Ceramic Coating newbie
 

Hi,

I am considering coating my car, the problem is, I have almost no knowledge on it, I just know that it protects the surface on which it is applied from stains, dirt and micro-marrings.
I don’t really know what characteristics I should look for when I make my choice:
Almost all companies promise a better look, more shine, … But then it gets more complicated: some advertise the hydrophobicity (if someone could explain this to me that would be great ahahah). Some others, heat or UV resistance etc…
So my question is, what should be the characteristics I should look for in a ceramic coating?

Hi!
So ceramic coatings were designed for several things:

• They protect your car from micro scratches (or micro marrings), the indicator you're looking for here is the hardness, they often use the pencil hardness scale. Do you remember what was written on the pens you used at school? B1, HB, etc... it uses the same ranking, 10H being the hardest. if you want more info here is my source. It know that some companies advertise the thickness too but TBH I don't think it plays a great role. They are not a well know company but I like their educational stuff ahah
• The second characteristic provided by coatings is the hydrophobicity (and oleophobicity), it case you don't know these words they mean water and oil repellent. This has several advantages: first it prevents dirty from sticking to your paint. To put it simply: the coating creates a surface on which water cannot stay, and water is the a good medium, which means it carries dirt quite easily, hence the water will trap the dirt and just fall off the car. Some coating companies even recommend not washing coated cars with anything but water. It will also make it (almost) impossible for a graffiti to stay on your car. The indicator you're looking for is the contact angle (given in degrees), consider anything above 110-120 degrees hydrophobic enough to be good.
• Finally most coatings are also UV resistant, which means they'll prevent your paint for fading.
• Some companies also advertise heat resistance with temperature going up to 2200 F, but quite frankly unless you plan on driving in a volcano, such a high heat resistance is not necessary.

These would be the main characteristic I can think about right now, It is up to you to determine which ones are the most important for you.