# Ceramic coating removal.



## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

Hi.

Hope you guys can help, some time ago I purchased these cheap ebay ceramic coating (blue bottles) and I thought today of applying it which I did, being stupid I overestimated the thickness and curing time, so i washed the car, wiped it all all over with IPA and then applied the coating. Being a sunny day 24C today I left if for nearly an hour before attempting to wipe it off, it all already cured making nearly impossible to take off with a wipe down. As I also applied too thick coating It has left the smears like if I painted the clear coat with a paint brush ...

Any idea of existing liquids that will dissolve/remove this coating, tried to polisher but with very small result. Need some help as I am all sweating as it looks from a close up like its a ruined paint job on the car ! 

the worst thing is I did it to my A8 :doublesho:doublesho:doublesho....


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## MBRuss (Apr 29, 2011)

Yikes, you don't apply these coatings outside, let alone in the sun, and definitely not left to cure for an hour before buffing off!

They should be applied inside, out of the sun, and immediately buffed off.

I think your only way to remove is compounding it off. Or maybe a strong acid or alkaline? I'm sure others will be along soon to advise.

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


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## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

Hi, that is exactly all the things I did, silly me now my stupidity is making me a headache. 

Hope there is something that can be used to e.g. spray and wipe off this mess.

Thanks


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## escosian (Jul 14, 2017)

I know its not quite the same level but this morning i removed CQUK from my bonnet, that came off with ease with a DA and a fine polish.

Have you got a DA to use ?


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## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

Not the DA but I do have a polish machine that I purchased like 10 years ago from CYC, I am just looking for shops where I can buy some medium cut polish compound or similar to tackle it better and stronger.


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## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

Only managed to get Meguiars Ultimate Compound right now from the Halfords and also tried wet sand with 2k paper and the polish it out, that was giving best results, but its still sunny here and polish is drying very fast, I think if I find medium or heavy cut compound I will have much better luck removing this ceramic cote off the car. Any recommendations where to get the compound medium or heavy cut and good prices ? 

Thanks


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

mariusz said:


> Only managed to get Meguiars Ultimate Compound right now from the Halfords and also tried wet sand with 2k paper and the polish it out, that was giving best results, but its still sunny here and polish is drying very fast, I think if I find medium or heavy cut compound I will have much better luck removing this ceramic cote off the car. Any recommendations where to get the compound medium or heavy cut and good prices ?
> 
> Thanks


Hi mate:wave:

I can give you 1 recommendation and that is take it to your nearest and dearest professional Detailer and they will be able to correctly remove the coating :thumb:


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## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

No worries, that would be my last resort if I can't fix it myself. I ordered Menzerna Heavy Cut Compound 1000 so from just using this Meguiars Ultimate Compound and it making some improvement I am sure Menzerna will then fix it completly.

Some parts I already wet sanded and then polished it out so these areas look a bit better.

I left it for now till Tuesday for the Menzerna to arrive and if Menzerna will work without the need of sanding down then I will do it that way, but otherwise I will sand it with 2k and then polish the whole car.

And then I will take it for a :driver: as now its embarrassing to even keep on a driveway


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## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

Hi all

For those who it may interest, polishing did not manage to remove or even shift 10% coating of the bodywork. What I had to end up and I am in the process off doing is wet sand the whole vehicle, my arms are killing me now, a car is now on driveway totally wet sanded and awaiting tomorrow to clean and wipe with IPA prior polishing, fingers crossed I will polish it tomorrow completely so I don't get strange looks driving sanded car

Here is what it looks like,


managed to only do the bonnet today.


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## Kam09 (Apr 11, 2014)

Wowzers :doublesho


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## davies20 (Feb 22, 2009)

got some ****ing balls you have pal!


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Wow that takes some nerves of steel, but hopefully all will work out and it’ll be better than new :thumb:


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

Pleased to see you’ve managed to rescue this on such a nice car. 

Some advice next time get a pro to apply the ceramic coating


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## audi mike (Jan 25, 2017)

Wow brave man to wet sand car. Hopefully it all works out for you. .

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


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## wish wash (Aug 25, 2011)

A lesson learnt. Why on earth did you leave it an hour anyway. 

These cheap coatings are nothing but s**t anyway


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## fatdazza (Dec 29, 2010)

wish wash said:


> A lesson learnt. Why on earth did you leave it an hour anyway.
> 
> These cheap coatings are nothing but s**t anyway


It would seem that they are pretty resilient though :lol:


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## bus_ter (May 12, 2006)

fatdazza said:


> It would seem that they are pretty resilient though :lol:


 That did make me laugh!

Fair play to the original poster. I'm afraid to attack my car with aggressive polishers, so a wet sand is pretty brave. Who knows how much clearcoat is left :buffer: :doublesho

However a huge amount of learning and experience will be gained from all of this. Sometimes you have to go in balls deep to really gain the most.


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## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

fatdazza said:


> It would seem that they are pretty resilient though :lol:


Jokes on a side but :lol: it was thought as hell. I have now polished the whole car there are just some parts were I missed the sanding as I did not see it for obvious reason as car was covered in all the sanded moisture. All the remaining imperfections were I have missed sanding down the coate I will cover these next weekend, as will clean the car again and apply the old loved and trusted wax.
Later on today I will post another photo of the finished vehicle that I have on my phone as I am not home now.

Balls of steel, Mariusz.


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## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

Hi.

Again, as promised here is a photo of what the car looks finally acceptable at least, So to recap, what happened to it.

Being stupid and ignoring the leaflet that was attached to this ceramic coating last sunny weekend I attempted to apply the coating. Having no previous idea how to apply it but for some reason I had in my head that it has to be left for quite a wile before trying to wipe it I covered the whole car in the coating, left it for an hour in sun before I tried to buff it off, and on my return to buff it off coating nearly already harden to an extent that it was no longer possible to buff it off.

Tried to polish the car with heavy compound and heavy cut pads to no help at all, it did not remove even 5/10% of the coating and the paint work looked like it was applied with brush, seriously brush and was visible from standing even like 5 meters away that something is not right and was a bit matt no shine to the body at all.

My next move was to wet sand and polish so it happened, the whole car got wet sanded and then polished. At this stage there are still few marks or strikes of the coating where I have missed to sand it down as there was ton of sand dust or how you call it, milky water, Car has now received a full wet sanding and polish, next weekend I will tackle these just few spots were coating marks are still left and polish these areas again. And at the end when body is perfect condition I will give a car a full wax (and I will stay with waxing forever now)

Moral of the story, coating is not for idiots.


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## escosian (Jul 14, 2017)

Good recovery there !


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## bibby142 (Jun 3, 2016)

Nicely rescued.


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## padhinbed (Sep 2, 2016)

well done that man!


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## garycha (Mar 29, 2012)

mariusz said:


> Hi.
> 
> Again, as promised here is a photo of what the car looks finally acceptable at least, So to recap, what happened to it.
> 
> ...


Very well recovered there sir. Glad major disaster averted, although yer clearcoat has had a skinning.

Moral is two fold: 
1. always RTMF with ceramic coatings no applications. Exacting is the key word.

2. It's not marketing BS the claims that manufacturers make about wet sanding being needed to remove certain silica coatings.


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## Atkinson91 (Oct 3, 2016)

Glad to see you got it back to how you want it! 
Hopfully we can refer everyone who is skeptical about ceramics to this thread  
I honestly didnt think it would take sandpaper to remove them, I've done little high spots with scholl S3 with not too much problem, but not certainly not the entire coating on the entire car!


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## garycha (Mar 29, 2012)

Atkinson91 said:


> Glad to see you got it back to how you want it!
> Hopfully we can refer everyone who is skeptical about ceramics to this thread
> I honestly didnt think it would take sandpaper to remove them, I've done little high spots with scholl S3 with not too much problem, but not certainly not the entire coating on the entire car!


You proabably don't lay it on thick, then leave it to dry for an hour before (attempted) wipe down, as did OP 

It's a glass layer, and glass is very hard, not overstate the obvious.


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## suds (Apr 27, 2012)

Well rescued. If ever their was a moment to 'Keep Calm Carry On' this was yours :thumb:


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## westerman (Oct 12, 2008)

You must have been well traumatised, I know I would have been. Well done for holding your nerve. The car looks great now.

Harry


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## darrant1234 (Nov 20, 2014)

well done good recovery that. you could always try a ceramic again and follow the instructions and not do it in direct sunlight


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## euge07 (Jan 15, 2011)

did you not do any polishing prepwork before coating the car either? 
seems absolute madness you would apply a ceramic coating with no idea how to- not having a go I just think it a bit mad.
glad to see you got it looking better in the end


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## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Thin layers of ceramic coatings are usually easy to remove by polishing. But really thick layers can not be polished that easily, although the bond is weak and can be scraped off. I did some tests on a scrap panel and the cheap ebay coatings were among the best at surviving polishing.


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## mariusz (Apr 14, 2010)

Hi.

Thanks all for some comments, I purchased and now received the tool to measure the thickness, and I have checked all the areas of the car and on average thickness is 120 µm with few small areas a bit lower so no bad in my opinion considering I have check some areas inside the doors where it was about the same I most of the body work. At least I have this tool now and will be able to monitor the body thickness now when I do any work to the paint job. Previous pictures may have look horrid but remember that most sanding was done to the coating (I know I did catch some clear as well as you can't just stop at dead one between the clear and the coating) but the first layer that was removed on sanding was the coating. 


At the end of the day its just a car, something that can be replaced so easy so fast so I am not bothered too much. It gets quite a beating anyway being driven like its stolen everyday on average fuel consumption on 18L/100km most of the time.


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## Steveff1353 (Feb 18, 2011)

escosian said:


> I know its not quite the same level but this morning i removed CQUK from my bonnet, that came off with ease with a DA and a fine polish.
> 
> Have you got a DA to use ?


I know this is an old post but how did you know you'd removed it all from the bonnet of you're car?


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