Everything You Need To Know About Ceramic Coatings

Hello, everyone and welcome in this video. We are learning all about ceramic coatings. This is all things to expell who I've partnered with on the video to learn about the ever-popular world of coatings. They'Ve recently launched their new product fusion plus, and what I appreciate about expell is that they're very realistic about what ceramic coatings can and cannot do. If you followed the ceramic coating craze lately, you may hear claims like these coatings completely, preventing scratches and Rock chips or that you'll never need to wash your car again, not exactly accurate, but that's not to take away from the very real benefits that these coatings provide. Like the ease of maintaining your paints cleanliness protection from things like tree, sap, bug, guts and bird droppings, the deep glossy appearance and, of course, they're very popular hydrophobic or water, repelling qualities. So let's start with how it works. Why it's useful and then get into some of the more common misconceptions? Expell ceramic coating, fusion plus, is a silicon based product, so you have a carrier, fluid containing nanoparticles, and these tiny particles create an inseparable bond with your paint work that can't easily be washed off. Like a wax or sealant, really one of the easiest ways to think about a ceramic coating is like a semi-permanent wax or sealant semi-permanent, in that it lasts for several years. In this case, expels coating comes with a four year: warranty the duration for the four year. Warranty was set based on third-party accelerated, wear testing applying the product starts with the condition of your car's paint and whether it's being applied to the paint directly or on top of a paint protective film in this video, the ceramic coating is being applied. On top of the expelled paint protection film on my Tesla Model 3, if it's applied directly to your paint, you'll want the paint to be perfectly clean and any paint correction to be done beforehand. Ceramic coatings will not hide swirls or scratches instead they'll seal them and permanently. So it's important that you have your paint as perfect as possible before applying the coating. If the ceramic coating is being applied on top of a paint protection film, then paint correction is not required and, unlike ceramic coatings, protective films can cover up and hide light swirls and scratches on a clear coat as the adhesives of the film fill in the gaps On the paint surface, we'll get more into the differences between protective films and ceramic coatings later in the video, the application process itself is pretty straightforward, similar to painting a car. Proper protection is required. This includes skin and eye protection, as well as a knee OSHA approved. Ventilator, if you're, not working in a well-ventilated area, the risk of inhaling fumes with liquid based products that are applied directly is decreased versus spray-on coatings. However, a proper respirator is never a bad idea. Fusion plus is applied with a dropper to a micro, suede towel and then applied to the vehicle in small sections. After applying to a small area. Once the product starts to develop a streaky appearance and is beginning to flash off, you wipe off the excess with a microfiber towel and then a final wipe down with an additional separate microfiber towel. If applying the ceramic coating to glass, it may require a third wipe down with a slightly water, damped microfiber towel to remove any haziness that may appear. The coating will be perfectly clear on glass when applied correctly. The process is repeated for the entire car and you can slightly overlap sections which won't leave any visual indication to ensure the complete car is covered. Some ceramic coatings are sold as DIY kits. Some are professional, install only expel fusion Plus only allows for professional installation. There are several reasons for this: first taking proper safety precautions is certainly easier to control in a professional environment, glasses, gloves and respirator, and while the application process is fairly straightforward, it's also just as easy to mess up. The biggest thing is preparing the paint surface, making sure proper correction is done before applying the product and that the surface is perfectly clean when applying the product things like humidity temperature and how much you apply can all change how quickly the product starts to flash off, Which alters the exact time you should wipe the surface down. If you apply too much product or to a dirty surface, you can leave behind a streaky appearance, drips or sealed dirt to the surface. Once the product has cured it's difficult to remove and also difficult to tell if you fully removed it to remove it, requires polishing, aggressive compound or worst case wet sanding. I'Ve shown some panels here with what it can look like when the product has not been properly applied versus when it has been installed correctly, with the paint in good shape. A full installation can happen in a few hours. Then the coating needs time to cure. For the first 24 hours you shouldn't get any water on the surface. The coating cures with exposure to sunlight or even just air. While it can happen sooner, the surface will be cured after four days during this curing process. The gloss of the finish will actually increase. Peaking and glossy appearance days after the installation, here's where it gets fun, while the entire surface, including all of the glass on my Tesla Model 3, was coated. We coated just half of the hood on my crust wreck as an experiment commence throwing buckets of mud on top of the hood. The left side of the hood does not have a ceramic coating, though it is covered in expel paint protection. Film no worries no paint was harmed in the making of this video. As you can see, the ceramic coating on the right side of the hood has significantly less friction and is more hydrophobic. The mud wants to drain right off, whereas the non coated side keeps the dirt on top. This also illustrates another fascinating property of the ceramic coating and that it has a self-cleaning characteristic dirt on the surface of the car would rather stick to water droplets than the paint surface so when it rains dirt traps in the water droplets and is blown off, the Car as you drive so does all of this mean you never have to wash your car again. No, absolutely not! You still have to maintain the surface of a coated car. It simply makes washing your car significantly easier and it eliminates the need to apply a wax or sealant afterwards, no more waxing. In fact, waxes and sealants often have solvents within them, which should not be used on a ceramic coating. You don't want to use acetone or lacquer thinners either, as these can degrade the surface. Isopropyl alcohol can be used to remove stains for water spots, which, yes, you can still get with the ceramic coating. You can remove the with a water, vinegar mix again think of coatings like a permanent, wax or sealant. You still need to wash your car, it's just easier and you won't have to wax at the end, a simple 2 bucket method wash and then drying the surface. With clean, towels is recommended, weekly expel also recommends applying ceramic boost. Every 4 to 6 washes to help maintain the hydrophobic qualities of the coating. Another fascinating thing about this coating is its compatibility with paint protection films. This is something I didn't quite understand before. Seeing the install process, if a ceramic coating, a hard glass like surface, is applied on top of a urethane paint protective film like expel, wouldn't that negate the protective properties of the film allowing for cracks and rock chips and also remove the self-healing properties of expels paint Protection films, and yet it does not much of this - is a result of how incredibly thin the ceramic coating layer is. The flexible, protective film helps prevent rock chips by spreading out the stresses of a rock on impact and because the ceramic coating is so thin. The self-healing properties of that film still work. Here'S a quick little test to demonstrate this. We have a sheet of painted metal, then covered an expell ultimate plus paint protection film and then covered in fusion plus ceramic coating. First, I'm spraying water on the surface to show the hydrophobic properties of the ceramic coating. Next I take a brass brush and create surface scratches on the film and coating. As you can see, you can still scratch a ceramic coating, even when this has a scratch resistance of 9h, the highest rating on the pencil, hardness test and the standard for a good ceramic coating. Next, a heat gun is used to heat up the surface and, as you can see, just like a non coated expelled paint protection film, the surface heals just fine. Again it comes down to just how thin the ceramic coating is. So is the coating still there? A few sprays of water - and you can see the hydrophobic qualities of the ceramic coating remain so with a paint protective film and a coating you get the best of both worlds. This was pretty mind-blowing for me to watch and, to be honest, I still don't fully understand what's happening at the molecular level. Essentially, the brass brush is rearranging the protective film structure and with some heat it's back to a lower energy state. That'S smooth and flat. The ceramic coating is bonded to that topmost surface and rearranged with the film as it's heated, leaving behind no noticeable scratches and a smooth surface again after allowing the coating some time to cool and then spraying again with water, you can see it still maintains the hydrophobic Properties of the ceramic coating, so as a brief summary of the to a ceramic coating, we'll provide some basic protection, but it is more so about the depth and glossy appearance, as well as hydrophobic and self-cleaning properties, again think relatively permanent wax paint protective films on the Other hand will offer real protection against rock chips, and scratches ceramic coatings can also be applied to matte surfaces like on the trim of my Tesla or the carbon fiber spoiler, without significantly altering the matte appearance. While you could get either product individually and both have their advantages, it is important to note that a ceramic coating can go on top of a paint protective film, but not the other way around. If a car has a ceramic coating, it makes it very difficult for a paint protective film to bond to the surface, so the coating has to be removed before installing the film and obviously, since the paint protective film is a much thicker layer by covering up the Ceramic coating, you will lose the purpose and benefits of that coating. Putting the coating on top of the film gives you the best of both worlds. So a huge thank you to expell for partnering on the video and, of course, for sharing so much information about ceramic coatings. If you're interested in having expell ceramic coating installed on your vehicle, i've included a link to their dealer. Locator in the video description. I'Ll also include additional information in the video description about pricing, as this will be dependent on how much paint correction is required, paint protective film coverage and installer labor rates based on location. Thank you all so much for watching. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below