Ceramic Coating?

gspdx

Has anyone looked into applying a ceramic coating to their T@B?  Any personal experiences?

Thanks.

jkjenn

gspdx said:

Has anyone looked into applying a ceramic coating to their T@B?  Any personal experiences?

Thanks.

Sounds heavy...and prone to chipping

falcon1970

What would be the advantages?

gspdx

From what I have heard it is great for fiberglass.  Will keep it from flaking over time into exposed strands.

tabiphile

Ceramic products for cars have been "the rage" for several years. The hype is that they outlast/outperform traditional waxes. There are products that are commercially applied and there are products available for spray on home application. The costs vary wildly. There are lot's of unsubstantiated stories about how long these products last vs. traditional waxes. If you are a waxer and if you accept that the ceramic will not need to be applied as often (every 18 months to 5 years depending upon the brand and their pitch) these could save you some annual waxing effort. Anything that blocks the degrading effect of UV exposure is going to benefit the surfaces of your rig. That said, try to find legitimate independent product testing that substantiates the claims about the benefit of "nano molecules" of ceramic and how it might extend the life of the treated surfaces. 

CrabTab

Where is the fiberglass on a 400 you are looking to protect? My 320 has ABS trim. As I understand, the best protection for UV degradation is solid color paint, or a shady tree...

Sharon_is_SAM

The sides of the TaBs are “Alufiber” - a composite of fiberglass.

Cherokee

The final coat of fiberglass is far thicker then paint and rosin is more durable then most paints. Plasticizers like Armor-All or ATF fluid will assist plastic trim, but shade is BEST for almost any finish.  Ceramic coating is GREAT for a detailer's bottom line. It is not scratch resistant. I'm curious how well it would work on a T@B to.  

WilliamA

I've seen ceramic coat demonstrated in my car-building days and it's pretty interesting stuff.  The hardness hype is exactly that. Hype. The coating is so thin that there's little protection. What it IS good at is its hydrophobic qualities. It rejects moisture bonding and, subsequently, anything like dirt and sap etc will not bond but rather will bond to the water on the surface when raining or during a wash job, then be removed when the water is removed.  It's not bulletproof nor is it particularly uv resistant (as it is too thin for that) but does make washing much easier. The anti-scratch hype is true in as much as dirt and debris wash off without as much scrubbing, hence less scratching.  
ABS parts are doomed from the start as they degrade quickly in the sun, getting brittle and eventually cracking. Fiberglass is also a plastic product and is subject to the same degradation as ABS, but is much stronger by virtue of the glass reinforcement strands within. It still cracks over time. Different fiberglass resins have different characteristics of flex with vinylester resin being much more able to flex and thus, resist cracking than polyester resin. Its doubtful you are getting vinylester products unless you have a fiberglass airplane. It's expensive and that's just not how the RV industry rolls. That said, they all suffer the same fate eventually. The longest lasting coating for fiberglass is paint. Vinyl wraps also protect resins, but are themselves subject to uv degradation and have a pretty short working life. 

WilliamA 

jkjenn

Going on 6 years and my plastic trim has not cracked or really shown any real signs of fade.

gspdx

Really good info here.  It seems it might come down to if I would rather "wax" more or   less often as this sounds like a wax type application and nucamp recommends waxing anyway.

Thanks for all of the responses.  Will need to think on it some.

dragonsdofly

For those with the Sofitel model t@b, this discussion is moot as even the sides of the Sofitel are aluminum. 

Cbusguy

@WilliamA sums it up everthing I had read and friends had talked about.   Most of it is hype,  if you look on youtube some rv washing services even states dirt seems to stick to it more. 

Dalehelman

dragonsdofly said:

For those with the Sofitel model t@b, this discussion is moot as even the sides of the Sofitel are aluminum. 

One of the benefits of the Sofitel. Although it will dent easier than fiberglass.