How to care for your ceramic coating

Just like your car itself, a ceramic coating is an investment: it's an investment that will make a car look its best for as long as possible, but only if that coating is taken care of. Here's how you can ensure that any ceramic coating lasts as long as it possibly can.

Want to ensure that your coating lasts as long as possible? Proper, regular washing is key. Over time, the contaminants that build up on your paint eat away at the protection underneath. Even worse, improper washing (and drying) methods have a tendency to leave behind scratches, swirls, and water spots, which can only be removed by polishing away the coating to get at the imperfect clear coat underneath. Want to learn the proper wash process? Click here to watch one of our guides.

Washing is an effective start, but even afterwards there may be contaminants left behind on the coated surface. If not properly removed, they will continue to "clog" up the coating, hindering its performance in addition to being an eyesore. Typically, these contaminants can be easily removed with a clay bar, but in this case, clay would also likely remove the coating. The key is to use dedicated contaminant removers, such as iron or tar removers, to chemically break down the contaminant, and bring the coating back to life. Typicaly, a coated car is going to accumulate these contaminants quicker than an uncoated car, but you should decontaminate at least twice a year to ensure that your coating is performing its best.

After washing away contaminants and melting away iron particles, we recommend finishing with a ceramic spray sealant or ceramic detailer. This one may seem a bit silly, but applying a protectant to your protectant does two important things, especially while applying it during the drying process. First, applying it during the drying process allows the ceramic sealant or detailer to act as a drying aid, ensuring that all the water gets off your car and doesn't evaporate, causing water spots. Second, that ceramic sealant or detailer is going to leave behind a sacrificial layer on top of your coating, meaning that the weaker protection on top will wear down instead of the coating itself wearing down.