I would not put any form of paint protection glaze on a car whether from a dealer or not. I was talking with a car detailer and virtually all these products create a rock hard seal on the paint, in fact so hard that you cannot remove even with a machine buffer. Great you might say it will mean my paint will not get damaged by contaminants and so on, yes maybe. But there is a big downside if the paint gets chipped, scratched, or minor ding then you cannot do a touch up repair yourself, reason is paint will not take properly and will rub off. The whole panel will need to be rubbed back down with wet and dry, primed and re-painted. Personally I think that there is no substitute for using good quality polish and gentle cleaning regularly.
This is a slight downside yes, however I would note a few points.
- Usually if a panel is chipped (which is less likely with ceramic coating) then the coating is also removed, so a chip can be touched up quite easily.
- It will protect against scratches, if the panel does get a deep scratch again the coating will be removed so polishing isn't impossible, however in most cases paint will be required for these types of scratches - so the panel would need sanding regardless.
Most of the ceramic coatings are very good at protecting paint from the day to day stuff, its only serious damage (which would need a bodyshop anyway) that it cannot protect against. Most of the detailers who apply it also offer a "warranty" of sorts with it, so I am sure they would happily assist in any small repairs.
Now there is an ever better way to protect your cars paint with no downsides and this is a scratch resistant film, you can literally take a key to it (or screwdriver) and it will protect the paint underneath.
For lesser scratches than the extreme example above it also self heals, so your paint always looks perfect. The downside? Set aside about £3000 to have it fitted...
