How to Wash a Coated Car
High-quality ceramic coatings have a long lifespan – the best ones on the market are even guaranteed to last more than 7 years. With anything that you want to last a long time, maintenance is key – if you take care of your coating, your coating will take care of you. If you are interested in what ceramic coatings have to offer, click here to see our full product lineup.
Maintaining a ceramic coating is extremely simple (easy maintenance is one of the major reasons why people get coatings in the first place). The following tips will allow you to avoid common mistakes, helping you get the most out of your coating.
The first time you wash your vehicle after receiving its coating, you will not believe your eyes. The water, along with any buildup, will simply vanish and you will be left with a showroom-quality shine. It really doesn’t get easier than washing a vehicle with a ceramic coating.
Routine Washes
Ceramic coatings help your car stay clean by preventing dirt, grime, and water from sticking to the surface. While coatings make a huge difference, your vehicle still needs to be washed now and again. The frequency with which you need to wash a coated vehicle varies depending on driving conditions and where you live, but it should be somewhere between every 2 and 4 weeks.
The first time you wash your vehicle after receiving its coating, you will not believe your eyes. The water, along with any buildup, will simply vanish and you will be left with a showroom-quality shine. It really doesn’t get easier than washing a vehicle with a ceramic coating.
When done right, washing your car will be an enjoyable experience. When done wrong, you will get frustrated and even risk damaging your coating and your paint. Here are our top tips.
The Two Bucket Method
Here you’ll find a brief overview of the two-bucket car wash, but if you want the full in-depth breakdown of this technique, just click here.
Bucket #1 is used for warm soapy water (proper automotive soap, more on that below). Bucket #2 is filled with clean and fresh water for rinsing your wash mitt. After scrubbing each body panel, you rinse the wash mitt in bucket #2 to get rid of the dirt that you just scrubbed off the car. As bucket #2 becomes dirty, pour it out and add fresh new water.
This method prevents you from damaging your coating by smearing around dirt and other contaminants that become trapped in the wash mitt.
Not All Soap is Created Equal
As the hydrophobic properties inherent to ceramic coatings are so powerful, you really don’t need a very strong soap. Whenever detailing your ride, it is generally wise to use the mildest product that will get the job done. Due to the hydrophobicity of ceramic coatings, you can typically use an extremely mild product.
When choosing your soap, make sure to select a dedicated automotive shampoo that is designed to be used on ceramic coatings. This will not only give you the best experience and result but also help your ceramic coating achieve a long life.
Skip the Drive-Thru
The convenience offered by automatic drive-thru style car washes can be tempting, especially when the weather is cold and your schedule is busy. However, you must resist this temptation at all costs! Automatic car washes often do more harm than good, and your vehicle would be better off having waited a few days for a proper wash.
If your schedule is preventing you from washing your car any time soon, don’t worry – just bring it to us. Our Quick Wash service was created for this very purpose, or you can step up to a Complete Detail.