Getting your car ceramic coated is one of the best ways to bring out the shine and protect the paint for many years. However, if not done properly, you won’t get the results you were expecting. And worse, you end up with more problems you have to solve.

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There’s a lot of spray on ceramic coating products you can buy at a store that make big claims, but are not true ceramic coatings. They’ll add shine and protection to your paint, but it’s not something you should pay hundreds of dollars for. 

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On top of that, you also have to properly prepare the paint to achieve maximum results. 

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At Matt's Auto Detail SWFL, before we apply a coating, your car goes through a detailed process by washing, claying, and polishing the paint to make sure the coating does it’s job. 

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Depending on the condition of your vehicle and the results you’d like to achieve, this time and effort will greatly vary. If your paint is already in great condition, it may only require a light polish and be done within a day. If your paint is heavily swirled and requires more extensive work, then it can take two to three days to complete.

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Is polishing your paint necessary for a ceramic coating? Technically no, you don’t. You can apply a coating to swirled paint, but at that point, you’re simply not getting all the benefits of the coating. It’d be more ideal to get a sealant applied to your car. 

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Applying a Coating is a Tedious Process

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A coating isn’t like a wax or sealant where you just apply it, wait a few minutes, and then buff off. Applying a coating is a more tedious process because you have to know when the coating “sets” on the paint to remove it.

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Each coating, depending on the brand and weather, has a “set” point on when to remove it. It’s not an exact time like 30 seconds and then wipe off. You have to know by looking at the coating when it’s the right time to remove it.

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So you have to work in section with multiple lights to see where you’re working. If you buff off too early, you’re potentially not allowing the coating to fully set and the longevity moving forward may be compromised. 

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And if you wait too long, removing the coating becomes very difficult. Additionally, a problem that we see all the time with ceramic coated vehicles are what we call “high”-spots”. 

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This is an area of a panel that you’ve coated but didn’t fully buff off the paint and can see where the coating dried. It looks like a smear was left on the paint.

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If it’s caught soon enough, you can simply buff it off. But if days go by and the coating cures, the only way to remove it is by polishing the paint again. 

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This is difference between a coating and a wax or sealant. It’s a semi-permanent layer of protection. You need to properly apply the coating to get the benefits of it. And if done wrong and you have high spots all over the vehicle, you’d need to polish the entire car again.