Greetings detailing enthusiasts! It was great seeing our shop on the opening episode of Competition Ready’s second season. If you haven’t had a chance to see the show, Competition Ready airs Fridays at 7:30PM on Velocity. We are also proud to mention that we are the featured detailer in the June issue of DuPont REGISTRY magazine. And lastly, DetailCon 2017 is coming to Columbus, Ohio, in September, and I have been selected to be one of five members of the Education Advisory Board, as well as one of the speakers at the convention. Being selected among the hundreds of talented detailers in our industry is an honor for me, as I join some of the biggest names in detailing to educate about our industry. DetailCon 2017 runs September 28 through September 30; visit detailcon.com for more information.
One of the topics that the advisory board was discussing at our last meeting was paint protection and how glass coatings and paint protection films have been complementing each other so well in the detailing world. Each of these products serves a specific function, but together they can deliver the ultimate in protection for your vehicle. The paint protection film (PPF) helps protect against rock chips, while coatings help protect against light swirls and environmental issues, plus make the surface easier to clean. Amazingly enough, none of the PPF films comes with protection against UV, so coatings have been helpful in adding that protection while also making the film easier to clean.
Films such as XPEL and SunTek don’t stain, yellow, or crack because of the quality of their adhesive and top coat. In the case of XPEL and SunTek, they even offer self-healing properties. Because paint protection films were first developed to guard against chips, their aesthetic value was not a huge factor until some brands developed products to look great and be virtually invisible on a surface. Some lower-quality PPF on the market can add a lot of heavy “orange peel” to a surface, and if you’ve ever seen the surface of an orange, you can imagine that texture on a paint surface. Most vehicles have some level of orange peel because of the way the vehicle was painted during production. If you are wondering if your vehicle has orange peel, focus on an object reflecting on your paint, and the orange peel will be the level of distortion you see in the image being reflected off the surface. On today’s vehicles, the paint is so thin and soft that wet-sanding to fix this condition can be treacherous.
With some PPF, if the orange peel on a surface is significant, then the film can add more visual texture to the surface and make it optically pretty horrific. In our shop, we chose to go with films that were optically better than those commonly found on the market. And now PPF can look even better, stay cleaner, and last longer with a new product available at SweetCars. Ceramic Pro has introduced two new products that will work with any paint protection film to help it look better and add to the life of the film. Ceramic Pro PPF & Vinyl is a nano-ceramic coating that, when applied to a clear bra, reduces orange peel, gives a high gloss, provides a UV barrier that extends the lifespan of the film, and requires less maintenance for cleaning the film. This coating is applied first, followed by Ceramic Pro PPF & Vinyl Top. The top coat gives additional depth and extreme slickness to the PPF, making it even easier to clean. As the name states, the coatings are also great for vinyl, and it’s the first coating made for those with vinyl wraps, stripes, or decals.
These products are a first in the coating industry, and they show how much coatings and PPF are complementing each other in terms of detailing protection. One thing to mention is that these two products are engineered to give maximum gloss and thus are not recommended for matte finishes. It is available to certified installers of Ceramic Pro. Currently in our shop, we are using these products on vehicles that come to us for Ceramic Pro. We’ve applied it to numerous vehicles with existing PPF and have seen some pretty great results. Keep in mind that not all coatings are a one-product-for-all solution. Ceramic Pro recognizes this and has developed coatings for particular uses such as Ceramic Pro Marine for gel coats, Ceramic Pro Strong for industrial uses, and Ceramic Pro Air for aviation purposes. Here at SweetCars, we are proud to offer all of these coatings from Ceramic Pro. So if you’re looking to add life to your current clear bra or make it easier to maintain, contact SweetCars to get PPF & Vinyl from Ceramic Pro installed on your vehicle. Until next time, take pride in your detailed ride!
