Any car enthusiast will know the importance of a sturdy layer of ceramic shine on their vehicle. Ceramic coating provides several benefits, and protection from UV and a lasting shine are some of the major ones. Also, ceramic coatings have hydrophobic properties – they get rid of water, ice, slush, or any other dirt and road salt from sticking to your vehicle.
Premium ceramic coating packages offer warranties anywhere from 3 to 7 years. While this warranty ensures the sturdy protection of the coating, it necessarily doesn’t promise you that the ceramic coating won’t deteriorate, or that its performance won’t reduce. For example, car tires have average durability and life expectancy, but other factors like bad roads or frequent off-roading will reduce their life span and performance.
So, to keep up the performance of your car’s ceramic coating, you need to keep it well maintained. But, the main question is this – how do you keep your vehicle’s ceramic coating good as new for a long time? Read this article and know several tips and tricks to keep your vehicle as sleek as the day you bought it from the showroom for quite a few years!
How to Maintain a Ceramic Coated Vehicle?
Let’s know a bit about the science behind the working of ceramic coatings. The particles of a professional-grade ceramic coating penetrate deep into the clear coat of the vehicle’s paint. By infiltrating the microscopic pores, these particles bond strongly with those of the paint. This physical bonding leads to the formation of a smooth layer on the top of the paint.
Specialized coatings like the CrystalShield ceramic coating contain around 80% of high-grade SiO2 that perfect the upper layer of the coating. These SiO2 ceramic particles are known to protect your vehicle from any chemical erosions, etchings from everyday problems like bird droppings, acid rain, and UV rays. A premium coating can last anywhere from 1-7 years, based on your maintenance routine.
After you get your vehicle a proper ceramic coating, you might want to ignore it forever and expect the coating to do all the work for you. But that’s where you go wrong. Proper aftercare is a much-needed ritual that will increase the life of the ceramic coating. Also, you get the benefit of keeping your car glossy and flawless for a long time!
Do’s and Don’ts
In the first 72 hours after applying the coating, you need to keep the car indoors and avoid any exposure to dirt. In this period, do not:
- Wash the car
- Touch and rub on the coating
- Let any water come in contact with the coating.
For the first week after the ceramic coating is done, make sure not to:
- Wash with shampoos or soap solutions
- Park the vehicle in open sunlight or near industrial areas.
During the first few weeks after the coating is done, do not scrub too much on the surface while washing. If there are any unpleasant things, like bird droppings, remove them gently with the help of a soft cloth immediately. Do not let them linger for long.
After one week has passed and the coating has fully cured and crystallized, follow the below mentioned suggestions to effectively maintain your ceramic coated vehicle.
Wash Every Week
The best place to start is washing your car! Gather all the proper stuff you need and get on with the cleaning. Make sure that you do this with care – you definitely don’t want to have any problems on the surface of your car just because you scrubbed with the wrong washing substance. Also, make this a regular occurrence.
One pro tip – avoid automatic car washes as much as you can. This is because the type of brushes used in these washes contains extremely abrasive bristles. Even with a top-notch nano-coating, your vehicle will come out with several minute scratches and marks. Nothing is better than a solid manual scrub to revive the shine of your beloved vehicle!
Two-bucket Wash
This is a simple method of cleaning. Take two buckets, fill one with the soap solution and the other with clean water. First of all, don’t forget to wash your car with plain old water so that the dirt is removed.
Once you choose the right brush or a washcloth, dip it in soap and rub all the dirt out of your car’s exterior. Now after this step, dip it in the clean water. This way, your brush/cloth will be clean enough for the next swipe.
Use Special Ceramic Shampoos
You might have that one apple-flavored shampoo that you love so much, and why not use it on your car and make it smell amazing? Nuh-uh. Never make the mistake of using products that aren’t suitable for car cleaning.
There are special shampoos and cleaning solutions specifically made for cleaning ceramic coatings – like the CrystalShield Ceramic Shampoo. These are pH balanced and are specifically designed for ceramic-coated vehicles. So opt for them to avoid causing damage to the precious layer of coating.
Say NO to Sunlight
It might seem like a valid option to wash your car in the sunlight – after all, it will dry sooner. But this is something you should never do. Washing your car in the sun is like a counteracting point – the sunlight or high temperature will cause the soap water on your car to dry, which will create water spots, causing ugly marks on the ceramic coating.
Microfibers and Hand Mittens
For cleaning, you should not use any other cloth other than a high-quality microfiber cloth. Microfiber cloth pieces are known to clean a surface without leaving any smudges or scratches, so these are a great option. Hand mittens made of microfiber can also turn out to be quite useful. Always make sure to keep spare (2-3 per wash or more) microfiber cloth pieces so that you are not forced to use a ragged or dirty microfibre cloth EVER!
Ceramic Boosters
Ceramic boosters are the replenishing substances that keep your ceramic coating fresh and new. These need to be applied once every 6-12 months to ensure the sparkle of the ceramic coating. These fill in the missing chunks on your car’s coating and complement them.
When choosing a ceramic booster, you need to be very careful of its components. The spray should contain the same chemicals that are in the ceramic coating applied to your car. At the nearest CarzSpa detailing studio near you, you can find premium ceramic coating maintenance packages containing a wide range of services including the Ceramic Coating Reloaded Package, which consists of intensive interior cleaning, a reloaded ceramic coating layer, and other maintenance services.
What happens when you neglect Maintenance?
Like every other thing on the planet, a lack of maintenance of your car’s ceramic coating will lead to problems. And these problems are not things you can overlook because they make your car’s exterior look patched up and ugly. Here are some issues that arise when the professionally applied ceramic coating on your vehicle isn’t cared for.
- The shine and luster drop. The properties of your coating will begin to dwindle, and grime tends to build on the ceramic coating.
- The hydrophobic (water repellant) quality of the coating fades away. Your car’s exterior will not be resistant to water spots anymore.
- Your car will be vulnerable to hazards like bird droppings, UV rays from sunlight, chemicals, dirt, and other environmental contaminants.
Choose CarzSpa, Choose Quality!
Looking for a premium-quality ceramic coating for your car? Then, you know that CarzSpa is the best option for you! Offering a wide range of services, we at CarzSpa make it our foremost priority to deliver the exact needs of our customers!.
You can find CrystalShield coating at CarzSpa – the most durable and ideal ceramic coating designed especially for Indian environmental conditions. We also offer Graphene ceramic coating, a product that comes highly recommended by several of our customers. Both these coatings offer your vehicle protection from UV rays, chemical stains, water sots, specks of dirt, and many other day-to-day issues.
So head over to CarzSpa today, and grab our comprehensive maintenance package to preserve your car’s exterior paint and keep it glossy and lustrous for many more years to come!
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