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Messed up a little and need help :(


arpad_m

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Hi everyone, new and somewhat disheartened user here... yesterday I washed my car, and after drying with great white microfiber towels and applying some detail spray as a final phase, I noticed some ugly discolored lighter spots on the hood, see the middle of the picture. They aren't always visible, only in the sunlight and not under LED or fluroescent lighting, and only at some angles, but then they look horrid.

 

First I suspected the detail spray (I know, I know...), but it turns out one of the towels had been washed with some Tide purclean liquid detergent when I wasn't watching, and I suspect this may have caused the blotches.

 

Is there any hope can I get this off the car somehow? (It may or may not be relevant, but the paint has ceramic pro applied.) Any help would be vastly appreciated :help:

Thanks a lot in advance. Oh, and probably should've said this first, these products are indeed top notch and make cleaning the car almost a pleasure, heh.

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Hi Arpad,  it's hard to tell from the picture, but it appears as though either the soap dried during the wash or the ceramic coating was removed in the blotchy area.  The fix may be as simple as re-applying the ceramic coating or Ceramic Boost to the hood, if you have it.  If the Ceramic Boost doesn't work, you may have to clay bar the coating from the rest of the hood and re-apply so it looks uniform.  If you have any Ceramic Boost, give that a try first.  It may bring back the same gloss as the rest of the hood.

 

I'm sure others will have alternate solutions, so don't panic.  We'll find the answer for you.

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I agree with starting with Ceramic Boost.  Be warned though, not all of the ceramic top agents play well with every coating.  So test a spot first.  Using a different detergent shoudln't harm the coating since coatings typically aren't waxed. 

 

Not to ask a silly question, but did you try rewashing the car first to see if something dried on the car?  Sometimes another wash can help reactivate what was dried and make the problem go away.  Go least invasive to most.

 

If that doesn't work, it's possible the coating is somehow damaged (not sure how it would have gotten that way?).  There are products out there that will help repair a ceramic coating without having to redo the whole thing.  Could be worth a shot.  Polishing down and reapplication of the coating is also an option.  That would be the last way I would go though.

 

In the future though, you can skip the detail spray as a drying agent with the coated cars.  Detail Spray has a small amount of wax in it and it changes the hydrophobic properties of the coating slightly.  It's not harmful, but it also limits the way the coating reacts.  It's why they have special top coats (Ceramic Boost in the case of Adam's).

 

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

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Thank you guys, I knew you would be gentle to the noob trying his best not to panic, heh :). Will try another wash tomorrow, see if that helps and post back.

 

I know the picture isn't overly helpful, but it's almost as if the maroon hue changed to a ligher shade under the clear coat, because the surface has the same gloss as in the surrounding areas, but that's next to impossible, I swear I haven't done anything that could have caused that. The paint is a tricoat, and I'd love to avoid any overly expensive routes at this point...

 

Ah, just thought of one more thing, the ceramic coating was applied by an installer and there's some warranty on it. I'll also contact him and ask him what gives. Not happy that this thing is so delicate after all.

 

Shane, extra thanks for the tip about detail spray, looks like I'll have to switch to ceramic boost.

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I've had success with the Adam's Matte Detail spray on my son's ceramic coated Challenger and I know others have done the same.  The Matte Detailer doesn't have the trace of wax that the regular detail spray does, so you can get away with using it as a drying aid, if you need it.  

 

   The Ceramic Boost is not intended to be used as a drying aid, but rather a boost to the hydrophobic properties of the ceramic coating every few months or so to help extend the life of the coating. It's somewhat expensive, so you may want to keep that in mind.

Edited by ZMAN024
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Without seeing it in person, it’s super hard to say. I’d say to try a wash tomorrow and see what it does. If it was installed by an installer, it’s worth taking it to them to look.

 

How long ago was it installed? Most installation issues with coatings are quickly apparent and don’t show up significantly after the fact. That being said, if a client brought that back to me I’d af the very least try to help them out of goodwill. Even if that meant polishing a part of the hood down and reapplying that panel or part of a panel. Happy customers tell some people. Unhappy ones tell everyone. And I believe in standing behind my work.

 

Hopefully your installer feels the same if it’s a coating issue.

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Tried another wash, made no difference. The ceramic coating was applied a little over two weeks ago, and I was advised not to wash the car for 1-2 weeks, this was the first wash 'after the fact'. Now, of course I did review the car when the coating job was finished, and I don't recall seeing this problem even out in the sun, but maybe the coat had still not fully cured and either I glossed over it or it wasn't visible back then and got worse over time. The tricky thing is that it only shows under natural light, I tried LED, halogen, incandescent, nothing gives the spot away indoors, it's only revealed by sunlight and even that only at certain angles (but then it's bad, worse than the photo would suggest).

 

So eventually I called the installer and, along the respectable lines of what you're saying, Shane, he was honest and said it was possible that the coat overran a bit in that area, which can cause a similar slight difference in color. Then told me to take the car in, he would take a look and chances are he can fix it with nano polish and a reapplication of ceramic pro light, or if not, he'll polish the ceramic coat off and redo the hood from scratch.

 

The shop and I are both pretty busy, so it will take at least a week before this gets solved, but I'll post back, if only as a reference in case it might help others in the future.

 

Thanks a lot for all the advice and pardon me the lengthy posts, I'm trying to curb my linguistic diarrhea even if it doesn't always show :P

 

Without seeing it in person, it’s super hard to say. I’d say to try a wash tomorrow and see what it does. If it was installed by an installer, it’s worth taking it to them to look.

How long ago was it installed? Most installation issues with coatings are quickly apparent and don’t show up significantly after the fact. That being said, if a client brought that back to me I’d af the very least try to help them out of goodwill. Even if that meant polishing a part of the hood down and reapplying that panel or part of a panel. Happy customers tell some people. Unhappy ones tell everyone. And I believe in standing behind my work.

Hopefully your installer feels the same if it’s a coating issue.

Edited by arpad_m
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Is it possible it was here before and this is the first time you've noticed it?  

 

You described it as "Looks under the clear coat" at some point which can either be a paint flaw but more than likely, burned paint from a rough polishing or rotary device.  Without seeing it I can't say but if it has the same gloss it's probably not on the surface and was done before it was Ceramic coated...

 

Did the detailer polish the car? It sure looks like a paint burn to me from the picture.  And you say it's only visible in perfect lighting conditions which also points to you not noticing it but it was there before you washed it.  

 

Also, as noted, use Ceramic Boost instead of detail spray on Ceramic coating. 

Edited by LSX Maestro
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Just to have closure on this one, it did get resolved and the hood now looks perfect.

 

The installer checked the job, did some testing and acknowledged it as a case of incorrectly applied (or accidentally removed) Ceramic Pro Light top layer in one location, which caused a viewing angle specific pale blotchiness only visible in direct sunlight (which is why I didn't notice it at first and why it was so difficult to capture it).

 

He ended up compounding the top layer off the entire hood and reapplying it, which fixed the uneven reflection. I had never seen or would have thought of such an issue as possible, but now I know what to look for next time when receiving a ceramic coating job :D

 

Thanks guys for your helpfulness and the advice again, I've already switched to Ceramic Boost from the detail spray.

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Edited by arpad_m
typo
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