Ceramic Coating Myths, Lies, and Misconceptions

[00:00] ever since I started testing detailing

[00:01] products I've heard a lot of myths

[00:03] rumors and even lies about how they work

[00:06] I want to use this video as an

[00:08] opportunity to give you my take about

[00:10] the truth I fully expect this video to

[00:12] be at least a little bit controversial

[00:14] but if something's working for you if

[00:16] it's a product or a tool and you love it

[00:18] that's what really matters let's talk

[00:20] about my favorite 10

[00:22] myths most codings themselves are not

[00:25] particularly hard to install you've seen

[00:28] me install codings I'm by no means a

[00:30] rocket scientist the actual coding

[00:32] application itself requires good

[00:34] lighting and ideally an indoor

[00:36] environment when compared to a typical

[00:38] wax you must make sure to wipe

[00:40] everything up to avoid high spots but

[00:42] other than that it's really pretty

[00:43] simple the greatest Challenge and

[00:45] biggest cost if paying someone to do it

[00:48] is the prep work that's the washing the

[00:51] decontamination and most importantly the

[00:54] pink correction some people believe new

[00:56] cars don't need to be prepped but they

[00:57] absolutely do although it may take a a

[01:00] lot less

[01:01] time another common misconception and

[01:04] one of my favorites is that ceramic

[01:06] Coatings are diamond hard sometimes they

[01:09] also compare them with glass and the

[01:11] insinuation is just how strong and

[01:13] protective they're going to be most of

[01:15] us in school learned about something

[01:16] called the Mo's scale of hardness and

[01:18] then we see Coatings and they're sold as

[01:20] 8h 9h 10h and so forth the H hardness

[01:23] scale is actually not the mo hardness

[01:25] scale although people often think it is

[01:27] it's actually the pencil hardness scale

[01:29] a coding that rates 9h can avoid being

[01:32] marred by a 9h hardness pencil how does

[01:34] that compare to the most scale well it's

[01:36] like the hardness of your fingernail you

[01:38] can even hear our friend Chris gahar of

[01:40] Adams polishes talk about it when I

[01:42] interviewed him the two scales get

[01:45] confused a lot between pencil hardness

[01:47] and mo hardness I think some of that

[01:49] purposely is done with um marketing and

[01:52] things like that and maybe some of it's

[01:53] just plain ignorance but essentially

[01:55] what it's doing is trying to see if the

[01:57] coding is harder than the pencil so you

[01:59] do a measurement at 9h and if it doesn't

[02:02] scratch Mar or gouge the surface after

[02:06] five repetitions if it doesn't do that

[02:08] on three of them then you're done and

[02:10] it's greater than 9 H but all those

[02:12] measurements that you're doing on all

[02:13] those H's are all within about a one and

[02:16] a half to two on the most hardness scale

[02:18] so essentially if you BL up the hardness

[02:20] scale you're kind of goofing around in

[02:22] this small

[02:24] region let's move on to another

[02:26] longlasting piece of fiction that I hear

[02:29] over over it's the idea that Coatings

[02:31] prevent rock chips scratches and swirls

[02:35] so how true is that we know they're not

[02:36] very hard as a coating but there is a

[02:39] sacrificial layer one reality about

[02:41] Coatings is just how thin they are the

[02:43] finer human hair on your body is about

[02:45] 50 microns in thickness Coatings are

[02:48] usually about one maybe two microns

[02:50] thick as far as blocking Rock chips

[02:52] forget about it no coating is blocking

[02:54] Rock chips there may be some limited

[02:56] truth to scratch and swirl protection

[02:58] though these Coatings are a protective

[03:00] layer an incredibly thin one but it is

[03:02] on top of your clear coat and it might

[03:04] provide a tiny bit of protection however

[03:06] because the layer is so soft and thin

[03:08] any abrasive material can still Scuff

[03:10] the paint quite easily I would say this

[03:12] is a little bit of a halft truth it

[03:14] helps a bit when you're like washing and

[03:16] drying doesn't really help in real world

[03:19] situations that may cause actual

[03:21] scratches one thing that you may

[03:23] consider is ppf we have tested ppf and

[03:26] we were able to see some amazing

[03:27] self-healing Coatings can't do anything

[03:30] like

[03:30] [Music]

[03:32] that probably one of the silliest ones

[03:34] at least to me is the idea that you

[03:37] don't have to wash your car anymore I

[03:39] really don't even know where that came

[03:40] from but it sticks around a lot dirt and

[03:43] grime sticks less to vehicles that are

[03:44] treated with Coatings and actually other

[03:46] lust up products as well coated cars

[03:49] will still get dirty just not as rapidly

[03:51] as cars with bare untreated

[03:54] paint now the one that annoys me quite a

[03:57] bit is that you have to constantly use

[03:59] boot booster products or some sort of

[04:01] special wash to replenish your coating

[04:04] but the reality is you're not adding

[04:06] coating back you're putting a sealant on

[04:09] top of your coated car cool fair enough

[04:11] if you like that maybe you like the look

[04:13] you want to use a Topper to give a

[04:14] certain look and feel to your car that

[04:16] the coating itself doesn't do more power

[04:18] to you sometimes on my coated car if

[04:22] there's an area that the coating didn't

[04:24] stick too well Chrome for example is one

[04:26] of those trouble areas sure you can put

[04:28] a Topper on there you can put a booster

[04:31] that is all fantastic but the idea that

[04:33] you have to keep recharging your cating

[04:35] flies in the face of the whole idea of

[04:37] Coatings which is that they're supposed

[04:38] to be these semi-permanent long lasting

[04:40] products and what really bothers me is

[04:43] when companies even base warranties

[04:45] around you using a booster that tends to

[04:47] be installers more than the

[04:50] manufacturers but it is very frustrating

[04:52] for me because a customer will never

[04:53] know your coding has failed if that

[04:55] customer is constantly reapplying a

[04:58] sealant to their car every three car

[05:00] washes they'll never know of course

[05:02] you'll never have any warranty claims I

[05:03] do kind of think some people are going

[05:05] to comment on this and say well I love

[05:06] the booster products or manufacturer

[05:08] says you got to do it I think I wound

[05:10] myself up a little but let's take a

[05:12] moment to talk about something there are

[05:14] Amazon affiliate links Down Below in the

[05:16] description they do help support the

[05:17] channel the links are going to be to

[05:19] some of my favorite codings but if you

[05:21] buy anything at all on Amazon I do get

[05:23] credit for that and it does help run the

[05:27] channel everybody's talking about their

[05:29] 5 10 15 20 infinityy year product I

[05:34] think this may be more of an irrelevance

[05:35] than an actual myth and the reality is

[05:38] yes I've seen a cating go a thousand

[05:40] washes in our scrub testing but you're

[05:42] never going to care about 10 years and

[05:44] let me explain why number one no one

[05:46] keeps their car that long number two how

[05:49] many of you just leave your car in the

[05:50] garage never drive it anywhere the

[05:52] reality is most of us drive our cars so

[05:54] what does that mean well going to get

[05:56] scratched you're going to need pain

[05:58] correction again

[06:00] I don't believe codings really block UV

[06:03] in the way that people are made to

[06:06] understand blocking UV most people

[06:08] picture blocking UV the sunlight comes

[06:09] in coding blocks it goes like you know

[06:11] get out of here UV pushes it away that's

[06:14] what most people are thinking these

[06:15] products do I've never been able to show

[06:18] that through a variety of weathering and

[06:20] transmission tests one thing that these

[06:21] codings can do is they can provide a

[06:24] layer between your clear coat for when

[06:26] you have let's say chemicals that

[06:28] shouldn't be on your car on your car

[06:30] maybe worst case scenario bleach or some

[06:33] other chemical that with sunlight and UV

[06:37] is just going to supercharge and

[06:39] potentially damage your paint if you're

[06:40] ever trying to bleach something and

[06:42] you're doing it just indoors in like a

[06:44] cup of bleach and it's taken forever

[06:45] yeah just go put it outside for half an

[06:47] hour so in that sense there is some

[06:48] element of Truth in my opinion to the UV

[06:51] protective qualities of products and a

[06:53] lot of people will ask well we see these

[06:55] beautiful cars that are well-maintained

[06:56] and these guys they wax them they wash

[06:58] them they seal them they coat them and

[06:59] the cars look beautiful well yeah guys

[07:01] let maintain their cars have beautiful

[07:03] cars

[07:05] yeah kind of a minor myth but I think

[07:07] worth talking about is the belief that

[07:09] Coatings are the prettiest products in

[07:11] the world people gush over beautifully

[07:13] coated cars photographed in beautiful

[07:15] Studios with beautiful lighting but

[07:17] through my testing I've definitely seen

[07:18] that Coatings can be quite beautiful

[07:20] however for a show car finish it's not

[07:22] always the Top Choice I have seen other

[07:24] products that yield really really

[07:26] beautiful results another thing to

[07:28] consider is that pink correction and

[07:30] prep is a huge huge part of how your car

[07:34] is going to look the paint correction is

[07:35] what's going to make it beautiful like

[07:37] in those

[07:38] photos there's this belief Often

[07:41] perpetuated by usually dealer installers

[07:45] not So Much by independent installers

[07:48] that this is a great investment that you

[07:50] know when you go to sell your car you'll

[07:51] tell the next buyer it's got a 10-year

[07:53] coating on it it's going to really

[07:55] maintain your investment prevent those

[07:56] Rock chips and scratches and swirls we

[07:59] talked aled about earlier and it's a

[08:00] great way to convince ourselves well I

[08:02] need this that's going to keep my car

[08:03] nice and then I'll get a good resale on

[08:06] my car you care it's your baby your car

[08:08] you don't want the scratches on it right

[08:10] but when you go to sell it the next

[08:12] buyer isn't even going to see all those

[08:14] scratches unless they're as detail

[08:16] oriented as you are a dealer because

[08:18] guess what most guys are trading in

[08:20] their cars dealer really doesn't care

[08:22] unless it's bad ppf may be a better

[08:24] investment however I really urge if

[08:26] you're going to spend a th000 bucks or

[08:28] several thousand dollars make sure it's

[08:30] something that is for your enjoyment

[08:32] unless your car is just quite

[08:36] special the final myth and personally

[08:38] one of my absolute favorites is the idea

[08:42] that maybe nothing really matters

[08:43] anymore except for Coatings they are the

[08:46] latest and greatest they provide the

[08:48] most durability they are pretty they

[08:50] have lots of great qualities Why install

[08:53] anything except the coding companies are

[08:55] in fact working on all kinds of other

[08:57] interesting products we see highly

[08:59] performing PTF Products that come in Old

[09:01] School paste form I've tested spray

[09:03] sealants that are super easy to use and

[09:05] Incredibly durable there are what feels

[09:08] like an infinite number of options and

[09:10] codings are just one I personally use a

[09:13] mix of everything it depends on the task

[09:16] there's the right tool for the right job

[09:18] I really hope this video wasn't just

[09:20] like Angry me ranting and it was

[09:22] actually interesting for you what are

[09:24] some of your favorite myths

[09:25] misconceptions and maybe even lies in

[09:27] the detailing world I'd love it if you

[09:29] let me know Down Below in the comments

[09:31] definitely want to hear what you

[09:36] [Music]

[09:51] [Music]

[09:55] think