4+ Reasons Why Ceramic Coating Is Good for Your Car (Along With Alternatives)
Automobiles are a major investment. Even cheaper used vehicles can easily cost thousands of dollars. The average price for a new automobile? Kelly Blue Book reports that the average new car costs $47,000.
With folks investing so much in their vehicles, and also relying on said automobiles day in and day out, it’s no surprise that many people are looking to protect their investment. Fortunately, ceramic coatings offer a great way to protect your car for years to come.
How Ceramic Coatings Protect Vehicles and Car Owners:
- Protect paint from environmental hazards
- Prevent and control rusting
- Preserve your vehicle’s value
- Longer lasting, more durable protection
Besides ceramic coatings, you can use a variety of other methods to protect your automobile. If you live in a snowy region, for example, simply rinsing your vehicle off during the winter will remove salt from the roads. We’re going to cover a variety of ways to protect your automobile so let’s get to it.
Ceramic Coating Allows You to Keep Paint in Prime Condition
Ceramic coatings provide durable, lasting protection for the exterior of your car. The coating itself is a liquid polymer and is typically applied by hand. Once applied, the coating will bond with your paint, creating a long-lasting layer that won’t simply wash off or be wiped away.
Among other things, ceramic coatings will protect your vehicle from various environmental hazards, including stones, rain, hail, and salt.
Other coatings can also protect your paint, but most won’t last as long. A simple wax job provides some protection but typically lasts only six or so weeks and isn’t especially durable. A Teflon coating is more durable and lasts longer, but still lasts only about six months.
A properly applied and cared for ceramic coating can last for years. In fact, your ceramic coating may last the lifespan of your car. You might intend to have your car waxed every month, or to have a new Teflon coating applied a time per year.
However, life gets busy and it’s easy to lose track of car maintenance issues. You may simply not have time to get a new coat applied.
With a ceramic coating, you don’t have to worry about regular reapplications. Sure, you may want to have a new coating applied at some point, but managing a new coating every couple of years is a lot easier than getting coatings every few months.
Ceramic Coatings Make Your Car Shine
Ceramic coating is very easy to wash and is hydrophobic. This means water will glide right off the coating itself. Over time, dirt, bird dropping, and general grime will coat your car.
If you have the right coating, however, cleaning your car is often simply a matter of spraying it down.
Both Teflon and ceramic coatings are great for creating a nonstick surface, which means dirt and whatever else will struggle to stick.
Many people take pride in having a clean car, but let’s face it, whether traversing busy urban roads or bucolic farmlands, it’s easy for grime to ruin your vehicle’s luster.
If you want your car to stand out, and to stand out in a good way, ceramic coatings can help it shine.
Ceramic Coatings Provide a Buffer Against Rust
Salt speeds up rusting. If you live in an area where roads are regularly salted to melt snow, rust is a major threat and could eat away at your car from the axles on up. If you live near the ocean, sea salt can also corrode your vehicle.
Salt speeds up rusting because it contains free radical ions that interact with carbon dioxide and oxygen. This causes iron oxides to form, which contributes to rusting.
The proper vehicle coating will create a buffer between the metal on your car and rust-inducing factors, like salt. The paint itself provides a protective layer, but once chipped, exposed metal will often start rusting, and the rust will spread.
A simple wax job can provide some protection against rust, but it typically doesn’t last as long. Still, it’s smart to wax your vehicle before the winter sets in and roads are salted (and that’s increasingly happening in Metro Atlanta to prevent another 2014 Snowpocalypse). A more lasting solution is a long-lasting coating, like ceramic.
A ceramic coating can not only protect your vehicle from rust this winter but for many winters to come.
When you think of rust, your mind probably first goes to the body of the car. Rust can ruin your paint job, and turn an otherwise nice car into a clunker. But it’s also important to remember the undercarriage.
Rust can eat away at your exhaust system and other components, potentially causing mechanical failures. Fortunately, you can also apply a variety of coatings to your undercarriage to protect against rust.
The Right Coatings Help You Maximize the Value of Your Auto
Every great vehicle reaches retirement age at some point. Some vehicles, like that flashy summer convertible or collectible supercar, may get a place in your garage. Others may be sold on the private market or traded in at a dealership. No matter what, you’ll want to maximize the value of your vehicle.
As we saw above, the right coatings can protect your vehicle from rust, UV rays, and more. This means that when it’s time to sell your car or store it as a collector’s item, you’ll want your vehicle to be in the best possible shape.
A mint-condition 1960s muscle car is often worth tens of thousands of dollars or more. A junker rusting away usually isn’t worth nearly as much.
Likewise, folks buying cars second-hand are looking for vehicles in great condition. A car that’s already rusting may break down quickly.
If you’ve been protecting your vehicle with a ceramic coating, it’s probably worth a lot more than it otherwise would be. This helps the ceramic coating practically pay for itself.
Ultimately, applying coatings and other vehicle upkeep methods cost money. However, proper upkeep can be a great investment. You can enjoy a car in beautiful condition today and for years to come. Then when it comes time to sell, you can get more money.
Ceramic Coating is Arguably the Best Coating
Obviously, ceramic coatings offer a lot of benefits for vehicles. But ceramic isn’t your only option when it comes to coatings. So how do other materials stand up? And is ceramic coating the best option? We believe so. Let’s see why.
Many automobile industry experts argue that ceramic coatings offer the best mix of affordability, durability, and longevity. That said, there are other options worth considering. A simple wax job, for example, can provide some protection while also helping your car truly shine, for example.
Still, wax breaks down quickly and offers only minimal protection. A more durable and longer-lasting option is a Teflon coating. Like ceramic, Teflon is a relatively durable material and offers great non-stick properties. Teflon coatings are also often cheaper than ceramic coatings.
However, a Teflon coating typically will not last as long as a ceramic coating. In ideal conditions, Teflon typically lasts about 6 months at most.
After that, you’ll want to reapply it to ensure that your vehicle is protected. Teflon also may not offer as good of protection against certain things, like UV radiation.
Ultimately, a good wax coating typically offers more protection than no coating at all. And a top-notch Teflon coating is even better.
But if you want to maximize protection for your vehicle, a professionally applied ceramic coating is arguably the best choice both now and into the future.
