A well-kept, attractive-looking car reflects well on its owner. The car may not be the newest, but its body paint, kept in excellent condition, is admirable and even takes a few years off, which in turn translates into an increase in the car's value when sold. How to keep your car in good shape despite everyday use? Discover the advantages of ceramic coating.
What is ceramic coating?
Until recently, the best, commonly used way to protect car paint was waxing. Ceramic coating, previously associated with high costs, was not as popular as it is now. Nowadays, ceramic coating is within the reach of almost every car owner and does not indicate luxury, but a sign of high care for your vehicle. So what is a ceramic coating?
Ceramic coating is a special liquid preparation that is dispensed after paint preparation, i.e. two-stage paint correction, then spread over the body surface and polished after drying. The ceramic coating uses a nanotechnological combination of silicon oxide and titanium oxide, enriched with additional ingredients: solvent, carrier, and sometimes also Teflon.
How does a ceramic coating affect the car's paint?
New regulations regulating the chemical composition of car paints have withdrawn lead and toluene from production, considering them particularly harmful to health. This caused car paints to become much weaker and more susceptible to damage resulting from normal car use.
The ceramic coating combines with the clear coat, protects it and makes it more resistant to everyday damage. Perfectly protects the paint surface against the effects of rain and snow, frost and sunlight. Thanks to the ceramic coating, water does not retain, but quickly flows off the paint, leaving it almost dry. Moreover, the ceramic coating deepens the color of the paint and gives it shine.
It also provides a layer of protection against mechanical damage caused by sand or small stones hitting the wheels of another car, abrasions caused by small twigs broken by the wind, or traces of claws of birds or cats that sometimes warm themselves on the hood of the car. If scratched, the scratch does not damage the clear varnish, but stops on the ceramic coating.
When applied to the factory paint, the ceramic coating crystallizes and forms a layer. Therefore, it provides excellent protection against discoloration caused by resin or tree sap, bird droppings, insect traces or asphalt tar stains.
What is the purpose of applying a ceramic coating?
The ceramic coating is intended to strengthen the outer protective coating of the car, i.e. the clear coat, which, after a primer that smoothes out unevenness of the sheet metal and a layer of colored base coat, constitutes the last, top layer of paint. The ceramic coating is therefore intended to protect:
clear varnish, most susceptible to damage - against matting, peeling, color fading, pitting after acid rain or bird droppings, against the formation of holograms (suns, spiders) and light scratches,
base varnish – against deeper scratches and chips,
primer – against corrosion.
What are the effects of applying a ceramic coating?
The effect of protecting the car's paint with a ceramic coating is to create an excellent protective layer for the bodywork. Advantages of ceramic coating:
protects the paint against the effects of atmospheric, chemical and mechanical factors
protects the actual paint against chips and scratches
protects the color of the car and even revives it
protects the paint against pitting and corrosion
prevents water, dirt and dust from getting into the base coat
protects body elements that are particularly susceptible to corrosion, such as sills, the lower part of the doors, and roof elements
refreshes the appearance of matte varnish
does not affect the result of testing with a paint thickness meter (it is several microns thick)
a well-kept bodywork increases the value of the car
How long does a ceramic coating protect a car's paint?
The ceramic coating provides up to 7 years of paint protection. Please remember that this protective layer should be maintained on average every 3-6 months.
Cars protected with a ceramic coating are best washed by hand or touchless. Dirt remaining on the brushes in automatic car washes may damage and scratch the paint and ceramic layer.
The ceramic coating effectively replaces wax, so there is no need to additionally wax the car body. It can also be used to protect rims, plastic elements and even rubber.
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