Fell for that 'ceramic coating in a bottle' hype at the auto parts store

I saw a spray-on ceramic coating for $25 at AutoZone and figured I'd save a bunch of money over a pro job. Spent a whole Saturday washing, clay barring, and buffing my Camry before applying that stuff exactly like the instructions said. Looked amazing for about two weeks until I noticed water wasn't beading up anymore. After the first real rain the whole thing just washed off and left weird streaks I had to compound out. So I wasted around $25 on the product plus about 4 hours of my time, and now I gotta pay a pro $350 to do it right anyway. Dont fall for the spray can magic like I did. Has anyone actually had one of those DIY ceramic sprays last more than a month?

3 comments

3 Comments

blake79215d agoMost Upvoted

Have to disagree with you on this one. I put Turtle Wax's ceramic spray on my old Honda Pilot two years ago and it still beads water like the day I applied it. The key is making sure the paint is perfectly clean and doing multiple thin coats with proper curing time between them.

ben_lewis14d ago

Looked amazing for about two weeks" - that's exactly what happened to me too. I think the spray stuff works fine if your paint is brand new and you apply it in perfect conditions, but for daily drivers that see rain and sun it just doesn't hold up. The pro stuff actually bonds chemically instead of just sitting on top.

riverdavis15d ago

Man, that's wild. @blake792 I gotta disagree a little on the curing time though. A lot of those spray ceramics say to let it sit for 5-10 minutes before wiping off, but if the humidity is high or the panel is even slightly warm, it cures too fast and leaves haze or just flakes off. Your Pilot held up great, but I bet you wiped it off way sooner than the bottle said. That's the trick most people miss, plus making sure the paint is basically surgically clean.