Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin

A clay, polish, and surface prep is always recommended. You want the paint to be as perfect and as bare as possible. Maybe look into the Revive Hand Polish as opposed to the more serious polishes. This one is minimally abrasive, and is said to work as a paint cleaner. Reason for that is, if there are any contaminants or imperfections, they will be sealed under the coating. The surface prep is for getting the clay lube/polishing oils/anything else that might be on there off to create the naked paint for the Ceramic Spray Coating to bond to. But also, all of this is up to your discretion, considering your car is new and clay and polish are abrasive, you may not want to polish your car so early. On my vehicle (about 1 year old when I coated) , I skipped the polishing step simply because I didn't have the resources at the time. So my steps were as follows: Strip Wash thoroughly Spray Iron Remover and rinse Clay with DS and rinse Dry Surface prep wipe down with Microfiber towel (important) Coat with CSC Wait cure time (Important) Ceramic Boost (optional, adds sacrificial layer to coating and boosts gloss and hydrophobics) I have had great results so far - Hydrophobics are unbelievable, and gloss is crazy - I don't know how, but it really makes paint look great! I think I would have used the Revive Hand Polish right before my surface prep if I could go back. That would give my paint even more extra pop, but I'm happy with my results.

I would appreciate that as a customer. Great thinking!

You joking me? I might just be buying that for the smell.🙃 thanks for bringing the answer here, Chris!

I did not know that. When you say "new," you mean the one from last fall? where the bottle says something about hybrid technology?

Hi Eric, I don't actually know the answer to your questions, but there is a thread on here about the scents. Maybe somebody has answered it there?

I'm interested in your process for doing this. Is it as simple as it sounds?

Welcome, Kasey!

Note taker

Looks great!

Welcome, Eric. Sorry to hear about your team in Milwaukee 😉

Welcome back, Charles. This is a great forum for advice and techniques. Just ask any questions and people will be happy to help!

Welcome, Jeff!

So cool! Great job!

This was so cool! so did you spread the coating with anything? Like did you use a towel to spread it on the convertible top? Or just spray on two coats?

I think you should be okay if you take the time to wipe it all down after the flash period. for ceramic boost, it’s recommended to apply it, like falcaineer said, 24 hours after applying cc ( right after the cure period of the cc). And that acts as a sacrificial layer to your cc. beyond that use it as falcaineer recommended. Once a month-ish you can use it as a drying aid (similar to ds or hgg) or you can apply it on dry paint. The bottle should have instructions for both application methods.

Me too’ I was ready to get in the ring!

I would recommend just using the DS and the clay bar you have should work just fine. just make sure you don’t drop it and check how soiled the bar is before you put it back on the paint. If it’s very soiled, you may need to fold and stretch the clay to reveal a cleaner surface. and yes I agree I always wanted to skip that video but one day I took the time to watch it and realize he took a lot of time to explain the steps. Glad it could be helpful! also the ceramic waterless wash is one of my favorite things! I hope you enjoy that one.

Welcome! Feel free to ask any questions that may come up. People On this forum will be very happy to help. glad you’ve found an interest in detailing! Adams is certainly my favorite line of car products and I hope you enjoy the process as I do!

Good call, JR. I've heard a 1:1 Shampoo to Water. But I dont know how I feel about that. I think I would just use the DS. And use either SW or H20 GG as a drying aid until I bought more DS. MAybe somebody else has experience with creating their own solution. Good catch!

This video should be pretty good in terms of detailing the steps Make sure to use detail spray as a lubricant when you use your clay bar. For protection Tlbullet mentioned spray wax which would be a good option. Also you have H20 Guard and Gloss which will also protect, but again there are longer lasting protections out there. I also am curious as to what is behind your Leather and Interior cleaner.

Correct. There are two steps to applying the ceramic coating after you have followed the many steps of prep work. Application: This is where you apply it to the paint using a specific medium. The recommended technique is to put a small amount on application block/towel/microfiber applicator (depending on which ceramic coating product you have. CSC you can use either a towel or the microfiber applicator, and for the regular paint CC, you use the application block that should be included in the kit). A cross hatch pattern is recommended for applying from the applicator block/towel/microfiber applicator to the paint in small 2' x 2' portions of the paint. The cross hatch pattern is basically just to ensure coverage of the whole 2' x 2' portion of the paint. Then you wait the amount of time specified for the product to flash. You'll see it becomes to rainbow and look like oil on water while it's "flashing" on your paint. Leveling/Removal of Excess product: This takes place after you have allowed the product to flash. Using a towel (Adam's has Suede Removal Towels) you go over the product that you applied in the last step and remove all the excess, it should look pretty shiny. It shouldn't take too much effort or elbow grease. It normally levels off pretty easily. Make sure you take the time to get every part of the paint where CC was applied. I use this step also as a way of leveling or getting the product to be spread to an even layer. After all this you leave the coating to cure, preferably indoors, for an extended amount of time, dependent on the product you choose. You'll hear people talk about high spots. High spots will happen if you skip this step or if any of the CC that was applied doesn't get leveled/removed. They look like the following: Note: High spots can happen after any SiO2 products, so make sure to go over them with a clean and dry microfiber. The photos above come from a thread where High spots happened after using Ceramic Boost 2.0. However, the most serious and hard to remove is created by CC. If you notice any high spots while your CC is still curing, some people say you can simply use some BG to remove them. I have not tried that. If your high spots have fully cured, it is more than likely that you will have to polish in order to get rid of them. I will look for a video that I think explains this process well.

Hey there, neighbor, welcome to the forum. You're so right about not having enough, also about Adam's customer service. It's really top notch!

Any specific ones you're looking for?

I was also looking to detail a Polaris. It's not mine, and so I don't know the specs on the vehicle. I wasn't sure what I would do with the seats and the "interior." Is that just a Wipe down with APC? Or would I use an interior detailer on those seats for some UV protection?