[grigiogirl]

Hey everyone!

Finally took delivery of my X5 M60i 2 days ago after it was stuck at dealer 2 whole weeks…

I’m looking to get ceramic coating done to make maintenance on my sapphire black paint easier! What’s the average cost everyone’s paying? I’m located in NY so of course I’ll pay a premium to most southern or western states. And if anyone in the NY Long Island specifically area on here has recommendations lmk! Thanks

[BlkGS]

Do it yourself. You should be able to get away with a pretty minimal amount of prep on a new car, probably just an iron remover, claying, and light polish. Application is a breeze. Might take you a Saturday if you take your time.

[grigiogirl]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

Do it yourself. You should be able to get away with a pretty minimal amount of prep on a new car, probably just an iron remover, claying, and light polish. Application is a breeze. Might take you a Saturday if you take your time.

I’m a huge DIY advocate, most mods I’ve done myself. Only thing I’m concerned about is prepping. Even straight from the factory the paint has flaws so everyone suggests paint correction done prior to ceramic coating. Maybe I could have paint correction done by detailer and then apply ceramic myself? Or do you think the prep is really that easy?

[MADBMWX5MC]

Your choice of course to be DIY or not, for ceramic coating I am not...I did my wheel barrels, but not the paint. Get a few quotes from your area to see what you get and of course, feel free to come to the forums for advice. I do, all the time. I paid (in Northern VA) a little over $1K for my XPEL FUSION PLUS 9H Layer Ceramic Coating, which included:
+ 4 Year Warranty
+ Vehicle Prep For Coating Application
+ Complimentary Inspection Hand Wash (15 days after application)

Good professional detailers will tell you that even factory paint needs prep, like I stated, I rather pay for the service and be done with it. Other likes hands on and that's ok too...

[letsgopony]

This might not be the best thread to ask, but what will happen if the paint is not prepared perfectly for ceramic coating? Will the paint get damaged in any way, or it's just going to impact the durability of the coating?

[chefwong]

You're just -locking- in the flaws underneath. Think of it like this...you have micro scratches in which it shows in the paint in certain angles in the light. When you put a high solids coating, those scratches are there * under the ceramic coating*.

Even if you DIY or have the best detailer in the auto apply a ceramic coating, if you have piss poor car washing techniques, you can easily put micro marring right back on your 1st wash/dry after the coating...ceramic coating is not some sort of invisible forcefield.

FWIW, for coatings, you want to also leave it in the garage for 2 days minimum to cure. 5 Days , even better.....it does cure better if the conditions allow it to be left alone

[Clk Group]

This will give you an idea of what a quality shop does. They do all the work for the BMW Performance Center vehicles.

https://www.extremecolorsautospa.com...eramic-coating

[grigiogirl]

Originally Posted by MADBMWX5MC

Your choice of course to be DIY or not, for ceramic coating I am not...I did my wheel barrels, but not the paint. Get a few quotes from your area to see what you get and of course, feel free to come to the forums for advice. I do, all the time. I paid (in Northern VA) a little over $1K for my XPEL FUSION PLUS 9H Layer Ceramic Coating, which included:
+ 4 Year Warranty
+ Vehicle Prep For Coating Application
+ Complimentary Inspection Hand Wash (15 days after application)

Good professional detailers will tell you that even factory paint needs prep, like I stated, I rather pay for the service and be done with it. Other likes hands on and that's ok too...

Thanks for the insight! I just asked the shop that was doing my tints and he quoted $1.5k for the paint correction and same XPEL ceramic coating. I’m definitely going to call around and get some other quotes but that price seems about right for NY standards. I’m leaning towards having a shop do it because of all the prep work I want it to be perfect. Although I will be doing my own ceramic coating on my silverstone seats! Much easier and less prep for interior

[BlkGS]

I did Adams advanced graphene coating. It cures in 24h. Probably even less in hot humid Florida.

I would take a bright flashing and shine it on the paint, do you see a ton of swirls, or just a few? If the paint overall looks good, you might be able to polish it by hand. Worst case, polishing machines and pads have come WAY down in price. $250 should get you a full polishing setup, then it's just the time to do it.

[2016BlkBimmer]

Originally Posted by grigiogirl

Thanks for the insight! I just asked the shop that was doing my tints and he quoted $1.5k for the paint correction and same XPEL ceramic coating. I’m definitely going to call around and get some other quotes but that price seems about right for NY standards. I’m leaning towards having a shop do it because of all the prep work I want it to be perfect. Although I will be doing my own ceramic coating on my silverstone seats! Much easier and less prep for interior

This sounds about right and around what I was quoted. I am currently getting ceramic coating and like someone above mentioned, doing the prep stage they found some adhesive on the paint using a light which would not be ideal for applying the ceramic coating. They needed to do a Stage 1 polish before applying the ceramic coating to that area. So def let a professional do the correct prep work before applying the coating.

[chefwong]

Originally Posted by grigiogirl

Although I will be doing my own ceramic coating on my silverstone seats! Much easier and less prep for interior

There is 2 sides on perspective with leather care......

I'm a firm believer that one should not be ceramic coating on -good leather- . Good leather as in its color dyed and not *color coated* Cheaper leather is *color coated* - aka, a plastic like color spray is *painted* to the leather to give it's color. ...Ceramic is great, it does make cleaning easier. But once it's on, it takes forever for abrasion to wear it and it doesn't wear evenly

It's fine if you are concerned about dean dye transfer....and the color of Silverstone.....That would be a perfect use case I would say do it

But if that is not the case, IMO, *ceramic coating* leather as a word of application use is not the proper product one should be applying on good leather IMO....Once you ceramic coat it, you will never be able to add conditioner, etc to it, as the ceramic coating like paint being discussed in this thread, is now *ontop of the best leather BMW offers*

I am well aware the 2 words of ceramic coating is a big buzzword in the world of car care. It's universally considered that everyone thinks ceramic coating every exterior interior surface is the best thing out there.

Just understand what substrate you are applying it to and also know the pros/cons of what the substrate is relative to the topcoat you are applying.

I'm sure many will disagree with what I have just stated - and ceramic coating has been ingrained as the end all be call. On Merino Leather, don't lock in -topcoat-. You want to be able to condition the leather and feed it which you can't really do with a coating on it.....

[TechCTU]

Originally Posted by grigiogirl

Thanks for the insight! I just asked the shop that was doing my tints and he quoted $1.5k for the paint correction and same XPEL ceramic coating. I’m definitely going to call around and get some other quotes but that price seems about right for NY standards. I’m leaning towards having a shop do it because of all the prep work I want it to be perfect. Although I will be doing my own ceramic coating on my silverstone seats! Much easier and less prep for interior

About the same in CT. 1,300 here.

[AlexMe]

I can recommend Lorenzo Tint https://www.ppftintny.com/ . He is located in the Bronx. I do all my cars in that shop. Check their instagram. Quality is on the top level.

[grigiogirl]

Originally Posted by chefwong

There is 2 sides on leather......

I'm a firm believer that one should not be ceramic coating on -good leather- . Good leather as in its color dyed and not *color coated* Cheaper leather is *color coated* - aka, a plastic like color spray is *painted* to the leather to give it's color. ...Ceramic is great, it does make cleaning easier. But once it's on, it takes forever for abrasion to wear it and it doesn't wear evenly

It's fine if you are concerned about dean dye transfer....and the color of Silverstone.....
That would be a use case I would say do it

But if that is not the case, IMO, *ceramic coating* leather as a word of application use is not the proper product one should be should a good leather IMO....Once you ceramic coat it, you will never be able to add conditioner, etc to it, as the ceramic coating like paint being discussed, is now *ontop of the best leather BMW offers*

I am well aware the 2 words of ceramic coating is a big buzzword in the world of car care
I'm sure many will disagree with what I have just stated. On Merino, don't lock in -topcoat-. You want to be able to condition the leather and feed it which you can't really do with a coating on it.....

Thanks for all the info, I’ve heard mixed things about ceramic coating seats which is why I was hesitant at first but I decided I wanted to do it since the seats are so light I’m worried about transfer from jeans/clothes. Or someone spilling food/drink. I had white seats in my jeep prior to this car and I kept them spotless for the 2 years I had it, just used a mr clean magic eraser and it always did the trick.

My X5 has sensafin silverstone seats. Which to my knowledge is some sort of leather “alternative” probably made out of synthetics or plastic of some sort. Not sure if you have any advice based on that? I don’t keep my cars for long so I’m not worried about major wear and tear but I do want to make sure they don’t get destroyed by stains etc.

Another concern of mine was the uneven wear or cracking of the ceramic. Saw someone have huge crack looking marks along the seats from it. Not sure if that was due to improper application/bad product though

[grigiogirl]

Originally Posted by AlexMe

I can recommend Lorenzo Tint https://www.ppftintny.com/ . He is located in the Bronx. I do all my cars in that shop. Check their instagram. Quality is on the top level.

Thank you! I’ll for sure check out his page.

[chefwong]

Originally Posted by grigiogirl

My X5 has sensafin silverstone seats.

With Sensafin, I would not hesitate doing it.
It does make cleaning immensely easier .

If you are OCD about color or sheen, make sure you cover every Silverstone with it so it's consistent . There is a very subtle change in color and sheen. Hard to explain unless you did One spot with it and compared it to the same without. Just be mindful if you are -detailing nerd picky- about the minutia of details..

[LuckyBrand]

Originally Posted by grigiogirl

Thanks for all the info, I’ve heard mixed things about ceramic coating seats which is why I was hesitant at first but I decided I wanted to do it since the seats are so light I’m worried about transfer from jeans/clothes. Or someone spilling food/drink. I had white seats in my jeep prior to this car and I kept them spotless for the 2 years I had it, just used a mr clean magic eraser and it always did the trick.

My X5 has sensafin silverstone seats. Which to my knowledge is some sort of leather “alternative” probably made out of synthetics or plastic of some sort. Not sure if you have any advice based on that? I don’t keep my cars for long so I’m not worried about major wear and tear but I do want to make sure they don’t get destroyed by stains etc.

Another concern of mine was the uneven wear or cracking of the ceramic. Saw someone have huge crack looking marks along the seats from it. Not sure if that was due to improper application/bad product though

With sensafin I would ceramic coat. With merino I would not. And either way. Yes, I would do that myself. Super easy with today's modern coatings. We used Colourlock on our ivory merino.

As far as the paint goes. The prices your seeing seem about the going rate and you don't have to do anything but get your wallet out and then enjoy the car. I just did ceramic myself on our new mineral white paint and it turned out great! Not much prep work needed at all since it was new paint. But on black paint like yours I would be more careful as everything shows on black. So if you are super anal and end up locking in a flaw after ceramic just depends on if you could live with it or not.

[Brando95]

I also have Silverstone in my M60i, didn’t do any type of coating on the seats and you would never know the difference. Have had the car since July 2023 and already have 15K miles on it (took a few long road trips) and haven’t had any type of dye transfer from our clothing or any other type of staining. As always, this decision is personal preference but I’ve found the Silverstone interior to hold up incredibly well!

[grigiogirl]

Originally Posted by LuckyBrand

With sensafin I would ceramic coat. With merino I would not. And either way. Yes, I would do that myself. Super easy with today's modern coatings. We used Colourlock on our ivory merino.

As far as the paint goes. The prices your seeing seem about the going rate and you don't have to do anything but get your wallet out and then enjoy the car. I just did ceramic myself on our new mineral white paint and it turned out great! Not much prep work needed at all since it was new paint. But on black paint like yours I would be more careful as everything shows on black. So if you are super anal and end up locking in a flaw after ceramic just depends on if you could live with it or not.

I’ll have to do some more research to make sure I get the right type of coating for the sensafin. Do you know by chance if colourlock is only for leather?

Awesome that you did your own ceramic! It seems like it’s 50/50 between people DIYing or going to a professional shop. The black really shows every little imperfection unfortunately, so I would probably go nuts if I locked that in. Looks like I might have to fork up the cash and have a professional do it. The beauty in mineral white is how much it hides any minor flaws! My past car was white and the cleaning was a breeze, one of the many perks of that color.

[grigiogirl]

Originally Posted by Brando95

I also have Silverstone in my M60i, didn’t do any type of coating on the seats and you would never know the difference. Have had the car since July 2023 and already have 15K miles on it (took a few long road trips) and haven’t had any type of dye transfer from our clothing or any other type of staining. As always, this decision is personal preference but I’ve found the Silverstone interior to hold up incredibly well!

Thanks for sharing your experience! Good to know it’s held up pretty well, I’m definitely cautious and keep things tidy usually, just worried about dogs or my slightly messy friends spilling something. In the past I’ve kept white seats clean with mr clean magic eraser. Have you done anything to clean them or just leave as is?

[tkim91321]

grigiogirl

If you want to take a bit of a drive to North NJ, Detailer's Domain in Norwood, NJ is one of the best places to get ceramic/PPF done.

They're expensive, but they've pretty much achieved legendary status in the detailing community in the Tristate area. I've taken multiple vehicles there to get full PPF + ceramic. Last time I was there, there were multiple people picking up their cars and they were all 2-3 hours drive away.

If I recall correctly, full PPF + ceramic for my m60i was about $7k.

[Brando95]

Originally Posted by grigiogirl

Thanks for sharing your experience! Good to know it’s held up pretty well, I’m definitely cautious and keep things tidy usually, just worried about dogs or my slightly messy friends spilling something. In the past I’ve kept white seats clean with mr clean magic eraser. Have you done anything to clean them or just leave as is?

I was also super cautious at first as this is our first car with a light interior, so we always keep a thing of baby wipes in the car. Whether it’s the dogs nose marks or the occasional drop of coffee, I find baby wipes always do the trick and are gentle on the seats.