The engineers are the practical ones. Think rationally instead of emotionally. The problem solvers.
Chemical engineer makes it sound like your username should be
Dr. @BMW Alpina
totally cool man!
We were discussing super slick coatings for our bikes the other day and you mentioned ONE that costs more than 4x than the Gtechnique that (until now) I though was the best an at home detailer could acquire.
As a mad chemical scientist, would u say
my new favorite coating is worth the big $$$??? As a consumer suffering with OCD I’m all abt it
Hi DucatiKev,
Not worth it at all in term of logic, in fact I think my favorite logically price ceramic coating will be this one:
Ultra High Definition Ceramic Coating
It's manufactured by Autoglym, world known brand that had been around for decades and have ISO quality control in place:
https://www.autoglym.com/pub/media/pdfs/ISO_9001_2015.pdf
However, I am doing this just to satisfy my hobby, sentimental reason and (not shy to admit) ego, so I don't want to be too logical in deciding which one I choose (although it can't be too illogical because I can't let my self become too stupid
)
Back to logic, none of this companies (Kamikaze, Gtechnic, ceramic pro) really have large chemical manufacturing facility or world class research lab or a subsidiary of a large petrochemical companies to be able to create their own polymer compound.
These companies are basically just mixing polymer compound and maybe adding some additives or even small amount of dye (coloring)... , package it very nicely, market it well with fancy video and lighting effect and use fancy car which already have ultra high quality paint finish from their factory to begin with.
I am not sure if the owners of this ceramic coating companies ever take organic chemistry classes. (I did but I already forgot everything, since it was about 25 to 26 years ago
)
I think what they did was call maybe (just for example) this company:
https://www.dow.com/en-us/product-technology/pt-specialty-polymers-compounds.html
As the Application/Sales engineer there on which polymer is suitable for their coating application and then buy a bunch of variation then try to mix and match...
Like, if today, you want to make cleaning product, just go to Henkel, tell them you want to build a factory for cleaner, and will buy raw material from them and ask for advise on the right basic formula and Henkel would give them to you and you can start marketing and packaging on what is basically Henkel base material with your own dye (coloring), fragrance (for nice smell) and your own packaging and labeling and marketing... that is it.
Heck, I can even build a robot now, since I know where I can source the controller, servo motors, wiring harness, casting etc...
These ceramic coating products are all more on the "experience/life style" side. Take a look at the packaging of all this ceramic coatings... they make it look so luxurious which in turn make people already amaze even before they apply it. All of this claim their coating can last certain time of time like 12 months or 24 months or more but how do they justify it in controlled environment?
When you test rust resistant of a material, the standard is using salt spray test for example but there is no standardize test to measure the claim about these ceramic coatings. Beside different environment and climate will affect differently...
I know you like high end audio, and many times the tactic to sell high end audio is with the "packaging eye candy effect" of the equipment, but when we do double blind test, you might not be able to really tell the differences.
Ok, there are some videos where they use some small meters to measure the glossiness... but again it also depend on the preparation/polishing before the coating. And unless you use highly repeatable robot with super sensitive torque sensing equipped end effector to polish the sample plate surface (running close circuit to monitor the RA (Roughness Average) level while polishing), then how you can be so sure that the base plate sample coated with coating A have the same RA level during polishing as the other base plate that was one coated with Coating B?
These companies must make a lot of margin in each of their product. Even on distributor level, the owner of the Esoteric Car Care have nice fancy cars, and this product does not have the $ value of a capital equipment... maybe tops a few hundreds dollar per sale on average,... and I don't think he sell this car care products in the same quantity of Coca cola, so the margin must be very high for him to make that kind of money and sustain his operation.
But, sometimes, (like for this ceramic coating project of mine) I just want to throw away my logic, waste my money and be happy... I think wasting $1,000 on multiple coating and cleaner for this project is better than some other who waste even more in Drugs...Both make you feel happy, but one is harmless to your health
I know someone took advantage of my "desire" and make a lot of money out of it... but it's ok.
So, I still going to choose the Kamikaze Zipang + Miyabi multi layer coating just because I want it due to the "desire" factor.
However, just to be sure, I am going to try to do a very good job during the "paint correction" preparation step so the result will be great, and I can say to my self (to justify my spending), this Zipang/Miyabi coating is really the best
Once in a while, for me, it's ok to play tricks on my brain, I just won't do it too much though hahaha
