Gen 3 Arrived and just Ceramic Coated DIY

Hey Guys!

Been waiting on this thing for months. Was 9/20 squad and it showed up 10/14 to dealer. It's 801, Moonroof, CF, Power tech and applique delete.

Because I'm a detail freak, I told them not to wash, just PDI and take off plastic.

Been planning the full ceramic job for months so this is how it shook out. Oh and by the way, you guys can do this all too. Not that hard.

Duraslic for paint, headlights, taillights, bumpers and fender flairs since their painted. BTW if y’all haven’t heard of Duraslic, it’s some next level stuff with a lot of science behind it. Stuff came with scrub test data card, water contact angle test data and oleophobicity data sheets. Also it’s the only coating on the market that’s oleophobic (rejects oils). They published an over 1 hour vid on YT about all the science behind it. Pretty neat. I like trying different ceramic coatings so this was the first time I have worked with it.

Cquartz DLUX for trim, plastics and grill

Geyon Repel Q2 for all glass

Geyon Wet Coat for wheels

Everything used:


She came suuuuper dirty off the truck.



Used Carpro Reset for initial wash. It's PH balanced and has no protections in it. We want the paint raw. Oh and also I have a water Deionizer from CR spotless. So water is filtered down to .000x PPM. Basically it can't water spot which is huge. Sorry crap pics. Had to wash in the shade of course.

Don't ask about the couch.... Got new ones, old ones stuck in the garage blah blah


Next up was a full buff/polish job using the 5" Rupes Mark III with yellow pads for bulk work. Griots G8 2" for small stuff with Rupes yellow. Sonax Perfect Finish compound. The Sonax works great but was a little dusty. 3D One is less dusty but Sonax might be slightly more fine/polish oriented. This took a while! Like 7-8 hours. No during pics but these are the afters.




Next up is the coating. The glass was werk! Took like 4 hours.

Plastic was only slightly less labor. I did hit it all though. All hood plastics and cowl, tops of bed, tops of back bumper with plate surround and the grill. Pro tip, see the brush in the earlier pic? Drip your ceramic on your brush and paint it onto the grill for full coverage to get in intricacies of the grill, wipe excess off grill with microfiber and immediately wash brush. Then just catagorize that brush as a ceramic brush. You should get a few uses out of it before throwing away.

Duraslic on the paint went on and off like a dream. Very easy to work with and has a very fast flash time, which I like. Like 30-90 seconds fast. Also they claim only 1 coat needed and this is the pro grade stuff, 9H, that's supposed to last 7 years. Don't ask me how I got it.... was technical

Geyon Wet Coat was just a quickie because I'll probably be changing the wheels. If I was keeping these then Cquartz DLUX would have been used. I will put DLUX on my new wheels.

Again no pics of the during but this is the afters. I'll try to get some better ones but I'm doing a First Edition Bronco tomorrow and it's my only day off. More coming!

Looks good. I can appreciate how long it takes to do all of that. At this point in my life I just run her through the tunnel wash once or twice a week. Will you hand wash this thing every time it’s dirty?

Yeah the bigger point is that it stays cleaner longer, the plastics will stay rich dark black for years like a permanent armoral. If you get tree sap on it, it'll just wash off super easy.

Dust is big out here so dust clings less to it. Oh and a maintenance wash is sooooooo easy.

I was wondering why CarPro says not to use Dlux on new textured plastic and their response was:

“Hi David, great question! MANY people do use this on new plastic however the reason we have that disclaimer is because of the risk… let me explain.

It is possible that after a year or so in some instances it can get a whitish look. This only happens sometimes so it is my theory that usually it is because there was some dressing or something still on (or to be precise - IN the pores) of the trim that wasn’t fully removed before DLUX was used. I theorize the it is also possible that the plastic me “gas out” for a year or so after being created and potentially that gas could get caught between ceramic and plastic and creating tiny microscopic bubbles that start to make this slightly whitish look.

REGARDLESS…. the point is that this can happen on occasion and when it does I do not have a sure fire way to give you to fix it. If you could polish it with an abrasive polish like smooth plastic or like paint or glass then its super simple to fix… but with textured plastic it is VERY hard to polish it off without making the plastic look weird.

Once the plastic gets older I feel like its not as much risk and there’s also not as much to lose. What I personally recommend on new plastic is this Ultima Tire & Trim Guard Plus - 12 oz. It is nanotech but it is not ceramic. It will not last 12-24 months but it WILL last 3-6 month on a daily driver. It is very easy to apply, very durable, and zero risk.”


I haven’t personally seen this issue while doing coatings on trim, but I haven’t used Dlux and was curious why they didn’t recommend on new plastic. I have Normally stayed with C4 for trim.

The paint didn’t have any bonded contaminants requiring a clay? I’ve never seen that either on a new vehicle.

Looks awesome and man can I appreciate the work. Where did you buy the stuff for the plastic and is it simply just a rub on with a cloth?

Man ! I feel bad for mine I just drive it and my friend details it once a month or so.

Looks good! Dedication.

Thamac15 said:

I haven’t personally seen this issue while doing coatings on trim, but I haven’t used Dlux and was curious why they didn’t recommend on new plastic. I have Normally stayed with C4 for trim.

The paint didn’t have any bonded contaminants requiring a clay? I’ve never seen that either on a new vehicle.

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Interesting, never heard of an issue with DLUX on new plastics. I did have a Gen 2 raptor from new and put DLUX on the same plastics when they were new. Had it for 13 months and the plastics looked great the whole time. For other peoples cars, I might heed more caution. Also the plastics on the GEN 3 appear to be identical to the GEN 2.

Believe it or not the paint was really good from the factory. Granted, I work there and know for sure my dealer didn't touch it. I helped take it off the truck. After the initial wash, it was hard to find any imperfections in the paint almost anywhere. Almost considered not buffing it but had time on my side. After wash, I couldn't see or feel anything bonded. It felt very smooth all over.

I'm not a professional but study this stuff a lot. Is the idea to clay off bonded contaminants before buff in the event that bonded contaminants could scratch the paint during the buffing process if not removed before?

Torchy said:

Interesting, never heard of an issue with DLUX on new plastics. I did have a Gen 2 raptor from new and put DLUX on the same plastics when they were new. Had it for 13 months and the plastics looked great the whole time. For other peoples cars, I might heed more caution. Also the plastics on the GEN 3 appear to be identical to the GEN 2.

Believe it or not the paint was really good from the factory. Granted, I work there and know for sure my dealer didn't touch it. I helped take it off the truck. After the initial wash, it was hard to find any imperfections in the paint almost anywhere. Almost considered not buffing it but had time on my side. After wash, I couldn't see or feel anything bonded. It felt very smooth all over.

I'm not a professional but study this stuff a lot. Is the idea to clay off bonded contaminants before buff in the event that bonded contaminants could scratch the paint during the buffing process if not removed before?

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Yes sir, after you wash and dry use your hand with light pressure (or the baggy test) and feel the bonded contaminants. It will be rougher than paint without any bonded contaminants. Surprisingly, even sitting in a rail car or on a truck for a couple weeks will have contaminants that bond to the paint. If you wax/seal/coat a vehicle without removing them you're protection will not last long. If you don't remove the contaminants and then start polishing you open yourself up for marring the paint and contaminating your pads. After you clay and iron decon you then do paint correction if needed. Then polish and then use something like CarPro Eraser or Meg's M122 to remove all the oils from polishing. If you don't remove them, your coating isn't going to bond well and will not last. Same thing with exterior trim, when you coat it you need to thoroughly clean it and do a wipe down with the above-mentioned Eraser/M122 or any other product designed for that purpose. If you don't, then the coating won't bond well.

When polishing or paint correcting, ensure you are cleaning your pads after each panel or less depending on the size of the panel. I use compressed air, but you can also use a clean microfiber towel. I tend to only use a single pad for two-3 panels depending upon the condition of the paint and how much clear coat I'm removing.

paulny said:

Looks awesome and man can I appreciate the work. Where did you buy the stuff for the plastic and is it simply just a rub on with a cloth?

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Sign up and get on Autogeek.com mailing list. They send out 20% and 25% off coupon codes all the time with free shipping over $95. They are a forum and web store. They seem to have the best prices on what they carry and DLUX is there. If yall know of any better places let me know!

Life hack, these are amazing to use for applying ceramic and DLUX! Adam's Micro Suede Sponge but yes apply it on and gently wipe off/level it with a microfiber. Don't forget, downgrade that towel to crap cleaning status or throw it away after. The ceramic will dry in the fibers, can not be washed out and will potentially scratch your paint or wheels.