Was pricing PPF & Ceramic Coating for my RX and decided a bit pricey, at least what I was quoted so thought I would try doing the coating myself. Was wondering if anyone has done the DIY coating & what did you use? I did a search as I thought there was another thread regarding this but couldn't find it.

 

Do you have any polishing compounds currently and machine polisher? This is probably the easiest coating for the DIYer to apply.
https://cleanbypan.com/products/clea...coating-3-year

I'm sure you know that the prep stage is 95% of the work. This polish is super easy to use and will correct most defects
Lake Country orange pad works great with the above.

 

They are completely different but both will lock in whatever is under them quality wise.













I stupidly don't take many before pictures or a split panel comparison but you can get even 20 year old cars looking like total liquid glass again with some skill.

All of my W12s, 4.0TT, and several of my friends cars are ceramic coated with a combination of consumer and pro-grade coats. The pro grade stuff is noticeably superior to the consumer grade even when both are "real" ceramics

I have three cars PPFed as one I really don't want to have any damage occur to, one I also don't want age to occur to but also gets driven to high speeds and the last one because it's also sees near/over 200mph.

PPF is a protection against major chips and scuffs, ceramic is ease of ownership. Both rely on base prep to work correctly. I even do single stage corrections on stuff like my Jetta and throw a quick "ceramic" spray on coating that purely makes dirt stick less. Single stage is fast and easy and really cleans up beater tier cars to the point it's worth it IMO

 

I've never done a ceramic coating so I'm no help.
Just stopping by to show support.

 

There is a tremendous amount of knowledge and solid advice in our detailing forum. There you will find a lot of threads on these subjects, including lots of recommended materials.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/aut...detailing-122/

 

I would highly recommend watching YouTube videos on ceramic coatings and how to apply them, there are tons. Not hard at all.

As others have said PPF and ceramic coatings aren't the same thing, if you're going to pay pay for PPF and do the coating yourself.

 

Thanks for all the above info. I really just wanted to protect the front end since I've got the Eminent White Pearl now & our 'love bug' season will be here in a couple of months. I'm pretty good at wiping off the front end (I keep a wet microfiber cloth in a small container) as these bugs if left on can easily mess with a paint finish but I don't always get to it as witnessed by my previous vehicles.

 

Are you more worried about chips or the love bugs?

Honestly with the love bugs PPF might not be the right thing. It’s plastic and it stains faster than paint so you want to make sure you get bugs off of it.

 

It's more about the love bugs. Depending upon the intensity of those little rascals a short trip can make it look like someone threw a bucket of slush on the front of your car! And for anyone who has witnessed these things, you really need a wet rag to wipe your windshield, etc., as they don't come off using your wiper/washers, they just smear. So I was just looking for something in case I don't get to it right away, especially since there is a lot of white on the front of the RX.

 

PPF is actually worse for stuff like bugs etc even if you do an ultra fine polish and coat it with a compatible ceramic vs just ceramic on paint. Ceramic on paint is insanely slick to the point dust etc can't really even stick to the car....



You can get a ceramic car dirty like this and it will clean completely off with just a foam cannon pass and rinse pass. Washing becomes a 7-10 min event and you don't need to ever touch the car

 

This is good to know and appreciate ALL the great info above as we plan to DIY ceramic coat our SC when optimal weather conditions allow.

I know there's also a great detailing thread on CL, that I've been checking into as well.

Will be watching the YT vids to help us as we've never done this before.

If we do a decent job, we'll have to try it on our EWP Lexus SUV -- anything to help shorten the washing process is a bonus!!

About those love bugs... hated them during our time in LA.

Never saw bugs like that so quickly got edumacated on their nasty-ness on cars and what to do and not to do.

 

Then I would focus on the coating and skip the PPF...

 

In my experience with love bugs I would choose PPF. We have PPF on our cars. Sprays over easily. Wipes easily as well on the PPF.

Love bugs get so bad try to do all of our running around before night on a freshly clean car. Avoidable on road trips.

 

A ceramic coating would give you the same ease of cleaning as the PPF which has a hydrophobic layer. With PPF you just can't leave those bugs on there they will discolor the PPF, especially on white.

 

I put my ceramic coating right over the PPF. But I also don't have to deal with many bugs....