Ceramic Coating My Paint
Road Master
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,045
Likes: 74
From: AB, Canada
I would seriously leave this to a professional shop to do.
The paint requires full correction before you apply the ceramic coat otherwise your basically just doing a very expensive wash and wax.
The paint requires full correction before you apply the ceramic coat otherwise your basically just doing a very expensive wash and wax.
Hose it off and dry with microfiber...or if more than dust, gently wash with ph neutral soap, rinse dry with microfiber or blower.
This youtube video is pretty informative, comparing Coating and Waxing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93MmQhNwqxk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93MmQhNwqxk
__________________
DKCustomProducts.com
DKCustomProducts.com
A couple of people asked for pics of the truck with the ceramic coat....
I don't know how those folks take photo's showing the wet glass look...the one below shows it, just on the rear panel in the photo, but the entire truck looks like that, just had a hard time capturing it with my phone camera.
This truck has been "washed" once in the last 6 months (12,000 miles). The washing consisted of hosing it down and then wiping it with a micro fiber. That was about 1,000 miles before this photo was taken.
In addition it was hosed off about 10,000 miles ago, but not even wiped down after that.
It has been some pretty amazing stuff so far. This truck get driven in some dirty nasty conditions, and since the ceramic coat has never had any soap or cleaner on it.
If I get a fraction of this benefit on the bikes, I will be very pleased.
I don't know how those folks take photo's showing the wet glass look...the one below shows it, just on the rear panel in the photo, but the entire truck looks like that, just had a hard time capturing it with my phone camera.
This truck has been "washed" once in the last 6 months (12,000 miles). The washing consisted of hosing it down and then wiping it with a micro fiber. That was about 1,000 miles before this photo was taken.
In addition it was hosed off about 10,000 miles ago, but not even wiped down after that.
It has been some pretty amazing stuff so far. This truck get driven in some dirty nasty conditions, and since the ceramic coat has never had any soap or cleaner on it.
If I get a fraction of this benefit on the bikes, I will be very pleased.
All these pics are inside, under florescent lighting, so they don't look so great. In a few days I will get it out in the sunshine (raining today) and see how it turned out.
First thing I did was pull the console-
Before the ceramic coating goes on, need to do the prep polish. That went pretty quickly, got all three pieces done in about 1 hour. I used the McKee's 37 prep polish which is supposed to get all material off the clear to give the ceramic coating a good surface to stick to.
If I was going full bore, for the best possible end result, I would have buffed out all the micro scratches in the clear that have accumulated over the last 6 years. I did not do that. Simply got the big stuff cleaned up and then the surface prepped.
Here's the tank prepped, but not coated yet.
Here's the front fender coated...until it dries/cures and I get it in the sunlight, not really possible to tell how it turned out. Probably will be a week before I get the fender back on the bike.
After the front fender, I did the tank and the rear fender...about an hour to do all the coating.
After getting all the paint done, I did 4 test spots-
1. A little section of the front wheel, right next to the valve stem-
2. I did the entire Air Cleaner Cover, it is polished aluminum. Bad photo, but we'll see how it turns out after it cures and then goes thru some riding and washing.
3. I did a small section, down low on the primary. Will be interesting to see how it holds up to the heat.
4. I did a small section of heat-shield on the end of the rear header. Highly doubt that it will hold up under the heat. We'll see.
This is the bottle of coating I used. It is still half full after the F150 (8 foot bed) and the Softail.
Later this week I am gong to get some sunlight on the Softail....I'm hoping it will be as glassy looking as the truck.
First thing I did was pull the console-
Before the ceramic coating goes on, need to do the prep polish. That went pretty quickly, got all three pieces done in about 1 hour. I used the McKee's 37 prep polish which is supposed to get all material off the clear to give the ceramic coating a good surface to stick to.
If I was going full bore, for the best possible end result, I would have buffed out all the micro scratches in the clear that have accumulated over the last 6 years. I did not do that. Simply got the big stuff cleaned up and then the surface prepped.
Here's the tank prepped, but not coated yet.
Here's the front fender coated...until it dries/cures and I get it in the sunlight, not really possible to tell how it turned out. Probably will be a week before I get the fender back on the bike.
After the front fender, I did the tank and the rear fender...about an hour to do all the coating.
After getting all the paint done, I did 4 test spots-
1. A little section of the front wheel, right next to the valve stem-
2. I did the entire Air Cleaner Cover, it is polished aluminum. Bad photo, but we'll see how it turns out after it cures and then goes thru some riding and washing.
3. I did a small section, down low on the primary. Will be interesting to see how it holds up to the heat.
4. I did a small section of heat-shield on the end of the rear header. Highly doubt that it will hold up under the heat. We'll see.
This is the bottle of coating I used. It is still half full after the F150 (8 foot bed) and the Softail.
Later this week I am gong to get some sunlight on the Softail....I'm hoping it will be as glassy looking as the truck.
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1,809
Likes: 201
From: Wisconsin
Check out https://www.autogeek.net/ They carry all kinds of detailing products in varies brands including McKee's. Ceramic coating is suppose to be the newest, longest lasting paint protection.
Last edited by gtrb; Jan 13, 2019 at 01:45 PM.
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 59
Likes: 14
From: Va
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Check out https://www.autogeek.net/ They carry all kinds of detailing products in varies brands including McKee's. Ceramic coating is suppose to be the newest, longest lasting paint protection.
looking good for sure. Cant wait to see it in the sun light.
lol, I'll do your truck and Heritage if you'll do my Tri Glide and Sportster.
Yeah, I was going to get it out in the sun light this weekend....not gonna happen though.