Top Coat F11 vs. Chemical Guys vs. Torque Detail (2024)

Rank #1: Torque Detail - The BEST Top Coat F11 Alternative

What’s Good About It? The Pros:

  • Easiest to apply spray-on ceramic coating on the market.
  • Lasts up to one year.
  • Does not require any machines to apply.
  • Can extend the life of the coating using Turbo Waterless Detailer.
  • The bottle can last a long time. You only need a little.
  • Eco-friendly, water based ingredients

What’s Bad About It? The Cons:

  • More expensive per ounce, but to be fair a tiny spray of this product goes a long way.

Our final contender on the list is yours truly, Torque Detail, a family business in Tampa, Florida started in 2012 by Frank Mitchell, who’s a car enthusiast and former professional detailer. It has steadily grown since then and has a passionate fan base.

Using his experience and knowledge gained in the industry, Frank and his team entered the DIY ceramic coating space with Ceramic Spray—a trademarked formula that allows you to keep your car glossy and well-protected for up to one year.

Having already discussed the offerings of the competitors, here are the main reasons why this bad boy beats them hands down:

The basics: Ceramic Spray is a spray-on detailer that comes in an 8-ounce bottle and is packaged with a free microfiber pad for $39.95 (with a 15% discount if you’re a new buyer. How about that?). It contains specially formulated particles of silicon dioxide suspended in resin—a recipe that took three years to develop and perfect. Learn more about how ceramic coatings work in our Is Ceramic Coating Good For Your Car article.

Although the size of the container is half of that offered by TopCoat and Chemical Guys, the content is highly concentrated and only requires a tiny amount to achieve its effects. In fact, our motto is “less is more” when it comes to applying Torque Detail’s Ceramic Spray, and an entire panel can be covered with only a couple of sprays. Despite its smaller size, this bottle lasts the longest among the three.

Once applied properly, the liquid bonds to the car’s paint, giving you all the benefits of a traditional ceramic coating typically done inside an automobile body shop without breaking the bank.

The nitty-gritty: Applying Ceramic Spray is as easy as the other two products mentioned above, with the added benefit of requiring less effort. Simply spray a small amount of Ceramic Spray onto the car’s surface, work it in with a clean microfiber towel, and then buff it off. That’s it. The formula penetrates and creates a second-skin “coating” that not only brings out the natural color of the car but also gives it defense against the elements.

For best results, it’s always a good idea to first clean out any dust or debris before applying the Ceramic Spray, since a dirty car can interfere with the bonding properties of the resin. If you don’t want to use the garden hose and waste water, be sure to buy our waterless car wash instead!

Where we outshine the competition:

Entry Price: As mentioned in the previous sections, the main problem with F11 TopCoat is that it’s a little more expensive to start and requires a liberal amount of fluid to achieve its results. Torque Detail outshines the competition by having a $20 cheaper starting price and utilizing a concentrated formula that stretches out the lifespan of each bottle, allowing you multiple uses before needing to buy a replacement.

It's still the most expensive product per ounce, but considering you only have to use a tiny amount to get good results, it starts to make sense.

Furthermore, purchasing Ceramic Spray in bulk or in a larger container is heavily discounted, allowing you to save more money if you happen to detail a lot of vehicles or run a shop.

Simplicity: When it comes to Chemical Guys, you’re inundated by a barrage of sweet-sounding names that are frankly quite overwhelming for the average car owner. Just to list a few, they offer HydroSlick Intense Gloss, HydroCharge High-Gloss, HydroSuds High-Gloss, Carbon Flex C9, and Carbon Flex Vitalize. All of these products are shortened versions of their original names and fall into the general category of “Ceramic Coating.”

Would you rather buy ALL of these items after spending a huge amount of time researching what exactly it is that they do, or would you rather have just ONE product that acts as a multi-purpose sealant and polisher?

You can with Torque Detail’s Ceramic Spray.

Cut out the fluff and stick to the basics.

Longevity: Torque Detail’s Ceramic Spray lasts up to a year upon application, making it extremely resilient to UV rays, bug splatters, harmful chemicals, and bad weather. This is on par with the longevity that Chemical Guys flaunts, and significantly longer than the three-month period expected with F11 TopCoat.

Endurance is important, because this means you don’t have to keep reapplying the formula every couple of weeks. Obviously, the amount of abuse your car encounters on the road will be a major factor, but assuming the conditions are relatively consistent, Torque Detail’s Ceramic Spray only needs one pass to set you up for a beautiful ride from January to December.

Toxicity: The ingredients used in many of the products sold by Chemical Guys can be considered controversial. Torque Details’s are more eco-friendly.

Both F11 TopCoat and Torque Detail are quite health-friendly by comparison, avoiding anything that might potentially cause long-term damage to your body. This is especially important if you’re someone who has animals or children around. Pregnant women are the most susceptible to this danger, since frequent inhalation or contact with these items can cause birth defects.

Application: The three products use a fairly similar application process, but the difference is the pre-cleaning that’s needed. Chemical Guys requires the most prep out of all the competition, demanding not only a thorough car wash but also claying and machine polishing, while TopCoat necessitates the least, especially when you’re using their Spritz brand that can be applied anytime and anywhere.

Torque Detail strikes a fine balance between the two extremes. As long as the car is wiped down so that there aren’t any contaminants obstructing the surface, you can start the spraying and buffing. We stand by our claim that anyone can do ceramic coating in their own homes, and we’ve centered our design principles to make this a reality instead of just another unfounded theory.

Effects: We know it’s hard to proclaim something as the best, and we’d be lying if we said that Ceramic Spray is the only product out there that can give you all the advantages of a professional ceramic coating. Quite honestly, TopCoat and Chemical Guys are great companies, and they have a loyal customer base and solid history to prove it.

Where Torque Detail differs is not so much in the dedication but the results. We’ve listened to the most common complaints and needs of DIY auto detailers and examined what’s lacking in both F11 and HydroSlick in order to provide you with the top ceramic coating product on the market that fills in the gaps.

Everything you need is found in Ceramic Spray—the gloss, the protection, the hydrophobic properties, and the longevity—all for the price of two haircuts. It’s maximum quality at minimum cost, and given enough time, we hope this will become a permanent fixture in your car detailing arsenal.

Top Coat F11 vs. Chemical Guys vs. Torque Detail (2024)
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