Bad luck with cerakote trim coating

Hi all,

Just picked up a 2018 and the paint is hammered, been working on correcting it while I can and it's coming out great.

Saw a box of cerakote trim coat at Walmart the other day so I picked it up and that afternoon I applied it to the bed caps and plastic on tailgate and rear bumper.

It looked great while I applied it but when I woke up the next morning it looked like crap. White and even almost gray in spots.

Called cerakote and they suggested me to email them. They responded the next morning and told me it's most likely because my vehicle is to new and the plastic is outgassing. They stated it can take up to 9 years before the plastic is okay to be coated with cerakote.

Has anyone else had this issue? Their remedy was to take non acetone nail polish remover and magic erasers and remove the coating. It is working but it's a very slow tedious process.

Here's a couple of pictures of what it looked like the next day after coating.

 

Odd. My plastics on my 08 may be a good candidate for this then? I used their headlight restoration kit and let me tell you….the only one I’ve ever used that actually works. True ceramic clear is holding up great! Bummer this was the result on your plastics

 

Yeah the super sucky part was my plastics were in really good shape and not faded at all. I just wanted to do the cerakote to protect it and keep them looking good lol

 

Does it state that info on the Cerakote box? If not, I would further pursue the matter with them.

 

No it doesn't. Or at least not anywhere I can find it. Not on their website either.

I did contact them, they told me to remove it with nail polish remover and a magic eraser lol

 

i used it on my 2017 a year or so ago and didn't have near an experience like this. it almost seems like you may not have used enough wipes (like you tried to make one wipe go as far as possible), or it had something on it that was oil based that didn't allow the cerakote to penetrate into the plastic. Hopefully i'm wrong about this. But myself as well as a few others have all used this successfully. as Jason @War Machine can say....it doesn't do well with water.
can you explain your process, show what package you had gotten/used, and what prep was done before applying it?
it sucks regardless and i hope you get it fixed. i just applied it to my new sequoia trim recently without any issues on that either.

 

Same here. I used it on my 2017 Tundra, 2019 Sequoia, 2011 Tundra, and 2021 Tundra with absolutely no issues, so them saying it was too new is BS.

Only twice have I had a problem:
1) On the nerf bars of my 17 when water dripped on it before it cured.
2) On the Bakflip cover I did last year, where I tried to spread the wipes too thin.

Both of those were my error. Other than those two times, it’s been an excellent product that worked perfectly.

Your pics are similar to how my Bakflip turned out. Could it be that you tried to do too much with too few wipes like I did? Could also be that the plastic wasn’t clean enough. A description of your process would be helpful like Andy said.
Regardless, I know how hard that stuff is to correct. It’s an outstanding product when used perfectly, you have to be very careful with it though.

 

Thanks guys, i am not 100% sure it wasn't my fault.

I tried to use as many wipes as i needed, in other words i didnt try to stretch it out if that makes sense

My process was as follows

full wash/clay/paint correction on bed sides/tailgate previous to the coating
Mask off fenders then clean plastic with simple green and a brush
wipe down with clean microfiber towels
Applied the cerakote

The other thing im thinking it might have been, is that night there was quite a bit of dew that settled. So maybe the moisture got into the coating while it was drying?

Regardless its a pain in the butt to remove, but i dont think ill try it again just in case

 

9 years before using cerakote on your plastic bumpers ? sounds dumb to me from cerakote.
shouldnt be rocket science to apply.
I like 303 for the plastic

 

The pics make it look like water being present is a strong possibility. didn't realize you left it outside over night.

in terms of repair....try a heat gun in an inconspicuous area. i've seen people bring theirs back to life by doing that. might be something to consider since it's eating your lunch to repair.

 

that's a good idea ill give it a shot, ive been using the nail polish remover and mr clean bars but that's not really working into the texturing.

Im thinking about trying to re-coat a small section and see if it brings the black to the texturing. If it does i might try to re-coat everything.

the plastic on the bumper did come out good, but the bed rail caps are a pain in the butt

 

In my experience adding another coat of it to a bad area doesn’t really help. It’s what I did on my Bakflip. It made it slightly less noticeable, but a year later all the streaks are still there.

@Fotnot suggestion of a heat gun might work. I’ve used one very sparingly on faded trim. It will bring faded plastic to black, but doing it too much can make it brittle since it’s drawing the oils up from inside the plastic. No idea if it would help in your case, but in theory it makes sense. Just don’t go overboard with it.

 

two main things can cause issues with Cerakote. Water- the area not being fully dry when it is applied and any residue from topical products like plastics dressing, wax, sealants, etc. I have had great luck using it but you must ensure the area you are coting is super clean and dry. Dawn dish soap helps remove any residue from topicals like armor all or auto wax and other dressings/coatings.

 

Starbrite marine protectant will give you great UV protection. Needs more frequent application though.

 

Yes, I've had similar results on some parts of the truck. The tailgate handle and the plastic cover below the windshield both look awful. I have reapplied it to the windshield trim with no improvement so I'll eventually replace that piece I guess. I'll give the tailgate handle another shot before admitting defeat there. The bedrails look amazing. I tried it on the rubber strips on the roof and while they look like new, once I get up close there are a lot of tiny cracks.

I had the truck ceramic coated a year or two before using the Cerakote. I don't know if they did a bad job, if I believed too many claims about ceramic or if my expectations are too high. The coating lasted roughly 18 months with my caring for it as required. It's been a bit over 3 years and I'm going in this week to see how the shop wants to handle it. The warranty is 5 years. Between you and I, I just don't have the energy to fight with them. I digress. My point was that I have no idea if the ceramic coating any anything to do with the Cerakote not working out.