What is a Ceramic Coating?
A simplified answer is a semi-permanent layer that cures on the car's clear coat. It's like wax on legal steroids. Coatings provide extreme UV and Chemical resistance. It's Silica or a polymer suspended in a liquid that is applied to the paint that then bonds or cures but does not sit on top. There are two main types of coatings: Silica Carbide and Silicon Dioxide. The following benefits will show how having one can help protect your investment, whether you're looking to sell in a few years with a higher value or enjoy having a well-maintained vehicle.
Coatings are applied after paint correction has been performed to remove some defects and improve paint bonding.
Protection from the Sun
Coatings give extreme protection from harmful UV rays, which cause oxidations to the paint, trim, and headlights. Most waxes don't and no longer make those claims. Also, natural or carnauba base waxes break down in high heat, which is worse during summer.
Chemical Resistant
Bird droppings, acid rain, harsh car-wash cleaners, and all chemicals splash up from the roads during rain storms. They can resist these because, in general, they have a broader range on the Ph Scale that they protect from vs. regular waxes or sealants.
Great Shine
An essential part of any paint protection is the shine and gloss. Ceramic Coatings will give a glow to your paint finish that will last for years.
Easier to Wash
Because of the added slickness from the coating, it makes it easier to wash. Less(keyword) will stick, and more will come off during the rinse process. This means less dirt when you do a contact wash on the vehicle, which lowers the chances of adding swirls into the paint.
Added Sacrificial Layer
If there is any etching from water spots or bird droppings, the coating provides a thin layer that can be polished away. This helps take some of the damage before reaching the paint. So even if the coating needs to be polished away in that spot, the clear may not have to be, depending depth of the etching. Afterward, reapply the layer to that section.
What a Coating Can't Do
Coatings are great for protecting your vehicle's paint and other surfaces, but some claims are over misstated or downright wrong.
You don't have to wash it
Cars will still get dirty and need to be still washed regularly. Having it will make it easier to keep it cleaner longer, but it still needs to be washed.
Prevents Scratches
A coating won't prevent scratches or swirl marks. Even the ones are claiming to be 9H or any number on the hardness scale. The hardness scale used for coatings is different than the MOHS scale. It is a pencil scale that is used. This can be misleading when claiming the hardness of the coating. Coatings may reduce some of the chance by allowing dirt to release off the paint, but in no way can they prevent it.
May Be Vulnerable to Water Spots
This is a water spot. Coatings are very hydrophobic- which gives us excellent water beading when it rains, but if the water is allowed to sit on the paint and dry, the minerals in the water will create a ring on the paint. This can be prevented with an easy topper designed to go with the coatings and is easy to put on after a wash. Only have to use 1-2 a year, which could even extend the life of the coating itself.
The Owners Pride Ceramic Coating Difference
The top coating we use is Owners Pride, based out of Omaha. The following is more of an in-depth difference between ours and the competitors.
First, Owner's Pride ceramic coatings are a "SIC or silica carbide" ceramic coating, which means that it is chemically reacting with your clearcoat, and crosslinking in a ceramic bond—becoming part of your paint.
Compared to other coatings on the market called "Sio2" or "silicon dioxide," Sio2 coatings are chunks of already cured ceramic Silica inside a resin. You have to put on multiple layers of that resin to ensure a flush application with no cracks and crevices between the ceramic chunks that could let UV rays, chemicals, enzymes, etc., get down to your paint. This resin only ever hardens on top of your paint. Never become part of your paint. Sio2 coatings also require that you do mandatory maintenance every 6 to 12 months and "top" or reapply ceramic to keep that resin alive. If you don't, you will fall out of warranty terms, and that resin can and will break down on top of your vehicle. Sic coatings only need more in-depth maintenance, and Owner's Pride Doesn't require annual maintenance to stay In warranty terms.
Second Owner's Pride is the only ceramic coating company on the market with a warranty backed by a third-party insurance company. It means that it is covered if you ever got water spots, ocean spray, tree sap, bird poop stains, over spray, bug etchings, or oxidation.
We offer two options; check them out here, or Request a Quote today for yours!
