Paint correction and CQuartz or Xpel clear bra???

RYU said:

* After the DCC paint dries be generous on the Sealact. I also found it helpful to coat the entire area I want to Sealact as a primer coat to let it soak for maybe 2mins before going over it vigorously, but with little pressure. It helps the Sealact set and loosen the DCC..

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Please elaborate and explain this. You do NOT want to put the sealact on the paint of the car.

RYU said:

* Be mindful to clean your white cloth after each section. I found this out the annoying way. I started seeing raised areas in the paint that would drag on my microfiber towel. It was flakes of dried DCC that I removed from a prior section. It's more annoying than damaging. Though i'm not sure what happens if these specs dry off. Catch them early.

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DO NOT clean the crusty DCC paint that accumulates on the cloth towel. That crusty DCC paint helps pull the DCC paint off of the car with even less pressure since the DCC on DCC has a lot better interaction than just the sealact on the rag trying to remove the DCC on the car.

Has anyone ever use clear bra for the windshield to prevent rock chips? Is it unprecedented?

The PPFs may be clear; but, I expect that you will take a significant hit in image clarity. Also, I expect that it would preclude using your windshield wipers. PPF may be tough; but, it is not hard. A few passes with a wiper blade would probably make absolutely sure that you would not be able to see anything out of your windshield.

CarPro makes some glass coatings that supposedly help with scratches and cracks and such. Never used them, but I'd be trying that long before I put a film over my windshield.

Old Guy said:

The PPFs may be clear; but, I expect that you will take a significant hit in image clarity. Also, I expect that it would preclude using your windshield wipers. PPF may be tough; but, it is not hard. A few passes with a wiper blade would probably make absolutely sure that you would not be able to see anything out of your windshield.

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What if the car is never driven in the rain, most of us here probably don't.

I think you are still going to have a clarity issue. Get a piece of PPF, remove the backing and hold it up to the sun. Its not clear like glass, more transparent bordering on translucent.

If you want, you can buy a small piece of 3M PPF from these guys for less than $10. Try it out and you decide whether its going to be acceptable or not. It will be super easy to apply on a simple surface like the windshield and easy to remove after you have done the test.

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=bl_dp_s...de=6948389011&field-brandtextbin=PrintsnPlots

Old Guy said:

I think you are still going to have a clarity issue. Get a piece of PPF, remove the backing and hold it up to the sun. Its not clear like glass, more transparent bordering on translucent.

If you want, you can buy a small piece of 3M PPF from these guys for less than $10. Try it out and you decide whether its going to be acceptable or not. It will be super easy to apply on a simple surface like the windshield and easy to remove after you have done the test.


https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=bl_dp_s...de=6948389011&field-brandtextbin=PrintsnPlots

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I think you are right. Clarity will be bad. I have a brand new truck less than 5000 miles and it was hit by a rock. Now the whole windshield has to be replaced

btw.. I bought CQuartz Ceramic Pro (not the 'UK'). I tested it on a test panel after several hours of prep... It had a rainbow haze to it. What a pain in the ass. I suspect I didn't apply enough decontaminant spray (isopropyl/water mix) prior to the application. Anyone have any suggestions before I try this again?

RYU said:

btw.. I bought CQuartz Ceramic Pro (not the 'UK'). I tested it on a test panel after several hours of prep... It had a rainbow haze to it. What a pain in the ass. I suspect I didn't apply enough decontaminant spray (isopropyl/water mix) prior to the application. Anyone have any suggestions before I try this again?

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If you are getting a rainbow effect like you get from an oil film on water, then that is caused by the thickness of the C quartz film on the paint. You are getting a reflection from the bottom surface of the film (the paint) and the top surface of the film. The two reflections are interfering with one another causing the colored light effect. Look up thin film interference on Wikipedia for a more complete explanation.


I seem to recall from your Dr colorchip exploration that your car is black. A black background will enhance the visibility of the color fringing. The fringing might be present on a white car; but, probably not or at least less visible. I don't think the problem was caused by a lack of preparation. If the C quartz leaves a film with any kind of thickness, there is always going to be interference effects from the bottom and top layers of the film. The color fringing will change with the thickness of the film. A super thin film would put the interference into a region that may not be visible. If anything, the problem may be caused by trying to make the film too thick.

That makes a lot of sense [MENTION=26435]Old Guy[/MENTION]. Some of the forums i've read online claimed it might have been caused by leftover oils in the polishing compounds. I'll apply the Cquartz again but will keep it thin. The curing time has been tricky to determine and hence the "flattening" out process I just haven't been able to master. Any thoughts on this part of the application?

Old Guy said:

If you are getting a rainbow effect like you get from an oil film on water, then that is caused by the thickness of the C quartz film on the paint. You are getting a reflection from the bottom surface of the film (the paint) and the top surface of the film. The two reflections are interfering with one another causing the colored light effect. Look up thin film interference on Wikipedia for a more complete explanation.


I seem to recall from your Dr colorchip exploration that your car is black. A black background will enhance the visibility of the color fringing. The fringing might be present on a white car; but, probably not or at least less visible. I don't think the problem was caused by a lack of preparation. If the C quartz leaves a film with any kind of thickness, there is always going to be interference effects from the bottom and top layers of the film. The color fringing will change with the thickness of the film. A super thin film would put the interference into a region that may not be visible. If anything, the problem may be caused by trying to make the film too thick.

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The oil in the polishing compound thing would surprise me. I pretty much stick with Meguiar's 205 and 105 compounds. Their feel and the way they dry makes me think they are probably a water based product. Meguiars says they are VOC compliant which would pretty much guarantee that they don't use organic solvents / oil products. I expect that any vendor that wants to sell into the California auto market is going to have VOC compliant products so the residual polish oils thing is a hard sell for me.

I have never used C quartz; but, I did give the Optimum stuff a try - once. I applied it when the temperatures were around 70 F using the fine celled foam pad that they included. Biggest problem was getting it streak free. With the work light shining on the car, you could see the rainbow effect when the film was first applied to the car and still wet; but, that disappeared pretty quickly as the product dried. If the C quartz is heavier bodied stuff then it is probably going to dry slower and the thicker film may explain why you are getting the interference effect.

I now stick to plain carnauba paste wax. It may not last that long; but, its pretty dumb-ass simple which facilitates the consumption of little ale during the application process if its a nice day.

I had used ple22 which is a similar product but easier to apply than CQuartz. The rainbow effects will be diminished once the coating cured. I think if you talk to some of the professional detailers, they will tell you the environment, humidity, and temperature impact your curing result. Have you seen people put the car into a car to sort of bake the coating (the product is called Modesta)? These processes are a little too much for mine. But once it is cured, if you still see rainbow effect, you can hit it with M102 to flatten out. Rainbow effect was told an uneven surface which there are high points of the coating. Personally, I think they are last longer type of wax. But they can't protect you from bird poops. :biggrin:

Among all the coating products out there, I think the prep work is the most critical part. The clay bar process is the most important one for an older car but I always find it the hardest one to ace.

For reference, my friend just had his GT3 clear bra the whole front clip, cost was about $3000. A paint correction typically cost from $300 to $1000.

I am going to do mine this summer after I shelved my DA 3 years ago. May be I will try to document the process.

RYU said:

That makes a lot of sense @Old Guy. Some of the forums i've read online claimed it might have been caused by leftover oils in the polishing compounds. I'll apply the Cquartz again but will keep it thin. The curing time has been tricky to determine and hence the "flattening" out process I just haven't been able to master. Any thoughts on this part of the application?

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Thanks for the note! I have some parts on the car that have now cured for a few weeks. The rainbow effect is worse. It's not too much of a pain to polish it off but ultimately I decided the front clip needed a clearbra. I just don't want to be doing the ceramic coating process every year. As you mentioned... wash>clay>wash>machine buff medium>machine buff fine/polish>wash>decontaminate>apply ceramic coating.... arrrrrrrrrgh... that's just too much to do. I'm over it.

shinjyo said:

I had used ple22 which is a similar product but easier to apply than CQuartz. The rainbow effects will be diminished once the coating cured. I think if you talk to some of the professional detailers, they will tell you the environment, humidity, and temperature impact your curing result. Have you seen people put the car into a car to sort of bake the coating (the product is called Modesta)? These processes are a little too much for mine. But once it is cured, if you still see rainbow effect, you can hit it with M102 to flatten out. Rainbow effect was told an uneven surface which there are high points of the coating. Personally, I think they are last longer type of wax. But they can't protect you from bird poops. :biggrin:

Among all the coating products out there, I think the prep work is the most critical part. The clay bar process is the most important one for an older car but I always find it the hardest one to ace.

For reference, my friend just had his GT3 clear bra the whole front clip, cost was about $3000. A paint correction typically cost from $300 to $1000.

I am going to do mine this summer after I shelved my DA 3 years ago. May be I will try to document the process.

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Also, on a black car... the CQuartz has a very subtle brown to it. You can only see it if you compare panels in the sun. On a black car the Cquartz is definitely not as deep looking as compared to a good old deep machine buffing/wax

I had a few issues getting the SOS brake modulator update installed, so my car sat outside for 2 months in the rain, and then the dealer happily reported "they washed it for me" before I picked it up and it looked like they used brillo pads to dry it with. It was bad, and I was pretty unhappy.

I just had my 91 with 120K miles on it corrected and CQ'd, and it looks better than the day I bought it. There's still the odd small rock chip I need to deal with, but good grief the color, depth and swirl free finish is amazing. The pockets behind the door handles which look scratched on every NSX I've seen were buffed and 3M clear film applied so they won't scratch again. The black roof is like a mirror now...what a huge difference.

Cost: $1000, and it took them 3 days. Compared to buying all the gear, the CQ and putting in all the hours, this was a bargain, and included taking my plasti-dipped wheels back to their original bronze loveliness. The black was cool, but this is better.

Wow that's quite worth it in my opinion. How did you find the shop that did it?

Kenwould said:

Had my entire front end done. I believe it was the expel film.

Covers both mirrors, fenders, entire hood, headlights and bumper.

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I have my deer whistles mounted in the same spots on my car.

I ran into a guy at MN Cars & Coffee. Quality work and great attitude.

That's great. I'm so glad I had mine redone.

A few close ups of my cars CQuartz finish...

Trunk lid reflecting the 14' ceiling, dual 200w bulbs and the knockdown ceiling plaster:


Side mirror:


Roof looking pretty damned reflective:

That's next level Ed. WOW

Wow... that is impressive. Seems like you got a deal for $1000

Has anyone used CS-II Titanium Coating? This might be good for DD.

stuntman said:

Pics of the chips?

Use Dr. Colorchip. That stuff is AMAZING. It fills in the chip and JUST the chip. If you take your time and build up the layers you can virtually eliminate the chips which visually looks good and will also make the clear bra stick better without little air pockets.

I'd skip the CQuarts, especially at that price.

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Tagged for follow up. Very interesting stuff.

I'm debating ceramic coating vs clear bra as well. PPF definitely will offer more protection but is more costly, but ceramic coating is also very expensive, and doesn't provide as much protection.

Ceramic coating really doesn't do anything to 'protect' the paint from rock chips. But it protects the paint from scratching it when washing the car, and keeps it clean looking for a long time. I just had my wife's car ceramic coated with Gtechniq Crystal Serum Ultra. It's pretty amazing. However It still has a clear-bra on the front and behind the tires -where rock chips are prone to happen.

It all depends on what you're looking for. But it's a big mistake to think ceramic coating will do anything to protect against chips.