Getting a ceramic coat on your car is one of the good things to do.
It protects your car and the paint from harsh elements and gives it a shiny look.
The positive thing about this is that you can apply ceramic coating to your car at home without spending extra money to hire a professional. How?
Quick Answer
As a general rule, you can ceramic coat your car at home by prepping it, decontaminating it, polishing it, applying the coat on it, and waiting for it to cure.
While that may sound easy and simple, there’s more to it.
You need to follow some strict rules if you want the coating to come out great.
Otherwise, if you’re not careful enough, you may have a rough application or bubbles all over the place.
What do you need to do?
Read through the article for a detailed step-by-step guide on how to ceramic coat your car at home.
How Do You Ceramic Coat A Car At Home
Of course, hiring a professional to get the coating done is a great option; the application has a higher chance of being perfect.
However, that will cost you more, and if you love DIY stuff or you’re trying to save money but still want the best for your car, you can ceramic coat your car at home.
In total, you can ceramic coat a car at home by following these steps:
Ceramic coating your car isn’t as easy as washing your car.
You must prepare to do some real work and take caution to ensure the application turns out great.
Choose an indoor location with enough ventilation for the application. Then, you can follow these steps:
Step One: Wash The Car
You need to start by prepping your car for ceramic coating.
Wash the car using a pressure washer. Then, you prewash the car using a foam cannon and snow foam and rinse it afterward.
Move to the wheels and wash them to remove debris from there using a separate bucket meant for washing the wheels alone.
Then, wash the car paint using the two-bucket method, with one bucket containing water for rinsing and the second, the washing solution, cleaning from top to bottom.
Rinse the car with the pressure washer after washing it.
Step Two: Chemical Decontamination
For an effective application, you need to decontaminate your car to remove tree saps, water spots, iron fallouts, and whatnot that buildup on the paint.
You need to begin the decontamination with chemicals using a tar remover and iron filings remover.
Spray them on the clear coat and leave them to work for about four to five minutes, and rinse it off.
Step Three: Manual Decontamination
The next stage is the manual decontamination of the paint using a clay bar and clay bar lubricant.
Start by applying the clay bar lubricant on the car surface and rub the clay bar over it.
Ensure you’re gentle with this process; avoid applying too much pressure.
This will help remove remnant contaminants left on the clear coat.
Step Four: Polishing The Paint
You need to ensure your car’s paint job is perfect before applying the ceramic coat because the coating will seal any imperfections on the car.
Even while the coating is semi-permanent, you should still be careful because removing a clear coat from the car is tasking.
Therefore, you must compound the paint using a compound and dual-action polisher.
This will remove defects, swirl marks, and scratches on the clear coat.
You can use a finishing polish if the swirl marks are tiny and nothing serious.
Apart from removing scratches and swirl marks, this process will also give the paint a nice gloss.
Step Five: IPA Wipe
Once you are done polishing, you can move on to the after-polishing stage, starting with an IPA wipe.
This involves spraying an isopropyl alcohol mix on the car’s surface and wiping it with a microfiber cloth to remove residual polishing oils.
As a result, the ceramic coating bonds effectively to the car’s surface.
Step Six: Ceramic Coating Application
The application process is somewhat easy.
You need the ceramic coating, suede applicators, application foam block, microfiber buffing towel, and nitrile gloves.
Depending on the manufacturer, some of these might come with the ceramic coating you buy.
Once all that is ready, you can start the application. Ensure you read the manufacturer’s instructions before starting the application.
Take the foam block, wrap it around the suede applicator, and shake the ceramic coating bottle well.
Then pour enough coating from the bottle on the wrapped applicator to make a line on it.
Run the applicator over the car surface using a cross hatch pattern, up to down, using the left to right movement.
You must work on the surface in small sessions, typically in two-by-two sections.
Don’t leave the product to dry for too long on the car.
After 20 to 30 seconds, the product will flash and be ready to remove.
Use a high-quality microfiber cloth to remove it by running it over the car.
Throw the cloth away when you’re done because the silica dioxide in it will dry up and can scratch the car if you use it on the car again.
Step Seven: Apply Silica
After removing the ceramic coat, wait for about 30 minutes or an hour before moving to the next stage.
Spray some silica on a microfiber cloth and the car; then, use the cloth to wipe and run it over the clear coat.
This will prevent water spots from appearing on the car in the next week.
As the coat dries on the paint, it will add more gloss to the car and make it look better.
In addition, the silica will add more hydrophobicity to the ceramic coating and protect the car.
Step Eight: Leave It To Cure
After applying the silica, you need to leave the product to cure on the coat for about 12 to 24 hours.
Advisably, you should park the car in the garage, so the car doesn’t come in contact with water or sun.
In addition, you shouldn’t use any chemicals on the car within the first week after the clear coat application.
This includes snow foam, shampoo, and others. Ensure you give the clear coat enough time to bond on the car between 24 to 48 hours.
Once the clear coat has cured, you can drive your car around.
However, for the clear coat to last on your cars, you need to maintain it. These are some tips to help you with that:
Conclusion
You can save some money and apply a ceramic coating on your car at home.
Once you have the product and all the tools ready, you can get started on that.
Ensure you adhere to the steps outlined in this article for an impressive outcome.
Most importantly, you should maintain a clear coat if you want your vehicle to have that shiny look for a long time.
Key Takeaways:
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byKcYsEyWGk
https://autocarehq.com/applying-a-ceramic-coating-at-home-is-it-possible/
https://www.autofresh.in/how-to-apply-ceramic-coating-on-car—step-by-ste
https://gleamworksdetailing.ca/how-to-maintain-ceramic-coatings/
https://avalonking.com/blogs/guides/how-to-maintain-ceramic-coatings
