A Detailers Maverick Experience: Thin Paint, Ceramic Coating, Etc.

[avane]

jeeze that looks night and day!! so impressive!

Question (and forgive the ignorance)...how long should I wait after recieving the new truck to do a ceramic coat (or any exterior paint related mods like PPF)? I'm wondering how long the paint actually needs to cure from the factory before being worked on. When did you coat your truck after receiving it?

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[cduncan423]

Ohhhhhhhhh myyy gooooosh !!!!! This is beautiful

 

[ParagonDetail]

What type of longevity could one expect for a vehicle parked outside with this procedure? I'm in Sac too...may have to reach out when my truck gets built.

If you’re keeping it clean on a regular basis, not much difference. Expect 5-7 years. If it’s washed minimally, parked under a tree and neglected, I could safely say 3-5 years. But again that’s very much dependent on where you park, how much you drive, time of year, etc. It’s chemically bonded to your paint so it’s going to be there for quite some time.
A coating will lose its hydrophobic properties well before it actually stops providing protection. Really comes down to how much of a beating it’s going to take between washes.

Bottom line is it’s there to protect from whatever the elements have to throw at it. With harsher elements, in your case parking outside, it’s going to take more of a beating. But at least it’s the coating and not your paint.

 

[ParagonDetail]

jeeze that looks night and day!! so impressive!

Question (and forgive the ignorance)...how long should I wait after recieving the new truck to do a ceramic coat (or any exterior paint related mods like PPF)? I'm wondering how long the paint actually needs to cure from the factory before being worked on. When did you coat your truck after receiving it?

Excellent question! I wouldn’t really worry. Yes it’s important to let a vehicle off gas properly. However, these cars are freshly painted and cured in ovens before even leaving the factory. So we typically dont need to worry about that. But that process is typically 30 days to be safe. I waited 32 days from when my truck was built to when I did this. 4 days in shipyard, 3 weeks on rail cart and it’s been a little over a week since I got it. You really don’t have to worry about this unless you’re working with a shop and seeing your car within days of completion.

 

[Dirtball]

I highly recommend CSL and Exo v4. Spent a good amount of time on my wife’s Buick last summer. After all the hard work with paint correction, this stuff went on great. The Buick went through a winter so far and absolutely no breakdown of the coat. A laser wash makes it sparkle. I recommend a good ph balanced soap bomb for future washes and a water bead blower so you keep towels off the paint as much as possible. When you have to hand wash, the mitts from The Rag Company on Amazon are a great mitt along with the two bucket method. Looks great and I plan on the same for me. Thanks for the info on the paint thickness. It is noted!

 

[Bill Cather]

Joel, The owner of IGL is a great guy. Products are quality but haven’t used his ceramics yet.

Had the “new” IGL Kenzo graphene applied btw

 

[Delzona]

Fantastic job!! Such a big difference! Your pictures would be a great poster for why ceramic is worth the time, effort and money!
I'm also getting a Carbonized Gray Maverick, hopefully by the end of the month! I've also told my salesman don't wash my Maverick! I've recently gotten into doing detailing my vehicles. I've ceramic coated both of my Harley as a way to learn and because smaller area to work on. They look wonderful!!
My Maverick will be my first new vehicle where I can start from day 1. I've done some experimental polishing and paint correction on my Mom's PT Cruiser to learn about using the various pads and products.
I wondering with the paint on the Maverick being so thin, if you had to do paint correct how would you go about it? I have two different sized polisher and various pads from the Rag Company and product from Adam's Polishes to work with. I think I have a good idea of how and when to use each, but I've never dealt with new, thin paint. I'm hoping I won't need to do any paint correction and get just wash, clay, and apply ceramic and end with a beautiful looking truck like yours! Thanks for any advice!

 

[ParagonDetail]

I highly recommend CSL and Exo v4. Spent a good amount of time on my wife’s Buick last summer. After all the hard work with paint correction, this stuff went on great. The Buick went through a winter so far and absolutely no breakdown of the coat. A laser wash makes it sparkle. I recommend a good ph balanced soap bomb for future washes and a water bead blower so you keep towels off the paint as much as possible. When you have to hand wash, the mitts from The Rag Company on Amazon are a great mitt along with the two bucket method. Looks great and I plan on the same for me. Thanks for the info on the paint thickness. It is noted!

Yessir, you have it down. And on days where you don’t feel like busting out a full wash, a wash with ONR and an ultra black sponge is all you need to get it clean. That’s my personal go-to.

 

[Enchalada]

SHiNY!
great looking Maverick!

 

[ParagonDetail]

Fantastic job!! Such a big difference! Your pictures would be a great poster for why ceramic is worth the time, effort and money!
I'm also getting a Carbonized Gray Maverick, hopefully by the end of the month! I've also told my salesman don't wash my Maverick! I've recently gotten into doing detailing my vehicles. I've ceramic coated both of my Harley as a way to learn and because smaller area to work on. They look wonderful!!
My Maverick will be my first new vehicle where I can start from day 1. I've done some experimental polishing and paint correction on my Mom's PT Cruiser to learn about using the various pads and products.
I wondering with the paint on the Maverick being so thin, if you had to do paint correct how would you go about it? I have two different sized polisher and various pads from the Rag Company and product from Adam's Polishes to work with. I think I have a good idea of how and when to use each, but I've never dealt with new, thin paint. I'm hoping I won't need to do any paint correction and get just wash, clay, and apply ceramic and end with a beautiful looking truck like yours! Thanks for any advice!

Thank you, I appreciate that. Hopefully you get your Maverick soon, the carbonized grey looks amazing.
And a ceramic coating will make it look even better. Harleys look exceptionally good when they’re coated too.

Good question. Having a paint depth gauge I knwe what panels should and shouldn’t be polished right off the bat. The tailgate was an absolute no-go. From there I would pretty much go into damage control. Personally, if there were deeper scratches, I would have left them, even on panels with good amounts of paint, because I want a consistent look. I would focus on removing the surface swirls, rounding out the deeper scratches to make them less visible and restoring as much gloss to the paint as possible. I’d coat the car to preserve the paint in the condition it’s in, knowing it’s probably the best it’ll ever look and plan on living with it.

My motto is Correct, Protect, Maintain. They go hand in hand.. in hand lol. If we are going to correct you must protect and maintain. If you can’t correct or you don’t have to correct, you protect and maintain. You’ll never have to correct if you protect and maintain.

Some people don’t get bothered by the condition of their vehicle and that’s okay. But if you’re going to go about taking care of it, you have to do it right or it won’t be worth the time, money or effort.

 

[MikeyCNY]

Wow that looks great! A bit too shiny for my taste, think I prefer the 'original', but I do like the protection it offers..

I'm always parked outside since the wife gets the garage, so I've been considering ceramic coating (PPF is way too much)..

 

[Delzona]

Thank you, I appreciate that. Hopefully you get your Maverick soon, the carbonized grey looks amazing.
And a ceramic coating will make it look even better. Harleys look exceptionally good when they’re coated too.

Good question. Having a paint depth gauge I knwe what panels should and shouldn’t be polished right off the bat. The tailgate was an absolute no-go. From there I would pretty much go into damage control. Personally, if there were deeper scratches, I would have left them, even on panels with good amounts of paint, because I want a consistent look. I would focus on removing the surface swirls, rounding out the deeper scratches to make them less visible and restoring as much gloss to the paint as possible. I’d coat the car to preserve the paint in the condition it’s in, knowing it’s probably the best it’ll ever look and plan on living with it.

My motto is Correct, Protect, Maintain. They go hand in hand.. in hand lol. If we are going to correct you must protect and maintain. If you can’t correct or you don’t have to correct, you protect and maintain. You’ll never have to correct if you protect and maintain.

Some people don’t get bothered by the condition of their vehicle and that’s okay. But if you’re going to go about taking care of it, you have to do it right or it won’t be worth the time, money or effort.

I love it, Correct, Protect, Maintain!! One of the first things I learned about ceramic coating is that you have to fix before applying and if you can't fix it learn to live with it. Hopefully, with Maverick being brand new and no crappy dealership washing I won't have anything to fix or live with! I think I'll follow your advice and just go with minimal or no paint correction, mostly because as noob to detailing the chances of me burning through thin clear coat is more of a concern than fixing a bit of swirl. I'm not trying for a show truck, but I want to keep my Maverick as nice looking as possible for as long as possible. There's a lot of cars here in Arizona that are perfect examples of what the sun will do to paint not protected. I don't recall as a kid seeing faded paint jobs on cars like I see now, maybe paint was 1/4" thick back then!

 

[Pickles]

I’m just gonna start by saying that these Mavericks are already head turners when they’re out in the wild… But now this thing straight up is snapping necks.

Finally had the time to detail my truck properly. It was washed, decontaminated and pretty much every surface is now ceramic coated. Paint was in such good shape after washing and prep, that I fortunately didn’t have to do any paint correction. This is rare but shows how taking the proper precautions and making sure your vehicle is in professional hands can save you a lot of time and money. This truck is Ceramic Coated so it’s UV protected, it’s going to stay cleaner for alot longer, it’s going to stay looking glossy and cleaning it is going to be a piece of cake thanks to the low surface energy and high contact angle the ceramic coating provides.

Here are a few thoughts..

1.) Don’t let your dealer touch the truck. This is going to prevent you from having to pay to fix any scratches/imperfections they administer. This is important because polishing is where you’re going to spend your money at the detail shop.

Warning: these trucks have little to no paint on them.. (more later on)


2.) Find an certified detailer with proper knowledge and experience and don’t let joe shmoe touch your truck. You get what you pay for quite literally in the detailing industry. You can always find someone to do it cheaper, but that’s not necessarily better. You’ll usually end up paying another detailer to fix the first ones mistakes. In this case, not hiring a professional could easily lead to them burning through the little paint you have trying to correct it.


3.)PAINT IS THIN
This is so important. If you or your detailer are going to polish the truck in any way, they NEED to do a paint reading with a paint depth gauge. Paint preservation is most important.
I was shocked at how little clear coat was on certain parts of my truck and had I not taken the right precautions and measured the paint, I’d be in a lot of trouble. Luckily I had no dealer instilled scratches or swirls and I was able to simply wash, carefully decontaminate the paint with an iron remover, sap remove, tar remover and followed up with a careful claybar. No user inflicted marring. Had I not been experienced at this, this would have been a turning point in the project for a lot of people. I’m shocked at how thin the paint is and so thankful I am not busting out the polisher. Below are pictures of the process and what I saw.

4.)Plastic almost appears to have a coating of some sort on it. I ceramic coated mine but it almost didn’t want to take the coating. Hopefully we won’t see fading down the road like we do with most vehicles with this type of exterior surface. Whether your coating it or restoring it down the road, remember these pieces are very porous and get clogged with contamination. It needs to be cleaned properly or you won’t get proper adhesion.

Here are pictures of the process, hope you enjoy.

Before:

After:

Clay After Decon: lots of dirt and grime embedded into the clear coat

Paint After Clay: No visible scratches or marring when done right

Measuring The Paint:

Results: For Reference, you can assume you have about 1.5-2. Mils of base/color coat on a car. 1 Mil is .001 of an inch. For reference, a post it note is 3 Mils thick. So most cars paint is thinner than a post it note. Most new cars have about the same amount of clear coat, sometimes less and sometimes more. After reading as low as 2.28 on some places that’s a sign there is very little to no clear coat on these vehicles.

Coating Time:
Gtechniq CSL Followed By ExoV4

Beyond happy with the results!!!

Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!!!

Love this! Thanks for posting. The ceramic coating you used was a spray gun mix right? Are you able to reccomend a decent one in the DIY sector?

 

[Ferroplasm]

Recommendation for folks who can't justify the $1200 ceramic price tag but still want decent paint protection? Truck looks incredible, btw.

 

[Grunkster]

Did you do the wheels as well? And what wheels are those? Love em!

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