Your fleet running reports

[Jobbo]

I’m going to be fair to Jimmy - if you didn’t spend time finding out, that Luton one has been accused in so many places of being caused by an EV that you might only have seen the rantings of the vested interest idiots/conspiracy theorists. Have a look at the comments on the Daily Fail below the Bristol story.

[Carlos]

Probably following some EV covering journos gives a bit of balance.

The bought bias does irk me though. The mainstream media on the transporter ship that caught fire near the Netherlands is still being reported as caused by EVs. The salvage report states nearly all of the EVs are salvageable circa 500 with 1000+ ICE cars toast!

Similarly story with the one in the US.

[Simon]

Luton fire was caused by a LR - not too 'hot' (parden the pun) on models but looked like an Evoque or similar from the photos circulating at the time.

So uninsurable for theft and soon for fire too.

[Gavster]

The Luton fire was caused by an EV until you read any real news about the fire. Not sure why that happened, social media was convinced it was an EV.

[Jimmy Choo]

The Luton fire was caused by an EV until you read any real news about the fire. Not sure why that happened, social media was convinced it was an EV.

Yeah. I read the news reports when they mentioned EV and didnt delve into it again until corrected.

[Jobbo]

Luton fire was caused by a LR - not too 'hot' (parden the pun) on models but looked like an Evoque or similar from the photos circulating at the tie.

So uninsurable for theft and soon for fire too.

Luton was a 2014 Range Rover Sport diesel. Not a hybrid, even. Though the conspiracy theorists continue to try to deny the evidence (separate video footage from both front and back)

I searched 'Bristol Airport' on twitter last night. Fuck me, the number of those loons out there is incredible. All thinking that 'they' are trying to control us

[Mito Man]

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with ceramic coatings? They’ve been on the market a while now and I still can’t tell if they’re bollocks or not.
Reviews mix between it being amazing or underwhelming, and it looks like long term to keep the coating going for anywhere near the claimed durability you need to use specific sprays every few washes to top them up which seems more faff than waxing once a year. And waxing won’t give you potential asbestosis in the future.
I think I’ve answered my own question, but putting it out here as this is a more balanced forum.

[Beany]

As I understand it, spend a bit of time properly washing and prepping the car (ie, strip it of road grime, degrease, properly polish it etc - the sort of thing you'd do at least once a year if you care about such things anyway), apply ceramic coating, then after that it's rinse and top up with ceramic/tek top up spray 'no water' wash things every couple of weeks with your regular wash.

Do that it should last a few years, allegedly.

I'll probably try it on the next car when bright shiny metalwork isn't immediately spoiled by a permanently pollen-ridden fabric roof, etc.

[mik]

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with ceramic coatings? They’ve been on the market a while now and I still can’t tell if they’re bollocks or not.

paging @scotta

I've only used this on wheels (Gtechniq C5 wheel armour) which is good imho.

[Matty]

I think I’ve answered my own question, but putting it out here as this is a more balanced forum.

[Jobbo]

I read something about ceramic coatings making life difficult for repairers - you can't repaint a panel or blend in the adjoining without removing the coating. Which makes it sound like it's fairly good stuff for protection anyway.

[MikeHunt]

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with ceramic coatings? They’ve been on the market a while now and I still can’t tell if they’re bollocks or not.
Reviews mix between it being amazing or underwhelming, and it looks like long term to keep the coating going for anywhere near the claimed durability you need to use specific sprays every few washes to top them up which seems more faff than waxing once a year. And waxing won’t give you potential asbestosis in the future.
I think I’ve answered my own question, but putting it out here as this is a more balanced forum.

I have added a ceramic to quite a few cars in the past, it's not cheap but worth paying someone who knows what they are doing. Unless the car is brand new, it will need some prep work and even on a brand new car some work may been needed if the dealership have cleaned it.

On a black car, you should be able to snow foam, jet wash and dry without needing to touch the car. It looks cool in the wet as the pain work is covered in beading (if that's your thing) but it still gets dirty in about 200 meters at this time of year.

[Mito Man]

As I understand it, spend a bit of time properly washing and prepping the car (ie, strip it of road grime, degrease, properly polish it etc - the sort of thing you'd do at least once a year if you care about such things anyway), apply ceramic coating, then after that it's rinse and top up with ceramic/tek top up spray 'no water' wash things every couple of weeks with your regular wash.

Do that it should last a few years, allegedly.

I'll probably try it on the next car when bright shiny metalwork isn't immediately spoiled by a permanently pollen-ridden fabric roof, etc.

For G techniq this seems to be the go to product to maintain the ceramic coating every couple of months
https://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/pr ... yQQAvD_BwE
The only thing is that this product seems infinitely easier to anpply and claims that it lasts up to 8 months on its own. Which then makes wonder what the original ceramic coating is doing?

[Beany]

Yeah, if you keep it in a garage 90% of the time maybe. I'd put that down to 'marketing puff'.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Our experience with ceramic coating is in the underwhelming category. Had it done by a guy I've used before for "detailing" etc. I thin it was G-Techniq. It wore off so quickly that I genuinely don't see it's worth the effort more than a wax tbh. Yes it's all in the prep, and the subsequent maintenance using the right product, but I don't see how that offers any more benefit than the same approach with a wax.

I put it in the snow foam category as largely a load of nonsense.

[scotta]

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with ceramic coatings? They’ve been on the market a while now and I still can’t tell if they’re bollocks or not.

paging @scotta

I've only used this on wheels (Gtechniq C5 wheel armour) which is good imho.

I had the Golf R done and the M240i done. Lasts at most about a year before it stops beading. Tried various reactivating potions but made no odds. IMO not worth the money.

My strategy now is to use spray on Polar Seal from Autoglym applied with the snow foam nozzle. Lasts a good bit between washes

https://www.autoglym.com/polar-seal

Its usually around £500 to get it done. Money better spent on PPF i'd say.

[scotta]

Our experience with ceramic coating is in the underwhelming category. Had it done by a guy I've used before for "detailing" etc. I thin it was G-Techniq. It wore off so quickly that I genuinely don't see it's worth the effort more than a wax tbh. Yes it's all in the prep, and the subsequent maintenance using the right product, but I don't see how that offers any more benefit than the same approach with a wax.

I put it in the snow foam category as largely a load of nonsense.

This.

Even using the correct product to maintain it - Doesn't last.

Ph neutral snow foam. PH neutral shampoo - two bucket system and a wash mitt.

same result as yourself.

Ill disagree on the snow foam however.

[Matty]

Thing is that PPF, if you have it done on anything more than a few exposed sections can be absurdly expensive also, and after 5 years of so it starts to get damaged in the edges and discolour.
Cost to re-do the front of the Alfa was absurd, and it still needed some paint doing where chips had penetrated the film.

TBH I'd just fuck it all off, keep a decent coat of wax on it and save the money for an occasioal blow over

[Mito Man]

I’ve never been a fan of PPF and told my dad to avoid buying a car with it - Panamera with ppf kit on the lower half of the car. The thing is it’ll be a nightmare to remove and then the parts of the car which haven’t been protected will be a different shade because clear coat yellows - and it’s the whole way through so a machine polish won’t fix it. Detailers will say shit like “oh it’s clear coat failure and crap factory paint” to avoid blame
The only fix is a whole respray, which then defeats the point of the ppf.

[mik]

Factory PPF on the Evora is now pretty yellowed. Despite the fact that it’s white and therefore doesn’t hide it well, I don’t really notice - except for the large sections on the leading sections of the rear arches - which are really obvious.

Got 3 quotes - all pretty expensive, and all said that the replacement stuff would yellow over time too. So I can’t really see any point. (I think the adhesives yellow as opposed to the film itself).