Cleaning Your Beast

[ICT Tremor]

The people that did my PPF, ceramic and tint also did their stuff to a Bugatti Divo made my truck seem extremely cheap in comparison.

And since they drive Tremors, probably reading this and laughing.

Sure they are... all the way to the bank.

Unless the PPF/ceramic gig disappears then it's back selling cars on Saturdays, working on a framing crew, or helping check out rental gear at Home Depot. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with those careers, but as a consumer I'm unlikely to be paying them $75/hour for their services. If you lose your job and can't replace it in reasonable order with something like-kind in salary, that's basic economics saying you had it really good and were drastically overpaid for skillset and/or education.

 

[Apparition]

Sure they are... all the way to the bank.

Unless the PPF/ceramic gig disappears then it's back selling cars on Saturdays, working on a framing crew, or helping check out rental gear at Home Depot.

Well it looked significantly better after they did the paint correction plus my garage is full of jeep and I'd rather turn wrenches right now that get out my porter cable.

 

[jhblaze1]

Ceramic coatings - when done "professionally" for four figure sums - are a borderline scam. Maybe not even borderline. "Installers" with LOL level resumes are laughing all the way to the bank, that's for damn sure.

How many of you have a $500 3M sun gun that you inspect your truck with after every wash? Do you wash your truck with a kitchen scrub brush and dry it with a shop rag that's been laying on the ground? The reason I'm being hyperbolic and ridiculous here is because one of the main selling points of a professional ceramic job is that it will get a "full correction". These are heavy duty pickups used as such for many of us, with not-awesome paint to start with if we're being honest. They're not a garage queen sports car that will sit in the shop under a cover for 350 days out of the year. Making these trucks perfect is overkill, and it is taking them to a step of correction that most will not even notice. Just like you can go buy a screw at ACE for $.03, but the same exact thing built to NASA's level of precision might cost $40. Sounds cool to say you built your shed with NASA screws, but what did you gain over the ACE screws?

You can watch some videos on YouTube, buy a DA polisher, a couple of pads, a one step correction polish, and a consumer-level ceramic coating that might last one year instead of two, and be all in for maybe $300-$400. And it's all there ready to go the next time you need to redo the process. And you then have the gear necessary to correct other vehicles in your fleet. Trust me, I've have literal thousands of dollars in detailing gear and supplies sitting on two 2x4x8 racks in my garage... clear coat correction with a DA and the pads and polishes they have these days is not difficult, nor dangerous. You're not going to screw anything up unless you're one of those guys who manages to cut your finger off slicing summer sausage, or blow off your dee cleaning a gun.

cool story. Bullshit but cool anyway.

Ceramic coating was well worth the cost for me. I had tons of clear coat swirls right of the dealer's lot because they don't give a shit when washing the cars on the lot. You don't notice them til the sun hits it right. I paid over 2K but the majority of the cost is correcting all that shit. I don't have the time or inclination to spend 10+ hours polishing a truck of this size, going out and buying hundreds of dollars worth or detail polishes, pads, buffers clay bar kits etc and then figure out how to come up with that kind of time to do the work.....then figure if a professional shop is taking 4 days to do it, it will probably take me 6 or more since I've never done it.....then the risk factor of overpolishing and stripping the clear coat clean off.

You're right it's probably not that hard or dangerous but someone who has never attempted paint correction could certainly fuck up their paint without being an idiot. So given the cost of all this shit to buy and the massive time suck, $2K was well worth it. And mine has a 5 year warranty not 2. So if, in 2 years I notice that water isn't beading any more or it's not as easy to wash, I can just take it in and they'll polish it and throw a few more coats on. totally worth it.

The crap you buy in autozone or online isn't even close to the stuff pro shops use. It's thin and watery. The professional stuff is thicker and goopier and dries a lot faster. You need a few people working on it at a time to get an even coat and it lasts a lot longer than the DIY crap, which is basically just a cheap sealant.

 

[ICT Tremor]

cool story. Bullshit but cool anyway.

Ceramic coating was well worth the cost for me. I had tons of clear coat swirls right of the dealer's lot because they don't give a shit when washing the cars on the lot. You don't notice them til the sun hits it right. I paid over 2K but the majority of the cost is correcting all that shit. I don't have the time or inclination to spend 10+ hours polishing a truck of this size, going out and buying hundreds of dollars worth or detail polishes, pads, buffers clay bar kits etc and then figure out how to come up with that kind of time to do the work.....then figure if a professional shop is taking 4 days to do it, it will probably take me 6 or more since I've never done it.....then the risk factor of overpolishing and stripping the clear coat clean off.

You're right it's probably not that hard or dangerous but someone who has never attempted paint correction could certainly fuck up their paint without being an idiot. So given the cost of all this shit to buy and the massive time suck, $2K was well worth it. And mine has a 5 year warranty not 2. So if, in 2 years I notice that water isn't beading any more or it's not as easy to wash, I can just take it in and they'll polish it and throw a few more coats on. totally worth it.

The crap you buy in autozone or online isn't even close to the stuff pro shops use. It's thin and watery. The professional stuff is thicker and goopier and dries a lot faster. You need a few people working on it at a time to get an even coat and it lasts a lot longer than the DIY crap, which is basically just a cheap sealant.

All due respect, your post indicates you know little of either what I was specifically referring to or detailing in general. You are possibly of the personality type that is easily sold on low ROI goods and services, it appears.

EDIT: I think there's very few people who are actually detailing nerds themselves who are having these "professionally-installed" ceramic jobs done. Very, very few. Should tell you something, and definitely not just that they somehow have more disposable time to burn than the folks who pay LOL sums for laborers worth $15/hour using a few hundred dollars in gear to install $25 worth of a product.

 

[Loshad]

I think Blazer explained his thinking cogently.

'Value' is a moving target. YVMV

 

[jhblaze1]

All due respect, your post indicates you know little of either what I was specifically referring to or detailing in general. You are possibly of the personality type that is easily sold on low ROI goods and services, it appears

All due respect, your post indicates that you're just a run of the mill mouthy internet know-it-all, who, rather than simply acknowledging a product or service doesn't suit your needs has to rant and rave shittng all over something other people have found value in.

 

[ICT Tremor]

All due respect, your post indicates that you're just a run of the mill mouthy internet know-it-all, who, rather than simply acknowledging a product or service doesn't suit your needs has to rant and rave shittng all over something other people have found value in.

The irony; thick like molasses. Are you completely and wholly unaware of the general tone and tact of your posts here? Like Bruce Willis' character on The Sixth Sense or something?

People "find value" in a lot of products and services that are nothing more than a gullible consumer being one degree away from lighting paper currency on fire. A lot of wealth is lost in this country to such rackets, and it flows over to the bank accounts of grifters, hucksters, and general charismatic nincompoops.

 

[MoKan]

WRT Ceramic coating shops...

I think the biggest BS flag for me is the term "professional grade". Anyone who is a career professional knows that if you have to use that term, you are compensating. Add to that, many of the vendors won't sell direct to the consumer. Why?

Money. These shops likely pay a not insignificant sum to these companies in franchise fees. That is why. There is no controlled or overly dangerous material or process, or unique characteristics that require significant PPE or "professional" training. Does it take practice to do it right? Sure... but so does most other things in life. And who does the training and "certification" Yup, the company they just paid a nice franchise fee.

So, to many of us with calibrated BS meters, paying a guy $1500 to polish and wax my truck seems a bit wonky. But, I know people who pay that to get their leafs cleaned out of their yard one time, so you do you.

Ceramic seems to be just a more durable version of a wax coating... and I think that was the point.

Now, in my case, I just bought a couple bottles of AvalonKing, but didn't do my homework and now I have to wait until the summer to use it. Because I don't have the garage space, and have a LOT of large Pin Oak trees in my neighborhood. If I had to have it right now, the benefit of these places is that they do have the interior space to do the application. BUT, I'd still have to deal with the rain/dust/pollen/oak flowers, etc. during the cure time.

 

[jhblaze1]

The irony; thick like molasses. Are you completely and wholly unaware of the general tone and tact of your posts here? Like Bruce Willis' character on The Sixth Sense or something?

People "find value" in a lot of products and services that are nothing more than a gullible consumer being one degree away from lighting paper currency on fire. A lot of wealth is lost in this country to such rackets, and it flows over to the bank accounts of grifters, hucksters, and general charismatic nincompoops.

No I'm totally aware of my tone. You came in all pissy and didn't like when you got a response in kind and started hurling personal insults. A better question is "are YOU aware of how you come off"? Because I'm not the only one that called you out for your rant. Rather the realize YOUR post was douchey, you decided to double down and dig in.

You're doing it again here...everyone is gullible who doesn't approach this like you. Dude, honestly just open a detail shop and then you can rip all us retards off. You're clearly a master detailer. Why not get paid for it?

You seem to not understand that most people don't know how to do full paint correction on a car. You fail to grasp that most people don't even want to undertake that big of a project. You fail to grasp that that amount of work takes a lot of time and it costs money to have people spend that much time on your truck. Good for you if you can and want to do it yourself.

I'm a professional alternative investment manager. I don't go online telling everyone they're gullible idiots wasting their money if they hire a financial advisor just because I don't need or want one. Do you own any mutual funds? I hope not, only a gullible idiot would buy a prepackaged fund rather than pick their own stocks.....cuz mutual funds are just scams to create fees for companies like fidelity.....or you could look at it more rationally and say, hey for a fee I can get my money professionally managed in a prepackaged bundle of well diversified investments with no need to spend 15 hours a week pouring over individual companies' K-1 forms. Anyone can learn how to invest. Anyone can learn how to detail a car. Not everyone wants to do that. I can pick weeds out of my own garden too. But not everyone that hires a landscaper is a retard getting scammed "cuz it's actually easy and you should just do it yourself".

I got ceramic coating because I don't want to wax my truck once or twice a month. I got ceramic coating because I park outside and my truck is baking in the SoCal sun all day every day. Some UV protection seems like a good bet. I got ceramic coating because while I like to wash my own vehicles, I want it to be fast and easy. The vast majority of the expense is paint prep and paying someone to do all that work for me was well worth it since I neither have the time, nor the desire to fill my garage with thousands of dollars worth of detailing supplies and tools.

 

[D&K icehouse]

Happy Saturday folks!

So I want to be able to keep my beast clean but understand the carwash isn’t a good idea for the livelihood of the paint.

I have a pressure washer but its gas and from what I understand the PSI is a bit risky for car paint.

I can certainly pickup a cheaper, lower PSI electric pressure washer but was wondering what y’all do to clean your beasts. Any of you DIY’ers? If so, what equipment/tools are you using to clean yours?

Hose rinse heavy debris. Bucket and rv brush for the wash

 

[JimmyG79]

Happy Saturday folks!

So I want to be able to keep my beast clean but understand the carwash isn’t a good idea for the livelihood of the paint.

I have a pressure washer but its gas and from what I understand the PSI is a bit risky for car paint.

I can certainly pickup a cheaper, lower PSI electric pressure washer but was wondering what y’all do to clean your beasts. Any of you DIY’ers? If so, what equipment/tools are you using to clean yours?

The fucking car porter that washes the car before you get it will scratch the shit out of the plastic between the doors before you even get it. A car wash won’t scratch a thing.

 

[davidb1841]

Buy a crane or build a huge scaffold in your pole shed you can drive your tremor under....that way you can wash the roof!.........and for us guys under 5'10"......the hood!!

 

[Briski]

Buy a crane or build a huge scaffold in your pole shed you can drive your tremor under....that way you can wash the roof!.........and for us guys under 5'10"......the hood!!

I definitely am trying to figure out how to wash the cab roof. Need a big fucking ladder (BFL) or something to reach it!!! Other then that, no different then any other vehicle (two buckets, wash mits, and micro towels). I did buy a lower pressure power washer to help with the wheel wells and under body.

 

[kmtweb]

Ceramic coatings - when done "professionally" for four figure sums - are a borderline scam. Maybe not even borderline. "Installers" with LOL level resumes are laughing all the way to the bank, that's for damn sure.

How many of you have a $500 3M sun gun that you inspect your truck with after every wash? Do you wash your truck with a kitchen scrub brush and dry it with a shop rag that's been laying on the ground? The reason I'm being hyperbolic and ridiculous here is because one of the main selling points of a professional ceramic job is that it will get a "full correction". These are heavy duty pickups used as such for many of us, with not-awesome paint to start with if we're being honest. They're not a garage queen sports car that will sit in the shop under a cover for 350 days out of the year. Making these trucks perfect is overkill, and it is taking them to a step of correction that most will not even notice. Just like you can go buy a screw at ACE for $.03, but the same exact thing built to NASA's level of precision might cost $40. Sounds cool to say you built your shed with NASA screws, but what did you gain over the ACE screws?

You can watch some videos on YouTube, buy a DA polisher, a couple of pads, a one step correction polish, and a consumer-level ceramic coating that might last one year instead of two, and be all in for maybe $300-$400. And it's all there ready to go the next time you need to redo the process. And you then have the gear necessary to correct other vehicles in your fleet. Trust me, I've have literal thousands of dollars in detailing gear and supplies sitting on two 2x4x8 racks in my garage... clear coat correction with a DA and the pads and polishes they have these days is not difficult, nor dangerous. You're not going to screw anything up unless you're one of those guys who manages to cut your finger off slicing summer sausage, or blow off your dee cleaning a gun.

Totally agree. Make the small investment in a polisher and some decent pads and chemicals. A little investment in your time and you get great satisfaction out of it. A good diy ceramic coating that will not break the bank is armor shield IX.

 

[Apparition]

I definitely am trying to figure out how to wash the cab roof. Need a big fucking ladder (BFL) or something to reach it!!! Other then that, no different then any other vehicle (two buckets, wash mits, and micro towels). I did buy a lower pressure power washer to help with the wheel wells and under body.

Use the man step and wash it from the bed

 

[Briski]

Use the man step and wash it from the bed

I have a retrax tonneau cover. I could try retracting it and stepping on it to reach. Good point!

 

[TimmyTheKid17]

Thanks for the help y’all! A lot of passion in this thread. I don’t even wanna know how heated the diesel vs gasser threads get lol. FWIW I understand both sides and to me it boils down to ‘what price are you willing to pay for convenience’ and ‘how much money is your own personal time worth’ It seems clear that ceramic coating is a job I could do on my own for a small investment in the materials and a larger investment in time. And the results *may* be comprable to bringing it somewhere.

But to Blaze’s point, perhaps I value my time (kids, job, wife, other hobbies, etc) enough to feel ‘good’ about ‘overpaying‘ for such a service as this. In fairness, it’s the same reason I pay my landscapers. I can do just as good, if not better, a job as my landscaping crew. But with just myself it can be hard to find 5+ hours in a week to get it all done to the quality I prefer. And on a week where I could carve out that time, I often prefer to spend it with my family or other hobbies I’m more passionate about it. Given I could do the work just as well as the ladscapers, do I consider myself a gullible consumer? No. Because I value greatly that 5 hours of time with my family and therefore the price for the service is worth it to me.

All that said, the info and perspectives have been extremely helpful and per usual, will now help me make a more informed decision, whichever one it may be.

 

[HubbardTramper]

I'm going to delicately sidestep the ceramic coating conversation and ask a question that will truly disgust most of you.

I know I'll receive a lot of hate, but I've hardly ever washed my trucks - after initially coating them upfront. I overland full time and constantly go through mud and thick insects. I've only had silver (cheap) vehicles and have let the rain do the work. When insect guts are caked everywhere baking in the sun, or if I've gone down magnesium chloride / heavily salted areas, are the only times I whip out my buckets or spray the underside.

NOW, I'm about to pay 4X more than I ever have on a new Tremor so I plan to take excellent care of it! Assuming I live out of my camper/vehicle, is a portable pressure washer worth the investment?? Or would solely the two bucket method suffice? I'm going with Antimatter Blue and know I'll have much more work keeping her looking good.

 

[Apparition]

I'm going to delicately sidestep the ceramic coating conversation and ask a question that will truly disgust most of you.

I know I'll receive a lot of hate, but I've hardly ever washed my trucks - after initially coating them upfront. I overland full time and constantly go through mud and thick insects. I've only had silver (cheap) vehicles and have let the rain do the work. When insect guts are caked everywhere baking in the sun, or if I've gone down magnesium chloride / heavily salted areas, are the only times I whip out my buckets or spray the underside.

NOW, I'm about to pay 4X more than I ever have on a new Tremor so I plan to take excellent care of it! Assuming I live out of my camper/vehicle, is a portable pressure washer worth the investment?? Or would solely the two bucket method suffice? I'm going with Antimatter Blue and know I'll have much more work keeping her looking good.

I'd go two bucket method due to space and the buckets are useful for other things.

 

[HubbardTramper]

I'd go two bucket method due to space and the buckets are useful for other things.

Thanks Apparition. I currently only use buckets - but don't care at all about getting all top dirt off for fear of scratches. I've never used a pressure washer on a vehicle but if it's truly worth it to ensure I wouldn't scratch up the finish while cleaning I wouldn't mind ordering a $120 washer from Amazon.