Julianne purchased her Subaru Outback brand new from a Subaru dealership in 2020 and opted to pay $800 to have them apply a protective coating. The coating applied by the dealership wore off within a year of application, losing hydrophobic qualities and leaving the paint and trim unprotected and vulnerable to fading.
Goals
- To protect the vehicle’s paint and maintain a high gloss.
- To restore and protect the black trim which was already beginning to show signs of fading.
- To make the vehicle easier to clean and maintain moving forward.
- To make the windshield hydrophobic and improve visibility in the rain.
- Owner
- Julianne Smith
- Vehicle
- Subaru Outback
- Year
- 2020
- Location
- Frederick, MD
It appears that the dealership had applied a water-based ceramic spray, as opposed to a more permanent solvent-based ceramic coating. Unfortunately, Julianne was not familiar with ceramic coatings when purchasing her vehicle and did not realize she had way overpaid for this service until a few months later when the spray began to wear off.
For reference, most ceramic sprays cost about $20-$50 per bottle (8-16 oz) and can be applied in less than an hour (some sprays take mere minutes to apply), whereas high-grade solvent-based ceramic coatings cost $75+ per 50ml bottle and take several hours to apply. Durability wise, ceramic sprays typically last 4-8 months, while higher grade ceramic coatings can last 3-5 years or longer.
By the time we got to the vehicle, the surface had completely lost its hydrophobic properties and the windshield was difficult to see out of during the rain, even when running the windshield wipers. In addition, the paint was beginning to lose its luster and the black trim was already beginning to fade, especially around the edges.
Having already overpaid for a spray coating from the dealership, Julianne was hesitant to spend that kind of money again to have a coating professionally applied. After speaking with Glidecoat, she felt confident that she could purchase the products needed for much less and with a little work apply Glidecoat’s Auto 9H and Trim Ceramic Coatings herself.
Since she did not have a buffer or detailing experience, Julianne chose to forgo the compounding and polishing steps. Given that it is a newer vehicle, it did not require any paint correction and she was comfortable locking the surface in as is.
- Julianne first washed her vehicle with Glidecoat Nano Wash to remove surface dirt and debris.
- Next, she applied Glidecoat Iron Remover to all painted surfaces, allowing it to dwell for about 5 minutes. It was a particularly hot day, so she lightly misted the surface with water while the Iron Remover dwelled so it would not dry on the surface. After about 5 minutes, she used a clean microfiber towel to lightly scrub the surface, then thoroughly rinsed the surface with water to remove the Iron Remover.
- After rinsing off the Iron Remover, she then washed the vehicle again with Nano Wash and hand-dried the vehicle with a microfiber towel to avoid any potential water spots.
- Once the vehicle had dried, she wiped the Surface down with Glidecoat Surface Wipe Decontaminant and was ready to begin applying the coatings.
- Julianne applied two coats on Glidecoat Auto 9H Ceramic Coating on all painted surfaces (allowing an hour between coats) and applied two coats to the windshield.
- After coating the painted surfaces, she then applied two coats of Glidecoat Trim Ceramic Coating to the black trim (allowing an hour between coats).
