Critical Steps For a Successful Ceramic Coating Application

There are several products on the market for preserving the condition of your vehicle’s paint to the showroom look that every owner wants.

1.     The most expensive option is a clear wrap that can cover as little as the hood and front fenders, or as much as the whole vehicle. These wraps are usually 1-3 mils thick, provide considerable protection from rock chips and scratches. And can last several years depending on maintenance. The cost for this protective wrap can range from $1,500 to $2,000 for front protection only to $3,000-5,000 for the entire car.  

2.     The next option would be a ceramic coating application. Ceramic coatings are extremely durable. A Ceramic Coating (such as Opti-Coat Pro, C.Quartz, and Ceramic Pro) is a liquid polymer that is applied by hand to the exterior of a vehicle. The coating chemically bonds with the vehicle's factory paint, creating a layer of protection. Ceramic coating application can run anywhere from several hundred dollars to several thousand depending on the condition of the paint.

3.     The third option is to go with a polymer sealant that can provide the enhanced protection of a hard wax with more durability. Polymer sealants usually give you about 9-12 months protection depending on the environmental conditions. This is usually the least expensive option with respectable durability. For example, our detailing package that includes paint sealant protection runs about $250.

Note: With all paint protection options you will need to prepare the paint for the application. Depending on the condition of the paint, you may need several hours to days of paint correction. This should always be taken into consideration as wraps, ceramic coatings and sealant should only be applied to paint surfaces that have been properly cleaned and polished, so you won’t be sealing in any imperfections between the coating and the paint. The worst outcome is to seal the paint and still have micro scratches, marring, or debris in the paint, locked below a hard coating.

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Step by step process for success.

Given the criticality of preparation when applying a protective coating to your vehicle we will bring you through the steps we take in preparing a vehicle for a ceramic coating as an example.

Step 1. Thoroughly wash the vehicle using a safe wash method like the “2 bucket method” with grit guards and microfiber wash mitts. See our blog post for details here

Safe wash in process. Paint lubrication is critical for washing without scratching

Step 2. After the safe wash we decontaminate the paint chemically using iron out to remove all iron particles/ rail dust embedded in the paint from day to day environmental fallout. We also decontaminated the paint mechanically using clay bar(s).

Paint decontamination is a critical step in preparing for paint protection

Step 3. We inspect the paint and determine the paint correction regimen to follow. Depending on the condition of the paint, correction can take several hours to several days.

GolF R paint inspection

Step 4. After the paint correction we applied an isopropyl alcohol/water solution to remove the oil residue from the paint that was introduced by the correction process.

isopropyl alcohol/water solution applied to remove the polish oil residue

Step 5. With the paint thoroughly cleaned, decontaminated, corrected, and polished we were ready to apply the ceramic coating. This was all performed in a shaded area. Below are some photos of the completed project a car. As you can see the ceramic coating has an exceptional gloss and reflectivity. And it has a hardness level of 9H, which is actually more protective than the clear coat, which now sits under the ceramic coating protection. Please contact us if you have any question regarding our ceramic coating package that starts at $750.

2017 Golf R, ceramic coated with C. Quartz 9H.

Please contact us with any questions regarding our Ceramic Coating packages. Montano Auto Detail. 925-895-1327

Headlight Restoration - Saving Clients Money

One of the services we provide our clients is headlight restoration. We offer a cost effective solution to faded, sun damaged headlight lenses, returning them to a like new appearance and functionality. The great thing about helping our clients with headlight restoration is that we save our clients a lot of money. Our process costs a fraction of what new headlights would cost , so it is a very cost effective alternative to replacing faded headlights that could cost $500 to over a thousand dollars on most vehicles.

The first thing we do after the wash is to sand off all the sun damaged, faded plastic with a 3 step sanding process starting with 1000 grit, then 2000, moving to 3000 grit in the final sanding step.

Here are the first steps in headlight restoration

After we finish with the sanding process we move onto compounding and polishing the lens and then sealing the surface. Below is a quick video showing the polished lens ready to seal.

Here we have a quick look at our original headlight and compare it to the newly polished headlight that is ready to seal.

As always if you have any questions regarding your auto detailing needs please give us a call at 925-895-1327.

Best Regards,

Antonio. Montano Auto Detail.

Detailing the 1969 Mustang Fastback

We had the privilege of helping one of our clients restore and correct the paint surface of their 1969 Mustang this past weekend. It was a real treat. Our thanks goes out to Mike in Antioch for the opportunity. here is a short video showing the before and after of the first step correction which took care of about 80% of the surface micro-scratches and marring.

Quick video of before and after 1 step paint correction on a 1969 Mustang Fastback

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Here are some photos of the paint surface after the second step paint correction, final polish and the paint sealant was applied to the Mustang.

Winter Detailing Tips

Usually during the winter months we have less time to maintain our vehicles, so it makes sense to make the most to apply paint protection that will endure through the wet and muddy weather months. Here are a few things that you can do to maintain and protect your vehicles paint during the winter months.

As you get a chance to perform a safe wash, after the dry down, make sure to apply a synthetic polymer detailing wax that gives you at least 2-3 months paint protection. Some good candidates for this are:

1. Paint Gloss show room Spray n Shine (P&S Details)

2. Blackfire synthetic spray wax

3. Torque mirror shine - Spray and Sealant

These polymer spray waxes will give you about 2-3 months of paint protection. Enough to get you through the winter months minimizing damage to your paint until you can properly do a basic or maintenance detail in the spring.

When spring comes around be sure that paint decontamination (chemical and mechanical ) is part of your spring detailing process. This will insure you get all the overspray and rail dust and road contaminants before you apply a premium wax or sealant as part of your maintenance detail.

As always, give us a call with any questions. We want our customers to have all the info they need to make the right decision to keep their vehicles looking new.

Antonio at Montano Auto Detail. www.montanoautodetail.com call 925-895-1327.

Properly maintaining your ceramic coated vehicle

We have many clients that have purchased a ceramic coating application, and we provide quarterly and annual check ups to help maintain the coating for maximum performance. We also wanted to assist our blog followers on properly maintaining your car’s ceramic coating from a DIY perspective.

First lets cover some critical tips:

1. Once you have your car ceramic coating, you should never run it through an auto wash with brushes. Even auto washes with what they call soft touch wash are also a no go. These auto washes will scratch or mar your ceramic coating. If you must, you should only use an auto wash that is touchless, meaning there aren’t any physical brushes or shamois that touch the surface of the paint. Even in this case be cautious, touchless auto washes use harsh chemicals to remove or dissolve dirt. This may leave a film on your cars surface, which is not harmful for the paint since it is cermamic coated. Your best option is to continue to hand wash with a PH neutral car soap that is coating safe, using the 2 bucket method, explained in an earlier blog post.

2. If you need to decontaminate the coating as you maintain it, only use a chemical decontamination like Irox-X spray to remove accumulated iron deposits. Do not use a clay bar, which will abraid the ceramic coating.

3. No polishing with a DA or rotary polishers, which will actually remove the coating. Polishing should only be done if you are preparing to remove the coating in order to reapply a new coating.

4. After a safe hand wash you can maintain the ceramic coating performance by applying a ceramic spray, such as Silex, CarPro Reload, or GTechnic C2V3. These sprays will actually apply an additional sacrificial layer of thin ceramic coating that should last 2-4 months.

For the majority of our clients that have ceramic coated vehicles, we offer our Maintenance Detail where we omit the clay bar treatment, since all they need is the Iron-X for the denomination step. We finish off the detail with a manufacturer recommended ceramic coating booster to maintain the performance of the ceramic coating.

Please give us a call if you have any questions regarding the Maintenance of your Ceramic Coated vehicles.

Antonio at Montano Auto Detail

925-895-1327, www.montanoautodetail.com

The facts about coatings and are they cost effective?

Hi All, It has been awhile since our last blog post and we apologize. It’s been very busy and I finally have had time to write about what many Clients have been curiously asking. Should I invest in a ceramic coating for my vehicle and is it worth the money? This is a complex question with many answers, depending on what you need.

What is a ceramic coating?

First off we need to clarify what a ceramic coating is and what it is not. A ceramic coating is a sacrificial layer that is applied and bonds to your paint’s clear coat as additional protection from road debris, UV rays, industrial fall out, bird droppings, etc. it allows for easy washes where monthly or bi monthly wax applications are not necessary. You can still apply a wax for added protection but usually this is not necessary. Coatings are formulated to be tough enough to withstand the daily grime and elements of everyday driving. Most coatings are silicon based (SiO2), and when properly applied serve to protect your paint under most environmental conditions against marring and micro-scratches. Yes I said micro-scratches, coatings are not invincible and they can get scratched.

Hardness of coatings.

There are many brands of coatings out there. We have consumer grade coatings, that last about 6 months, to professionally applied coatings, that last 1 to 7 years with annual maintenance. Yes coatings are not apply and forget. For coatings to perform their best they do need a maintenance regimen that consist of an annual coating boost. This could involve the normal decontamination of the surface before the coating boost or recharge is applied. That said, we also have different hardness specs for different brand coatings. I think we are all familiar with the 1H to 9H hardness scale we see on pencils. The average car has about 100-120 microns of primer, base coat, and clear coat on its surface. To put this into perspective, your average sheet of copy paper is about 80 microns thick. So the paint and clear coat that sits on your vehicle is about 1 and 1/2 sheets of paper thick. Most clear coats in the auto industry have a hardness of 4, so running a pencil of 1H-4H hardness along the surface of the clear coat would not scratch the surface. Some coatings boast a hardness of 9H, which is very good and can increase the scratch resistance of the paint. This does not mean the coating is scratch proof. Again to put this into perspective there are many objects that are harder than a 9H pencil. For example, if you place a can of beer on your coated hood and it slides across the surface, it will scratch the coating. If you run your car through an auto wash that will also scratch the coating; And even if you accidentally use a sponge to wash your car, instead of a microfiber wash mitt and high lubricant soap, you will scratch the coating. So coatings are not a silver bullet against all scratches. And coatings will not protect your car against rock chips. Their purpose is to increase scratch resistance and protection.

Protective properties of coatings.

To be clear, a ceramic coating is one of the tools you can take advantage of to keep your car looking its best, and protect the paintwork. Applying a coating to your vehicle will allow easier and faster washes. This is due to the fact that a coating makes it harder for debris and environmental fall out to accumulate on the vehicle. Some coatings also have the ability to self heal to a certain extent. What this means is that if you have very minor scratches on a coating, the micro-scratches can heal or self remove as the coating levels in the hot sun. This is of course minimal and not all brands of coatings have this ability.

How long does it take to apply a coating?

Applying a coating involves the same prep time as applying a paint sealant. Since you are locking the paintwork of the car under a protective coating, you want the paint surface to be as pristine as possible. You need to:

1. Wash the surface to remove all debris

2. Chemically and mechanically decontaminate the paint work

3. Inspect the paint for any micro-scratches, marring, spider webbing, etc.

4. If needed, perform a 1, 2, or 3 step paint correction which can take several hours to several days. This will get the paint work in a pristine condition.

5. Remove all the oils accumulated on the paintwork from the polishing process.

6. Apply a consumer or professional grade coating to the surface, making sure to advise your client that they should not wash the car for at least 7 days while the coating cures.

7. Schedule an appointment for a check up in 12 months to inspect and apply a coating recharge.

Pricing.

There is a broad range of coating prices depending on brand and performance. You can purchase a consumer grade ceramic coating for as little as $80, while professional ceramic coatings can cost upwards of $750. This of course does not include the labor involved for the professional detailer to get the paint ready for the application. As I mentioned earlier, the paint prep can take as little as 3-6 hours, in the case of a well maintained or new vehicle, to several days for a vehicle that has seen its share of daily driving without exterior car care.

The Answer.

Is it worth having your car professionally coated? In my opinion, this treatment makes sense for brand new cars; Since the coating will protect your vehicle better than just the clear coat alone, and it will add to the resale value of the vehicle down the road if you choose to sell it.

For vehicles that are more than 2 to 3 years old it will cost more in labor to prep the paint regardless of what brand coating you go with. Most of my clients in this position go with the normal wash and decontamination service. Afterwards we apply a glaze to fill in most of the micro-scratches and finish it off with a sealant, which protects the paintwork for 12 months.

Professional detailers are in the position to inform their clients best as to what is available and what they can provide given the clients desire and budget. Always ask questions, a detailer that has their client’s best interest in mind will always answer questions so their clients can make the right decision.

As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. 925-895-1327 or email at amontano16@comcast.net.

All Our Best,

Antonio at Montano Auto Detail.

www.montanoautodetail.com

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Why a New Car Prep Detail Makes Sense

We believe that a brand new car should be perfect and should not need any detailing when you bring it home from the dealership; however, in many situations that is not the case. When you consider what your new auto has gone through on its way to the dealership:

• Paint marring or contaminants from the assembly line or plant where it was manufactured
• The test drive process before it leaves the manufacturer
• The transportation process to the dealership
• Once it arrives at the dealership it may have been washed improperly, creating swirls and scratches on the paint work
• It then will sit on the lot unprotected from the elements until purchased.

If the dealership did not provide the correct process to clean and prep your car for that perfect delivery, that is where we come in. A new car prep keeps your vehicle properly protected to look its best right from the start. 

This is why our New Car Prep makes sense. With our service, You now have a new car that is:

• Free of any paint imperfections.
• The paintwork has been protected by a sealant or coating (Client preference)
• Your new vehicle will be protected for the next 9-12 months from any environmental contaminants that would damage the paint.
• Your new vehicle will have a new car look for months (detail maintenance plans are available to keep your car in tip top shape)
• When and if you choose to sell your vehicle, you will have an advantage. Well maintained autos usually sell for 15-20% higher.

I hope this has been helpful. If you are in the process of purchasing a new vehicle, be sure to ask the dealership how they prep the car for delivery. How they clean and wash the paintwork, and apply any protective coatings makes a difference. Please feel free to give us a call at 925-895-1327 if you have any questions.

Have a great rest of your day.

Antonio at Montano Auto Detail.

Wheel cleaning tips for easy and fast upkeep.

When washing our vehicles, we always start with the wheels first, since they are the dirtiest part of the car. Here are a few tips to get your wheels clean effenciently, and keep them that way for longer periods of time.

1. First thing to do is rinse the Wheel and tire down with a good spray of water, or a good pass if you are using a pressure washer. (When using a pressure washer make sure to keep at least a foot away from the vehicle’s surface so as not to damage the paint)
2. With your wheel and tire cleaner of choice, spray down the surface and inner barrel of the wheel and tire face. Give the solution a few minutes to penetrate and loosen the dirt, brake dust, and grime on the wheel. 
3. Using a long barrel brush, clean the inner barrel of the wheel working from top to bottom. Afterwards you can use your short, soft Brissel brushes for the wheel and tire face. In some cases where you have an accumulation of dirt and brake dust within the wheel lugs or bolts, you can use a fine boars hair brush to better clean these detail areas.
4. Now that you have brushed down the inner barrel and wheel face you can rinse them.
5. After rinsing, inspect the wheel and repeat the cleaning process if needed.
6. There may be brake dust or iron particles embedded in the wheel that need a more thorough cleaning by clay bar treatment or iron decontamination.
7. If you have a clean surface to work with, you can wipe down and dry the wheel for the next step.
8. After you have dried the wheel with a micorfiber towel, you can apply a protective coating to the painted surface to prevent brake dust and dirt accumulation from damaging the wheel. Before you apply the protective coating to the wheel, be sure to first apply the tire dressing.
9. After the tire dressing you can apply one of the following to protect the wheels:
   1. Spray wax will give you 1-2 weeks of protection.
   2. Liquid wax will extend the protection to 1-2 months
   3. Paint sealant such as Jet Seal is even more effective, extending  the protection to 9-12 months
   4. Ceramic coating will give the most effective protecting; however, this treatment should be applied to brand new wheels, or to wheels during a new car prep service.

I hope this information was helpful. Going through this process for wheel cleaning should make future cleaning faster and easier.

Please give us a call with any Auto Detailing questions at 925-895-1327.

Washing your car with minimal scratching

Blog post for July 22. 

The proper scratch-free car wash. 

On many of my detailing appointments, customers ask, “what is the 2- bucket method, and what’s the proper way of washing your car so as not to introduce scratches?

The two bucket method consists of, you got it, two buckets. Each equipped with grit guards at the bottom. One’s going to be a wash bucket and the other is your rinse bucket. You also want to make sure you’re using a thick wash mitt made of microfiber cloth, not a sponge. Sponges scratch the paint on your vehicle. Wash mitts on the other hand do a very good job of soaking up lots of sudsy soap and lubricating the paintwork while you wash. The soap and wash mitt combination is key to preventing damage to the paints surface. The soap provides a well lubricated medium in which to suspend the dirt particles, and the wash mitt glides through the soap picking up and drawing the dirt away from the paint, unlike a sponge that grinds the dirt into your paint as you move it across the surface.

Step 1. Prep the car wash area with the appropriate tools (2 buckets with grit guards and a third for wheel cleaning, wheel and tire brushes, car wash shampoo, a hose and nozzle for pre-rinsing and final rinse, wash mitt and 1 to 2 drying towels).

Step 2. Fill both buckets about 2/3, place grit guards at the bottom of each bucket and pour about 2-3 oz. of car wash shampoo into your wash bucket.

Step 3. Fill a third bucket with wheel shampoo. You will start with the wheels and tires since they are usually the dirtiest.

Step 4. Pre-rinse the wheels. Using your wheel cleaning bucket soap up your brushes. With the  long barrel brush, thoroughly clean the barrel of the wheel and then finish off with the front facing wheel and tires. Rinse to get all the dirt off.

Step 5. Now that the wheels are clean, pre-rinse the entire car with water. If you have a soap gun attached to your hose or a foam cannon connected to a power washer thoroughly soap down the vehicle. Let the foam sit for a few minutes so it can do its job (lifting the dirt and grime off the vehicle as gravity drags it down. This also makes it very easy to wash the remaining dirt away with the mitt).

Step 6. Dunk your Mitt into the wash bucket and start washing the vehicle from top to bottom. Be sure to wash in straight lines not circles. After a few passes of the mitt you can dunk it into the rinse bucket making sure to rub it against the grit guard at the bottom, knocking loose any trapped dirt particles. Wring out the mitt outside of the rinse bucket and dunk back into your wash bucket to continue washing. You repeat this process until you have washed all the panels of your vehicle.

Step 7. Thoroughly rinse off the vehicle with your hose or pressure washer then dry using a premium drying towel, which should not leave any scratches. Make sure to tear off any tags on the towel.

Step 8. At this point you can apply any spray-on wax or other paint protecting regimen.

Step 9. As a final step. You can apply a conditioner to the tires and coat the wheels with a spray wax. This will protect them from a buildup of brake dust and road grime contaminants, making the wheels and tires easier to clean next wash. 

I hope this information helps. If you have any questions please leave a comment below.

Welcome

Glad you could stop by and view the services we have available to keep your vehicle looking showroom new. Please give us a call with any questions. Our goal is to provide a premium detailing service in the convenience of your driveway.