Quote:
Originally Posted by Lotus99
TTBear Wow, Amazing explanation. Thank you. You don't happen to live on the West Coast of Canada, do you? 
I'll be getting the HS colour, so hopefully a bit more forgiving in swirls and scratches.
I haven't even got a clue how much a ceramic coating will cost from local detailer, but it sounds like it would be $1000 plus from what you're saying... I wouldn't do it myself.
I wonder about point even if it would be worth spending that much for a ceramic coating, on HS. On black, perhaps I could see it being worth it, because of how much it'd pop. With Silver, maybe I'll just save the $ and get regular sealant / wax applications.
Thoughts?
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You are most welcome
. Just hope it made sense, and helped in some way!
Whatever you do, don't get the paint protection package from ANY dealer - it won't even be a ceramic coating - more often, it will be a crap sealant, that they will insist is "topped up" every year. Very, VERY much not worth it.
Using a coating can be worth it on any colour! It's not just for shine. There are very important UV protectants incorporated into any good last stage protection products. UV is as detrimental as any other factor in the degradation of your paint!
If you don't go with a ceramic coating, then stick with a great sealant. The one I mentioned above is EXCELLENT, and so easy to apply/remove, it's laughable.
If you can apply a wax, you can apply a coating. The paint preparation isn't hard (hey, if I can do it, a mentally challenged garden slug would stand a fair to middling chance of success
). For the $1000 you might spend on ONE application of a ceramic coating, you could have a skookum polisher, all the foam pads, microfibre cloths, and polishing products you'd need to maintain your car for years! it's actually very rewarding.
Good luck with you choice! At the end of the day, just make sure that you DO use a protective product, and maintain it well. I am about to trade in my M235i, after almost four years, and the paint is literally better than most cars on the showroom floor (which isn't actually saying all that much.... dealer paint prep is usually pretty abysmal....)