Porsche Cayenne - 1 year, 8 months later

[donbeezy]

History of the vehicle. This Cayenne came to me 1 year and 8 months, 30,000 miles ago for a coating. It`s been washed by the customer but never came back for any extra maintenance by me during its duration.


The good news - the vehicles surface is still coated, as you can see in the video.. water still falls off the paint surface. 1yr and 8 months? not bad for the coating.. plus its taken on a lot of mileage and abuse as a daily driver.


The bad news - vehicle has lots of swirls and scratches. swirls are pretty typical on black paint, its impossible to keep it perfect.


My thought process - This vehicle is only 2 years old, could it use another polishing to make it perfect again? Yes. Would that be a wise to keep polishing it everytime it needs it? No. The vehicle`s clear coat is about paper thin thick and every time you polish it, you`ll remove microns of it. Plus the coating is still on the surface and a polishing would remove it.


What I performed to the vehicle - Instead of doing a full polish and coating it again. I decided to "fill in" the swirls of the paint and enhance it. This was done with a non-abrasive product (CarPro Essence Plus). After that was applied by machine, it was topped with a silica spray to give it more protection.


My question for the guy`s with coatings that provide a warranty. How do you handle these situations with swirls and deep scratches in the coating? Does the warranty cover polishing the surface again and reapplying the coating?

 

[wristymanchego]

Essence+ seems to have done a nice job of a fake-finish-down.

Warranty schmarranty. Theres nothing a warranty can reliably guarantee with a coating.

They’re simply a marketing gimmick to aid detailers in selling pro coatings. No one is returning to a detailer 7 years into an 8 year coating and having it resealed.

Selling a product with an 8, 5, even 3 year longevity claim is bold enough, no need to lie and say you will cover it too.

No one should be offering a warranty, it’s a completely false pretence.

Man, I’d just about pay to get a hold of the data from leading manufacturers on frequency and duration since application of their coatings.

 

[NewFinishColumbia]

I would say that any warranty they may have had was voided by the customer as they didn't do the proper maintenance of the coating and likely just ran it through the swirl-o-matic that was closest to them as do most consumers.

 

[Merlin]

The good news - the vehicles surface is still coated, as you can see in the video... water still falls off the paint surface. 1yr and 8 months? not bad for the coating.. plus its taken on a lot of mileage and abuse as a daily driver.

The bad news - vehicle has lots of swirls and scratches. swirls are pretty typical on black paint, its impossible to keep it perfect.

What I performed to the vehicle - Instead of doing a full polish and coating it again. I decided to "fill in" the swirls of the paint and enhance it. This was done with a non-abrasive product (CarPro Essence Plus). After that was applied by machine, it was topped with a silica spray to give it more protection.

My question for the guy`s with coatings that provide a warranty.
How do you handle these situations with swirls and deep scratches in the coating?
Does the warranty cover polishing the surface again and reapplying the coating?

Good News - Almost two years and the ceramic coating is still going strong.

Bad News - Improper washing and abuse creates scratches and swirl marks.

Good Job! - IIRC Essence+ was created and designed to "fill in" user induced swirl marks without removing the coating.

Any and all Last Step Products (waxes, sealants or coatings) are not bulletproof nor will they withstand a nuclear blast.
If the user clay bars the car, it can and will wreck a coating. Swirls are inevitable on paint unless you PPF after polishing.

The best you can hope for is training the user on the "two bucket wash method" and supplying them with proper tools.
This means a Carpro Merino wash mitt, two grit guards, Reset shampoo, Microfiber Madness Dry-Me-Crazy towel etc.

I only makes sense that the coating warranty only covers the coating product.