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Owner Guide

Aftercare

You have paid for a finish — here is how to keep it. Everything below takes about twenty minutes a fortnight and will add years to how your paint looks.

Ceramic Coating · The First Week

Leave it alone for seven days

A ceramic coating goes on as a liquid and hardens onto the paint over the days that follow. Until it has, soap and chemicals will spoil the finish you have just paid for. This week matters more than anything else on this page.

Days 1 – 7

No washing

No shampoo, no snow foam, no traffic film remover, no automatic wash. If the car genuinely needs it, plain water and nothing else.

First 24 hours

Keep it dry

Heavy rain in the first day is worth avoiding if you have somewhere under cover. After that, rain does no harm at all.

Any time

Bird lime comes off now

Lift it straight away with a damp microfibre and plain water. It will etch a fresh coating faster than a cured one — do not leave it to bake.

After seven days the coating is hard and the car goes onto the routine below. We will tell you the exact date when we hand the keys back.

The Routine

Every two to four weeks

A coating keeps the car cleaner — it does not keep it clean. Road film, brake dust and hard-water minerals still settle, and left to build up they smother the water-beading and flatten the gloss. Washing on a fortnightly-to-monthly rhythm is what keeps a coating performing for years instead of months.

pH-neutral shampoo only

A gentle shampoo made for coated cars. It lifts the dirt and leaves the protection exactly where it is.

Never washing-up liquid

Dish soap, traffic film removers and strong alkaline foams are built to strip grease. They will strip your coating just as happily.

The Right Way

The two-bucket
wash, properly

Nearly all swirl marks are wash-induced. This method exists to keep grit away from your paint, which is the whole ball game.

1
Wheels first, with their own bucket and brushes — brake dust is the harshest thing on the car and you never want it anywhere near the mitt that touches your paint. If you only have one bucket, wash it out properly before going near a panel
2
Pre-rinse the whole car, then a pre-wash foam if you have one — this is the step that lifts the loose grit off, and it is the single biggest thing standing between your paint and a new set of swirl marks
3
Two buckets for the paintwork, both with grit guards: one shampoo, one clean rinse water
4
Wash top down in straight lines, never circles
5
Rinse the mitt in the clean bucket after every panel, before it goes back in the shampoo
6
Rinse the car off, then pat dry with a large plush microfibre towel
7
Wash out the buckets, mitts, brushes and the jet wash lance when you are done — grit left to dry in a mitt is what scratches the car next time
Avoid

What ruins a finish

  • Automatic brush washes. The spinning bristles put micro-scratches straight through a coating.
  • Traditional wax or polish. Wax will not bond to ceramic so it does nothing, and polish is abrasive — it takes the coating off.
  • Washing-up liquid. Built to strip grease, which is exactly what it does to your protection.
  • Sponges, household towels, squeegees. Anything abrasive drags grit across the panel instead of lifting it away.
  • Washing in direct sun. Hot panels dry the water before you can, and what is left behind is spotting that has to be polished off.
  • Leaving bird lime or sap. Both are acidic and will etch into the finish if they bake on.
  • Circular scrubbing at a stubborn mark. That is how you turn one mark into a patch of swirls.

Not sure about a product or a mark? Send us a photo — we would far rather answer a quick question than correct the damage later.

Ask Us Anything
Aftercare · FAQ

Common questions

Leave it seven days. The coating needs that time to fully cure and harden — washing it sooner can mar the surface before it has reached full strength. Keep it out of heavy rain for the first 24 hours if you can.
Please do not. Rotating brushes are the fastest way to undo paint correction, and the harsh detergents used in many automatic washes strip protection. If you are short on time, a proper hand wash or a touchless jet wash is far kinder.
A pH-neutral shampoo, two buckets with grit guards, and a clean microfibre wash mitt. Avoid washing-up liquid — it is designed to strip grease, which is exactly what it will do to your wax, sealant or coating.
A large plush microfibre drying towel, laid on and drawn gently across rather than rubbed in circles. A pat-dry approach causes far less marring than scrubbing at water spots.
Remove them as soon as you can — both are acidic and will etch into clear coat if they bake on in the sun. Soak with a damp microfibre for a minute, then lift away rather than scrubbing.
Every two to four weeks. A coating keeps the car cleaner, it does not keep it clean — road film, brake dust and hard-water minerals still settle, and left to build up they smother the water-beading and dull the gloss. Regular washing is what keeps a coating working for years rather than months.
Yes. We keep the pH-neutral shampoo, mitts, grit guards, drying towels and coating-safe detail spray we use ourselves, and can put together a kit matched to the coating on your car — handed over when we finish, or sent out later. It saves you guessing which bottle on the shelf is safe on a coating. Ask when you book, or message us any time on 07311 796805.
One wash with the wrong thing will not destroy a coating, so do not panic. Rinse it well, wash it properly with a pH-neutral shampoo, and keep an eye on how the water behaves — if it stops beading the way it did, message us a photo and we will tell you whether it needs a top-up or nothing at all.
We Can Supply It

The right products,
matched to your coating

There are a hundred bottles on the shelf in Halfords and a handful of them are safe on a ceramic coating. Rather than leave you guessing, we can supply the same products we use ourselves — matched to the coating that is actually on your car.

  • pH-neutral shampoo, safe on every coating we fit
  • Microfibre wash mitt and a plush drying towel
  • Two buckets and grit guards, the thing that actually prevents swirls
  • Coating-safe detail spray to top up the beading between washes
  • Bug and bird-lime remover that will not etch the finish

Take the kit when we hand the car back, or ask us to send one out later. Tell us what you already have and we will only supply what is missing.

Ask Us

Not sure what you need?

Send us a photo of what is in your garage. If what you already own is fine we will tell you so — there is no sense selling you a bottle of something you have got.

Ask About Aftercare Products Call 07311 796805
Rather Not?

Let us do it instead

If the two-bucket method sounds like a chore, that is exactly what a maintenance plan is for — from £64 a visit and you never touch a bucket.

See Maintenance Plans Book A Detail
Enhance · Protect · Maintain

Keep it looking new

Book a detail, or start a plan and let us keep on top of it for you.

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