Ceramic Coating (detail)?

[CeeTeeX5]

Originally Posted by cruzzinlow

Definitely worth it.. I had mine done at Detailing Dynamics on Long Island, 2 year protection, they have there own brand DD Shield. Dropped off the X5 an hour after I picked it up so it didn’t have a chance to get messed up.. they had it 3 days so it can cure 24 hours between applications. Price was around $600 with the winter special they were having.

Why did you decide to go with their house brand? There are off the shelf 2 yr options from major coating companies for under $100. 2 yrs is on the low end for professionally installed coatings. $600 just doesn’t seem like a good deal for that.

[X5M50D]

Originally Posted by Dogzyboy

Nice one. The results are awesome. I’m washing mine for the first time today as you have to wait a week after application, then the snow last weekend ruined any washing plans! I’ll let you know how that goes, but I’m hoping it will be nice and easy!

Be careful which shampoo when used on ceramic coatings as I was told any shampoo with wax creates a sheen on the coating.
I use Gyeon Bathe+ shampoo which is wax free and also once a month use the GTechniq C2V3 liquid crystal diluted and sprayed onto the wet body work before drying, creates a great detailer and protection substitute to wax.
All recommended by my detailer.

[Treeboy]

Originally Posted by Dogzyboy

I’ve just had mine done with Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light topped with Exo. It’s meant to be good for 5 years but I’ll have to see how it goes.

I have the same Gtech Light topped with Exo on soon no longer mine 2011 X5. Installed 2 years ago. Usually I refresh 1 extra coat of Exo annually. It is on top of Xpel PPF. Holding very well.

For my M3 i have GTechniq Crystal Serum over Xpel installed in Sep 2015, no Exo. Still beading like crazy.

Getting F15 in April and planning to do STEK Dynoshield PPF and top it with GTechniq Crystal Serum Ultra. Should make the space grey looking glass smooth .

To me it is worth it, easy to wash and maintain, plus no stress over bird bombs or road debrie. YMMV.

[CeeTeeX5]

Originally Posted by X5M50D

Be careful which shampoo when used on ceramic coatings as I was told any shampoo with wax creates a sheen on the coating.
I use Gyeon Bathe+ shampoo which is wax free and also once a month use the GTechniq C2V3 liquid crystal diluted and sprayed onto the wet body work before drying, creates a great detailer and protection substitute to wax.
All recommended by my detailer.

That’s interesting. I’ve not heard that before. Sounds like it may be GTechniq specific. The purpose of the coating for me is to reduce extra effort, which opti coat pro does.

Originally Posted by Treeboy

I have the same Gtech Light topped with Exo on soon no longer mine 2011 X5. Installed 2 years ago. Usually I refresh 1 extra coat of Exo annually. It is on top of Xpel PPF. Holding very well.

For my M3 i have GTechniq Crystal Serum over Xpel installed in Sep 2015, no Exo. Still beading like crazy.

Getting F15 in April and planning to do STEK Dynoshield PPF and top it with GTechniq Crystal Serum Ultra. Should make the space grey looking glass smooth .

To me it is worth it, easy to wash and maintain, plus no stress over bird bombs or road debrie. YMMV.

Yah the ppf and coating combo is the tits. I’m prob gonna have side skirts and bottom half of doors ppf’d before I put the summer wheels on. I’ve seen that our skirts and bottom of doors can take a beating with aggrsssive offset wheels and sticky summer tires.

[AllieIzzy]

I have it on mine in Minnesota and seems to have held up in the summer and winter.

[cruzzinlow]

Originally Posted by CeeTeeX5

Why did you decide to go with their house brand? There are off the shelf 2 yr options from major coating companies for under $100. 2 yrs is on the low end for professionally installed coatings. $600 just doesn’t seem like a good deal for that.

Price also includes all the necessary prep to the paint prior to applying and also coating of the windshield. Not trying to convince you but if you if you were from the area and new the shop you would know there not some car wash joint thats applying this in one afternoon or some guy in his garage. Look up Detailing Dynamics and check out this company and its reputation. And I have been a customer of theres for years. They also have great write up on there site about all the lofty claims from some of these ceramic coating brands.
https://detailingdynamics.com/dd-shield/
Disclaimer, I do not work for or are affiliated in any way with this company nor do I gain from anyone who might use them, just a very satisfied customer of theres through my last 3 cars.

[CeeTeeX5]

Originally Posted by Chigger

Yes, it was fairly easy. I ended up using half of the 10cc because the blue needle/dispenser part of the syringe leaked when I pressed too hard. I also applied it to the inside of the rim, back of the spokes to eliminate/cut down on brake dust (I heard it works?!)

I got the idea after reading the wheels corroding/center-cap thread and also suggested by turboawd on his 469m Reps.

Coated my wheels yesterday. It was quite easy although my wheels have a satin/matte finish on the inside of spokes and hubs so they were a little more difficult to do. I added several coats to make sure I had good coverage. They added a tiny bit of gloss to the matte areas, but I actually really like the additional gloss. I also coated my recently powdercoated gloss black exhaust tips. The improvement in glossiness was immediately noticeable on the tips. They are a rich deep black after the coating. I wish I had taken some before/after pics but I did it on a whim and didn't really think about it.

I only used about 2ccs and have plenty left over for the stock wheels. I may even have enough to add an add a layer on top of the Opti-coat Pro for the hell of it. I'd rather just use it up instead of let it go to waste as I believe over time it may harden up in the syringe after having been opened.

[CeeTeeX5]

Originally Posted by cruzzinlow

Price also includes all the necessary prep to the paint prior to applying and also coating of the windshield. Not trying to convince you but if you if you were from the area and new the shop you would know there not some car wash joint thats applying this in one afternoon or some guy in his garage. Look up Detailing Dynamics and check out this company and its reputation. And I have been a customer of theres for years. They also have great write up on there site about all the lofty claims from some of these ceramic coating brands.
https://detailingdynamics.com/dd-shield/
Disclaimer, I do not work for or are affiliated in any way with this company nor do I gain from anyone who might use them, just a very satisfied customer of theres through my last 3 cars.

I'm sure they are great and wasn't suggesting they are a car wash joint. As I mentioned before, the installer is the most important part and the actual coating comes second. All I am saying is that $600 for a 2yr coating seems high, even with the necessary paint correction.

For example, most professionally installed coatings have a 5 yr warranty for anywhere between $1000 - $1400. If you break that down it's around $200 - $280 a year.

If you need to redo yours every 2 years and they charge the full $600 each time, you're looking looking at a cost of $1500 to meet 5 years, or $300 per year. I'm assuming they'll need to polish off any residual coating prior to re-coating after 2 years, so paint prep cost might be the same (your car is a 2018 so I'm assuming all it really needed for paint prep is a 1 step polish). Even if they drop the price by 50% on return visits, you're still looking at more than the cost of going with a 5 yr coating out of the gate along with time spent having to take the car in.

I'm sure their product is just fine but as mentioned before, there are off the shelf products that can easily go 2 years. Paint correction can be done for under $200 by any decent detailing shop.

For me, the math doesn't add up. Also, they provide little detail on their site on their coating and don't even list how long they warranty the work/coating. I couldn't find any reviews on the DD Shield coating on google or yelp which doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence. I understand loyalty to the shop and all that but some great shops also do a great job taking advantage of loyal customers.

Obviously you are happy with it, so that's what counts.

[Dogzyboy]

Originally Posted by RichM50d

I’m looking forward to the update. Anyone that I’ve told how much this costs thinks I’m completely insane!

Car washed today and looking sparkly again! I was a little disappointed that it took as much washing as it did as I was hoping the snow foam and rinse was going to largely do the trick, but then the weather since getting it done has been awful. The hand washing was a breeze though and a lot easier than pre-coating. Hopefully the weekly wash after sensible weather will be easier.

To summarise, a bit more effort to wash than expected, but looking as good post wash as it did when I picked it up after the coating was applied. If that’s how the results are going to look after each wash then it’s been worth the money.

I hope that helps!?!

Oh, and everyone I told about the cost thought I needed my head read too!