(CLAY BAR DETAILING) Tips for Ceramic Coating Prep
It's challenging to keep your car's paint in great shape and it can get expensive to do so, however it's a worthwhile investment with regards to the overall look and appearance of your car. Numerous products have hit the market in recent decades that claim to be the very best and can keep the paint of your car or truck in tip-top shape.
Recently, ceramic coating has really grown in popularity. We are going to go over ceramic coatings and whether they are worth the the cost. It's not a secret that ceramic coatings have exploded in popularity in the last ten years, and they promise to offer some of the best paint protection you could apply to your car.
There are usually offers for it, from your neighborhood detailing store to car social media content creators, to pretty much everywhere else. Most detailers swear by it. People get turned off by the price the first time they look at it. Here's an easy breakdown of what ceramic coating is about. Ceramic coatings are also known as nano coatings, and so they contain silicon dioxide or silicon carbide.
Ceramic coatings comes in a liquid form so that it can be applied to a car or truck and fully protect surface of the vehicle.
After it has hardened, the silicon dioxide properties of the coating form an extra layer of protection that repels water and provides some protection from the sun's UV rays. For the longest time, wax ruled the car detailing and paint protection industries. What started out as using fats from animals in the late 1800s and early 1900s to give those old horse carriages a good spit shine, quickly and thankfully evolved into some more cruelty-free solutions using plant-based products. Different waxes were used for detailing cars in the 1900s to ensure they had that nice glamorous shine their owners desired.
If you wanted to keep your paint looking good, repel water and add just that good little bit of layer of protection, adding a good layer of wax was your solution.
One of 360 Products' (available at ADSO stores) products was developed with nano-ceramic technology in order to protect and enhance the paint finish of vehicles. Due to this, everything changed in a big way. But like, why?
How did this new product change the game? Why is a ceramic coating so expensive compared to car wax? What are the factors that distinguish ceramic coatings from car wax? The biggest difference between a wax and a ceramic coating is its longevity. A good wax will last anywhere between like three or six weeks, before you're gonna have to do a re-application. In contrast, ceramic coatings last for anywhere from two to five years depending on the application and the quality.
It's better to use ceramic coating because it protects against UV rays and other things that can damage your paint.
In general, it works excellently, and I don't have to sit here and tell you, you've seen mud fall off cars and trucks and then they can wash it out with a hose. In the end, though, sometimes people just like to over-hype things. It is quite common for those who promote ceramic coating to stretch the truth just a tad. I'm saying there are several myths out there about ceramic coatings.
In the first place, it does not eliminate water spots. I'm sorry, it's the truth, although it does help. With the hydrophobic properties that the ceramic coating has, it allows water and water droplets to run off the surface much, much easier, that's why you see it in the videos, which reduces the number of potential water spots. As a result of the hydrophobic properties of the ceramic coating, it allows water and droplets to run off easier, which explains why you see it in the videos. Furthermore, ceramic coatings do not provide adequate protection against rock chips and scratches.
While it might prevent light scratches here and there, I wouldn't consider it more than a 60-70% scratch proof solution. If you are looking for something like that, then probably you should consider having a protective film or a clear bra installed. Finally, it isn't as expensive as it seems.
It was pretty expensive when ceramic coating first came out, costing upwards of $1500 But now you can have your car professionally ceramic coated by the inventors of the stuff itself, for right around $700.
Many times, if you intend to have your car coated, you first need to have the paint of your car corrected (remove light scratches), which is where a lot of the extra cost comes from. Then you can do it yourself, learn the process, maybe mess it up once or twice.
Whenever a new technology like ceramic coating launches on the market, it will likely be quite expensive at first and then over time, the price will reduce, that's just how it works. However, a lot of the cost that is involved in getting your car ceramic coated is paying for that application process and paying someone to do it for you. It has to be worth it for you and your car.
A car's paintjob has a really nice look, so I would definitely advise you to protect it. You can ceramic coat your car for a couple hundred dollars. It is not only your car that can be coated. The ceramic coating of wheels, for instance, has become extremely popular. There's so much demand that we've started offering packages as an add-on when you check out. We'll ceramic coat them for you before you head out the door, and it makes cleaning so much easier.
We've also seen people get their seats and other interior parts ceramic coated, stuff that they don't want to have to worry about scrubbing off, and that makes cleaning so much easier.
If you think that's something worth it to you, then go for it. There are a bunch of people who swear by ceramic coating. Most of them here have it done to their vehicles because they love the results. All in all, it's gotta be worth it to you, it's gotta be worth it to be putting on your car or part of your car.
This is an investment, so it is best to protect it. If you've had ceramic coating applied to website your car, or wheels, or seats, please let us know how you liked it.