How to apply ceramic coating is one of the questions we receive the most. So if you wonder what makes ceramic coating so popular, check this article all the way down to the end!
You’ll learn not only what makes this type of detailing so special, but also how to apply a ceramic coat to your car like a pro.
Why Is Car Ceramic Coating So Popular?
Most car owners take great pride in the car they’ve purchased, especially when it’s brand new, sitting all shiny and sparkly in their garage or by the curbside.
However great this feeling is though, it eventually fades away as soon as the car gives in to unavoidable wear and tear. In other words, what happens is that your car’s paintwork will ultimately mattify, fine scratches will appear, and its overall look will become duller.
This said, for sure you’ve noticed how some car owners seem to do a great job in preserving that magazine-like glossy look regardless of how long ago they bought their car. Feeling a tad jealous?
The secret to this, which doesn’t need to be kept under lock and key, is called…ceramic coating!
Is It Difficult To Learn How To Apply a Ceramic Coat?
The process of ceramic coating is the key to maintaining your car as shiny and protected as possible.
The best part? It’s quite accessible and offers your vehicle protection from many damaging factors apart from that specific magazine-like candy gloss look you can’t wait to show off!
Car ceramic coating is becoming increasingly popular these days, due to the exciting results it promises and ultimately delivers. The science behind it is also quite easy-to-follow, even for newbies keen to delve deeper into the full understanding of how to ceramic coat.
Before we go into greater detail, you should know that instead of car ceramic coating, you’ll also find the term ‘nano ceramic coating.’ These are both one and the same.
‘Nano’ is just another term coined to describe the small particles that go into the composition of the paint sealant. In other words, you can trust the ceramic coating is dense enough to create a strong layer of durable protection. In the end, it’s all about the polymer used on the car’s surface meant to protect it from various surface contaminants that can affect the integrity of the paint. This will show right after you learn all the ins and outs of this process, and how to ceramic coat yourself.
Another reason why ceramic coating is so sought-after is that it is designed to be an economical long-term car care alternative. By protecting your car from contaminants right from the get-go, you’ll be able to save money down the line with unnecessary repairs or even paint correction.
In this article, we’ll offer you a step-by-step guide that will teach you how to ceramic coat like a pro, plus some pros and cons you may want to consider.
How Would You Benefit From Car Ceramic Coating?
Car ceramic coating is usually done by a professional detailer, but can also be performed by you in the comfort of your own garage. More and more, people are actually interested in DIY ceramic coating, since the prices offered by professionals are quite steep and may put a dent in your finances.
Regardless if it’s done by yourself or by professional car detailers, the ceramic coating process is exciting and guaranteed to improve your car’s paintwork lifespan.
The bottom line with cars is that they will devalue over time, regardless of how many car wash sessions you’ve treated it to. This will particularly show in the quality of the paint, which will gradually fade in intensity and shine. Apart from this, consider all the external factors threatening its integrity! All in all, it truly pays to learn how to ceramic coat your car.
For once, there are bird droppings and rock chips, which will all leave marks. Some will be quite tough, while others will be a bit easier to remove. You’ll also notice how swirl marks appear on your paint until, one day, you realize your car looks nowhere near like it did when you first brought it home. By learning how to ceramic coat, you’ll keep your vehicle in pristine condition, relatively hassle-free.
The Impact Of UV Rays
Your car’s surface will also be negatively impacted by damaging factors such as pollution and harmful UV rays. In other words, cars that are kept and running in high-density population cities will be more affected by contaminated rain and air. The sun’s powerful rays will also do their thing, slowly oxidizing your paint, and making it lose its shine.
Applying ceramic coating will be especially helpful if you usually leave your car parked under direct sun exposure. If this is you, then consider getting a car cover on top of treating your vehicle to ceramic coating.
As you can see, as a car owner you’ll have plenty to deal with throughout the years! This is precisely where car ceramic coating steps in addressing many of these issues by offering strong and durable paint protection.
What many people don’t know is that nano coating also offers exceptional hydrophobic properties. This means that your car’s ceramic coating won’t only repel water right off, but will also repel water-based dirt and grime from the road.
You’ll notice how powerful a coating surface can be when you first point a water jet toward your car and see how easily grime slides off. Opposed to how it did before when it had no coating at all.
This is precisely why learning how to ceramic coat by yourself can help boost your levels of car happiness!
Does Ceramic Coating Have Any Cons?
It’s true that ceramic coating sounds like a godsend for car owners eager to keep their vehicles looking dandy. And, in many respects, it truly is quite magical, as it gets the job done efficiently, while also offering protection and an enviable shine. However, car ceramic coating also comes with a few cons you need to be mindful of.
One of the biggest cons of ceramic coating is the steep price it requires you to pay when you’re taking your car to professional detailers.
A professional coating installation will usually cost around $1,000. Choosing a DIY option will cut back these costs by about 90%.
Considering that, depending on the type of coating used and the quality of application, you’ll need to repay a visit to the detailer’s shop every other 6 to 12 months, which will certainly add up to the costs. So, going down the DIY route is actually the key when you’re looking for solutions on how to ceramic coat your car on a budget.
This is why many people have already turned away from what professional detailers have to offer. They choose to find their own solutions, and we don’t blame them. This increase in demand also led to improved over-the-counter ceramic coating technologies. Nowadays, companies are offering better products for those looking to learn how to ceramic coat themselves.
Having said this, our intention is to support you in saving yourself some unnecessary costs and find the DIY ceramic coating option that best suits your needs.
Can I Ceramic Coat The Car Myself?
Absolutely! In fact, the process of DIY ceramic coating your car is easier to follow than you think. All you need to do is give it all your attention and dedication to ensure great results.
Thankfully the market of DIY car protection products already boasts a wide range of options for you to choose from if you’re interested in learning more:
- Ceramic sprays
- Clay mitt
- Clay bar
- Buffing pads
- Tire shines
- Car waxes
- Non-ceramic spray waxes
This list is quite impressive and, while all these items do a great job in caring for your car, it’s no doubt that ceramic products have become favorites amongst car-enthusiasts.
It will all make sense when you go a bit deeper in learning how to apply a ceramic coat!
The best part about DIY ceramic coating is that you can do it by yourself and get great finish and protection results. Most of all, you get all these benefits by paying a considerably lower amount than you would on a ceramic car coating session with a professional detailer.
Still wondering how to ceramic coat a car with top results and minimum financial investment?
What Are The Optimal Surfaces For Ceramic Coating?
If you’re just getting the hang of how to apply a ceramic coat by yourself, know these work on many car surfaces. So go ahead and use it on other car parts and get the full benefits!
You can apply your coating product to the following:
- Painted surfaces
- Glass surfaces
- Fiberglass surfaces
- Truck beds liners
- Vinyl wraps
- Headlights
- Chrome surfaces
- Wheels
If you do indeed apply a ceramic coating to all these, rest assured your car will look like it’s straight out of an auto car, looking shiny from all possible angles. This will most definitely happen if you learn how to apply a ceramic coat properly.
What Are Ceramic Coatings Made Of?
Although these car coating products and processes may seem simply magical, we should also unveil the science and technology behind them.
Before we go any further, we need to introduce the ingredients making ceramic coatings what they are.
You’ll find that all products, regardless if they’re DIY or professional, have at their core the same chemical compound, SiO2 – silicon dioxide. Knowing this essential information is crucial if you’re wondering how to apply the ceramic coat like a pro.
The rest is a variation of other chemical compounds, which may differ from one brand to another. The other ingredients may be deposited aluminum oxide, deposited chromium oxide, or titanium dioxide.
However, SiO2 is the secret that elevated ceramic coatings to the top in the world of automotive innovations. When looking for the perfect ceramic coating product, you should always check the label and see just how much SiO2 it contains – the manufacturer should specify this.
The rule of thumb indicates that the higher the SiO2 rate, the higher the quality of your product. Make sure you have this all down before you delve deeper into the secrets behind how to apply a ceramic coat by yourself.
Before we go any forward, let’s go over the pros and cons of DIY ceramic coating one more time. We want you to have all the information you need before buying the necessary materials, rolling up your sleeves, and applying the coat to your car:
Pros of DIY Ceramic Coating
- One of the most appealing qualities of DIY ceramic coating is how affordable it is. By choosing one of the DIY ceramic products on the market, you can save yourself up to 90% of the amount you would otherwise pay at car detailers. If you’re wondering what the biggest benefit in learning how to apply a ceramic coat is, it’s the financial gain.
- When choosing a DIY ceramic coating option, you’ll get the same brilliant shine as you would with a more expensive and professional-catered option.
- It’s almost the same when it comes to the level of protection offered by professional detailers. The way it works is that ceramic coating is a polymer that creates a tight chemical bond with the paint underneath it, allowing the two surfaces to mesh together. You’ll get to notice these effects as soon as you’re done implementing what you’ve learned about how to apply a ceramic coat.
- You also get to benefit from the hydrophobic properties that any professional ceramic coating option would offer. So car washes will be much less tedious than they used to be and probably even less frequent.
As you can see, there’s plenty of value in going DIY with your ceramic coating!
What DIY Ceramic Coating Should I Choose?
While it’s true the market of DIY ceramic products exploded, it’s also equally true that reviews can be quite misleading. So you’ll need to be very thorough when looking to shop for the DIY ceramic coating solution that fits your needs.
As we mentioned before, the type of ceramic coating you should truly be interested in is the kind that has plenty of SiO2 in its composition. As soon as you succeed in this attempt, you can rest assured you’ve made a good investment.
In reading about how to ceramic coat your car, you’ll come to learn every single little detail you need to know about the products, and how to use them.
Our personal recommendation is for a product that has recently found tremendous recognition on the market for all the good reasons. The Nexgen Ceramic Spray took the market by storm, making all car owners that have tried it fall in love with it. What really sets it apart from other paint sealants is the high SiO2 composition. This product presents a staggering 13% as compared to other similar sealants containing less than 1% SiO2.
Such a high SiO2 composition facilitates stronger bonding between the ceramic coat and the car’s paintwork. This means the car surface will be protected four times longer than it would when applying a regular ceramic car product.
You’ll discover that implementing all these steps on how to ceramic coat will be like a walk in the park, and the results won’t disappoint.
Is It Easy To Apply Ceramic Coating?
Are you a newbie? Fear not! Rest assured, the ceramic coating process is quite easy, as long as you follow the steps we share in this article.
All you need is to arm yourself with patience and dedication, while also pouring in all the passion you have towards car care.
What Do You Need To Use to Apply Ceramic Coating?
The process of ceramic coating your car doesn’t involve too many additional materials or any fancy equipment as you’ll see below when we dive into the exact steps. For perfecting your skills in learning how to apply a ceramic coat, you’ll need:
- a few microfiber cloths
- nitrile gloves
- car wash soap
- clay bar
- light polisher
- isopropyl alcohol solution
- Nexgen Ceramic Spray
- buffing pads
What Are The Steps To Ceramic Coating?
As we progress with this article, it’s only natural that we arrive at this question as well. We’ll break down the entire ceramic coating process in a series of steps that are easy to follow and implement.
Wash Your Car Extremely Well
Before you do anything else, you must start off with a perfectly clean car. The first step for a successful ceramic coating is a thoroughly washed vehicle.
First, rinse off the car with clean water, so any dirt and grime come right off. This is extremely important if you want to preserve the integrity and beauty of the paint, crucial when learning how to apply a ceramic coat.
You’ll then need to wash your car with soap. Just be careful and only use a professional car wash soap that’s guaranteed to do the job perfectly, without leaving any oils or residues on your car’s exterior.
During this step, avoid at all costs using a sponge to wash your car. As efficient as a sponge may be in clearing large debris, it’s also guaranteed to leave fine scratches on your paint that lead to swirl marks. This is not desirable at all, especially when you’re preparing for the ceramic coating process.
Instead, simply use a microfiber cloth. This small adjustment can make a world of difference if you want to become a DIY pro.
You should also consider having two buckets of water at your disposal at all times. One with clean water and the other with soapy water. It’s the way it’s always been done, and works perfectly when you’re advancing in your steps regarding how to ceramic coat your car.
Once the car is washed and clean, dry using a different microfiber cloth.
Use a Clay Bar
Using a clay bar is the best next step in this process. An adequate car lubricant is also recommended here.
The purpose of a clay bar here is to support the ceramic coat in adhering with more strength to the car’s paint. If you’re using a clay bar, the coat will stick on much better and will be much more durable.
Perform a Light Polish To Enhance The Shine
Applying a ceramic coat is all about getting that special shine that makes your car stand out among all the others in the street. This is why it pays to become interested in how to ceramic coat by yourself and actually implement all the required steps, one by one.
While ceramic coating won’t clear certain marks and spots on your car, a light polish definitely will, and you’ll need this if you want your car to simply sparkle.
It’s all about those water spots, swirl marks, stains from bird droppings, and fine scratches from rock chips and other contaminants. They add up and they decrease the quality of your car’s paint.
If you’re wondering how to go about this step, simply purchase a dual-action polisher. You’ll slowly get the hang of how to ceramic coat your own car and enjoy every moment of it.
Use Surface Prep Spray
At this point in the process, there’s not much more to go until you achieve the shiny finish of your dreams, so hold on patiently and carry on following these steps.
Right now, you’ll be all about clearing any residues left on your car’s surface. We’re talking about oils, waxes, and polish residues. They all leave marks and are unfavorable for a perfect ceramic coating result. To have all this taken care of, you’ll need to apply an Isopropyl Alcohol solution, so the coating installation succeeds flawlessly.
Time To Apply The Ceramic Coating
The most important step of the ceramic coating process happens now! This is where you’ll need to increase your level of attention to detail and dedication.
If you’re wondering how to ceramic coat your car like a professional, then you’ll need to wear nitrile gloves. This will ensure you won’t leave any unwanted marks on any of the car’s important areas.
A key aspect to consider while DIY ceramic coating your car is the weather. Make sure you’re doing this while the weather is dry and not too hot.
If you’ve chosen the Nexgen Ceramic Spray, you can simply apply it to the paintwork. For greater control over your work and to cover small sections, just use the applicator.
Even when the label of the product you’ll be using may not tell you exactly how to apply the ceramic coat, it will indeed include what kind of motion you should use.
Timing is essential here though. Allowing more than 3-4 minutes for curing will only result in high spots, which basically are spots of a darker color than the rest. To avoid this type of oversaturation, make sure you have a clean microfiber cloth handy at all times. If you have any product left, you can still use it on other parts of the car, such as the windshield, the lights, or the wheels.
After you’ve completed this step of the process, make sure you’ll leave your car to dry afterward for about 24 hours.
Buffing Your Car
If you’re interested in how to apply ceramic coats successfully by yourself, know that DIY buffing is also crucial in obtaining top-notch results. Using buffing pads and the right amount of compound on them guarantees the removal of any leftover oils from your car’s surface.
Simply use a buffing tool by pressing it against your car and going in a circular motion. Make sure you don’t stop until the very end, since this may result in unpleasant marks on the paint.
Curing
Even though you’ve already applied the ceramic coating to your car, the ceramic coating process itself doesn’t end here. On the contrary, if you really want the coat to bond well with the paint, you’ll need to allow it some time to do so. This step is known as curing, and professionals know this is a fundamental step.
Depending on the climate specific to your location, on how cold or hot it is, you’ll want to leave your car for another day or two to completely dry out. This enables the coating particles to bond better with those of the car’s paint, which in turn leads to spectacular results.
Keep this valuable tip in mind if you’re looking to understand how to ceramic coat a car successfully. You don’t want to spoil your work right at the end!
Final Words On Your DIY Ceramic Coating Job
Once your car shines as brilliantly as you hoped it would, you’ll still need to look after it to properly preserve the results of the ceramic coating. Maintenance is key in having the car of your dreams.
Having said this, you’ll still need to wash your car regularly and frequently. Consider doing it every two weeks and your car will look and feel immaculate. Also, avoid leaving your car directly under the sun, as direct exposure can take a serious toll on the ceramic coat.
On the other hand, if you’re not satisfied with how it turned out and feel like you still need to learn a bit more about how to apply a ceramic coat yourself, you need to remember that it’s not permanent. DIY ceramic coating only lasts for a few months, so you can always do it better a second time around. Or you can simply remove the ceramic coating by using a chemical applicator, polishing, or claying.
The bottom line here is that you can do this without resorting to professional help. All you need is a premium DIY ceramic coating product with a high SiO2 concentration, just like the Nexgen Ceramic Spray we mentioned before.
We hope this guide on how to ceramic coat a car offers you every piece of information you need, so you can finally achieve the magazine-like candy gloss you’ve always craved for.
If you have any questions, just get in touch with us, we’ll offer you all the support you need!
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