Jay Leno's ceramic detailer

H

HenryCarl

Member
My Ford has its original paint. Not perfect, but can be shined...beautifully. My Grandpa's car, bought new. Is Leno's ceramic detailer safe for my car?
 
Ceramic wax has been around for a few years now. I like it because it’s water soluble so goes on easy. Safe for all paint finishes.

I don’t know anything about Leno’s detailer, but I would think it’s much the same as all the other brands. You might pay more to get Jay Leno’s name on the bottle.
 
HenryCarl said:
My Ford has its original paint. Not perfect, but can be shined...beautifully. My Grandpa's car, bought new. Is Leno's ceramic detailer safe for my car?
Click to expand...
bbe8-73469d9741e4.51ce64fce630b3124b7895d8343b05b7.jpg
 
Just curious. When you buy a new car and they offer to ceramic coat the paint (for a large amount of money), is this what they use?
 
fortyonerag said:
Just curious. When you buy a new car and they offer to ceramic coat the paint (for a large amount of money), is this what they use?
Click to expand...

I also wondered about that process of "dealer installed" ceramic coating/ripoff in my opinion.ever since the car detaling industry came up with all these products i havn't waxed any of my cars and motorcycles.been using mcguires kwick detailer or Mothers. works very well and protects,and alot easier. Tom. when i turned in my 2yr lease for another in 2025 the salesman offered a $400. ceramic dealer installed i said no thanks if the detailers do as good a job as the wash dudes after a service. Nope.
 
Last edited:
I bought a couple of over-priced bottles of "Ceramic Sealant" to put the "final shine" on my Corvette. (They looked a lot like those pictured, but without Leno).

I was not impressed. Now I wonder if I should remove it before trying the next "snake oil".

As for the dealer-applied paint processes, I had a friend who was a Service-Writer at an upscale Buick Dealership in Minneapolis 60 years ago. He made a LOT of money in commissions by selling a process called "Porcelalizing" to his customers. Everybody (customers, sales force, (and especially the Service-Writers) was very high on the process and it went on to just about every new car sold. I had seen it several times, and as I remember it was quite impressive. So the dealers may have something (or at least did 60 years ago).
 
Last edited:
What a bunch of BS. When you drive out your new car it should need NOTHING
These dealer service departments have so many maintenance high dollar jobs they tell unsuspecting customers that they need done. Remember the term "four flusher?" Well that is what they sell, coolant flush, transmission flush, brake system flush and differential flush. An honest service department is a thing of the past. IMHO
 
34fordy said:
What a bunch of BS. When you drive out your new car it should need NOTHING
These dealer service departments have so many maintenance high dollar jobs they tell unsuspecting customers that they need done. Remember the term "four flusher?" Well that is what they sell, coolant flush, transmission flush, brake system flush and differential flush. An honest service department is a thing of the past. IMHO
Click to expand...

A lot of newer cars require or have recommended fluid flushes by the manufacturers. It's because of the chemical makeup of the fluids, and the fact that today's cars are on the road much longer than they were a couple of decades ago. Plus the complicated systems found on today's cars can be damaged with old fluids.

A fluid flush isn't any different than changing the fluid, it's just how it's done that is different.
 
Hitman said:
A lot of newer cars require or have recommended fluid flushes by the manufacturers. It's because of the chemical makeup of the fluids, and the fact that today's cars are on the road much longer than they were a couple of decades ago. Plus the complicated systems found on today's cars can be damaged with old fluids.

A fluid flush isn't any different than changing the fluid, it's just how it's done that is different.
Click to expand...


We just did all of that to our Ford Escape, a 2021. The Ford engineers recommend it. Not too expensive good preventative maintenance!


I have a very good friend who is a car detailer, and he swears by Jay Leno products that is all he uses on the cars he does:)
 
"Four-Flusher" is actually an old poker term. It can work quite well in a 5 card stud game, or it can be quite unfortunate.

Ask me how I know.
 
And service departments also love to show you your cabin filter.............I've seen the same filter for the past two oil changes on my 2022.

They have to remove the glove box door to do it, and amazingly, every item in the glove box is in the exact same order as when I turned the vehicle over to the service department.
 
Hitman said:
A lot of newer cars require or have recommended fluid flushes by the manufacturers. It's because of the chemical makeup of the fluids, and the fact that today's cars are on the road much longer than they were a couple of decades ago. Plus the complicated systems found on today's cars can be damaged with old fluids.

A fluid flush isn't any different than changing the fluid, it's just how it's done that is different.
Click to expand...

I have experienced an auto trans flush that destroyed two of my automatic transmissions, I was stupid enough to have it done a second time. Seems when they flush the trans a lot of the solvent stays in the trans causing the problem, so a flush isn't the same as a fluid change or it wasn't then anyways.
 
Just another dealer billfold vacuum! LOL. Another way the factory creates recommendations to make their dealerships MORE profitable. Bah Humbug.
 
IMG_8512.jpg

IMG_8513.jpg.

Good friend is a PPG paint rep.
He got me hooked on this product some time ago.
It is thick.
I set the container in a Coffee can with warm water for 15 minutes prior to use.
One small dab on a foam pad will cover an entire door.
Easy to polish off.
Dries clear, so material on edge of a panel or trim does dry with white residue.
 
Last edited:
I always told my techs to "treat every car that comes in like it's my mother's. She's an old lady and I don't need a call she's stranded. I also don't need you to beat me out of my inheritance (nursing home did that). I also told them if I catch you putting on parts that aren't needed, I'll help you load your toolbox. In any relationship the most important thing is trust. To lose it over a cabin filter or air filter is insane in my opinion. There were lots of people that thought like I did when I started (along with small town dealers). They are pretty well gone now.
 
Dealer kept bringing air filter at every oil change, I told it is supposed to be good for 50,000. At 165,000 never once did they ask me about my cabin air filter. They didn't know it had one. Fools. The top-notch team never noticed 1 of the 2-license plate lamps were out. I have had good luck with the McGuires if you choose the right one.
 
The little lady had a 2012 Kia Soul that was the great car except it was sensitive to air filters. The first couple of times the "Check Engine" light came on, I checked the code and found it was set for "Clogged Air" Filter". I Looked at the filter and could only see some slight discoloration of the media. I thought "What the hell" and put it back in. I reset the codes, and all was well. A couple of weeks later and the light comes on again. I checked the code and find it's clogged again, so I took it out and inspected it. This time, it was a good if not better that it looked the last time. I shrug my shoulders and put it back in. This time, no matter what I do, I can't get the light to go off, so I finally installed the new filter, and off we go.

This went on for the 12 years we had the car. The filter would go 3 to 12 months, and the light would come on. I'd pull the filter and usually it would be clean as a hound's tooth. Oh, once I found what looked like the wing of a house fly, another time, a chunk of a leaf about 1/4" square, but never anything that looked like a major obstruction. After about 4 years of this BS, I bought a case of filters on Amazon for less than $100. After that, all I needed was to indicate the half full case of filters and the Rapid Oil Change guys would take care of them, no problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top