Auto Detailing News Winter issue

NITTY GRITTY
an oven. These steps all mirror stages in
the ceramic coating process, shining light
on the standards and practices necessary
to achieve protective durability. So where
does it all begin? Let’s start with the sterile
environment necessary for a stable bond.
ONE DAY AFTER
CERAMIC COATING
Contaminant
ONE WEEK AFTER
CERAMIC COATING
“CLEAN ROOM”
APPLICATION
Clear coats and ceramic coatings are
both polymer-based and fuse with the
surfaces they’re applied to, forming an
unbreakable bond. To achieve this kind
of bond, the surface must be completely
free of any de-stabilizing contaminants. In
the factory setting, the vehicle is kept in a
sterilized painting booth totally devoid of
outside contamination, ensuring no foreign
particles are able to impede the bond
between the base coat and the clear coat.
How can we apply this concept to
the ceramic coating? For one, detailers
should have a “clean room” dedicated
exclusively to ceramic coating work.
From there, the more you can do to
ensure a clean, stable environment, the
better. Use environmental controls to
maintain consistent temperature and
humidity. Install air filtration systems to
prevent airborne contamination. Anything
that can benefit a painting clean
room will benefit one for coatings.
Now, it’s not always easy to maintain
or even install a room like this. What
else can be done? There’s a new type
of product that protects against contamination
while removing clear coat
defects. This category of products, best
exemplified by Dr. Beasley’s Nano Surface
Primers, locks in the “clean room”
environment by applying a ceramic
foundation, blocking outside contamination
from re-introducing itself to the
surface. This greatly improves surface
stability and makes premature coating
failure highly unlikely. If a clean room
isn’t possible, this is the next best thing.
BAKING &
INITIAL CURING
Clear coats and ceramic coatings must
also be cured to fully bond with the finish.
In the factory setting, when applying
clear coat, this is done by placing the vehicle
in a large oven. The oven causes the
clear coat’s carrier to evaporate, leaving
behind the solid clear coat material. The
evaporation of the carrier leaves empty
space between the solid clear coat material,
which is then filled as the clear coat
polymers cross link with each other into a
densely knit structure.
If curing a ceramic coating in a giant
oven sounds like overkill to you, you’d be
right. In fact, many ceramic coatings are
cured in nothing but an ambient environment.
Many shops, however, will use infrared
(IR) lamps to expedite the process
in a way similar to the factory “big oven”
method. Beyond expediting the process,
an IR lamp also optimizes the cross linking
reaction to produce a more durable coating
than without.
OFF-GASSING AND
POST-APPLICATION
CURING
In both clear coat application and
ceramic coating application, the initial
cure accounts only for 99% of the curing
process. The rest happens in the following
week, sometimes even two. During this
time, the clear coat or ceramic coating
continues to off-gas solvent as the clear
coat polymers cross-link into a dense knit.
This leaves the coating (clear or ceramic)
susceptible to destabilization by outside
contaminants, as the cross-link structure
is not dense enough to keep them out.
For vehicles at an OEM factory, this
isn’t a big deal — the car likely has some
time before it hits the dealership lot —
but for ceramic coatings, things are a little
different. Most ceramic coating customers
want to drive their vehicle as soon as
possible after application, so it’s doubtful
they’ll keep it garaged for that first week.
If the coating is exposed to large amounts
of contaminants (such as a deluge of rain
water) the curing process will destabilize,
resulting in a failed coating.
Knowing this can make a huge difference
in whether or not a coating fails before
curing can complete. So what is the
solution, outside of keeping the vehicle inside
for a week? In cases like these, a topcoat
for the ceramic coating can be hugely
beneficial in protecting the still-curing
coating. Typically these are maintenance
products to reinforce the coating in the
future, but they also work well to protect
during that crucial first week.
AFTER CARE &
MAINTENANCE
Once the clear coat is applied, cured
and the vehicle is in the customer’s hands,
its durability comes down to maintenance.
Maintain the clear coat well and
it will remain easy to clean and free of
oxidation. Because ceramic coatings fuse
with the clear coat, maintaining the clear
coat becomes maintaining the coating. All
of the ways that you usually care for a vehicle’s
finish transfer over.
This isn’t the case with a wax, which is
why coating-averse detailers don’t understand
the maintenance requirements of a
coating. They assume that if a coating is just
“wax on steroids” it must be super durable
and able to withstand anything. Yes, coatings
are super durable in comparison to
wax, but at the end of the day this is an
extension of the clear coat, not a magical
shield. Much like you would maintain a
clear coat with a sealant application every
few months, you would maintain a ceramic
coating with a ceramic maintenance spray
every few months for optimal durability.
WHY THIS IS GOOD
These concepts can help “Laggard”
detailers step into the 21st century by
mastering the successful ceramic coating
installation. Having a perfect success rate
is definitely good for a shop’s reputation.
What’s less obvious is how this meticulous
approach makes your coating service more
valuable and your coating business more
consistent, so let’s dig in and explain.
COMMUNICATING
VALUE
Many customers struggle to see the
value in having a ceramic coating professionally
applied to their vehicle. They
see inexpensive ceramic coatings available
to the consumer public and assume it’s
something anyone can do. This is where
a lot of “Laggard” detailers get frustrated
— even if they were on board with coatings,
they wouldn’t have enough information
to explain why professional installation
is worthwhile.
If you have advanced knowledge of
ceramic coating installation informed by
OEM clear coat application methods, you
6 | AUTO DETAILING NEWS | VOL. 5, NO. 4 • WINTER 2020