Ceramic Coating for Paint

FRUNKenstein

Daily Driver
Last summer, I had a color change done on my car from matte black (done by prior owner) to Verde Chiaro (358). My car is an '87, but that is a '74 paint code, and my body shop guy said he could only get it in single stage paint.

Last fall, I bought a ceramic coating kit from our local car care products vendor. Good people who are very knowledgeable on detailing products. They ordered me in a coating that works well with single-stage paint. The brand and product is Gtechniq C1 Crystal Lacquer. Here is the product on the manufacturer's website: https://usa.gtechniq.com/products/auto/c1-crystal-lacquer

I have been meaning to apply the stuff, but with a house remodel last summer & fall, it got pushed back. The car goes into the shop tomorrow for a timing belt/water pump swap, and the Fiat specialist I'm taking it to has his shop at the end of a 1 mile long gravel road. So, I figured I had better get it done before then. Last night, I did the deed.

I started by doing the targa top. I figured if I messed that up, it's no big deal since it will rarely be used. It is gloss black, and it came out terrific. Easy peasy. I put the car on our 4-poster lift to make it easier to get to the lower portions of the body. The vendor told me that since it was such a small car, the bottle of liquid in the coating kit would probably be enough to do it twice. So, I'm all fat, dumb & happy soaking the little applicator pad when doing the targa top, and then the hood and the top of the trunk. Then I noticed I had used about 80% of the liquid. Crap. I stretched it out and got it covered, albeit the sides aren't coated nearly as well.

The below pics are from last night. This morning, as I was walking past the targa top, I ran my finger across the surface, thinking it was going to be really slick like right after waxing. To my surprise, it is not slick at all. I don't know if that's normal or not. The targa top looks fantastic, but I was just expecting it to be slick. It is a little tougher to see any difference on the car itself as the green paint doesn't show the coating like the black targa top. Since the paint was new, I saw very little difference when applying the product - which is not a bad thing as it looked good already. I guess the real test will be when I wash it - likely immediately after I get it back from the mechanic.

Here are some pics from after applying the coating:


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Last summer, I had a color change done on my car from matte black (done by prior owner) to Verde Chiaro (358). My car is an '87, but that is a '74 paint code, and my body shop guy said he could only get it in single stage paint.

Last fall, I bought a ceramic coating kit from our local car care products vendor. Good people who are very knowledgeable on detailing products. They ordered me in a coating that works well with single-stage paint. The brand and product is Gtechniq C1 Crystal Lacquer. Here is the product on the manufacturer's website: https://usa.gtechniq.com/products/auto/c1-crystal-lacquer

I have been meaning to apply the stuff, but with a house remodel last summer & fall, it got pushed back. The car goes into the shop tomorrow for a timing belt/water pump swap, and the Fiat specialist I'm taking it to has his shop at the end of a 1 mile long gravel road. So, I figured I had better get it done before then. Last night, I did the deed.

I started by doing the targa top. I figured if I messed that up, it's no big deal since it will rarely be used. It is gloss black, and it came out terrific. Easy peasy. I put the car on our 4-poster lift to make it easier to get to the lower portions of the body. The vendor told me that since it was such a small car, the bottle of liquid in the coating kit would probably be enough to do it twice. So, I'm all fat, dumb & happy soaking the little applicator pad when doing the targa top, and then the hood and the top of the trunk. Then I noticed I had used about 80% of the liquid. Crap. I stretched it out and got it covered, albeit the sides aren't coated nearly as well.

The below pics are from last night. This morning, as I was walking past the targa top, I ran my finger across the surface, thinking it was going to be really slick like right after waxing. To my surprise, it is not slick at all. I don't know if that's normal or not. The targa top looks fantastic, but I was just expecting it to be slick. It is a little tougher to see any difference on the car itself as the green paint doesn't show the coating like the black targa top. Since the paint was new, I saw very little difference when applying the product - which is not a bad thing as it looked good already. I guess the real test will be when I wash it - likely immediately after I get it back from the mechanic.

Here are some pics from after applying the coating:


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Nice green and nice collection of cars you have there! The Fiat will look sooo much better when you compress the bumpers ;)
 
That's funny, I was going to say that was the first green X that I have seen that looked right and proper with the bumpers. And they look clean, too. Solid gold to us bumper aficionados if you do. No, wait, scratch that. Yes, those are horrible. You will need to be sending those bumpers, the filler panels, and the side trims to me just to get them off your hands.
Interesting coating. Please post updates/reviews.
 
I'm actually surprised it was reassembled with the big bumpers vs 74 or euro 1300 bumpers in some form. But damn, it still looks gorgeous.

Best X color imho, and I can't wait to paint my 82 that color.
 
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