Impact of Humidity on Ceramic Coatings

[dfettero]

What is the Impact of Humidity on Ceramic Coatings in terms of drying time?

Is there an acceptable humidity range?

[Reichler]

I've done 3 white vehicles.  2 were left outside to cure and one was left in the garage.  All 3 came out fine and still look great.

That said, I did one medium blue car in June when the humidity wasn't that high, but it was warm out, and left it outside overnight to cure.  I polished and coated the car in the garage, then pulled it out into the sun to look the whole car over.  It looked perfect, so let the car sit outside overnight.   Attached is what I saw the next day right before I went to boost it.  After boosting the "holograms" went away, but they do reappear occasionally as the boost wears down.  As a test, I took some PCP on an orange pad and lightly wiped a section with my hand.  The holograms were gone instantly.  Only thing I can think of was the uncured coating combined with humidity in the air caused the coating to not cure properly leading to the cloudy holograms.

YMMV, but I won't ever ceramic coat a darker car and leave it outside again.  I did it as a test to see if it could be done, and well, it really shouldn't be.

My suggestion is if you plan to coat a darker color and are worried about the appearance, then find a garage to park it in overnight if you don't have one, or avoid using a coating altogether.

 

 

[shane@detailedreflections]

We've done some in the humidity as well.  We have never left one outside to cure though.  All of ours are left inside overnight to cure.  You can try some brilliant glaze to remove any coating that wasn't buffed off completely if it hasn't cured through.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  When it hasn't, I've used a little polish to take it down just a little. 

The heat/humidity will affect how long it takes to flash.  Just look for the signs of flash, and then buff off.  One thing we've found helpful is we buff with two towels.  A first buff with a suede towel.  And a second, final buff with a microfiber.