Car Maintenance: The Importance of Ceramic Coatings

Regular car maintenance isn’t just about timely oil and coolant changes, or swapping out tyres. Vehicles that see regular use collect road debris, dust, and mud and are subjected to severe weather conditions. They also endure their fair share of wear affecting the overall condition and look of the vehicle. Flaking paint and rust may seem minor problems, but left unattended can lead to serious issues, with a fat repair bill to boot.

To keep your car in pristine condition, consider the benefits of frequent detailing. This digs deep to eliminate ingrained dust, debris, and hidden contaminants and goes beyond a surface wash. It also patches up scratches, scuffs and dents. Moreover, specially-formulated products like protective car ceramic coating, add a layer after all grime has been removed to get the car to a near-showroom look.

Car Coating Basics

Compared to traditional protective layers like wax and polish, car coating offers longer-lasting protection by chemically bonding to the paintwork. At its core, ceramic coating is a polymer-based liquid applied to the car’s exterior to shield it against UV rays, limescale, bad weather, and other external factors. Its protective qualities depend on the concentration of naturally occurring silicon dioxides and additives, how long the coating is cured, and how it’s applied.

Benefits of Ceramic Coatings

• Corrosion resistance – acid rain, bird droppings, road spray and other factors lead to gradual corrosion and rust buildup. The high corrosion resistance ensures your car stays in top condition by creating a barrier between the paint and the elements.
• Longevity – applied correctly and in the right amount, ceramic coatings can last for years, far more than waxes and polishes. This means less maintenance, less detailing and lower costs.
• Improved aesthetics – with a glossy and hydrophobic surface, water, dust and grime roll right off. Your car gets a consistently clean and polished look year-round.
• UV protection – prevent fading and oxidation in cars left out in the sun. The strong protective layer also helps with common roadside chemicals like oil, grease, coolant and fuel.
• Self-healing – look for professional-grade coatings that additionally have self-healing properties by helping repair damage from scratches and scuffs from branches, gravel and other obstacles.

While not a permanent solution, car paint protection helps with resale values. To boot it’s also more eco-friendly than common waxes and sealants, with fewer chemicals and lower detailing frequency causing less waste. If you can get over the minor quibbles of the initial cost and the need for professional application, this is the easy solution to getting your car looking as new.

How It’s Applied

The best results are ceramic coats applied by pros. While there are diluted products sold for DIY use, part of the lasting protection is in the detail and know-how of quality and highly concentrated coats applied after in-depth detailing. This encompasses several steps to get the shine your car deserves:

1. Surface prep – to ensure effectiveness and that the coating penetrates and bonds with the paint, pros start with a deep clean using automotive shampoo. This breaks up ingrained dirt and contaminants. Vehicles are then dried to remove water and air pockets.
2. Paint protection – this step involves polish and wax that tend to minor scratches and scuffing and abrasives that help get out rust. Polish and wax are applied either by hand with applicator pads or polishing machines to speed things up.
3. Coat application – car ceramic coating is fed through an applicator in smooth overlapping lines to cover all the bodywork.
4. Curing – this is where the liquid coating hardens and bonds with the car paint. Most pro-grade coats take 48 hours to solidify. The process is done indoors to prevent direct exposure to sunlight and with infrared lamps at 60 degrees.

Coating Differences

Professional ceramic coating services offer different products within different budgets. Basic protective layers with lower hardness and corrosion resistance are rated to last for 12 months, but miss out on the protective electrostatic barriers and self-healing properties of more concentrated coats higher up the range.

Here there are two options. Pro-grade coats provide better protection with higher hardness levels and rust resistance, while also helping the paint heal against scratches and scuffs. This can last up to three years with little or no maintenance. The coat also stays on in pressure washing.

For the best results, though, opt for proprietary coats. These add electrostatic protection, fend off more contaminants, and provide better UV protection. They’re also rated to last five years. While car owners do pay for the added benefits, fewer visits to the detailers can yield untenable savings in time and money.

Summing Up

While it’s up to car owners whether or not to coat their cars, ceramic coating is an effective and hassle-free solution that protects vehicles from the harmful effects of UV rays, water, road debris and rust. The short application process brings back value to your car, adds sheen, cuts down maintenance and cleaning schedules, and most importantly gets you a car that you’ll enjoy driving.