# Ceramic Coatings VS Ceramic Sprays - Long Term Real-World Test!



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Greetings everyone!

At long last I'm heading back to work, and while I've enjoyed this time off with my son and the ability to play around and do tests, I ultimately needed regular income again, and a sense of structure in my life that was missing while I was off. To mark the end of this occasion I figured it was time to start the test that a lot of people would like to see, one that really strikes while the iron is hot so to speak. That test of course is "are spray costings really a replacement for proper ceramic coatings?". Most of us know (or think we know - test isn't over and done with yet) that proper coatings are pretty much the peak of paint protection right now (excluding wraps). Unfortunately, care and attention for ones car is still a rare trait, and most that even bother are looking for the quickest, easiest, and cheapest solution on the market. This bread the rise of the spray coating, thanks to durable enough silicone type properties that could be added to the bottles to boost ease of use, and still provide similar or better protection. I've tested a number of popular products over the months and am currently running a test on my other car, but that test doesn't feature proper coatings, so that is what we're going to cover here. By the way the test is still running but I don't want to start the post until some time has passed. I have the initial performance documented for reference in the meantime.

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Moving on to the prep, the hood was polished with optimum hyper polish, before multiple IPA wipe downs using home brew IPA and commercial were applied, followed by tape being was laid down and sections applied. The spray coatings were given 2 applications 24 hours apart, while the coatings were given just 1. This is due to the coatings either requiring more prep between coats, other specific products that would mask the performance, or just not allowing a second coat to be applied at all. One spray coating also requires this for its maximum durability. Below is the hood with the tape remaining on the spray coating side. I removed the coating tape immediately to wipe up any residue that could leach underneath. I've had this happen before and still have a bit of a high spot left on my hood (I also haven't tried to remove it with a harsh polish yet). The sections each product uses are as follows.

Passenger side (cars right) - Coating side
Top: C0V2
Middle: Cquartz Lite
Bottom: Diamond Cote

Dirvers side (Cars left) - Spray Coating side
Top: TW Seal N Shine
Middle: Wowo CS
Bottom: TW Ceramic Spray Coating

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Below are the contestants in this long term test.

For the Spray Sealant Team...

Wowo's Crystal Sealant.
Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Turtle Wax Ice Seal N Shine (Original Version).
Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating.
Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

And the Ceramic Coating Team...

Carpro CQuartz Lite.
Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Diamond Cote Nano Crystal Paint Coating (this appears to be a new bottle, but It could be old. Diamond Cote states that the product is only good for 24 hours after opening. If it is in fact old it might fail early or not perform as well as a fresh bottle so that is something to keep an eye on).
Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

Gtechniq C0V2 Aero Coat.
Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr

The coatings are also varied in their concentration/type to help highlight the difference between the levels of coatings available. They include a dealership applied coating, a lite coating, and a full fat coating that would normally last multiple years. The spray coatings are the 3 most durable ones I own, and this ranking is based on chemical resistance testing that I have performed in past tests. To also highlight the differences in strength, I have applied each product to a cotton makeup pad and allowed it to dry, to help show just how much difference there is between the products. In order for a spray coating to work, it can't be extremely concentrated otherwise the trigger would fail after the first application. One of these coatings can't even be held in your hand during application as the heat will start the curing process prematurely.

That's the starter for now, I need to flip to a desktop computer to post the image links as the Flickr mobile apps don't allow for embedding for some reason. EDIT - Photos added.

Thanks for reading and I'll be updating this most soon with photos. Video will be started after the first wash, one week from today.

Update! Here is the video for part one of the test, the initial wash after one week on the paint (3/4 days currying in garage, then exposed to elements but no detergents). The soap used for the wash was gyeon bathe essence. Of this changes I will not it in the tests, but it will alway be a PH neutral residue free soap. Enjoy part one, we have a long way to go!


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Future update - 4 Month Update!

Greetings Everyone!

Below is the results from the 4 month update! As you can see, C0V2 is in the lead followed very closely by Cquartz Lite, with the Dealer Coating coming in at a very solid 3rd place. 4th and 5th is a close race between Seal N Shine and Crystal Sealant, with WoWo's getting the nod out of the 2. Ceramic Spray Coating is showing much more wear and coming in a very tired 6th place. I'm going to try and update this thread now every month until the next failures come about. Once the spray products are toast I might space out the updates as the coatings could run for a LONG time.

Either way, here is a brief clip showing the before and after wash water performance after 4 months.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Future update 2 - 6 months in!

Alright everyone! It's time for the 6 month update. As you'll soon see, the coatings are definitely showing where the extra costs go when compared to the ever-so-popular spray coatings/sealants. After going through summer and part of winter, the spray products are giving up to the elements. I would say overall this is a very even and fair test, as the products saw the heat and the cold, as well as commuting distances but with some down time in the garage every night and on weekends. I'm not sure If I'm going to keep this test going or clean it off and start another. I don't have any new products I really want to test at the moment, at least not in the real world scenario, and it would be nice to wash and wax/top up the whole car for once. Either way, thanks for reading and enjoy the 6 month update.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

9 month update!

Hey everyone! I have filmed and uploaded the 9 month update for the ceramic spray vs ceramic coating test. I decided to swap out the spray competitors for 3 new products since they were dead and figured might as well run a long term durability test for 3 more!

Anyway, video before, fairly self explanatory.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Photos added, video of introduction is shot but I'm waiting to film the initial water behavior and first wash test (1 week) before I compile it and upload it to youtube.


----------



## ReyIndividual (Jul 19, 2018)

Excellent test as always Sheep! All the best getting back to work.


----------



## LeeH (Jan 29, 2006)

This will be great 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Pembroke_Boy (Aug 24, 2017)

Brilliant test set up Sheep. Thank you yet again!


----------



## roscopervis (Aug 22, 2006)

Great news about getting back to work and great work with the fantastic master test. Can't wait to see how this goes.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Main Post updated with initial water behavior after 5 days, with no washing yet done.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Post updated with full video for the first part of the test.


----------



## BrianGT (Apr 11, 2020)

For somebody like me that's only really ever used wax that was interesting.

I might have to step in to the 21st Century!


----------



## roscopervis (Aug 22, 2006)

Great stuff. I have a feeling this will run and run. I know that looked after, CQuartz Lite can do 18 months. C0 with 70% solids should easily exceed 2 years, though water behaviour might not be great if other GTechniq products are a reference.

Something to bear in mind, pollen or tree sap or contamination will kill the water behaviour of any of those, even if the product is doing fine underneath. It happened to me on my 2 month old Feynlab Ceramic and I see it on lots of other tested products thanks to a big tree that I have no choice but to park my cars opposite. I used Koch Chemie Fse to rejuvenate the coating and, for me it worked perfectly, but there is concern from many that this can harm LSP's and even coatings when used. I think with sensible use, the benefits outweigh the harm and is a practice that Labocosmetica use with Purifica on their coatings.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

roscopervis said:


> Great stuff. I have a feeling this will run and run. I know that looked after, CQuartz Lite can do 18 months. C0 with 70% solids should easily exceed 2 years, though water behaviour might not be great if other GTechniq products are a reference.
> 
> Something to bear in mind, pollen or tree sap or contamination will kill the water behaviour of any of those, even if the product is doing fine underneath. It happened to me on my 2 month old Feynlab Ceramic and I see it on lots of other tested products thanks to a big tree that I have no choice but to park my cars opposite. I used Koch Chemie Fse to rejuvenate the coating and, for me it worked perfectly, but there is concern from many that this can harm LSP's and even coatings when used. I think with sensible use, the benefits outweigh the harm and is a practice that Labocosmetica use with Purifica on their coatings.


My issue is that the paste waxes were not affected at all. I will go around the car with a mild APC and see if anything comes back to life, but I'm not expecting miracles, especially when the results are skewed.

Edit: Turns out I can get FSe in Canada, but after reading the description it also appears to have it's own protection built in? For this test and other tests I'm not interested in using top-up products, only products that can clean and leave nothing behind. I have seen mild APC bring coatings back to life that had built up contaminants on them so that will be my next course of action on the other test car.


----------



## BrianGT (Apr 11, 2020)

" My issue is that the paste waxes were not affected at all."

That was nice to read.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Little update,

The car was washed a day or so ago, and during the wash I noticed the paint around the car (not hood) was getting extremely rough - it's been over a year since it was last polished and clayed. I decided to quickly clay mit the car (not the hood) and used a CG wash and Wax soap (which I used on the whole car) as the lubricate/wash. After rinsing the car down the sections did come back to life, and I haven't personally found the "wax" portion of this soap to actually add anything to the paint. It seems to just contain some gloss enhancers, but either way, wanted to disclose that it was used, and all test sections were subjected to it. Both proper coatings are still performing as new, and the dealer coating is sheeting quite rapidly also. Spray products have slowed slightly so I'll keep an eye on that on the next wash (which will be Gyeon shampoo - neutral). I would say Wowo is holding up the best but it's very close between it and SnS. The TW CSC section is starting to really slow down, so I'm wondering if my bottle had any issues or possibly froze during transit (going to check when I ordered it). It has performed very well in a different test against chemical resistance so I'm going to assume it's working correctly.


----------



## Sil (Jul 4, 2013)

Any updates?
I have a new car to coat and I'm wondering if I stick to crystal sealant or switch to something else!


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Sil said:


> Any updates?
> I have a new car to coat and I'm wondering if I stick to crystal sealant or switch to something else!


I'll take a video for you this morning. Was waiting a bit longer before a full update.


----------



## MAUI (Feb 1, 2008)

Sheep said:


> I'll take a video for you this morning. Was waiting a bit longer before a full update.


Why not post a link?


----------



## atbalfour (Aug 11, 2019)

MAUI said:


> Why not post a link?


Timezone. People have other things to do, don't you?


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

MAUI said:


> Why not post a link?


Because I replied to you at 5:48 AM and had not even got out of bed yet? I have to put the 2 videos together and upload it to Flickr, so it isn't something I can do until this evening (FYI, it's 12:22pm right now).


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Here is a quick 2 month update.

Untitled by brianjosephson1, on Flickr


----------



## Coupe25 (Feb 11, 2017)

which one lasts longest


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Coupe25 said:


> which one lasts longest


That's what we're trying to figure out.....

...... did you read the first post?


----------



## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Sheep said:


> That's what we're trying to figure out.....
> 
> ...... did you read the first post?


:lol:


----------



## LeeH (Jan 29, 2006)

We need to know now!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Sil (Jul 4, 2013)

Hey sheep, just wondering how these are holding up?


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Sil said:


> Hey sheep, just wondering how these are holding up?


I decided to put brake fluid and transmission fluid on them to see which ones would fail. All the paint fell off my hood, so the test is over.

Just kidding. All still going more or less strong. It seems WoWo has an edge over the 2 TW products when it comes to sheeting/repelling water, but they're all still functioning for the most part. The dealer coating found it's legs some how and is only a slight step behind the 2 proper coatings, and a good bit better than any of the spray products. It would appear that even opened and left past the "24 hour" shelf life, it still works as long as you follow the "rules" of coating application.


----------



## Sil (Jul 4, 2013)

Sheep said:


> I decided to put brake fluid and transmission fluid on them to see which ones would fail. All the paint fell off my hood, so the test is over.


 You mean to tell me you've joined the YouTube reviewers way of testing! I'm so disappointed in you, sell out!:lol:


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Sil said:


> You mean to tell me you've joined the YouTube reviewers way of testing! I'm so disappointed in you, sell out!:lol:


This reply is brought to you but,

SQUARE SPACE! MAKE A SH*TTY WEBSITE ABOUT CRAP NO ONE WANTS TO SEE WITH SQUARE SPACE. WE HAVE PEOPLE READY AROUND THE CLOCK TO TELL YOU YOUR SH*T STINKS AND THIS IS A WASTE OF MONEY!


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Hey Everyone!

I'm planning to post an update to this test soon, I'll hopefully have a new phone in a couple weeks that is capable of recording video without dying mid shoot (current phone is an old phone and the battery is pooched).

In the meantime, I want you guys to guess the rankings for the above products. I'll try my best to update this soon as it's been a good few months and right around the expected failure point for most non true ceramic coatings in real world scenarios.

Thanks for looking!


----------



## roscopervis (Aug 22, 2006)

C0
CQuartz Lite
Dealer
Crystal Sealant
Hybrid Ceramic
SnS.


----------



## atbalfour (Aug 11, 2019)

roscopervis said:


> C0
> CQuartz Lite
> Dealer
> Crystal Sealant
> ...


Probably agree with this only variations perhaps may be SnS and Hybrid Ceramic. C0 should last longer than CQuartz but it wasn't ever as water repellent to start so wouldn't shock me if it's been overtaken.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Spoiler alert, I managed to get the video to record on my current phone, just need to merge the 2 together in iMovie and then I'll upload it to youtube.

You guys are pretty close, but both wrong at the same time! Hopefully get it uploaded in the next bit.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

First updated posted at 4 months in!


----------



## atbalfour (Aug 11, 2019)

Wow, expected the spray ones to have done a little better. Your environment mustn't be too kind to them. Coatings laughing... surprised how well the dealer one is doing relative to CQuartz Lite. That's probably the main shock for me.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

atbalfour said:


> Wow, expected the spray ones to have done a little better. Your environment mustn't be too kind to them. Coatings laughing... surprised how well the dealer one is doing relative to CQuartz Lite. That's probably the main shock for me.


British Columbia, and Canada, is known for it's wet season and overall miserable winter (not exactly winter wonderland like some parts of Canada, but cold and overall terrible in general). Couple factors not helping things is cold paint sheets slower, and the soap was just freshly rinsed off without a wet wipe. I used a PH neutral snow foam as the soap (getting low on Gyeon Bathe Essence) so a minor amount of residue could still be present. I've seen drying the paint off fully and then wetting bring a bit more life back, but the coatings laughed it off immediately so the effects aren't that drastic.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Hey everyone!

I filmed the 6 month update for this test this morning. it may very well be the last update, as the results are indicating just how one sided this test really is.

Full Disclosure, the car was washed at my work using our generic pink car soap we use for retail washes earlier. This is a decent safe soap, but it needs to be mixed down 1:128. The "detailers" that work here decided that this wasn't enough bubbles, so they removed the restrictor nozzle which made the soap pump out at 1:10. I didn't realize it until I washed the hood, so all the products on here got a fairly heavy hit chemical wise. I rinsed it off immediately and made a new bucket with the nozzle back in, but the damaged, so to speak, was done. It didn't change the results that much, but could have accelerated the wear overall. I noticed the dealer coating took a fairly big step back after this wash, so I am going to assume it moved the timeline slightly.

I should have this video edited and uploaded today, since I don't need to do any voice overs.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

6 month update posted!


----------



## SuperchargedLlama (Apr 25, 2008)

Where's the 6 month video? I can't see it in the thread. Sorry if I'm being dim.


----------



## St Evelyn (Mar 15, 2019)

Mother-Goose said:


> Where's the 6 month video? I can't see it in the thread. Sorry if I'm being dim.


It's in post 3.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

Mother-Goose said:


> Where's the 6 month video? I can't see it in the thread. Sorry if I'm being dim.


It's in the future update 3 post (3rd post down from the top). I pre-post the update posts so you don't have to scroll through the thread to find the updates, or read a 400 year long main post.


----------



## SuperchargedLlama (Apr 25, 2008)

Aha I think what happened there is I went back to that page of the thread but got a cached version rather than the latest. I've refreshed on that page and now see the post.


----------



## atbalfour (Aug 11, 2019)

Impressive so far from C0V2 - CQuartz lite still sheeting water brilliantly.


----------



## SuperchargedLlama (Apr 25, 2008)

Great review and great video series overall. Like you say, it's kinda reached it's natural conclusion now hasn't it?


----------



## roscopervis (Aug 22, 2006)

Very clear results. Thanks for this great test.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

9 month update posted!


----------



## roscopervis (Aug 22, 2006)

GTechniq should sell the C0v2 as a wheel coating. It’s much better than C5.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

roscopervis said:


> GTechniq should sell the C0v2 as a wheel coating. It's much better than C5.


I would not want to buff that out of an intricate wheel design.


----------



## roscopervis (Aug 22, 2006)

Sheep said:


> I would not want to buff that out of an intricate wheel design.


Then don't. I bet it self levels quite well in those parts.


----------



## Sheep (Mar 20, 2009)

roscopervis said:


> Then don't. I bet it self levels quite well in those parts.


It doesn't. It's super, super thick. They tell you up front that you'll need 10-15 microfibres to buff off for a average sized car.


----------



## roscopervis (Aug 22, 2006)

Sheep said:


> It doesn't. It's super, super thick. They tell you up front that you'll need 10-15 microfibres to buff off for a average sized car.


Ah well. I was hoping it would be like KKD R-Evolve which we know over here has that seemingly unburstable durability, but which is a bit more tacky to remove from wheels, but also does self level and can be used with an air brush so if you just leave the coating in place and don't buff, especially on the barrels/backs/bolt holes etc, then it isn't a problem.

Might be worth a little experiment?


----------

