What Is A Ceramic Coating?

Here’s the scoop… There are consumer grade coatings and professional grade coatings. There are even coatings that dare to name themselves things like “Bulletproof” and send a very confusing message to consumers. We hope to clear up most of the confusion with this blog post…

     To give you an idea of what a ceramic coating is and what it’s designed to do, let’s imagine a simple illustration… You are assigned a simple task of to cooking some eggs that won’t stick in your pan. To keep the pan lubricated, you melt some butter in a warm pan, ensuring your eggs don’t stick. Today, we have non stick pans to make it much even easier. Now imagine a nonstick coating applied to your car designed to keep the surface so slick it literally lasts for years too! This is essentially what a ceramic coating is. 

     A ceramic coating is a super strong and thick layer of added protection installed direct to the clear coat of your car. An authentic ceramic coating will have some self cleaning abilities built it. Now what does that even mean exactly? Well, the ceramic coating creates a super slick surface on your paint. This in turn causes water to have a dramatic contact angle and bead very well. This action lends itself to helping keep the surfaces clean. It allows something like simple rainfall to rinse off a majority of dirt from the coated surfaces. This by no means is maintenance though. Ceramic coatings still need regular washes and upkeep. 

      Let’s talk about our favorite feature of a coating, the gloss factor! Any reputable detailer is going to do a paint enhancement or paint correction with the installation of your coating. This service lends itself greatly to increasing the gloss factor by reducing the damage in the clear coat paint. It is all about reflecting and refracting light. If the surface has a lot of damage then it will not have depth in gloss because the light is reflecting rather than enriching the paint. If the surface is smooth and damage free it will have a deep gloss factor because the spectrum is being absorbed creating depth. The ceramic coating installation further enhances this depth in gloss and adds years of added protection too! You simply cannot beat the depth in gloss of a true professional grade ceramic coating. 

      The reason everyone should be getting on the coating band wagon is the ease of cleaning. We all know that anything you want to keep nice has to be maintained or cleaned on a regular basis. We have dispelled the myth that coatings clean themselves. While they stay cleaner longer, due to their self cleaning abilities, it would be a lie to say that you do not have to maintain them. The coating creates a super slick surface that debris will struggle to adhere to. Cleaning times get cut in half because of this super slick surface. It makes washes so much easier and drying becomes a lot easier as well because the water doesn’t WANT to stick to the surface due to reduced surface tension. 

      Our least favorite part of a coating to discuss is its hardness. Most coatings have a hardness rating. This hardness rating is widely based on the pencil hardness scale. Some coatings claim to be 7H all the way up to 10H in hardness. Please note, you should never believe a coating cannot be scratched or provides a scratch-proof layer of protection on your paint. The coating is to be treated as a sacrificial layer added to your paint. If a mishap happens, it is more likely that it can be fixed if you have your vehicle coated. Nothing can make scratches and damage stop happening. It is a part of everyday life to expect things will wear over time. The coating provides a hardened layer of sacrificial protection should a minor mishap happen. They are not rock chip proof, scratch proof or any of the like. They simply are a better layer of protection for all the above reasons. If you are strictly looking for scratch protection or rock ship protection it would make more sense to look into something like PPF.

      In finality, there are several reputable coating brands out there like IGL, Gtechniq, System X and Opti to name a few. Each coating has a different formulation and provides different features and benefits to the client. Some coatings offer better protection from bird poop etching than others. There is always a give and take though. One benefit may sacrifice another benefit. The best suggestion I can make to anyone wanting to purchase a professional grade coating is to do your research on the installer. That is where the true expertise comes into play. The prep work greatly changes the way the coating will perform. If the prep work is poor, the coating will be poor. So, this truly is a matter of finding the right installer and not necessarily about finding the right coating. When it comes to our coatings, we back everything personally. We take pride in every installation here at Dr. Auto Spa. 

      Feel free to reach out anytime with any questions you may have. You do not have to be in our state to receive our advice. We are connected globally to a network of installers through our training services that we provide for other detailers. We can always get you in touch with someone you can trust! 

Thanks for reading, 

Doc Aaron D. Taylor