Ceramic coated my white van, advice appreciated!

[papadakko]

I picked up the Adam's Ceramic Coating kit (v2? I bought this about a month ago), went through wash, chem and mechanical decon along with the kit's prep spray.

 

It was impossible NOT to have some amount of streaking. With the UV light and using an overlapping motion, I could not prevent myself from creating "streaking" patterns. It was a rather warm day (77deg, humidity 40% to 58%) (California), and the product dried incredibly fast, I would say around a minute. It was hard to gauge how soon I should have wiped since the product was never "tacky".

 

No matter how slow or fast I was going, nor how much or how little I applied to the applicator, and no matter how much varying degrees of pressure, I could not replicate what I saw in the promotional video where it appeared to be one consistent layer.

 

I haven't driven the car yet, but I am able to see a few streaks while the car was in the shade. In the sun, I'm blinded by how shiny the car is. I had to use 3/4 of the bottle due to the size of the vehicle (Sienna minivan).

 

Apologies for the amount of questions, but I wanted to compile them all into one place instead of bombing the forum with separate ones:

 

1. How much pressure I should apply?

2. How much of the product should be on the applicator?

3. Is the latest formulaic version of the ceramic coating supposed to be tacky at some point?

4. Should I be using a suede applicator as another thread had mentioned?

5. How often do people apply this to the roof? Of a mini van or SUV even?

6. Will a one-step, light polish by hand easily help remedy the high-spots? (I have a DA polisher as well)

7. When you stop midway through a large panel to refill on the product, how should I go about continuing where I left off to prevent creating a high spot if I still need to employ an over-lapping pattern?

 

Thank you all!

 

[BRZN]

If you're seeing the streaking with only the UV light and not with the vehicle out in the sunlight, you're fine. In order to replicate the appearance of what's see in the promotional videos under the UV light you'd need to lay down way more product, which I don't believe is necessary to get a nice layer of Ceramic Coating on the paint surface.

 

No pressure as you apply, you just wipe it on.

I place a line of product on the center of the long wide surface of the applicator.

You should be applying the Coating with the Suede applicator included in the kit.

I won't do the roof of any vehicles any more often than the rest of its paint.

I remove any high spots with Ceramic Spray Coating. A light polish may remove too much product, especially if it hasn't fully cured yet. Brilliant Glaze can be used to knock down high spots too.

The high spots are what you see after you've buffed the residue down, not what's seen as you apply. Don't worry about overlapping too much as you apply.

 

The video can be quite helpful

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by BRZN

[shane@detailedreflections]

@BRZN has you covered pretty well. 
 

Most ceramic coatings do become tacky as you apply them. It’s the actual product being left behind after the carrying agent (the one that makes it so it can be applied) begins to evaporate out. Adam’s historically hasn’t been too bad as far as that goes, but there are some brutal ones that come to mind that we’ve worked with (Ceramic Pro Wheel and Caliper is brutally tacky and difficult to buff off). 

We always coat the roof like the rest of the vehicle. It doesn’t need any special treatment. 
 

Don’t be afraid to overlap. If you’re not sure, overlap a little. You won’t hurt anything in the durability of the product. 

[papadakko]

This is great advice, thank you both! 

 

The video was incredibly informative.

 

- I'll pick up the ceramic spray coating to help with the high spots, as well as BG.

- I touched a panel on the car today, and the coating made the paint feel incredibly slick. I like.

- Thank you for clarifying how I should refer to high spots (after it's been buffed).

- And yes, 95% of the streaking is only visible with the UV light. There are a few spots that can be seen in the shade, but other than that, it's not noticeable (as of now).

 

Thanks all!