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This is a good one!
As usual Mystro....props and well said. That book is a gem BTW! I agree 100%, many people have asked me for my products "I'll try it myself" and my answer is always no. A bit brash but almost like putting a gun in the hands of a person who doesn't know how to handle it. I have done quite a few concours level corrections and not one of them have ended with ceramic. Ceramic has its place! The initial result is incredible, gloss, depth, all of the above but this diminishes over time IMO. I currently have vehicles in the garage with ceramic and others with wax and others with synthetic sealants and others with wax AND synthetic sealants. They all look equally as glossy and deep, really the only thing that seems to change is bonding of contaminants and the hydrophobics. The ceramics seem to be bar none. That is the advantage among many disadvantages. Easier washes.....less drag over the substrate (this is really coating dependent) which in turn greatly reduces the risk of washing induced micro marring, a greatly reduced risk of contaminant bonding therefore making future exterior maintenance easier. The list goes on...
Then there are the cons. Initial cost is high and to achieve an outstanding finish, hours of paint correction are usually needed as the ceramic locks it all in for years! Repairing it....HA yea right, heavy heavy compounding or wet sanding and compounding are the only way a coating is coming off....I've been down this road and it's an unpleasant one. Coatings (again IMO) seem to be a little bit more susceptible to hard water deposits and staining when faced with enviro fall out such as sap or bird droppings. The water deposits aren't so bad, a mild MDO usually pulls these right off. Bird droppings have stained some of my coatings in the past and because I am OCD I've stripped that panel back and re-applied the coating. PITA!!!!! Everything has its place it really depends on what you are looking for. Will a coating scratch over time with contact washing? Yes....yes it will but that is the nature of the beast there isnt really a way around it. A coating will take on the characteristics of the paint it is applied too.
Like Mystro said so well, many people (myself included) do not want to spend the time to achieve the last 2% that will put you on the top step. A head turner at cars and coffee is good enough for the cars I drive on a regular basis. The last concours level resto I helped on was over 70 hours of color sanding and polishing. No thanks!
OP....what is it you are after? Just keep it tidy? Well get yourself on a seasonal detailing plan with a local provider. Every few months bring your pride and joy in for a proper decontamination and polish/wax. During the winter keep your visits to the TOUCHLESS car wash plentiful to maintain the vehicle.
What's the next step from there? More frequent details...maybe every 2 months. Same treatment but more frequent.
After that I'd say ceramic....again initial cost is high but the pain in the wallet will lessen over time as a ceramic maintenance is far easier than stripping everything back to apply a fresh coat of wax.
What is the holy grail.....well what I have done is XPel Ultimate PPF and Ceramic....that to me folks is the holy grail.
PS...I spent $2500 on PPF, that was a full front, rockers, mirrors and all piano black trim. 10 year warranty from my installer...anything I am unhappy with, it's covered. New piece goes on. My 330i was damaged at the dealer....it was sent to the BMW collision center. It turned out awesome...I didn't pay for it but I still saw the bill which was about $1500....for only a minor minor repair and re-spray. IMO PPF is weeeelllllll well worth it.
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