydetailofficial]

It can be done by hand, but for less than $50 you can have a machine and pad that will do the job.

[@dannysuarez6923]

@@diydetailofficial any links to this machine and pad for less than $50?

[@diydetailofficial]

@@dannysuarez6923 this is an older video, but the information is still valid. EASIEST WAY TO CERAMIC COAT YOUR CAR kzbin.info/www/bejne/raW0iGWHa9uXpLs To clean the pad you can use this kzbin.infofGOQU8JQar8?si=RUeC53kjnOqckCor

[@dannysuarez6923]

@@diydetailofficial Thanks and which machine and pad can I get for under $50, I wouldn't mind buying that.

[@diydetailofficial]

It’s a standard random orbital sander ( we paid $30 at a local hardware store) and this pad. diydetail.com/products/gold-standard-waffle-pad

[@1stfrompuertorico568]

Ready

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@chabaneouali1955]

It would be awesome to have a video detailing a motorcycle . 🙏🏻, 🏍️

[@diydetailofficial]

We have 3 in our video library.

[@aaronolsen8787]

Great content as always! How much does double layering the coating actually improve it over a single layer in the real world and vs doing the 8 + 3 year stack? If you have lots of extra and need to use it up, is there any benefit to doing the 8 year and then a double layer of the 3 year or double layer 8 + double layer 3 year. Assuming it's a hobby and time wasn't an issue, any negatives to doing that? You hear of companies offering 4 or 5 layer coatings, I personally usually do single layer coatings and the odd 2 layer but never anything more than that. I am really looking forward to trying the 8 + 3 year stack in the spring though!

[@diydetailofficial]

The stack offers the best results. Applying multiple layers will not improve performance, but inversely it won’t hurt anything either.

[@bjimsondetailing]

how many mils can be ok to coat a car

[@diydetailofficial]

Most cars take between 10-15ml

[@neilwalker5041]

On my first coating I experienced the hazing effect on the middle of the hood from a very well known manufacturer. Why do I learn everything the hard way??? My mind is blown over the employee wearing hair gel. I have a very important question….who is going to be the first to coat the new Tesla Cybertruck?

[@diydetailofficial]

I have a bottle of our Metal Ceramic Coating waiting.

[@reedaskey6065]

Let’s get Ivan a proper mic, it’s killing these pods/videos. There’s so much great stuff, but yeoooow.

[@diydetailofficial]

I record using my phone ( I don’t own a computer) so mic options are not easy,

[@KingRockets]

​@diydetailofficial you can connect a USB microphone directly to your phone. I do it all the time with my blue yeti. Big difference in audio quality during zoom calls. Also, there are tons of wireless mic options as well.

[@lightspeedgallery]

Old school liquid Glass is still the best.

[@diydetailofficial]

It still has its fans

[@lightspeedgallery]

@@diydetailofficial I detailed cars in the 80s when I was a kid and we use liquid glass. Nothing looks better. I’m about to do my brand new 23 ram power wagon diamond black dipped with liquid glass. 😎 great channel cheers

[@jean-marc1662]

@@lightspeedgallery what is liquid glass? Thanks

[@lightspeedgallery]

@@jean-marc1662 it’s an old school polish that’s been around for decades. Look up Liquid Glass Ultimate Polish & Finish: Original Formula-New Packaging, No Wax or Silicone, 16 OZ … it’s amazing leaves a clear diamond like glass coating on your car . Beautiful

[@ilikechickensausages2075]

Yvan what products would you recommend to seal and protect my Gimp Suit?

[@diydetailofficial]

Just keep it clean. Most people just wear them on special occasions, so how you store it is more important. Because of how it stretches a protectant could end up looking blotchy

[@ilikechickensausages2075]

@@diydetailofficial I do wear it around the house when vacuuming but the rest of the time it stays in the Gimp box that i sleep in. Thank you for the info will pass it onto our Gimp membership club.

[@albaker2938]

Can I ceramic coat a powder coated surface?

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes

[@statusquoreject]

Can you/should you clay a ceramic coated vehicle? I don’t mean claying with a clay bar, rather im talking about using the new synthetic clay media like clay towels or The Rag Companies wash sponge with fine grade synthetic clay on one side. Does claying a coated car help remove contaminants that can clog a coating? Does it make any difference if a topper was used?

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes the Perforated Synthetic Decontamination Towel is perfect for maintaining a coating.

[@statusquoreject]

@@diydetailofficial awesome thank you. Any tips on how often one should clay towel a coated vehicle? Also, Your products are amazing by the way. I love DIY Detail!

[@diydetailofficial]

@statusquoreject as needed