Clearing Up Misconceptions About Ceramic Coating and Fixing Scratches To Understand What Ceramic Coating Can and Can’t Do
That perfectly smooth surface, gleaming in the light. That “new car” shine — if only it could last forever.
We would all love for our vehicles to look as new as the day we bought them, but unfortunately, the elements take their toll. Luckily ceramic coating can help minimize the effects of the elements better than most other products out there.
As beautiful as a ceramic coating is, you should know what it can and can’t do. We want you to get the most out of this excellent product.
Read on to learn more about how ceramic coating works, how to deal with scratches and other paint damage beforehand, and how to get the best results with your application.
Table of Contents
- Can Ceramic Coating Fix Scratches?
- What Ceramic Coating Does
- What Ceramic Coating Doesn’t Do
- How Ceramic Coating Works To Provide Protection for Your Car’s Paint Job
- FAQs About Ceramic Coating and Fixing Car Scratches
- Book an Appointment With Loupe Detailing Today To Take Advantage of All the Benefits Ceramic Coating Has To Offer — Even When Your Car Is Scratched
Can Ceramic Coating Fix Scratches?
Quite simply: No, ceramic coating does not fix scratches. It can actually make the paint issues stand out even more.
How Ceramic Coating Works To Fill in Scratches on Your Car
Ceramic coating creates a clear glass-like coating over your existing paint. While it does end up filling in surface scratches and chips, the way it reflects light can increase the visibility of the damage.
You should resolve any scratches or swirls on your paint’s surface before applying a ceramic coating. Loupe Detailing Service can consult you on the best prep steps for your vehicle, ensuring a great surface for a ceramic coating.
What Ceramic Coating Does
Ceramic coating is a very durable product that does a great job of protecting your car’s surface. It’s not invincible, but it does provide several significant benefits to your vehicle.
Provides a Barrier Against Contaminants
Proper professional application of ceramic coating results in an ultra-thin layer on the car’s surface that acts as a barrier against the elements. This barrier protects against dirt and grime, harsh chemicals, and even the harmful acids in insects and bird droppings.
This protection can last for many years, depending on the quality of the product used. Professional grades of ceramic coating tend to have a higher percentage of ceramic nanoparticles that create a super-strong protective bond.
Resists Minor Scratches
Ceramic coating makes your vehicle more scratch-resistant and also helps prevent those swirl marks that can sometimes occur from washing your car.
The hardness of the ceramic coating provides this resistance to minor scratches, although it should be noted that it doesn’t result in a completely scratch-proof surface.
Provides UV Protection
The claim of UV protection is very common in ceramic coating marketing, but it can be misleading as most people assume that the product blocks UV light.
Ceramic coating does not block UV light. Instead, it blocks the air from reaching the clear coat and paint, so oxygen cannot interact with your car’s surface and cause oxidation.
When UV light hits your car’s clear coat, it accelerates oxidation. This oxidation makes your clear coat appear milky or hazy, leads to brittleness, and ultimately impacts the ability of your clear coat to protect the paint.
Repels Water
The ceramic nanoparticles in the coating help water droplets to bead up and roll off the surface of your car, instead of hanging around and causing water spots. Having water roll off also increases the chance that dust and grime will also be carried away.
This hydrophobic effect results in your car looking cleaner longer.
This same hydrophobic surface helps prevent bug stains and bird droppings from sticking to your car, and having their acids impact the paint job. Cleaning will be much easier with these substances sitting on top of the ceramic coating rather than being “glued” to the clear coat.
What Ceramic Coating Doesn’t Do
Ceramic coating is a revolution in car surface protection, but there are limitations. We touched a bit on those limitations above, but they are worth going over in detail.
Fix Scratches
Scratches come in different levels of severity. They may just impact the clear coat, they may be deeper and impact the actual paint, or they may be even deeper and impact the primer and metal panel underneath.
None of these will be helped by adding a ceramic coating. Sure, a ceramic coating will help prevent further contamination from the elements, but it’s not going to reverse the appearance of the damage at all.
Provide Scratch-Proof Protection
There are two things to remember when it comes to protection from scratches:
- Ceramic coating does not protect against all scratches. Yes, it is a very “hard” surface, but that only goes so far.
Rocks can still chip the coating and the underlying paint job. You are not immune to door dings and key marks.
- The protection that ceramic coating provides does not last forever. Be mindful of the protection rating of the particular product being applied, as it can vary depending on the quality of the product.
Regular inspections — by a professional — will identify any damage and give a good understanding of when it’s time to consider a reapplication.
How Ceramic Coating Works To Provide Protection for Your Car’s Paint Job
Ceramic coating is a completely different product from other surface-protecting products like sealants and waxes. This kind of coating will generally be a liquid polymer base with particles of nanoparticles of silicon dioxide (SiO2) or titanium dioxide (TiO2) incorporated.
These SiO2 and TiO2 particles chemically bond together and to the surface of your car to create an ultra-hard glass-like layer. This layer is beautifully luminous and ultra-smooth.
The smoothness of ceramic coating helps protect against dirt, tree sap, bird droppings, and other substances that make your car look dirty or damage the paint job. Give your vehicle the ultimate paint protection, and head over to Loupe Detailing Service for a quality ceramic coating application.
FAQs About Ceramic Coating and Fixing Car Scratches
Will Ceramic Coating Prevent Swirl Marks on My Car?
Swirl marks are a common issue affecting a vehicle’s appearance over time. This mass of tiny scratches in the clear coat layer usually happens from wiping or washing the car in the presence of abrasive or harsh substances:
- For example, if you use a single bucket to wash your car, it can result in reapplying some of the abrasive dirt back onto the surface.
- Some harsh cleaning products can scratch or etch into the clear coat. Avoid using harsh products, and ensure that you follow the directions for any product that you use.
- Drying your car with a dirty towel or one that is not soft enough can also leave your car with swirl marks.
If you are lucky enough to have a car that is completely free of swirl marks, then applying ceramic coating will protect your clear coat and prevent marks from developing.
If you have swirl marks then ceramic coating won’t help — we need to resolve them first.
What if I Have Scratches on My Car but Want To Install Ceramic Coating?
To have the best visual results of your ceramic coating, your paint and clear coat must first be in great shape. Remember that any scratches that are visible now will still be visible through the ceramic coating.
Buff Minor Scratches
Dealing with minor scratches and swirl marks is not very difficult or expensive. Typically a good polishing product and a powered buffer will do the job.
Polish is very mildly abrasive, and cuts through the clear coat and fills in minor scratches. This ‘leveling’ process is what makes swirl marks and scratches disappear.
Your local professional can do an amazing job prepping your car’s exterior for ceramic coating. For those who prefer the DIY route, it’s simple enough to handle this on your own with the right equipment and attention to detail.
Consult a Paint Correction Professional
For more serious paint issues like heavy swirl marks, deeper scratches, or stains from bird droppings, it’s better to let a professional take care of things.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can waste significant time and money, and risk making things worse.
A professional will have all of the right products to deal with your particular kind of damage and will efficiently and effectively fix things up.
Combine Ceramic Coating With Paint Film Protection
Paint protective film (PPF) is a durable film that can be applied to your car’s surface — generally to the most vulnerable areas like the hood, front bumper, and fenders — to help defend against rock chips and other scratches.
Combining the physical barrier of PPF with the chemical barrier of ceramic coating can give great results.
Applying PPF to the vulnerable areas comes first. Then, when the ceramic coating is applied it will not only protect the rest of the vehicle, but where it coats the PPF it will add some extra protection to it and help it last longer.
Is Ceramic Coating a DIY Project or Should I Leave It to the Pros?
There are ceramic coating products that the average consumer can purchase for a DIY application. Especially for the uninitiated, taking the DIY route can be time-consuming and may not be the same quality as a professional application.
Another benefit to choosing the professional route is that they often have access to higher-quality products that will give longer-lasting results.
The professionals do this all the time. They have seen many scenarios and have the right products and tools to deal with them all. Ensure that the prep is done properly, and the final application is beautiful, by trusting a pro.
Book an Appointment With Loupe Detailing Today To Take Advantage of All the Benefits Ceramic Coating Has To Offer — Even When Your Car Is Scratched
Now that you know how well ceramic coating works, you may have already decided it’s a worthy investment. To maximize the lifetime of this investment, choose a professional with the right products and experience.
If you are looking for ceramic coating installation in Buffalo, NY, know that Loupe Detailing Service will give you the professional results you and your vehicle deserve.