Ceramic Coatings and Protection
CarPro CQUARTZ UK 3.0 vs Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light
Two coatings with similar reputations and completely different disclosure. One of them we could document from the manufacturer; the other we could not reach at all.
By Sawyer V. · Last verified 2026-09-08
We have not tested any of this. Everything below is compiled from published manufacturer specifications, and the arithmetic is printed so you can check it. This page carries affiliate links: if you buy through one we earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it does not change the order of the picks. Full disclosure.
| # | Pick | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CarPro CQUARTZ UK 3.0 CarPro | The only coating here that publishes its SiO2 percentage | 6.1/10 | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 | Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light Gtechniq | The enthusiast rung of a professional coating line | 1.6/10 | Check price on Amazon |
No live price is currently verified, so every button here reads Check price rather than a number we cannot stand behind. Why we do it that way.
A comparison with a hole in it, stated up front
This site’s method is to compile published manufacturer figures and cite the document each one came from. On 8 September 2026, every attempt to retrieve a Gtechniq product page returned a Cloudflare bot challenge rather than content. That is not an accusation of anything — a great many sites do this — but it means the honest version of this comparison is not symmetrical, and pretending otherwise would be exactly the failure this site exists to avoid.
What could be verified is the authorized-retailer listing for the Crystal Serum Light kit: $117.00 for a 30ml kit, $175.50 for 50ml, including a 500ml Panel Wipe and EXOv5. Kit contents and price, verified. Durability, hardness, coverage and cure time, not verified, and therefore not printed as though they were.
| CarPro CQUARTZ UK 3.0 | Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light | |
|---|---|---|
| Kit price | $59.99 (30ml kit) | $117.00 (30ml kit) |
| Claimed durability | 2 to 5 years | Not verified |
| Published SiO2 | 70% at 99.9% purity | Not verified |
| Consumption | 10ml per coat | Not verified |
| Application temperature | 40F to 90F | Not verified |
| Kit contents | Bottle, 4 suede applicators, block, leveling towel | 500ml Panel Wipe, coating, EXOv5 topper |
| Source | Manufacturer's own listing | Authorized retailer; manufacturer site unreachable |
The panel wipe is the most sensible thing here
Whatever the missing figures say, the Crystal Serum Light kit gets one thing conspicuously right: it includes 500ml of Panel Wipe. Panel wiping removes polishing oils so the coating bonds to clear coat rather than to residue, and it is the single most commonly skipped step in a DIY coating job. Selling the coating with the prep chemical is a design decision that prevents a whole class of failure.
The kit also includes EXOv5, a topper meant to sit over the base coating. That is a two-product system, and it means the $117.00 is not directly comparable to CarPro’s $59.99 — you are buying the maintenance layer at the same time. Whether that is good value depends on whether you would have bought a topper anyway, and most coating owners do.
How to decide, given the asymmetry
- If published figures matter to you as a buyer, CQUARTZ UK 3.0 is the only one of the two you can evaluate before spending money.
- If you want a complete system with the prep and the topper in one box, the CSL kit is well assembled and priced accordingly.
- If you are new to coatings, the panel wipe being included is worth more than any durability number, because prep failure is the most common failure.
- If you are choosing on reputation rather than on documentation, both have strong ones, and that is a legitimate way to buy — just be clear that is what you are doing.
What matters more than either choice
Both are real coatings that demand real preparation. Decontaminate chemically with an iron remover, mechanically with clay, correct if the paint needs it, then panel-wipe. Skip any of those and the coating you chose stops mattering. The full sequence is in chemical decontamination explained.
Every pick, with the working
Each entry lists the specifications the maker publishes, the axis scores those specifications produce, and what you give up. Rows that read “Not published” are not omissions on our side: they are figures the maker will not commit to in writing, and they cost the product points on the transparency axis.
Our pickThe only coating here that publishes its SiO2 percentage
CarPro CQUARTZ UK 3.0
CarPro
CarPro publishes 70% SiO2 at 99.9% purity, a 2 to 5 year durability range, a 10ml-per-coat consumption figure and a 40F to 90F application window. That is four hard numbers on one page, and it is four more than most of this category manages. Buy it because it is checkable, not because 70% is magic.
- Sizes
- 10ml / 30ml / 50ml / 100ml
- SiO2 content
- 70% SiO2, 99.9% purity
- Claimed durability
- 2 to 5 years
- Published consumption
- 10ml per coat
- Application temperature
- 40F to 90F
- In the box
- 30ml bottle, 4 suede applicators, block, leveling towel
- Cure time
- Not published
- Warranty
- Not published
What it does well
- 70% SiO2 at 99.9% purity, published by CarPro on the product page
- Application window published as 40F to 90F, which is the figure that decides whether your garage works in November
- 10ml per coat published, so a 30ml bottle is roughly three coats and the arithmetic is yours to do
- Kit includes suede applicators, a block and a leveling towel rather than just the bottle
Who it is not for
- The durability claim is a three-year-wide range, which is a wide range to plan around
- No cure-time figure published beyond the 2-5 minute buffing window
- Leveling is unforgiving compared with a spray coating; this is not the coating to learn on
How this score was calculated
- Protection claim4.0/10, weight 20%
- CarPro claims 24 months, scored against the 60-month ceiling this category tops out at. That is the manufacturer's claim reported here, not a durability figure anyone measured for us.
- Published SiO2 content8.3/10, weight 22%
- 70%, scored on a band running from 20 to 80. Published by CarPro.
- Cost per ounce4.4/10, weight 16%
- $59.99 for 1.01 oz works out at $59.40 an ounce, scored against a band of $20.00 (good) to $90.00 (expensive) for a ceramic coating.
- Price against the ceiling6.0/10, weight 14%
- A listed $59.99 against the $150 one upgrade in this category realistically tops out at. A list price captured on the compile date, not a live price and not what you will pay.
- Written commitmentdropped
- CarPro publishes no warranty term on this product's own page, so the axis is dropped. On a tool that is worth noticing, and it costs the product points on transparency instead.
- Spec transparency7.5/10, weight 18%
- 6 of the 8 specifications we went looking for are published by CarPro. Every blank row below is something the maker will not put in writing, and it costs the product points here.
List price $59.99 per CarPro's US store, 30ml kit, captured on the compile date below. Not a live price and not what you will pay — the button is where the real number is.
Specifications from CarPro's CQUARTZ UK 3.0 listing, compiled September 8, 2026.
2The enthusiast rung of a professional coating line
Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light
Gtechniq
Crystal Serum Light is the consumer-applicable version of Gtechniq's professional serum, sold here in a kit with Panel Wipe and EXOv5 at $117 for 30ml. We could not retrieve Gtechniq's own product page to verify a durability figure, so this record carries none; what is verifiable is the kit contents and the price at an authorized retailer.
- Sizes
- 30ml / 50ml (as a kit)
- In the box
- 500ml Panel Wipe, 30ml or 50ml CSL, EXOv5
- Claimed durability
- Not published
- Claimed hardness
- Not published
- Published coverage
- Not published
- Cure time
- Not published
- SiO2 content
- Not published
- Warranty
- Not published
What it does well
- Sold as a prep-plus-coat-plus-topper system rather than a bare bottle, which is how a coating actually gets applied
- 500ml Panel Wipe included, and prep is the step people skip
- 30ml and 50ml options at a published price from an authorized retailer
Who it is not for
- Gtechniq's own site returns a bot challenge, so no manufacturer durability, hardness or coverage figure could be verified for this record
- The kit price is high for 30ml once you account for the fact that EXO is a separate product doing separate work
- Nothing about the retailer listing tells you how many cars 30ml covers
How this score was calculated
- Protection claimdropped
- Gtechniq publishes no durability figure for this product, so the axis is dropped rather than guessed at.
- Capabilitydropped
- Gtechniq does not publish a figure for published sio2 content on this product, so the axis is dropped and the remaining weights are re-normalized.
- Cost per ounce0.0/10, weight 16%
- $117.00 for 1.01 oz works out at $115.84 an ounce, scored against a band of $20.00 (good) to $90.00 (expensive) for a ceramic coating.
- Price against the ceiling2.2/10, weight 14%
- A listed $117.00 against the $150 one upgrade in this category realistically tops out at. A list price captured on the compile date, not a live price and not what you will pay.
- Written commitmentdropped
- Gtechniq publishes no warranty term on this product's own page, so the axis is dropped. On a tool that is worth noticing, and it costs the product points on transparency instead.
- Spec transparency2.5/10, weight 18%
- 2 of the 8 specifications we went looking for are published by Gtechniq. Every blank row below is something the maker will not put in writing, and it costs the product points here.
List price $117.00 per The Rag Company, 30ml kit, captured on the compile date below. Not a live price and not what you will pay — the button is where the real number is.
Specifications from The Rag Company's CSL kit listing (authorized Gtechniq retailer), compiled September 8, 2026.
No live price is currently verified, so every button here reads Check price rather than a number we cannot stand behind. Why we do it that way.
Questions people actually ask
+Is Crystal Serum Light a professional-only product?
+Why do you not list Crystal Serum Light's durability?
+Is EXO worth adding over the base coating?
+Which is easier to apply?
Where these figures came from
- CarPro, CQUARTZ UK 3.0 product listing — retrieved 2026-09-08
- The Rag Company, Gtechniq CSL kit listing (authorized retailer) — retrieved 2026-09-08
Every figure on this page is a published manufacturer or authorized-retailer claim, not a measurement we made. How we research explains exactly what we did and did not do.