Waxing the 2023 Prius

I don’t know what sort of paint protection the 5th gen Prius ships with, but it was likely removed when the car was run through any sort of automated car wash (brush or brushless) due to the detergents used. Some of the newer ceramic coatings may survive the automated car wash, but I doubt that our Prius leaves the factory with ceramic coating.

If you want to add additional paint protection, then I believe it will be up to you to add any wax, sealant, and/or ceramic coating.

Because I have a definite lack of time to spend on auto detailing, my plan for my new 2024 Prius Prime SE is a combination of rinseless washing using Optimum No Rinse solution, Chemical Guys Glossworkz glaze to fill in swirls in lieu of polishing, and Optimum Optiseal layered over the glaze.

 

I'm planning to do a ceramic coat myself this spring. One afternoon, good wash (no polish, ive been touchless and ok with slight imperfections), ceramic coat myself. Then maintenance washes after that.

Edit: sorry a bit off topic - I don't think the car comes with any special protection. Bugs are hard to remove, they need special chemical solvents and agitation to remove.

The car probably has wax already, and some cars are more susceptible to showing swirls and marring sooner unless you're looking *super* close. So chances are there is some paint imperfection that a super serious detailer would notice from going through a touch carwash.

But as long as no one who went through the car wash had a bunch of thick dirt/grime/rock/gravel all over their car or embedded in the clear coat very recently before your wash - you won't notice anything like scratches on your new car. The clear coat is probably in the best condition it will ever be, at its maximum hardness with the least amount stripped away over time too. Which is why you won't notice major paint imperfections under normal circumstances.

If you have a black car, it becomes very obvious very quickly - even if you hand wash the car - when paint swirls and micro scratches happen. It's a lot harder to notice on light colours like white or silver, and also hard to notice on vibrant colours like yellow and red. It's the darker tones that show these things most easily under more light conditions. But if you took the car to a detailer and said you wanted it as perfect as possible they'd find a ton of flaws and say you need a cut/polish for a coating of sealant etc etc.

For the average person, we only notice these issues when they're REALLY bad too.

 

I believe this is generally on point. Like you mentioned, issues of swirls and marring are a lot more obvious on black cars. I’ll add to this that it’s also more readily observed on darker colored cars (blue, red) under certain conditions (e.g., when the car is in the sun).

How much this matters is entirely subjective. Some folks are ok running their cars through automated car washes and that’s entirely ok. Others want to do their own detailing to varying degrees of compulsion and that’s ok too.

It’s been several years since I regularly detailed my car, mostly because I sold off my last car (a 2011 Honda CRZ EX in north shore blue pearl) when my kiddo was born and have been living with one family car until recently (turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it’d be). A two seater with a manual transmission is not a kiddo-friendly car!

I’m looking forward to doing some level of my own auto detailing to my 2024 Prius Prime SE in supersonic red because I did enjoy it back then. With the kiddo getting a bit older and the fact that I have a house with a garage, I think I’ll be able to spend sometime detailing.

 

I too like detailing, have lots of stuff for it. With the new car I'm gonna probably do a good deep detail this spring. Like I said ceramic coat (shops wanted 1k minimum in winter without paint correction... Lol). Inside I'll use the UV protective sprays for trim and dash etc.

Once that's done, it's a daily driver. Aside from quick driveway washes, it's gonna be a while before the next interior clean.

I also have a newborn and a toddler so it's one good protective clean day, let it dry in my garage, then it barely gets touched until next year probably

 

Kddos have that tendency to push things back. Totally worth it, imho, but yea. Like you, I think auto-detailing will be much less frequent after this intitial round. One thing I am curious about is the exterior trim; this is the first time I’ve kept a car in the garage and my SE won’t be driven regularly on longer trips. I’m curious as to how long it will be before the black trim starts exhibiting fade. In the past, it was always a year or less (with cas that remained outside and were driven with some level of regularity).

Ceramic coatings weren’t a thing when I stepped away from auto-detailing. I haven’t read too much into them, but I imagine it’s similar to a sealant, but is applied and results in a thicker layer of protection. Is that about right?

 

They're not really thicker than a sealant, but they are harder/more resilient I guess? My understanding is that instead of something like carnauba wax, its a silicone infused product that similar to other sealants bonds to the clearcoat creating a semi-permanent wax sealant. They sell sealants with silicone in them, and they last 6 months. Then there are other products that can last years with correct application and regular silicone sealant toppers extend the life greatly by adding yet another layer of protection on top.

Basically a skin between the clearcoat and the outside world so won't help with scratches but is a sacrificial layer that requires less maintenance and reapplication than wax.

Hell, now they have ceramic coatings for interiors, fabric etc. But the fabric stuff from what I've gathered is a joke. Basically just slightly better but many times more expensive scotchguard

For the plastic trim: the ceramic coat stuff they sell out there much of it can be used on trim. And there are also trim specific products that have the same sort of longevity. Most of the quality ones, from what I've been able to research, all include some level of UV protection similar to good quality interior products. But since they're creating a sort of coating, they will be much more durable for exterior use.

Edit: as a follow up too - CQUARTZ DLUX Trim & Wheel Coating 30ml (Sky Kit) This is a trim restoration/coat product. It is intended for plastic trim so it supposedly bonds better to the plastic than the stuff made to bond to clear coat, and it has much higher silica content to do a better job and last longer given. It has a warning about using it on new cars though, because of off gassing from the plastic being a possible thing. It also has the same effect as other trim restoration stuff in that it will darken the plastic, so it will restore some colour after it begins to fade.

I also have some glass sealant from griots which I liked more than rain-x (since ceramic coatings for glass don't last due to the high friction they face), and I plan to apply that too.

But it having been so cold what with it being winter, none of these things will apply properly. Even my rinseless/waterless wash I got locally just to spot clean turns out to have some wax in it, and it was too cold to buff off properly. so when I used it to clean the rear window thanks to not having a wiper on the car in this gen, it left a residue that becomes extremely apparent as the sun sets and street lamps vs natural light start to enter into the equation.

I also have a "wear and tear" PPF kit on order from weathertech, cut to fit on the way. XPEL's website didnt work and as the CAD to USD got weaker plus shipping and expected duties, weathertech's PPF kit for door sills, edges, handle cups, bumper etc. was way cheaper. The weathertech kit also includes PPF for the headlamps to reduce UV damage to those and the whole thing was almost the same price as *just* the bumper applique from Toyota in CAD.

Similar to the other products though - cold metal won't let the adhesive activate. The car is expensive enough I want to take some precautions but not so expensive that it's worth it to spend thousands on thousands on professional applications nor on full front end clear bra appliques. Maybe when the car is paid off. I would like to avoid rock chips on the hood and bumper of course, but like, its a daily driver and I can't justify the almost 4 car payments cost to full cover the hood and bumper. Just under 2500CAD to avoid using a touch up pen is a hard sell when you owe 30k to Toyota for the car after all. All the PPF and coatings DIY is less than 400$ at the end of the day which is much more reasonable to me. Hopefully the car never sees a major accident and we can get it to 20 years of age just like our Matrix. It will be my kid's car if we can be so lucky

 

I did a ceramic coating and PPF first thing. Paid a shop

 

Today was a relatively warm (-47F and sunny) day, so I spent several hours detailing my 2024 Prius Prime SE. The detail included a rinseless wash, application of Chemical Guys Glossworkz glaze, and a final topping off using Optimim Opti-Seal.

All things considered, I think it went pretty well. I’ve never used Glossworkz or Opti-seal before, but both turned out to be rather user-friendly products. I’m not entirely sure the glaze was worth the time, but I’m willing to defer judgement until I have a little more experience with it.

 

Both together would have been right around 2800 after taxes.

That's 10% of the car loan I took at 7.3% from TFS.

If I pay the car off in 36 months vs 5 years that represents nearly 3500 amortized through the opportunity cost.

Not worth it for me.

 

Cost me $1800, I offered cash. Worth every penny. I didn't finance the car

 

Cripes, just get a bottle of car wax?

 

Time and money is definitely another subjective aspect of auto-detailing. One person’s preference may not be another person’s preference and that’s ok.

For example, I’m looking forward to the hours I’ll spend detailing my Prius. But I know others aren’t of the same mind set for various reasons. Different folk, different values, and different decisions.

As another example, I really like the smooth/slick appearance of a maintained car surface. PPFs take away from that since there’s always some kind of texture due to the film, imho. So PPFs aren’t my cup of tea, but other people I know are big fans of it.

 

5 year warranty on the ceramic coating. Time and money waxing every week or 2 adds up fast.
I just rinse off and it looks like it was just waxed.

 

Very true, my time is better spent doing other things other than waxing. My PPF is undetectable and no texture.
Maybe it's a you get what you pay for kinda thing.

I live in the Colorado mtns and we go thru many seasons, mud season being a couple time a year.
With my ceramic coating I just rinse off and it looks like it was just waxed. YMMV

 

What’s it warrantied against? Not being a smart mouth, just a legitimate question. Waxes, sealants, and even ceramic coatings all function as sacrificial layers for a car’s paint (or other parts, like, trim). By design, they all wear off over time; it’s just a matter of when. Even the when is dependent on a lot of environmental factors and car maintenance decisions.

 

If within the 5 yrs the coating wears off they'll reapply. I have yet to see that happen with a quality application.

 

You usually have a laundry list if things to maintain it, and a lot of places need semi regular maintenance on their end, or ceramic topper sealants all the same. So you may not need to wax it, but when you do your maintenance washes, if you want it to last 5 years or longer you need to use specific kinds of sealants all the same.

The carpro uk3.0 cquartz was $80 for a kit DIY in cad.

Way cheaper. So I'm happy to apply the coat myself

 

I was thinking once a year, lol. Been using this:

Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0

Our '10 still looks like new.

 

To be fair these ceramic coats make it so that the car basically washes itself with minimal effort. It's like wax on steroids.

A pressure washer will take almost anything off immediately, and you can touchless wash it in your driveway in 5 minutes if you want a quick wash.

You still need a proper wash every so often, of course, but they're cool products.

The PPF stuff, is mostly to avoid scratches and rock chips.

I ordered a DIY kit from weathertech for high wear and tear areas like the rear bumper guard, door sills where boots and shoes can scratch, door cups where rings can scratch, etc.

I accept that my plastic bumper and hood will inevitably need a colour pen for small chips. It's still ultimately an Econo car daily driver. I just want to make washing it easier and prevent UV damage/clear coat failure 10 years from now.

3k too rich. 600$ for everything (a pressure washer to avoid the auto wash, some car soap and towels, and the coating I can DIY, interior cleaning products and Scotchgard) way better use of my money. Plus I like doing it myself. The same way I really love moisturizing, cleaning and polishing my nice dress/work shoes too