What products are more suitable to wash ceramic coatings?
One of the most common misconceptions about ceramic coatings is that they need little to no maintenance after application. Yes, ceramic coatings keep a vehicle clean for a longer time and don’t require much effort to be effectively washed. However, without basic maintenance, they might soon lose their distinctive glossiness and hydrophobic effect, and will quickly deteriorate.
Car washing is the most basic maintenance we can provide for our ceramic coating, and how we wash our vehicle will directly impact its effectiveness. In previous articles, we showed you what are the most effective and safe methods of washing a car. In today’s article, we will show you what are the best products to wash your ceramic coating, and what you should avoid.
Does every product work the same way?
With so many after-care products on the market, it is easy to choose the wrong products for car washing, especially for DIY enthusiasts. Below there’s a general list of the various car washing products that you can find on the market.
Wax strippers
As the name suggests, these products are designed to remove old detailing works (mostly wax) from the surface of the car paint and should be avoided for regular car washing. They contain chemicals that are harsh enough to remove the hydrophobic effect of most of the coatings on the market. In the case of cheap coating brands, they might go as far as completely removing the coating layer from the surface of the paint. As for KubeBond, our coatings are gifted with the RBT, which makes them impossible to be removed from the surface, unless it is polished. However, this kind of product might still damage the hydrophobic effect, and impact the effectiveness of the protective layer, so it should be avoided.
All-purpose cleaners
These products are designed to work on a variety of different materials on a car, to remove the most common types of dirt. They work great on bare paint, but they should be avoided on ceramic-coated cars. In fact, due to their multifunctional nature, the ingredients inside the all-purpose cleaners vary a little. This means that your ceramic coating might be affected by this type of product by losing the hydrophobic effect. KubeBond ION has been designed to resist car washing with strong detergents. It replaces the “old” nano-hair technology with a solid 3D structure that provides a more durable hydrophobic effect. Despite this, we still encourage you to avoid all-purpose cleaners to wash your car.
Regular car wash shampoo
These shampoos are called pH+ shampoo, which means that their pH is between 8-9. They are widely used for regular car washing for non-coated cars. Even though they don’t directly impact the effectiveness of the ceramic coating of your vehicle, they might slightly shorten the durability of the hydrophobic layer, which will have to be restored in a detailing center. Again, KubeBond’s ION provides your vehicle with a more durable hydrophobic effect, and will less likely be impacted by this kind of car wash shampoo.
pH-neutral car shampoo
pH expresses the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, where the value of 7 is neutral, lower values are more acidic, and higher values are more alkaline. pH-neutral shampoos are the best and safest choice to wash a ceramic-coated car, as they don’t contain any substance that could potentially damage the protective layer. We recommend you choose pH-neutral shampoo from the multitude of coating brands available on the market, as these products are specifically designed to work on ceramic coating. As with any other respectable brand on the market, KubeBond provides its pH-neutral Shampoo, which is used in many of our certified detailing centers.
High-quality products for a longer durability
In conclusion, we encourage every car lover to wash his ceramic-coated vehicle with pH-neutral shampoos only. Although many coating brands claim high durability for their coating, they often fail to mention that the key to durability is maintenance. Ceramic coatings require to be taken care of properly, from the weekly car wash to the periodical maintenance, to function properly. By doing this, no matter what coating brand you choose, you can guarantee your coating with a good level of durability.
KubeBond puts a lot of effort to facilitate every car owner’s life; ION is the newest product of our lineup, improving every aspect that made 9H successful. Visit our website or contact us directly to learn more about ION!
