Gyeon Quartz Ceramic Coating Application
Hello again!
For starters, let me begin with paying my dog tax.
Now that that's out of the way, on to the meat of this post!
After two years of ownership, it was time to do some paint correction. I noticed over time two things: I was losing the hydrophobic properties of my previous ceramic coating, and I had some hard water spots that weren't coming off. Ceramic coatings don't last forever either, so I knew it was time to take it in to get worked on.
Hindsight being 20/20, if I did this again I would put PPF on at least my front bumper. I took some nasty rock chips up there. I have another car for my wife coming next month and I'll make sure to do PPF on the high touch areas + front bumper on her car.
Anyway, back on topic. I decided to switch ceramic coatings from the one I had previously (Vivienne) to Gyeon Quartz. What I had before was a "glass coating" which I don't think is too common in the US, and while it was extremely soft and smooth I felt it didn't provide the harder protection of a ceramic coating. I will say that the Vivienne did keep me from getting any scratches or anything like that so that was a plus.
But also I think in general most coatings are similar, it's just the marketing that's different. Gyeon has great marketing so that's why I was persuaded that direction but I'm sure I could have gone with something else with similar results. I think the ceramic coating business in general is kinda "hype" but the results are great so I can't complain much.
So I dropped off my car for the 1.5 day correction / coating application.
I went with Mohs for this coating.
Washed and prepped for the paint correction.
And... I think the results speak for themselves.
So. What did I learn from all of this? Well, a few things.
First, I had some misconceptions about ceramic coatings and taking care of them. I thought that you weren't really supposed to put any chemicals on them, such as iron remover, as it effects the coating - I see people using iron remover to prep paint and things like that thinking it was part of the stripping process... But I was wrong on that. As a result, when they used iron remover on my car the entire car was purple from all the iron on there. This caused my coatings' hydrophobic properties to diminish. Lesson learned.
Second, I thought the coating itself is what has the hydrophobic tendencies. It may have some, but most / all coatings have follow up hydrophobic coatings added on top of the ceramic coat. So for the two years I've had the car I haven't put anything on top of the coating I had... Because a friend told me that you shouldn't. But, you're supposed to.
So taking these two "lessons learned" I hope I can make this coating last longer and keep my paint looking more fresh moving forward. The M2 will have a stable-mate next month when my wife takes delivery of her M340i, also in Alpine White with shadowline trim, it's our way of being "matchy matchy." I may end up stealing her car to drive to work some days. Very excited.
