Hybrid Ceramic Detailer

[Sprzout]

Recently bought a "new to me" 2016 Mini Countryman S from the MINI dealership, and they added a Ceramic sealant called Cilajet. I'm not wild about it, but I'm not going to go stripping it off randomly since it was just recently put on; I figured I'd give it a shot.

So, I was trying to find something that I could use in conjunction with it to keep the car relatively clean, doing touchups without stripping off the Cilajet. Being familiar with Meguiar's on my old Saturn SC2 and Mustang GT, I opted to look at what products Meguiar's had to offer, and found the Hybrid Detailer.

I walked out to my car last night to notice that the front had water spots - apparently, the lawn sprinklers in our complex managed to coat the front bumper and first 1/3rd of the hood with those hard water spots.

Enter the Ceramic Detailer and a microfiber cloth; couple of sprays, a swipe of the cloth, and it was a deeper, cleaner shine on the car - not even streaks. I'm really impressed with how smooth this stuff is, and how little it seemed to take to clean the spots off. Some of that might be the Cilajet, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the lift of this product and how well it coated, as well as no residue left over when it dried.

I'm not saying everyone is going to have the same results, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how well this worked and how slick it was. I don't know that I would use it as a complete replacement for UQD, but it is definitely doing the job I'd hoped it to do for my car, and as a simple LSP, it works exceptionally well for my needs.

[Nick Winn]

Re: Hybrid Ceramic Detailer

Recently bought a "new to me" 2016 Mini Countryman S from the MINI dealership, and they added a Ceramic sealant called Cilajet. I'm not wild about it, but I'm not going to go stripping it off randomly since it was just recently put on; I figured I'd give it a shot.

So, I was trying to find something that I could use in conjunction with it to keep the car relatively clean, doing touchups without stripping off the Cilajet. Being familiar with Meguiar's on my old Saturn SC2 and Mustang GT, I opted to look at what products Meguiar's had to offer, and found the Hybrid Detailer.

I walked out to my car last night to notice that the front had water spots - apparently, the lawn sprinklers in our complex managed to coat the front bumper and first 1/3rd of the hood with those hard water spots.

Enter the Ceramic Detailer and a microfiber cloth; couple of sprays, a swipe of the cloth, and it was a deeper, cleaner shine on the car - not even streaks. I'm really impressed with how smooth this stuff is, and how little it seemed to take to clean the spots off. Some of that might be the Cilajet, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the lift of this product and how well it coated, as well as no residue left over when it dried.

I'm not saying everyone is going to have the same results, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how well this worked and how slick it was. I don't know that I would use it as a complete replacement for UQD, but it is definitely doing the job I'd hoped it to do for my car, and as a simple LSP, it works exceptionally well for my needs.

Thanks for sharing. It would have been a fun test to compare the water beading of the product installed on your car, and then the water beading after using the Hybrid Ceramic Detailer, to see if any different, because most of the time, we find our contact angle to be quite different than most! Yes, even with a Sio2 based detail spray!

[tcope1]

Re: Hybrid Ceramic Detailer

Cilajet's website does not claim it is a ceramic anything and I doubt it is. It appears to simply be another of the thousands of sealants on the market. It cost the dealer next to nothing and then they usually charge hundreds of dollars for $5 worth of product and someone about 30 minutes to apply it.

[Sprzout]

Re: Hybrid Ceramic Detailer

Cilajet's website does not claim it is a ceramic anything and I doubt it is. It appears to simply be another of the thousands of sealants on the market. It cost the dealer next to nothing and then they usually charge hundreds of dollars for $5 worth of product and someone about 30 minutes to apply it.

Actually, their website DOES claim it is a Ceramic coating. Take a look at the Cilajet Ceramic info on their website.

That said, I'm VERY skeptical on it. I didn't pay much for it, but I'm also not going to think that it's going to protect for the 5 years they claim it'll last. When I asked what products they recommended to maintain it, I was immediately told, "Don't wax it, and wash it with our special car wash or else it'll strip it off."

I'm very happy with the detailer, though! I also have a bottle of the Spray on Ceramic Wax that I've tried on my wife's Fiat 500X; I'm hesitant to give it a full thumbs up on that, only because when I used it, the car wasn't prepped. I washed the car, did a rinse, applied the wax, and did another high pressure rinse as instructed. While the spray on wax seemed to coat, I ended up needing to rub out the streaks left on the paint.

I think the next time I try to apply it, I'll make sure the car's surface is properly prepped first, and THEN try the application and rinse.

[tcope1]

Re: Hybrid Ceramic Detailer

Actually, their website DOES claim it is a Ceramic coating. Take a look at the Cilajet Ceramic info on their website.

That said, I'm VERY skeptical on it. I didn't pay much for it, but I'm also not going to think that it's going to protect for the 5 years they claim it'll last. When I asked what products they recommended to maintain it, I was immediately told, "Don't wax it, and wash it with our special car wash or else it'll strip it off."

I'm very happy with the detailer, though! I also have a bottle of the Spray on Ceramic Wax that I've tried on my wife's Fiat 500X; I'm hesitant to give it a full thumbs up on that, only because when I used it, the car wasn't prepped. I washed the car, did a rinse, applied the wax, and did another high pressure rinse as instructed. While the spray on wax seemed to coat, I ended up needing to rub out the streaks left on the paint.

I think the next time I try to apply it, I'll make sure the car's surface is properly prepped first, and THEN try the application and rinse.

I see it now. I just looked at the home page before which mentioned their sealant but nothing about ceramic.

Coating manufactures have been pushing this type of suff through dealers for a long time (it was nothing new when I worked at a dealer around 1986). Basically it is just another sealant. The manufactures gives a big kickback on each sale and there is a _TON_ of mark up in the product.

IMHO, the best way to get a good sealant/wax application is to start with a very clean surface. I find after I polish paint that I get the best application. You can get it with a good wash and claying as well. I don't like spray or ceramic sprays as much as good old wipe on sealants. While spray on's do make water bead, I find that it does not last and it simply does not look as good.