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Ceramic coating worth the cost?

Donald Stanfield

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Ironically my Dual Large delivered two weeks ago has the worst orange peel I've ever seen on a vehicle in 35+ years of driving. Paint depth is all over the place, orange peel basically everywhere. Must have gotten a late Friday afternoon build, it's horrendous.

1741040773603-th.jpg
Hard to see in that picture, but peel shows up really easily in black. I'd like to see what a good detailer could do with it.
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carsly

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Hard to see in that picture, but peel shows up really easily in black. I'd like to see what a good detailer could do with it.
I'm not short on ripple-tastic pics unfortunately. Those are not compression artifacts from the picture, that's what it looks like up close.

Rivian R1T R1S Ceramic coating worth the cost? 1741047304569-w
 

carsly

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Rivian R1T R1S Ceramic coating worth the cost? 1741047686581-sy
 

POLAR1S

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you can get full ceramic 5 year coating for $600. then it's worth it.
 

Killer95Stang

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If the best robots can't lay down paint without orange peel, society has no hope. .... or did Rivian buy the robots from Temu?
 

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carsly

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1741047686581-sy.jpg

If the best robots can't lay down paint without orange peel, society has no hope. .... or did Rivian buy the robots from Temu?
I'm guessing it's Temu's refurb section.
 

tbolts10

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Yes, but choose your installer wisely.
 

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Ironically my Dual Large delivered two weeks ago has the worst orange peel I've ever seen on a vehicle in 35+ years of driving. Paint depth is all over the place, orange peel basically everywhere. Must have gotten a late Friday afternoon build, it's horrendous.

1741040773603-th.jpg
In general, industry standards have fallen along with average consumer tastes. Common to see orange peel with other brands (even Lexus).
 

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CrazyOne

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Imo it's primarily cosmetic. Also detailers remove a layer of clear coat while doing paint correction for ceramic.

If you use Turtle wax ceramic spray every month or so, it usually sufficient. Project farm did a comprehensive test and it was among the best IIRC.
 

beatle

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you can get full ceramic 5 year coating for $600. then it's worth it.
If you're offered a "X year" coating, check the fine print. A lot of places that advertise multi year coatings require you to come back every year for some kind of pricey maintenance, or they'll invalidate its warranty.

I did DIY CQuartz on my two Model S. The first one I took extra time and put two coats on. I got maybe 14-16 months out of it. I did one coat on the next car and got around a year, maybe just a touch less. It was wearing out in places like the mirrors and the non-glass portions of the roof. I garaged both of these cars.

For the Rivian that sits outside, I just used Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions ceramic spray. It only seems to last 3-4 months, but it's much easier and faster to apply without the long cure time.

I know people like shiny cars (me too) but spending over $1k for the product does not make sense unless they are doing heavy paint correction as well, but at that point you're paying for that skill, not a magic ceramic product.
 

DRJ564

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Wow. That one requires wet sanding with a block. I don’t think theres enough clear coat there to get that flat. Thats nuts.

I DIY corrected mine before ceramic. I didn’t have anything like this. Just minor swirls and some odd blemishes here and there.
 

carsly

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Wow. That one requires wet sanding with a block. I don’t think theres enough clear coat there to get that flat. Thats nuts.

I DIY corrected mine before ceramic. I didn’t have anything like this. Just minor swirls and some odd blemishes here and there.
Yeah, I don't think it's fixable. The thickness of the paint varies quite a bit in the color layer best I can tell. Needless to say, if you opt to get a Rivian, stick with the free color!
 

carsly

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In general, industry standards have fallen along with average consumer tastes. Common to see orange peel with other brands (even Lexus).
Ironically, every Tesla I've owned (four so far) has had much better paint than this despite the common wisdom.
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