Ceramic Coatings

Advances in nanotechnology have made ceramic coatings the hottest category in the world of automotive detailing. There are a lot of marketing claims being made by purveyors of ceramic coatings and consumers should do their research, ask a lot of questions and proceed cautiously.
Quality ceramic coatings leave a very slick finish making it difficult for dirt, dust and debris to stick to the clear coat. If you use proper washing techniques these particles will be easily removed with much less chance of creating fine scratches and swirls in your paint. Automated car washes will create swirl marks on coatings and hand washing with a wash mitt that is not carefully cleaned will create swirls on a coated vehicle.
Coatings do offer a lot of advantages to people that don’t want to regularly wash, polish and apply sealants or waxes to their vehicle. Today’s coatings are better than ever and they provide a long lasting glassy appearance that I describe as looking like wet rock candy. Coatings provide excellent protection from low and high temperatures and they protect the top layer of clear coat from both acid and alkaline chemicals. Northern Nevada climate is tough on vehicles that spend a lot of time outside. Ceramic Coatings offer the best protection against damage from ultraviolet rays and the resulting oxidation that can fade and dull your paint.
In short, coatings do have a lot to offer but they are not the best solution for every type of owner. Ceramic coatings will not stop pitting and dings from small pebbles and rock debris that strike your car. Paint Protection Film is the only product that is effective against this kind of material.
To help simplify the choice between ceramic coatings versus sealants and waxes I often break it down this way:
If you’re looking for a product that will reduce the amount of time you spend trying to keep your car clean and shiny then a ceramic coating is probably the best choice. It’s important that you have a paint correction done before applying any coating. Otherwise, you’re just sealing in the scratches and swirls and you won’t enjoy the highly reflective gloss that only comes from a professionally polished paint surface. It’s the paint surface that reflects back the light that creates a brilliant shine.

If you lean toward orderliness, perfection and pay great attention to detail then I recommend a sealant or wax for your vehicle. For example, if you get a few bad scratches on your clear coat I can strip wash the affected area, machine polish the paint and remove the scratches. Then I reapply the wax or sealant and your car looks good as new!  If you get bad scratches on your coating then you have to live with it and get agitated every time you look at your vehicle. A spot repair cannot be done effectively when a professional ceramic coating has been applied to the car. The only solution is to machine polish the entire panel with an abrasive compound to remove all traces of the coating. Sometimes this will involve wet sanding the entire panel to remove the coating. Once this is done the scratch is removed through machine polishing and the panel is re-coated to match the rest of the car. This is a time consuming and expensive process.

To summarize, there are lots of factors to consider before deciding what type of surface protection to choose for your vehicle. Once you describe how you use your vehicle I can recommend the best coating product.