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Getting the Most Out of Your Tyre Dressing
Detailing your car just isn’t complete until that final step of dressing your tyres, as it’s just amazing what a difference something as basic a tyre dressing can do to amplify the over finished look...
How to Maintain a Ceramic Coating
So you just recently ceramic coated your vehicle, and the paint looks fantastic! But what now?
Ceramic Coatings are incredibly popular at the moment, and here at Waxit we always get asked how to maintain them, and make sure they look and perform the best for as long as possible!
Well, the answer is actually pretty similar to a normal maintenance process - just with a couple of small differences to ensure your wash, maintenance products & methods don't degrade the amazing performance from your quality ceramic coating.
Our aim is to enhance the coating, both in the short and long term so you can really get the best value and enjoyment from your coating investment.
Let's start with basic washing & maintenance.
How to Wash Your Ceramic Coating!
Before looking to maintain your ceramic coating, it is always best to wait at least a week or so before washing a ceramic coated car so the coating can fully cure and harden.
If your ceramic coated car is a daily driver and parked outdoors, then a weekly maintenance wash is recommended to ensure optimal performance. If your car is usually garaged or undercover on the other hand, fortnightly or monthly washes will suffice.
Additionally, contaminants such as bird poo, bug splatters or even water-spots should be dealt with as soon as possible to ensure these don't etch through into your car's paint. Your ceramic coating will help repel these contaminants, but won't stop these from doing damage if left untreated.
Ceramic Coatings will definitely help reduce and mitigate swirls and scratches, but they won't be 100% resistant. It is best to wash your car with a safe washing techniques such as Car Foam and/or the Two Bucket Wash Method, and avoid commercial car washes that brush your car.
The best Car Wash to use when washing your car is a simple, pure wash that doesn't have any added waxes, sealants or enhancers - such as CarPro Reset or Nv SNOW. We don't want any additives in our wash that may mask our coatings amazing behaviour with inferior performance.
As time goes on (usually 3-6 months if outside, 6-12 months if garaged), a coating will develop traffic film, and environmental fallout, which will slightly hinder performance. We can incorporate some periodic, deep cleaning methods to help remove all this and get our ceramic performing great again!
To remove this, we can use certain chemicals to help strip down and clean the surface. We don't want to use clay to decontaminate the surface, as it will degrade and scratch the coating.
Products such as CarPro Iron X Snow Soap, or CarPro Descale Wash are perfect examples of chemicals that can dissolve and remove light environmental fallout and traffic film to get your ceramic coating back to it's best. These products can be used by hand, or in a Foam Gun.
In summary, it's best to simply wash your ceramic coating with pure car shampoos that contain no extra additives - and give your coating a deeper clean every 3-6 months or so with a suitable product such as CarPro Descale.
How to Further Maintain your Ceramic Coating!
Now that our ceramic coating is washed, we can use additional, easy to use ceramic based spray products that can help enhance, and extend the life of your ceramic coating.
This isn't a requirement by any means, but is a fantastic way to ensure your coating working as intended, if not better!
Spray Coatings & Ceramic Quick Detailers are perfect for this. These easy to use products add an additional layer to the surface of your Ceramic Coating, increasing the durability & often further boosting performance with increased gloss, slickness and water-beading.
These products are really simple to use - simply spray the product onto the surface, wipe in, then wipe off! One of our most popular products for coating maintenance is the Sio2 infused Quick Detailer called Nv BOOST v2.
These products tend to last months, so it's not needed every wash. It's something you can add into your wash program every month or so to help boost performance.
And that's all there really is to it!
Utilising a proper maintenance program including a spray coating can potentially double the life of a ceramic coating by providing a substantial sacrificial layer over the coating, as well as improving gloss level and even reviving older coatings to restore and extend some of their performance.
