Dodge Challenger SRT Demon in for ceramic coating
An 808 horsepower 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon came in for preparation, a corrective machine polish and a Gyeon ceramic coating. The owner also chose the full wheel removal service and glass coating. This is how the job went, with the reasoning behind each step.
Wash and decontamination
The detailers start with the wheels and the lower half of the car, where the most dirt collects. Starting low keeps that heavy grime from touching the cleaner panels above it.
They use an iron remover on the bonded contamination, which pulls out the metal particles that brake dust and road film leave in the paint. The paint gets a foam cannon wash, which lifts dirt before a mitt touches the surface, and then a hand wash with a mitt. A clay bar lifts what is left in the finish.
The Demon was rinsed, blown dry and moved to the coating bay.
Corrective polish
A coating bonds to the surface and holds it in place, so any swirl or scratch left in the paint stays visible under it. The Demon got a corrective machine polish to remove those defects before anything else.
Polishing is where most of a coated car's depth comes from. The coating keeps that result protected and adds its own shine on top, and it is the reason we sell paint correction together with every ceramic coating.
Coating the paint
With the paint corrected, it was wiped down to remove oils from the polish, so the coating bonds directly to the clear coat. The coating was applied panel by panel in small sections with a microfiber applicator, and the excess was buffed off.
Working in small sections gives the installer control. A coating has a short window in which it can be leveled, so a car is done a piece at a time and every section is checked before moving on.
Wheels
The owner chose the full wheel removal service. With the car on a lift, the wheels came off and the faces, barrels and calipers were prepped and coated with Gyeon rim coating, which helps shed brake dust.
Taking the wheels off is the only way to coat the barrels and calipers properly, and the barrels and calipers are where brake dust collects. The wheels were reinstalled and torqued to factory specifications.
Glass
The glass was coated as well to help visibility. Coated glass sheds water, which helps in the rain and makes wipers work with less to push. After an interior wipe down and vacuum, the Demon was ready to go home.
What a coating does for a car like this
A coating makes each wash on a car like the Demon easier and gentler, which means fewer new swirls from the mitt. Water beads and runs off, and bird droppings, sap and road film have a harder time bonding to the paint.
What the coating does not do is stop stone chips. If an owner drives a car like this on the highway, we suggest film on the front end as well. Basic Front covers the front bumper, hood, mirrors, headlights and fog lights, and Full Front adds the front fenders.
Why the order matters
Each step prepares the car for the next one. Decontamination gets the paint clean, the polish removes the defects, the wipe down clears away oils, and only then does the coating go on. Rushing any step shows up in the finish, so the job moves at the speed the car needs.
Thinking about the same job
Coatings are applied in house by our full-time staff, in climate-controlled bays, and Buff & Beyond is a Gyeon Certified Detailer. We go over care with you at pickup.
Send us the year, make and model and tell us whether you want wheels and glass included. We will tell you what the paint needs and what the job involves.
