Ceramic Coating Safe on Carbon Fiber Roof?

[fanofbmwe46]

I heard from one member who had some sort of chemical reaction happen to the clear coat of his CF roof which turned it milky white permanently.

Anyone else ever have issues ceramic coating their CF roof? Have any of you purposely avoided it? What brands/products should and shouldn’t be used up there?

[chris719]

It's clearcoated, it should be compatible with anything that is safe for paint.

[Westside Guy]

One of my friends just had Xpel Ultimate Plus put allover his new M3 Competition and they did his CF roof.

[Jrock645]

Shouldn't be a problem at all.

[c1pher]

PPF and ceramic should be no problem at all.

[BIGW0RM]

I had my 1st black G80 M3 coated with Gtek and this is what happened to mine. Now before anyone says, oh thats build up. Thats too much coating on it that is making it hazy.

No, its not build up. Its not buffered burned. Its under the clear coat. I had over 5 other shops, including BMW master auto body shop tell me it was a chemical reaction.

So I wont be doing that again. But I have seen MANY others here get theirs done with no issues. Maybe it was the brand coating I used. I dont know.

But I wont be doing my roof again.

How mine turned out.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Yep like someone else mentioned it's going to be clear coated so it's like paint.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by BIGW0RM

I had my 1st black G80 M3 coated with Gtek and this is what happened to mine. Now before anyone says, oh thats build up. Thats too much coating on it that is making it hazy.

No, its not build up. Its not buffered burned. Its under the clear coat. I had over 5 other shops, including BMW master auto body shop tell me it was a chemical reaction.

So I wont be doing that again. But I have seen MANY others here get theirs done with no issues. Maybe it was the brand coating I used. I dont know.

But I wont be doing my roof again.

How mine turned out.

Maybe I'm blind here but I don't see the issues. Looks good?

By Gtek also do you mean Gtechniq?

[allinon72]

Highly recommended as the clear coat on the CF isn't near the quality as the paint. Needs that extra physical protection, but more importantly UV protection.

I used CQuartz and Gtechniq products without issue on my F80.

[BIGW0RM]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Maybe I'm blind here but I don't see the issues. Looks good?

By Gtek also do you mean Gtechniq?

Look at the rails top edge. They are foggy white. The corners of my roof are foggy white too. At night time, under certain light, the rails would almost glow white and looked like 2 white skunk lines running down the roof.



And yes. It ws Gtechniq Crystal Serum lite that was used.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by BIGW0RM

Look at the rails top edge. They are foggy white. The corners of my roof are foggy white too. At night time, under certain light, the rails would almost glow white and looked like 2 white skunk lines running down the roof.



And yes. It ws Gtechniq Crystal Serum lite that was used.

Ahhhh ok yeah I see it now in your original picture as well. Man... that is odd. I do have a hard time thinking how a chemical reaction could have occurred because there is clearcoat and epoxy dried. And Gtechniq is a reputable brand to.

Did you DIY the coating and prep?

[MunkyTool]

No issues on mine. Have had the coat on about 6 months now.

That being said, now that I have it I wouldn't recommend getting a ceramic coating.

Overall it just easier to keep the car looking perfect with proper washes and waxing.

Next time I'll just PPF the front.

[peelerec]

Originally Posted by BIGW0RM

Look at the rails top edge. They are foggy white. The corners of my roof are foggy white too. At night time, under certain light, the rails would almost glow white and looked like 2 white skunk lines running down the roof.



And yes. It ws Gtechniq Crystal Serum lite that was used.

What is even more odd is that only the edges/corners have that white haze. If in fact, a negative chemical reaction occurred, then it's possible the CF roof was not seamed correctly on the edges. Just a thought.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by MunkyTool

No issues on mine. Have had the coat on about 6 months now.

That being said, now that I have it I wouldn't recommend getting a ceramic coating.

Overall it just easier to keep the car looking perfect with proper washes and waxing.

Next time I'll just PPF the front.

Maybe your expectations of a ceramic coating were to high? Not to shit on you but I do see similar comments from time to time from people who have had them. It's important to remember a ceramic coating isn't going to be a magic thing that keeps the car always clean or need to avoid cleaning the car or whatever. You need to view ceramic coating as pretty much just a wax/sealant that last much longer and has better chemical resistance. Like you still need to maintain wash it. And also it barely offers added scratch/chip resistance, that is indeed done by PPF.

[BIGW0RM]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Ahhhh ok yeah I see it now in your original picture as well. Man... that is odd. I do have a hard time thinking how a chemical reaction could have occurred because there is clearcoat and epoxy dried. And Gtechniq is a reputable brand to.

Did you DIY the coating and prep?

I had the service done at what sure seems like a reputable shop. They do training courses for GTECH to become Gtec certified installers.

Members here have to that shop. Local speed shops around me refer customers to them. They did work on my 911 that was flawless (not coated though). My ceramic coating come out very very nice other than the roof. The razor back on my roof lines and the edges of the roof all turned milky white that would damn near glow white under street lights and foggy conditions. The pics I posted do not capture the glow like effect they put off. It was very strange.

I can only assumed they cooked my coating with a polisher before coating it. It sure looks like that. But they only use an orbital and I have over 5 places tell me it looked more like a chemical reaction.

I gave up on it. But I will never put Gtech on carbon fiber again. Im scared to put anything on it now.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by BIGW0RM

I had the service done at what sure seems like a reputable shop. They do training courses for GTECH to become Gtec certified installers.

Members here have to that shop. Local speed shops around me refer customers to them. They did work on my 911 that was flawless (not coated though). My ceramic coating come out very very nice other than the roof. The razor back on my roof lines and the edges of the roof all turned milky white that would damn near glow white under street lights and foggy conditions. The pics I posted do not capture the glow like effect they put off. It was very strange.

I can only assumed they cooked my coating with a polisher before coating it. It sure looks like that. But they only use an orbital and I have over 5 places tell me it looked more like a chemical reaction.

I gave up on it. But I will never put Gtech on carbon fiber again. Im scared to put anything on it now.

I see. Yeah I had the same theory like peelerec but my other theory which IMO seems more realistic is just the clear that burned during polishing. It would surprise me BMW didn't epoxy/clear coat the panel right that would allow leaquage in, if that were the case water would be seen under right? Also if it was a chemical reaction, I don't see how the middle portions of your roof would have that same thing, it would exclusively be the edges. Also considering it is raised in that area, kind of goes hand in hand with the risk of burning through raised areas usually. Could be the CF roof has less clear coat to compared to the painted pannels. But then again, I'm no pro (although I DIY everything detail wise) and you checked with others pros but you know.... sometimes pros suck Surprising the shop didn't mention anything either.

But yeah that sucks I can see how you aren't to sure with it

[diirk]

I would put PPF and ceramic on CF just for he additional UV protection.

[chris719]

Originally Posted by BIGW0RM

Look at the rails top edge. They are foggy white. The corners of my roof are foggy white too. At night time, under certain light, the rails would almost glow white and looked like 2 white skunk lines running down the roof.

And yes. It ws Gtechniq Crystal Serum lite that was used.

I think this is a factory defect unfortunately, unless your guy polished the roof and somehow compromised the clear at the edges only, as TheMidnightNarwhal mentioned. It may have just shown itself coincidentally.

[chris719]

Originally Posted by fanofbmwe46

I heard from one member who had some sort of chemical reaction happen to the clear coat of his CF roof which turned it milky white permanently.

Anyone else ever have issues ceramic coating their CF roof? Have any of you purposely avoided it? What brands/products should and shouldn’t be used up there?

Just as a second reply... I would definitely consider PPF. The carbon roofs are prone to delamination if the clear gets compromised by rock chips or lots of UV exposure. PPF is the best for protection against chips and UV. Ceramic coatings have UV inhibitors but they are incredibly thin and I highly doubt they will provide the same level of protection as PPF.

[BIGW0RM]

Who knows what happened. I just know it didnt look like that before coating. Its a moot point now as I moved on over a year ago. But I wont be putting anything on my carbon roof just out of fear. Actually, I would PPF it. But thats about it now.

[allinon72]

Clearcoat was damaged in some way beforehand. Many stories of clear coat failures on these roofs. The coating soaked into the raw carbon and that's why it's milky, certainly not the fault of the product.

[MunkyTool]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Maybe your expectations of a ceramic coating were to high? Not to shit on you but I do see similar comments from time to time from people who have had them. It's important to remember a ceramic coating isn't going to be a magic thing that keeps the car always clean or need to avoid cleaning the car or whatever. You need to view ceramic coating as pretty much just a wax/sealant that last much longer and has better chemical resistance. Like you still need to maintain wash it. And also it barely offers added scratch/chip resistance, that is indeed done by PPF.

"Not going to shit on you" but here's my condescending comment.

No, my expectations were realistic. Didn't expect any scratch or chip protection. The idea was to protect the car from elements and remove the need of a regular wax while still using my weekly wash process. Overall I found the gloss from CC wasn't anywhere near as good as a fresh normal wax from wash to wash. The water beading effects was nice but create more water spots in the long run due to concentrating the water/minerals in one bead. So when they did settle, as a result of not being able to polish or clay bar, are a lot more difficult to remove. Any chips, scratches or cosmetic issues you do want to fix with proper autobody techniques will require the CC coat to be reapplied on that panel. Overall I didn' feel it made anything better or easier.