DIY Ceramic Coating - Avoid My Mistake

I decided to try ceramic coating my new Tesla Model 3 myself.  I investigated various choices for DIY ceramic coating and decided to try Feynlab's Ceramic Lite.  It didn't sound like a very complicated process.  And I like to think that I'm a do-it-yourself kind of guy.  

Despite my best efforts to educate myself on the process, it took a few tries before I was successful.  Hopefully by describing all of the pitfalls I encountered, I can prevent you from having to go through the same issues.

My Failed Attempt

I prepared my car.  I washed it with Dawn to remove any wax and oils.  Followed that with a clay bar.  Wiped each panel with a diluted isopropyl alcohol solution.  Then I was ready for the ceramic.

I wiped it on as directed, using a cross-hatch pattern on each panel.  I wiped it off the same way, using a microfiber towel.  I had plenty of light in my garage, and all seemed to go well.

The next morning I pulled the car out of the garage, and I was heartbroken by what I saw.  Light and dark streaks, all over the car.  I thought I had ruined my new car!  I was relieved when I determined that I could remove the ceramic coating by polishing again.  So I polished off all of the coating and determined to try again.

So, What Went Wrong?

The problem was simply that I did not effectively wipe off the extra ceramic coating.  The streaks that I was seeing were due to having places where it had built-up and was too thick.  The problem was the lighting.  I thought that having plenty of bright light on the areas I was working would be the best way to work.  But that was the problem.  These streaks weren't visible at all in bright light.

Final Results: Awesome!

After determining the issue, I solved it by waiting for an overcast day to put on the ceramic coating.  I did much of the application inside my garage still, but this time I pulled the car outside when it came time to wipe off the extra.  Now I could see all of the areas where the product was too thick, and got them taken care of.  The finish now looks perfect, and the car feels incredibly smooth.  I'm happy with the results, and feel really good about recommending Feynlab Ceramic Lite to others.

My Advice To Others

There are plenty of videos and posts describing the basics of the process.  Here is some additional advice that I was not able to find elsewhere.  This knowledge was gained the hard way, and hopefully this list will prevent you from running into similar issues.

1. Perform the wipe-off step outside.  I simply could not figure out a way to replicate the behavior of natural lighting inside my garage.  I could get *close* by shining a bright flashlight at an adjacent wall or the garage door, and looking at its reflection in the body panels of the car, but it didn't work nearly as well.  Unfortunately, this limits my attempts at ceramic coating to days that have moderate temperatures, no precipitation, and mostly overcast, but it was the only easy way to determine when I had completely wiped off the excess product.
2. Polish is the undo button.  Given all the talk about how ceramic coating is more permanent than waxing, I was worried about how I would ever fix things when I had an issue.  But the ceramic coating is *really* thin, and a light polishing takes if off extremely easily.  So don't be too worried about messing something up.
3. Throw away the application towels when done.  I put the microfiber towel in the clothes washer in a load with all of my other microfiber towels.  It came out just fine, but our washer smelled like the ceramic coating for a week afterwards.  My wife was not happy.  Better to just throw away the towels you use for this process.