I'm in a bit of a quandary, I'm contemplating a Gtechniq 9H crystal serum treatment but it's not the cheapest and I'm conscious it might not be the wonder treatment its billed to be re scratch and chip resistance etc. As a side I'm thinking for about 1k more I could go for a full wrap of the car with the self-healing wrap. Does anyone have any experience of the 9H serum and is it as good for looks (appears to really make the colour pop), protection and cleaning ease as its billed? Anyone with Xpel self healing wrap that could give me a their thoughts on the protection it gives and the quality and potentially a comparison to the serum treatment?
The reason im thinking about it is over the nice weather ive noticed more swirls and marks on the paint and as the car is black it shows up so much, so I want to try to preserve the paint for as long as possible, not to mention make cleaning easier as cleaning a black car is never a short job...
Both will still pick up stone chips. I have CS and A few a few stone chips, not sure how you can say how effective it is a resisting them, would it have more if I didn't have it?? Who knows.
I will say it is performing well in the scratch resistance, very little to no marring from washing. That's not just down to technique as I've had other ceramic coatings on other cars.
Thanks, did you apply it yourself? A lot of manufacturers claim it really makes the paint look glossy and better than standard, would you say it looks better than stock or not much difference?
No, professional done. It's the prep which makes the difference, you won't get the same effect applying it on unprepared paintwork, it needs polishing. It I'd definitely easiler to maintain still looks great.
Yeah I think people get the wrong idea and think they put a bullet proof coating on the car. They are just a scratch 'resistant' coating to avoid light scratches etc in the paint. They can't withstand a stone hitting the car at speed, after all stones hit the car with enough force to crack the windscreen and go through radiators, so what chance has paint got.
Personally I'd go with the serum though but just a personal opinion.
Slightly different products but I have Gyeon MOHS and Xpel Ultimate on my M2.
The car was done with 100 miles on in early December.
I had Xpel fitted to the front bumper and it's great. It's picked up a few knocks that would definitely have taken paint off if it wasn't there. in 7 months and 12k miles it still looks good. The film doesn't swirl at all either.
The Gyeon coating is excellent too. I am quite careful when washing and it has stood up well. A simple foam and wash with the Gyeon products brings it up like new.
FWIW, I wouldn't believe all the hype about scratch resistance. Yes, resistance to swirls from washing has some merit, but true scratches in the normal sense, nothing will protect against except a film.
It's quite a lot to lay out initially, but well worth it IMO.
Thanks both, opinions and experience are very much welcomed. I think I'm going to go with the serum as it seems to be more cost effective and i haven't really heard too much in terms of negativity around it. Now to find a decent place to do it....
Not really a fair comparison, the PPF costs approx 3-4 times more than a top end ceramic coating.
A ceramic coating is never going to effectively stop stones from damaging the paint travelling at 70mph etc, it's only adding a few microns on top of the clearcoat.
I've read varying reviews on the PPF stuff, some saying it can discolour around the edges and look tatty.
I think a lot of people who have PPF have it on cars that aren't daily drivers, for a daily driver a good ceramic coating is the most effective way of keeping your car looking good for a long time with minimal maintenance.
Yeah the bras aren't the most attractive of devices.
baderlfc, I was thinking more a full wrap rather than PPF but even then there is a whole plethora of options with extra laminate layers
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